Oak Ridge

friday. july 5

Oh my fucking God.

I can't get out of bed fast enough as I scramble to throw my covers off and run to the bathroom. I race to a free toilet and puke my guts out in the bowl. To my surprise, another guy is also in here doing the same exact thing.

"Jesus Christ," the kid groans.

"You alright man?" I call out.

"Yeah, but this is like my third trip this morning."

"What time is it?" I ask.

"No clue," he answers.

I get up off the floor and flush the toilet. When I stand back up, I fight the wave of nausea I feel coming on and walk back into the main room to check the time. It's still pretty dark outside and I almost throw my phone at the wall when I see the time.

"Four in the fucking morning," I moan.

I look over to Myles' bed, hoping I didn't wake him up with my outburst and see that it's empty. His covers are thrown all over the place and his pillow's on the ground. I put it back on his bunk and look around the room for him.

"Dude, come here," the kid from the bathroom, Wade, calls me.

I go back to the bathroom and find him standing outside a stall. Inside it, crumpled up on the floor in a heap, Myles sleeps with his head on the toilet seat with his legs all tangled up to fit in the tiny space.

Before I can go get my phone to take a picture of the sight, another wave of nausea hits me and this time, I hit my knees in front of another toilet and throw up until I can't anymore.

"God, what the fuck happened?" I ask to no one in particular.

"I don't know," Wade says. "Must be some kind of bug thing if three of us are in here puking."

"Well I'm gonna get back to bed. You should try and sleep too. If any other guys get up, I'm sure we'll hear about it."

I stand up and walk weakly back to my bed, being careful not to move too quickly. Eventually, I go back to sleep, only waking up when my alarm blares in my ear.

The sound of a guy throwing up echoes through the cabin and I see the bed next to me, Marcus', is empty. I get up to go check on him, only to find myself running to vomit right with him. When I'm finished, I notice Myles still passed out in his stall.

I kick his foot and he stirs a bit.

"Myles," I croak.

"Mhm," he mumbles, eyes still closed.

"Dude you spent the night in the bathroom."

"Mhm."

"Get up," I direct as another guy comes running to throw up. "We need a free puking space."

"What?"

He opens his eyes as the kid pushes me out of the way to reach a stall. Myles sits up and looks around, finally registering where he is and standing up quickly.

"Man, why is everyone throwing up?"

"I don't fucking know!" I shout. "How many times did you come in here last night?"

"I guess just once," he says. "Considering I passed out on the toilet. I feel fine now, just a little weak maybe."

"Congratulations."

He gives me a blank stare, unimpressed with my sarcasm.

"I'm gonna go check on the other cabins," he starts, but makes a face. "After I brush my teeth."

"Fine."

As he gets prepared to leave, I watch from my bed as seven more boys find their way to the bathroom to blow chunks. Myles still acts unbothered by his sleepover with the toilet and saunters out of the cabin without a care in the world.

Lucky bastard.

A few of the guys in the cabin that seem unaffected by whatever the fuck is wrong with the rest of us get dressed for the day and leave the cabin, trying to get away from the carnage in here. I make two more trips to the toilet before Myles gets back and his news is pretty unsurprising.

"So in Sugar Pine, Mallory was puking her guts out while Mary Anne was in the bed holding her stomach like she's been shot," he says. "Chase is fine and Prince is doing the same as Mary Anne. Emily and Penny are both fine, but almost all of the campers are out of it."

The time rolls around for the bell to ring for breakfast, but it never does. I'm guessing Eric is suffering the same fate as we are. The few campers who seem to be unaffected by the... illness make their way to the mess hall anyway and apparently get fed considering they never come back.

After about an hour, Adam comes knocking on the door and Myles answers. The boys and I are still laid up in the bed, making trips to the bathroom every couple of minutes

"Hey guys, just checking in," Adam says. "It seems like we've got a pretty bad case of food poisoning, probably from the hot dogs yesterday. The campers who aren't affected are just hanging around today with the staff who are doing okay. So, guys you just take care of each other and rest up, okay?"

"Okay, Adam. Thanks."

He leaves the room, probably to check on another cabin and the screen door claps behind him. Myles opens it back up, propping it open with a sandal. The breeze from outside blows through the cabin and actually feels pretty nice.

"Blake, you need anything?" Myles asks. "Actually, do any of y'all need anything before I head out for a while?"

"Where are you going?"

"Just need to take care of some things."

"It's fine, man, go check on your wife," I say. "We'll be fine."

Myles laughs before waltzing down the steps again.

◾️◾️◾️

"When was the last time someone puked?"

"I haven't seen anyone else go in since I did around three," Matt says.

"Does everyone feel better?" Myles asks.

There's a collective affirmative groan from around the room. Personally, I still feel like shit, but less shitty than when I got up this morning. These poor guys have been through it today.

"Well it's schedule as normal tomorrow unless you literally just can't," Myles adds. "I'm gonna go do one more check before lights out."

"So how many times has he gone to 'check' today?" Wade asks.

"I've counted twelve," Marcus answers. "How much do you want to bet he's only gone over to Sugar Pine the last nine?"

"I think we all know he's only been going over there," I say. "Mary Anne's the only person he's thought about all day, guarantee it."

"So are they like a thing or what?" Marcus asks.

"Nah, but they will be," I sigh. "I just know it."