Camp Wildheart

It's not goodbye, it's Ah Hui Hou

Alex

The next morning, the mood was somber as they finished packing up, the campers in charge of putting everything back in their bags (which seemed to have shrunk) and leaving them for the bus to pick up before trudging into the breakfast hall behind the counselors to pick up their quick breakfast. 

Muffins, boxed milk, bananas. That wasn't too bad as far as last day camp meals, was it? Still, Alex grumbled a bit through the meal. Why did they have to leave now, when she was still so excited to be there with her friends?

The gloom of the evening broke apart just a little bit when Sophie walked up to the front of the grove with a big box (probably too big for her, but she seemed to be fine; an elfy thing?) She dropped it onto the table with a thud, then turned to face them.

"I don't know if you remember, but waaaay back when you applied for this camp, everyone picked an ideal t-shirt size. So, weeks later, your t-shirts are here. Come and get them when I call your name, and you can also take a marker to borrow for the signing."

Alex zoned out a bit, only moving from her spot in the weak morning sun that was getting stronger bit by bit to grab her camp shirt and pull it over the one she was wearing. The dual layers took away a bit of the chill, for which Alex was grateful.

Flipping the pen over her fingers slowly, she waited for the last name to be called. Finally, she thought. The boredom was done, until Sophie began to pass out little letters.

Opening hers (and not caring about the envelope), Alex saw a list of what looked like badge names. Blinking in confusion, she turned it over and saw a badge count. What? 58 badges, just for living here and enjoying camp?

Sophie raised her voice above the confused murmurs to explain. "Yeah, those are all the badges we earned. A couple of weeks ago I sat down and read the list, then just jotted them all down. A couple of you have more or less based on activities you chose to do, but... anyways, those are what you earned. 

We're probably going to win, because our grand total is 1,456 badges, so let's go to the pavilion, kick butt one last time, and sign t-shirts before..." her sentence trailed off, but Alex knew what she had meant, and it was truly painful, now that she realized how little time they had left together.

They were surprisingly not the first ones or the last ones there, only Dex sitting on the rocks waiting for the announcement. "Hey guys! Want to come do the craft I brought before a bunch of little kids swarm it?" 

Alex needed something to fidget with right about now, so she took one of the foam wheels and picked bright, slightly different colors of pink, green, and on Dex's insistence that it would look good, silver. 

The next half hour they spent weaving the bracelets, each of them at their own pace until everyone had one wrapped around their wrists. Alex felt stronger, somehow, almost like the entire camp experience had been consolidated into the bracelet on her arm. Although they hadn't realized it, the other seats in the huge area had slowly filled up.

The camp director stepped up to give one last speech. "Welcome to the end of camp. I know we'll all miss Camp Wildheart, but today is the last day to say our goodbyes. We have t-shirt signings, and a special craft. 

Before we get to those, I have to give you a few rules about the t-shirt thing. First, don't write too big or too small. Second, no cussing or inappropriate writings. Third, contact info is to be shared only if your parents are okay with it, so maybe don't write those on there, since we've gone so far without a lawsuit."

Sophie nudged her and whispered, "That doesn't apply to us!"

The director finished by saying, "And now, here's Counselor Dex to explain the craft with a story." Dex walked up and took the director's place at the front, freezing for a second before opening his mouth to speak.