Chapter 22: The Reunion

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Sleep didn't come to me at all last night. I laid awake in the First Aid building in one of the cot beds, staring up at the ceiling, tears soaking my pillow. Bandaged up from the sharp thorns of the plants attacking me. The whole event kept repeating over and over in my head.

Outside the window, the sun filtered through the dark grey clouds. It looked like it was going to rain. I could smell the heavy aroma of damp earth and pine. A cold breeze came in, causing me to shiver in my shorts and t-shirt. It was June. Why was it suddenly so cold? I had no idea what time it was, or even what day it was.

The nurse suddenly appeared in front of me, startling me out of my thoughts. She looked to be in her fifties or sixties in a starch white uniform. She gave me a warm smile as she came in to check on how I was doing. Afterwards, breakfast was brought in on a tray. It was oatmeal, orange juice, and a banana. I didn't feel like eating but the camp nurse insisted that I eat food. Apparently I had lost a lot of blood when I was brought in last night.

"Need to bring back your strength, dearie," she told me as she set the tray down before walking away. I chewed my food slowly and thoughtfully. It was hard to swallow the food, and to digest it. A heavy stone of guilt weighed down in my stomach. I wanted to leave this building and find Jason. Tell him that it was all a big misunderstanding. The door of the First Aid opened and Camp Leader Darnell entered the room. He noticed I was awake and gave me a small smile.

"Good morning. Hope you slept well," he said. My bloodshot eyes blinked at him. Darnell looked down at his clipboard and cleared his throat. "So, Matt says that he saw you run into the forest late last night and found you minutes later bleeding on the ground. Care to tell me how that happened?" he asked me. My throat began to close up, thinking of Jason again, but I swallowed the hard lump down.

"I...thought I saw something in the woods," I told him. He nodded his head. "And you thought to pursue it," he said, which I could tell he thought I was an idiot for doing so. He adjusted the wide rimmed hat on his head before sighing. "The nurse said you had lost some blood...but thankfully not a lot to where we need to take you down to the hospital. So you are lucky," he told me. I didn't feel all that lucky.

Darnell kept talking but my thoughts drowned him out. All that filled my head was Jason. His eyes widening in horror when he saw the camp counselor shirt I was wearing- "...You have some visitors," I heard the last part of what Darnell was saying. What? Visitors? Who would want to see me? Possibly Matt. He was the one who helped me last night. If Kenneth appeared in that doorway, I swear to God I was going to strangle him with my bloody bandages.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw a familiar face appear from behind Darnell.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" I asked as my mom came in through the doorway. I was not expecting to see her here. I thought she would still be at home sucking face with Rod. Her face was filled with concern and worry. She looked like she hadn't slept in days. She came rushing up to my cot bed and wrapped her arms around me. I winced when a sharp sting coursed through my body.

"Oh my sweet baby! You had me so worried!" she said, squeezing me before releasing me and looking down at me. "You weren't answering my calls or texts! I kept calling you and you never answered! I was afraid something happened to you!" Guilt resurfaced back up from my stomach. Shit. I forgot about that. Here I was in this place and I didn't even think that my mom actually cared to want to make sure that I was ok. I felt terrible.

"My phone broke. I had no way to call you," I admitted to her.

Another face appeared from behind my mom and Darnell, causing me to stiffen. Rod's fat dough face glared down at me from where he stood. He wore a dirty, grease stained tank and muddy jeans. He pointed an accusing fat finger at me. "Don't lie to your mother! You could have asked the general store or sheriff's office to borrow their phone!" he shouted at me.

I narrowed my eyes at him. What the hell was he doing here?

My mom turned to him and placed a hand on his hairy, Cheeto dusted chest. "It's ok, honey. Everything is ok now," she tried consoling him, but he still glared at me. "You had your mother worried sick! She wouldn't stop asking if you were ok and why you weren't answering her!" he continued.

"Rod! Everything's fine now!" my mom raised her voice again. Rod turned his glaring eyes at my mom and huffed angrily. I heard him mutter something under his breath but wasn't able to catch it in time. Darnell looked uncomfortable being in the same room with Rod, so he started to leave, but stopped when the door swung open and another pair of people came into the building.

"Dad?!" I asked in bewilderment. What the hell was going on? Why were my parents here? In the same room of all things? My dad looked over to me and approached my cot bed, avoiding the glares from my mom and Rod.

"Hey kiddo. How are you doing? I heard from one of the counselors outside that you got hurt, and I got worried. You feeling ok?" he asked, putting on his false smile. Something was wrong. Besides my mom and Rod being here. My dad was also here...which meant-

"Good morning everyone!" said a shrilly voice from behind my dad. "There you are, Darnell! We were told you'd be in here! I needed to talk to you about the preparations for tomorrow!"

Fuck. Everyone was here. Even Margaret. My dad's City Hall fuck buddy. She wore a magenta blouse and tight black skirt. Her hair was dyed blonde and had so much product in it, it could have its own area code. How my dad thought she was worth cheating on my mother with, I'll never know. As if the City Hall lady had mind reading powers, her bright blue eyes drifted over to me. Then she gave a huge, fake grin.

"Helloooo, darling! Your father has told me so much about you! How nice to finally meet you!" she said as she came up to me and tried shaking hands with her bright red manicured nails, but stopped when she saw the bandages. "Oh! You poor thing! What happened?!" she asked me.

"Plants attacked me," I told her seriously, but she laughed in response. "Such a kidder! Your father always said. Right, darling?" she asked as she turned her head to my dad. My dad nodded, averting his eyes from her and looked over to my mom/ his ex wife.

"Hi, Lola..." my dad said to my mom.

"Dick," my mom said, which is actually my dad's real name. Fitting.

The First Aid cabin was starting to feel very overcrowded. Thankfully the nurse came in and saw everyone standing around my cot bed and told everyone to leave. Margaret tried fighting with the nurse and asking: "Do you know who I am?" Fortunately, my dad was able to calm her down and lead her out of the room.

Eventually, Darnell, my mom and Rod left the room as well, leaving me alone once again. I sighed a deep sigh, relieved everyone was gone, but the anxiety still lingered. Both of my parents were here, as well as their terrible romantic partners. It was already bad enough my ex and his brainwashed bitch of a girlfriend were here already. On top of all that, Jason hated me for putting on the camp counselor shirt and now assumes I'm one of them. And I STILL had no idea where the Necronomicon book was! Could I just have one good thing happen to me?

I tried fighting back the tears of frustration and the feeling of exhaustion. I was so tired, I could barely keep my eyes open. I didn't want to sleep. I was too heartbroken and too anxiety driven to even allow my body to relax into a deep slumber. Eventually, sleep won and took hold of my sluggish brain and I fell asleep...