Her acne was coming back. As Carrie continued to brush her teeth back and forth with the disgustingly sharp-flavored toothpaste she had brought from home, she noticed the familiar red dots on her cheeks.

She spat the mouthful of toothpaste and spit into the sink she was using, then sighed at her reflection. She had hoped the lack of sugary snacks on the island would lead to her complexion clearing up, but to no avail.

She picked up her toothbrush and toothpaste roll and left the communal bathroom. As she was walking across the campgrounds, she noticed something peculiar. The cabins seemed completely empty. It was that odd feeling one would get that told you that a building you were looking at was totally devoid of life.

She shrugged helplessly, and made her way to the Gopher cabin. When she entered the girls' cabin, her suspicions were confirmed: no one was here. Where was everyone? After spending a sleepless night out in the woods, she would have suspected that every Gopher would want a good night's rest.

Nervously, Carrie moved to her bunk bed, and began to get dressed for the night. So, Gwen knew that she voted for Justin over Heather. Someone was bound to deduct the circumstances of Justin's departure; she had just hoped that it would have been anyone besides Gwen. Gwen and Heather's hostility to each other was well known, and Gwen had given some much needed words of encouragement to Carrie after the talent show.

Carrie was now in her dull gray nightgown, ready for bedtime. None of her fellow team members had shown up yet. Carrie was starting to get worried. Her first thought was that this was some sort of prank, but most of the Gophers probably wouldn't pull something like this. Heather and her cronies would definitely do something like this, but not the likes of Gwen, Trent, Leshawna, or Cody.

As she opened the screen door to the cabin and stepped outside in her nightgown, she noticed that the fire was still burning bright at the campfire pit. That was odd; usually, the interns would have doused it by now. Could her teammates still be at the campfire pit?

She soon found herself trudging through the campgrounds, heading for the pit. As she got closer, she noticed that not only were her own team there, but so were the Killer Bass. Her confusion only growing, she stepped into the light of the campfire pit.

The first thing she noticed was a tray of green Jell-O on the ground. The green globs of sugary gelatin were sprayed over the dirt, as well as some gummy worms that had been in the mold.

"Hey, what's up, girl?", said Leshawna, causing Carrie to look up from the Jell-O to her fellow campers. While most of the Bass were looking at her with indifference, the Gophers looked surprised to see her (except Gwen, who was glaring).

"Carrie? Weren't you here with us this whole time?", said Trent, looking genuinely shocked to see her come out of the darkness. Carrie shook her head mutely; was she so insignificant that no one noticed she had tried to go to bed?

Snickering started. Everyone turned to Duncan, who was looking in derision at Carrie's nightgown. "Nice, dress.", he said. "The nineteenth century called, it wants its robe back."

Carrie blushed, as she sat down on the nearest tree stump. Courtney, meanwhile, half-heartedly hit Duncan on the arm. "Ow, woman, what was that for?", he said, rubbing his arm.

A pause settled on the group, as everyone looked awkwardly around. "So, what are you guys doing out here?", said Carrie, quietly.

"We got into a discussion about our... well, our greatest fears.", explained Cody.

Carrie raised an eyebrow.

"It's true.", said DJ. "I admitted my fear was snakes, Gwen's is being buried alive, Owen's is flying, and Geoff's is hailstorms. Even Heather admitted that sumo wrestlers are her biggest fear."

Carrie snickered despite her better judgement. Heather glared at her. "It's a real and credible fear.", she said, before turning to Tyler. "As if it's any worse than Tyler's fear of chickens."

"Hey!", said Tyler. "No one knows what goes on in a chicken's mind. They could be plotting world domination or something."

"So, what's your greatest fear, Carrie?", said Bridgette, giving her an encouraging smile.

"Yeah, everyone's given one.", said Owen. "Except Courtney, who chickened out."

"Not having a fear doesn't mean I chickened out.", muttered Courtney.

Carrie looked around, hesitation in her mind. She was just on the cusp of having people who actually liked her, like Cody and Owen. Did she really want to jeopardize that by revealing something that nobody could not make fun of?

She looked down at her legs as her grip tightened on her nightgown. "My... my closet.", she said, weakly.

Katie and Sadie started snickering, as did most of the other teens who heard her. "I'm sorry, what was that?", said Sadie, trying to cover her mouth.

"I think she said her greatest fear is her closet.", said Harold, raising an eyebrow.

More snickering followed, as many muttered words like, "Seriously?", to themselves.

