The Legend of the Firewalker, Book #1

Chapter 6.1 (Leadership Camp)

Author Note:

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Chapter 6.1

Nathan awoke to the sunlight that pierced through the tiny crack in the curtains to his dorm room window. Each night before going to bed, he did his best to come up with a new way to try to keep the sunlight from waking him up in the morning. He tossed and turned several times in bed trying to block out the sun and fall back to sleep before his alarm went off. After several attempts, he gave up and just stared at the ceiling of the all-white room. He was still reluctant, however, to turn off his alarm clock and dreaded every second and every minute that went by because he knew he would soon have to get out of bed.

I don't know how Lafonda lived in this dorm all last year, he thought. Staying here is definitely starting to feel like punishment.

It was the end of the first week at camp, and Nathan already desired his cozy bed at home. He glared at the white walls and ceiling. "And I thought where I stayed last year was bad. Compared to this place, Douglas Hall is way better." He let out a stifled yawn as he sat up in bed. "I'm actually impressed that Lafonda would even stay here."

Things were pretty quiet as far as his nightmares were concerned, and he hadn't had any problems with his hands either. In fact, he hadn't had a bad dream or a problem with his hands since he left home for camp, but that didn't stop him from frequently thinking about Leah. Besides the strangeness of it all, he often wondered if she was okay or if she felt alone in all this.

More and more he found himself wanting to reach out to her, to comfort her, or at least to let her know she wasn't alone, that he too had strange things happening to him. Most importantly, he wanted to tell her that he had dreamed about her and possibly witnessed everything that happened to her that night. He wanted her to know that she wasn't crazy.

"I can't let her stay in that hospital. There is nothing wrong with her." He shook his head. "I know I'm not crazy," he murmured. "It's just too much of a coincidence between my dream and what happened to her. Now, before I go running off to go rescue her and to avoid looking like an idiot, I need to confirm what Leah looks like. I need to see a photo of her." He paused. "Lafonda did say there was a photo of her in the freshman yearbook."

Nathan's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a bouncing ball outside of his dorm room. The sound stopped and was followed by a quick knocking session on the door.

"Jonas ..." he said underneath his breath. "Why is he up already and still bouncing that stupid basketball?" He released a long drawn-out sigh. "If I have to tell him one more time to stop bouncing that ball inside, I'm going to take it away from him."

Nathan hopped out of bed and opened the door to a tall, shaggy-haired teenager.

The boy's slender frame towered over Nathan as he anxiously looked down at his camp counselor. "Is it time to eat yet?" asked Jonas. He continued to dribble his basketball. "I'm starving."

"Jonas," said Nathan, trying not to sound annoyed, "why are you up?"

"What do you mean?" he replied, his inquisitive eyes peeking beneath his curly dark hair. "We have to get up for breakfast."

"Yeah, but it's only 6:30," explained Nathan. "They don't even start serving breakfast till 7:30."

"Oh," responded Jonas nonchalantly. He paused for a moment but quickly began to dribble the basketball more fervently.

"Would you cut that out?" Nathan demanded. "You're going to wake everyone else up."

They both paused and turned their heads to the sound of doors opening and closing. Two other campers, Andy Jolie and Hugo Mattingly, wandered sleepily towards them.

"Is it time to head downstairs?" asked Andy. 

"Nope," responded Jonas, while pretending to make basketball shots in the air. "Not quite time yet."

"Oh, okay," nodded Hugo, his big arms barely squeezing past Nathan and into his room.

"What are you doing?" asked Nathan, clearly annoyed. "Get out of my room and off my bed."

Another door in the hallway opened as Jonas continued to bounce his basketball.

"If you keep that up, I'm going to take that ball away from you," warned Nathan.

"Oh, okay," answered Jonas, instantly stopping and beelining straight into Nathan's room.

"Uh, where are you two going?" protested Nathan, as Andy followed suit.

"Is it time for breakfast?" asked a new weary-eyed addition to the conversation.

"No!" sighed Nathan, stepping away from his door. "Go back to bed!"

"Back to bed?" the newcomer responded. "But it's almost seven!"

Nathan sighed again and turned around to face the three overgrown teenagers now engrossed in a conversation about IUCF basketball in his dorm room. "Don't mind me," he grumbled, while grabbing a towel from the closet, "I guess I'll get me a shower."

"Okay," nodded Jonas, pausing briefly to acknowledge him. "We'll wait for you. We can all go down to breakfast together."

"Great!" responded Nathan sarcastically. He huffed. "And this is only week one."

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