Camp Life

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Hippocrates' (Sean's) POV

"Everything is all set Owen," I tell my best friend, brother, and team lead.

"Good. How are you three fitting in," he asks.

"Well we stand out like sore thumbs since we are the only males on camp besides the rangers who try to avoid the dining hall if at all possible," I tell him. I still don't understand why the Academy sent us and not a girls team to complete this mission.

"It's only for a few weeks. Besides if you find this girl then you might be able to come home sooner," he reasons.

"We've already met the camp director and the head cook. I don't think it's the cook. Apparently she's only been working here for a day and a half. She just became the cook when we showed up. According to the camp director she has been working as a volunteer here for years, but she didn't get hired as staff until they were short staffed," I tell him.

"There is something rather strange going on there. Watch your back. You never know who you can trust," he warns me.

"We have each other's backs. We'll be home before you know it," I say.

"Keep me updated," Owen says before singing off. I move from my position on the porch of the dining hall, which they call Hunter. I wander inside and hear music playing from the kitchen. It doesn't sound like something Gabe and Luke normally listen to so I'm going to assume that it is Marvel's music. I still can't get used to the idea of a camp name. I really want to know what her real name is. It would make our lives so much easier if we could just run a background check on all of the staff, but first we would have to snag all of their names. I can get a hold of the ones who have medicine, but there is still a good chunk of staff who doesn't. I go and peek into the kitchen and see Gabe, I mean Picasso, dancing while stirring a giant bowl of brownie mix. Loki is cutting up tomatoes and onions while singing along to the One Direction song playing. I look for the source of the music and see a purple phone sticking out of a mixing bowl on the counter in the center of the kitchen. Marvel walks in from the back room carrying four industrial size cans of taco meat. She is singing along to the song and the weight of her load doesn't even seem to bother her. This girl is really turning out to be something amazing. Most people would complain about getting thrown into a job like this last minute, but all she did is jump right in and get to work. I'm about to duck back out of the kitchen when she spots me.

"Need something to do Hippocrates," she calls out to me as she sets the cans down on the counter and grabs a can opener out of a drawer without even looking. Yes without looking, because her gaze was on me daring me to enter her kitchen.

"Actually yes. I've already familiarized myself with the emergency procedures for camp and now I have nothing to do unless someone shows up with a sprained ankle or a bee sting," I tell her.

"First of all don't jinx it, or next thing you know Fern will be on her way to the hospital with another bee sting. Or some camper will hit their head in the pool and will have to be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance," she warns me.

"You speak from experience don't you," I ask. She has that air about her that says she knows something I don't.

"Well Fern is severely allergic to bees and was sent to the hospital at least three times last summer. And as for the pool thing. I may still hold the record for the only camper to leave to camp in an ambulance," she says. I notice Picasso and Loki listening in with interest.

"Let me guess. You hit your head in the pool," I tease.

"I did a somersault underwater and hit my head really hard. When my migraine kept getting worse I told a counsellor about it and she talked to the head lifeguard. He did a check and when my headache still got worse he made the decision to call Rob, the health officer, the camp director, and an ambulance. I went to the hospital. They did a few tests on me, declared nothing was wrong, and I was back at camp that night. I still get migraines from it though," she explains. It takes me a minute to process this information. I make a list of questions to ask in my head.

"Why did you call Rob? Isn't he one of the rangers," I ask.

"Yes he is a ranger, but he is also a volunteer fireman. It made sense for him to be a first responder to an accident on camp. If you're going to play 20 questions why don't you come help with dinner prep? We still need to get the celery cut into sticks," she says motioning me over as she grabs a knife and a cutting board and the bags of celery sitting on the counter. She sets me up next to Loki and we all sit around the counter doing dinner prep and talking.

"How long have you been coming to this camp," I ask her once we are all set up and working on our tasks. I'm surprised Loki and Picasso didn't warn her about me not being able to cook for shit. Small tasks like this I can handle, but have me try and cook a meal and I might end up treating you for food poisoning.

"Well my first summer as a camper was 2010. I've been volunteering for weekend programs throughout the school year since 2011. This is the first summer where I am actually staff. I did spend a week and half here as a CIT last summer where I worked as staff, but didn't get paid as staff," she tells us. So she loves this camp. You can tell from the passion that makes an appearance in her voice when she talks about it.

"You really love coming here don't you," Gabriel, I mean Picasso, says before I can say it. I see the same look in both his and Loki's eyes that I know is in my own. We are jealous of having a place like this that you can keep coming back to that you love and knowing it will always be there no matter what. We always wanted something like that growing up. We have that now in the form of our family, but it still doesn't stop the longing and jealousy.

"Camp is my way of escaping from reality. There is no judgement. No pressure to do something you're not comfortable doing. It's a safe place to explore new things without getting hurt in the process," she says. I look into her eyes and see that it was more than that. It was a way of escaping from the hurt and the pain in her life. She doesn't notice, but a single tear slips out of the corner of her eye and trails its way down her cheek.

"That's why you came back to work on such short notice. You want to make sure that everyone that comes here feels safe like you do. You want to make camp a safe place for girls to come and not worry about their troubles," Loki says softly. She looks up and nods.

"Camp is also a lot of fun. A lot of my favorite memories are from camp. But lets talk about something happier. Or better yet lets not talk at all. Let's sing," she says before she cranks up the music. I still don't understand why her phone is in a mixing bowl, but I won't question it now. We sing and dance as we prepare dinner and have fun together. I know that Loki, Picasso, and I have learned quite a bit more about Marvel then she even realizes we know. I know we all want to try and fix her the way we fixed each other. We may not know her story yet, but you can be sure as hell that we will find out eventually. We want to know what made such a sweet girl hurt so bad.