Even Owen was snickering. Cody was trying to force away his smile, but it didn't stop Carrie from noticing it.

"Figures.", muttered Gwen.

Carrie didn't have what you'd call a restful night. She knew, just knew, that tomorrow was when the teasing would start.

Granted she was already teased by Heather and sometimes Duncan would say a mean comment here and there, but now that the whole camp knew her secret, everyone would be making nasty comments.

In the line for breakfast the following morning, it seemed that her fears had been confirmed when Duncan set his eyes on her.

"What's wrong, Cawwie?", he said, snickering. "Did the wicked monsters in your closet keep you up last night?"

Carrie looked down at her shoes, expecting the whole day would be like this, when Bridgette actually said, "Oh, shut up, Duncan."

Unfortunately, when Carrie looked up in Bridgette's eyes, she could tell that Bridgette was more acting out of pity then genuine kindness. Even she felt that being afraid of her closet at Carrie's age was pretty pathetic.

As Carrie sat down with her food a moment later, she longed to tell them about all the hideous religious iconography in her closet. The hours spent there because she had acted against Momma's wishes, even if it was only a minor infraction.

But revealing that would make things worse for her mother, and even after everything, Carrie still felt this deep connection with her mother.

A large figure sat down on the opposite side of the table. Carrie looked up to see Owen, followed a few seconds later by Cody sitting down as well.

"Hey, you doing all right?", said Cody, picking at the paste that served as their breakfast.

Carrie shook her head.

"Hey, don't worry, Carrie.", said Owen. "I was scared of the monsters under my bed 'til I was... eight or nine."

Cody gave a sharp glare to Owen at this unhelpful comment, then leaned into Carrie. He seemed on the verge of saying something genuinely helpful, but Carrie could see that even he was struggling to come up with something for the teen who was still afraid of her closet.

Eventually, he decided to change the subject. "So, why are you scared of your closet anyway?"

Carrie looked around at the rest of the mess hall, before looking at a still expectant Owen and Cody. She glanced momentarily at Heather (thankfully engrossed in a conversation with Lindsay and Beth), then leaned into the two boys.

"Good morning, campers.", said Chris, as he entered the mess hall. Carrie gave a silent thanks to God, but outwardly told Cody that she'd tell them later.

"Today's challenge will be a little experiment in fear.", said Chris, before turning to Heather, who was currently sipping from a dirty glass of water.

"Heather, meet me at the amphitheater in 15. It's sumo time!" Heather spewed water from her mouth, directly into Trent's face.

Chris then turned to Gwen. "Gwen, you, me, the beach, and a couple pounds of sand."

Gwen groaned and slammed her face into the table.

As Lindsay stupidly asked how the show could possibly know what their fears were, the rest of the campers looked increasingly scared as the realization of what the challenge entailed hit them.

Carrie, however, was not nervous. The worst they could do was stick her in some random closet in camp, completely devoid of the memories from her own house.

In contrast to the rest of her team members, Carrie was feeling remarkably hopeful about helping with today's challenge.

Owen and Cody, however, were looking pale as they stood up from the table. "What was your guys' fears?", said Carrie.

"Mine was flying.", said Owen, gulping.

"Mine was defusing a bomb under pressure.", said Cody, chuckling nervously. "But Chris wouldn't do that to me, right?"

Carrie wouldn't put anything past Chris McLean.

As the day continued on, Carrie was able to figure out what exactly was her fellow campers' fears.

Beth's seemed to be being covered with bugs, but she performed her challenge so quickly and effortlessly that Carrie had to wonder if she had faced her fear previously.

Like Beth, Heather, Gwen, Trent, Lindsay, with the Killer Bass lagging behind considerably. Of the nine Bass remaining, only Duncan, DJ, Katie, and Sadie completed their parts.

Finally, it came time for Carrie's turn to face her phobia. She and the campers who would watch her either succeed or fail were with Chris in the creepy boat house.

"Carrie, we've managed to find the smallest, most claustrophobic closet in all of the camp." He stood aside to reveal a tiny doorway in the wall.

"Woo, you got this Carrie!", yelled Owen, as Cody gave her a thumbs up.

Carrie gave them a grateful smile, then trudged up to the doorway. "Just squeeze yourself in there, Carrie.", said Chris. "You only have to stay in there for five minutes."

She gave Chris a shrewd look; there was something... off about him. He had that look of smug glee whenever he added a dangerous twist to today's challenge. She brushed this feeling off and got down to squeeze herself into the closet.

