ᴄᴀᴍᴘ ᴄᴜʟᴛ || ᴅᴀɴᴠɪᴅ ʀᴏʟᴇ ꜱᴡᴀᴘ ᴀᴜ

Chapter 1 || Arrival

"Oho, no, thank you for this wonderful opportunity!" David had rented out a hotel room to stay in while he was looking for a more permanent living situation. He was not going back to live with his parents, the very thought repulsed him. He was sitting on his bed, legs crossed as he was on the phone. He was talking to a (potentially) future coworker who was filling him in on the needed information on his job and all that. They had just finished up, the informational call being pretty basic and painless. They were saying their goodbyes.. and David was making it unnecessarily long.. as per usual.

"Well, David, we're quite excited to have you here on our staff team. You'll be a great fit for Heaven's Gate." Daniel, his coworker to-be, was on the other side of the phone. His voice was oddly nice to listen to, which was probably why he was put on 'answering phone calls' duty: to give the camp a good look. David didn't mind, though, he could see why a camp would do such a thing. It was like wearing a suit to an interview, answering a call with a silky voice and charismatic charm was a surefire way to get both customers and staff members.

David could hear the shuffling of paper on the other side of the phone, covering the ear that didn't have his phone pressed to it so he could hear what was going on.

"Well, I like you, David." Daniel spoke again, the smile could be heard in his voice. He placed a pen on the desk, which could be faintly heard from David's point of view. "How soon can you start?"

David was caught off guard- he'd just done a five minute "interview" (if you could even call it that) and he was already hired? He sputtered for a moment, stumbling off his bed and falling on his face. He scrambled to his feet and checked the calendar he had hanging on the wall, one that had a different photo of a forest for each month. He'd booked the room for tonight and tomorrow until 8:00 AM. He needed to find a cheaper one for longterm, so this one was a very brief stay. He looked up at the ceiling as he mentally ran the route from the hotel to the campsite.. an hour long drive. 9:00 would be fairly late.. maybe he could wake up earlier and check out before the end of his alloted time. "I can be there at 5:30 AM tomorrow, sir!"

"Please. Just Daniel, we're friends now. Be here at 7 AM, and bring whatever you need to stay longterm." Daniel responded, shuffling through paperwork again. "I'll see you tomorrow, David." The click of the call being hung up came almost as soon as Daniel finished his sentence, giving David no chance to respond.

Looks like he was going at 6:30 instead of 5:30. He wanted to show up early to make a good first impression, so he needed to go to sleep early to be well rested for the day. He seemed positive now that a door of opportunity was open, so he was excited. He took some melatonin and got into pajamas before quickly sliding into bed, He cuddled up under his blanket with his stuffed log pillow, closing his eyes and trying to sleep in preparation for the exciting day tomorrow.

—————

David woke up to his alarm going off at full volume, snapping up into a sitting position instinctively. He grabbed his phone and checked the time: 5:00 AM. He then pressed the home button on his phone to stop the alarm, standing up and stretching before going to take a quick shower.

A shower and a change of clothes later and David was ready to start packing everything up to head to Heaven's Gate. He was the most excited he'd been in a while. New friends, new opportunities... he was thrilled.

He sat in the front seat of his car, taking in a breath. He'd checked out, eaten a small breakfast, and was now ready to head to his new job. He couldn't wait to meet this Daniel guy, as well as all the campers. He really loved working with kids, especially ones that shared his adoration for nature.

David fumbled with his keys to turn the car on, the Almanac from earlier starting up again. 1973, was the year he was on. He pulled out of the parking lot of the (admittedly a little shady) hotel, looking over to the stand his phone was perched on that had directions to the campground.

David beamed as he spotted the sign for the campground: Heaven's Gate: Find yourself. It looked nice, he hated to admit it looked far nicer than Camp Campbell. He followed the dirt road up to the main camp, parking in the parking lot next to the counselor's cabin. He removed his keys from the keyhole, the car sputtering off as he opened the door and got out.

It was nice out, the perfect mixture of cloudy and sunny. It was just windy enough to keep him cool, but not too much so that he needed to put on a jacket or sweatshirt. He grabbed his box of things, taking in a deep breath before heading over to the counselor's cabin. He shifted the box over so he could hold it in one hand, knocking gently on the door. Hopefully he wasn't waking anyone up.

The door swung open, a tall man standing in the doorway with a grin plastered onto his pale face. "Well, hello there. My name's Daniel, and you must be David." He introducted himself, one hand on the doorknob and the other on his chest. He looked... disturbingly identical to David, save for the total lack of colour in everything but his striking blue eyes.

"Yep! Good morning, Daniel, I hope I didn't wake you?" David beamed, ignoring how odd it was that they looked like recoloured copies of eachother.

"Oh, no, I had just finished doing my normal morning routine! Please, come in." Daniel stepped aside, wrapping an arm around David's shoulders and ushering him in. "I'll be giving you a quick tour of the campgrounds, and then we'll go ahead and introduce you to the campers! But first, go ahead and set your things down. Your bunk will be underneath mine— right over there." He explained.

David took in the information with a slight nod, before going over and setting his box at the foot of his bed. He sat down, picking through his belongings and grabbing his water bottle, as well as a swiss army knife and a small flashlight just in case. He got up and made his way over to Daniel, who was waiting by the door.

"Alright, David! First things first, let's get you familiar with our campgrounds!" Daniel spoke once David was next to him again, flashing his co-counselor a grin. He headed out the door, David following behind him with a smile.

David was quite excited to be out on a campground again. Sure it had only been.. what, two days since he had to leave Camp Campbell? But it was still refreshing to be back in a place that would hopefully become his new home.

The future was looking bright for David, so much more so than he thought it did when he was forced to leave his original job. The doors of opportunity were open, serving him a new job and new friends on a silver platter. Boy, was he excited.

Things were going to be great!