After Liz went over the rules and everyone except Sarah sang the official Camp Cold Lake Song (much to Sarah's chagrin, she hated sing-a-long songs), it was then a quiet walk back to Cabin 56. The quiet walk was much needed for Sarah. Her anger had completely subsided, and the quiet calmness of Granger Woods had soothed her. It wasn't as long as a walk from the entrance, as soom Counselor Richard along with the four girls made it back to their bunks in their cozy cabin.

Once they entered, Sarah decided to be the first to speak as all four girls and Richard sat in a circle on the wooden floor. Richard laid his long black flashlight down in the middle as the shiny light dimly illuminated their circle and part of their room.

"Hey guys, I'm so sorry for losing my temper like that." she apologized solemnly.

Richard smiled. "Totally cool, Sarah. Don't even sweat it."

"Yeah, for real." added Briana. "Besides, it's about time someone told them off."

Jan took two puffs of her inhaler and silently nodded in agreement.

"Aaron and Micah are totally creeps like these mean guys I know back home," grumbled Meg, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. "They used to always prank this girl named Carly. Or Charlie, I can't remember."

"Who?" asked Sarah confusingly.

"That's a story for another day." chuckled Meg.

"Oh yeah, like we were gonna tell ya about the Buddy System." remembered Richard. "It's kinda a scary story."

"I'm not scared," declared Sarah, even though it was completely the opposite. "What happened?"

Briana, Meg, Jan, and Richard looked at each other with distressed visages.

Jan took one more puff of her inhaler. "I can tell it."

Sarah now completely focused on Jan and was fully ready to listen and have her nagging questions answered.

"My mom told me that years ago, there was accident in the Cold Lake." rasped Jan. "A fatal one."

"Deadly? Terminate? Lethal?" asked Sarah, her words all coming out at once.

"Yes." replied Jan, Meg, and Briana in unison. Sarah's brown eyebrows nearly shot off of her face. A child had died. A child had died at the camp she's currently attending.

"Her name was Della Felix," shuddered Richard as he continued. He stood up and walked over to the window, staring out towards the glistening lake in the distance. "One day, she had a big fight with her friends. The fight was so bad, In order to calm down, she went out to have a swim. But -"

Richard didn't sound his normal calm, laid back, surfer-like self. He sounded serious. Very serious.

"She drowned in the lake, didn't she?" breathed Sarah, clutching her chest as she tried to control her heart rate.

"Yeah, she did." moaned Meg.

A big wet tear formed in the side of Sarah's eye, and slid down her fair-colored cheek and hit the floor with a faint plop.

"That's so sad," whispered Sarah, quickly wiping her eyes. "She died. A girl died."

Briana moved closer to Sarah, and put her arm around her while pulling her close. Sarah couldn't contain the outpouring of sadness. After all, Della was only a child.

"Are you going to be okay?" whispered Briana.

"Yeah," replied Sarah, nodding. "Death just makes me sad."

Sarah regained her composure, as Meg handed her a Kleenex tissue to wipe her eyes with. Jan had turned away, as she couldn't bear to look at Sarah.

"Some think her death cursed the lake," continued Richard. "Some think Cold Lake itself is cursed. But like, those are just myths and ghost stories to scare people."

Sarah let out a sigh of relief. Half-relief. The lake not being cursed helped soothe her feelings, but the death of Della slightly bothered her. Suddenly, Richard looked at his watch. As if a light was swtiched from off to on, Richard went back to his laid back and smiling self.

"Well gals, it's like totally time to get some much needed shut eye." he said with a smile. "And don't worry Sarah, what happened was a freak accident. Since then, we've had a pretty safe and righteous safety record. Trust me."

Sarah smiled weakly as the rest of the girls stood up to retrieve their sleepwear. She hoped Richard was right, oh she hoped to stars he was.

"Goodnight girls! Big day tomorrow!" he called from the storm door. And with that, Richard left to the counselor's quarters.

While Meg and Jan began comparing pajama wear and began to get into bed, after a brief moment of silence - Briana turned to a solemn-looking Sarah who was sitting at the desk in the corner of the room, scribbling away in her notebook.

She slowly walked to Sarah and quietly murmured, "Hey, are you alright?".

Sarah turned to Briana. "Yeah, I'm alright. Just trying to take my mind off of the story and Della."

Briana's brown eyes twinkled in the moonlight, and she hugged Sarah. Sarah herself looked quite shocked and wrapped her arms around her. It's not everyday she recieves a hug from a peer.

"If it helps, I was hurt the first time I heard that story." said Briana, releasing Sarah.

"It kinda does, and it kinda doesn't," replied Sarah bluntly. "But I'll be fine soon. Don't worry."

"Okay then," said Briana with an easy grin. "I'll be your Lake Buddy, if you want me to."

Sarah smiled. "I'd like that a lot, Lake Buddy."

Briana returned the smile with one of her own. "Goodnight, friend."

A few minutes had passed as Sarah now stared to the wooden ceiling in deep thought, while she laid on her top bunk as her bunkmates slept in silence. Not total silence for long. Meg was quite the loud snorer, and the sudden snnoooorrrreee nearly made Sarah jump and laugh. She stifled her laugh by pressing her fingers to her lips, trying not to wake any of her friends up.

"Surely no one else will die. And ghosts? There's no proof of apparitions. No proof of the dead living among us. After all it would be improbable. Ghosts require the proper energy to be a thing. Thermodynamics! It goes against a direct law of that." she thought.

With a sigh, Sarah rollled over and covered herself with her purple blanket. And soon Sarah began to dream...

A/N: A shorter chapter this time. But I enjoyed this one.