Once she had (with a lot of maneuvering) managed to squeeze herself into the tiny cupboard, Chris shut the door with a kick of his foot. "All right, Carrie.", he said, his voice now muffled. "Five minutes start now."

Carrie tried to find a more comfortable position in the total darkness when Chris said, "Oh, and there's a light in there if you want."

She groped around, eventually finding a lantern sitting in one of the corners of the cupboard. She flicked it on and light spread around the inside. She gave a small sigh of relief as she stared into the sudden light. She held the lantern up to the darkness, thinking this would be the easiest challenge for her left.

A crucifix, complete with Jesus' image of pain and blood, loomed out from the darkness, staring at her in unimaginable agony.

Carrie felt the blood drain from her pimply face, as she looked wildly around the now bright interior. All around her were images she knew by heart: Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed by fires from heaven, Jesus whipping the money collectors from the temple, the plagues of Egypt, etc.

Carrie scrambled for the door of the cupboard, frantically trying to pry it open. How did they know? HOW DID THEY FIND OUT?!

The door swung open cautiously, as Chris said in a much clearer voice, "So, ready to come out already?"

Carrie was about to crawl wildly out from the cupboard, when the door slammed shut again. Carrie whimpered madly, as a new voice spoke.

"Keep it closed! She can do this!", said Cody's muffled voice. Carrie heard him kneel down in front of the closed door. "Hey, Carrie, can you hear me?"

Carrie nodded her head, then realized that Cody wouldn't have been able to see her. "Y-Yes.", she muttered.

"Good. Look down at the lamp Chris gave you. Do you see it?"

Carrie looked down at the lamp, casting light around the interior of the cupboard. "I d-do.", said Carrie.

"Just concentrate on that light.", said Cody. "Put all your focus on that light."

Carrie did so, imagining for a moment that it was the light of God's word in a sinful world. And suddenly, she knew somehow that she'd be OK. That God would see her through this. That the closet and everything in it was not an accurate representation of God's love.

Beep, beep. "Time's up, Carrie.", said Chris, opening the door. Cody was there, and he held out a hand to Carrie. She gratefully took it, stepping out of the closet calmly. As she stood up, she noticed that everyone was staring at her. Some looked worried for her, while others were still sneering at her pathetic fear.

Carrie, however, didn't care at all. That was an interesting feeling; not caring what others thought about her. She turned and smiled at Cody.

Cody winked at her. "See? I told you you could do it."

Carrie practically beamed at him, then she turned to Chris, who was standing nearby. "How... how did you find out?", she blurted out.

"Find out about what?", said Chris, looking genuinely confused.

She pointed back at the cupboard, not caring that now everyone saw why she was afraid of her closet. However, when she turned to see the inside of the cupboard... there was nothing in there!"

The walls were completely bare, with no signs of crucifix or any other religious iconography. She had imagined the whole thing.

Carrie turned to see Chris give her a weird look and Cody giving a confused look.

The day passed by pretty uneventfully after that. Owen and Cody performed their fear challenges while Carrie watched. Owen managed to survive his excursion on the barely held together plane the show provided, but Cody was unable to defuse the stink bomb he had been assigned to.

This didn't matter in the long run, as, despite Courtney having the chance to win the challenge for her team by conquering her fear for double the points, the Bass still lost and the Gophers won for the first time since the Awake-a-thon.

Now, Carrie and Cody were seated on the porch steps of their cabin. They watched as the Killer Bass returned to the camp after the elimination ceremony. Courtney was surprisingly still with them, as they seemed to have voted off the tracksuit guy.

"Thank you.", Carrie said finally, after moments of silence. "For helping me... overcome my fear." She pushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear.

"Hey, no problem.", said Cody, grinning.

As Cody looked away, Carrie momentarily considered putting her hand on Cody's... then thought better of it. She got up and went into the girls' side.

As Carrie got into her bed after slipping on her night gown, she gave a contented sigh... probably the first of such sighs in her whole life.

Little did she know that across the room, Heather was watching while pretending to be asleep. Once Carrie had rolled over in bed to go to sleep, Heather gave a horrible smirk.

So, anyone have a guess as to what Heather's planning? Sabotage the relationship or use it to her advantage? You'll just have to keep reading to find out.

23rd Place- Ezekiel

22nd Place- Eva

21st Place- Noah

20th Place- Justin

19th Place- Izzy

18th Place- Tyler