Seeing Red

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The sun rises and colors the sky a beautiful crimson and gold hue, painting the once dark and empty canvas with vibrant colors. The hilltop is dancing with the colors of the morning, reflecting off of the 5 sleeping bags scattered across the land. One of the bags is empty. On the small cliff at the edge of the campsite sits a golden blonde girl. She swings her legs over the ledge and hums to herself softly, trying not to wake the others.

"Far from the brothers' blinding light,

Beneath the blanket of the longest night.

Where we work in the dark and deep,

Where the glow moss grows and the crawlies creep.

No need to fear and no need to weep."

"You and that song again Elliott?" comes a voice. Elliott turns around, startled.

"March you scared me!" Elliott exclaims. March laughs.

"The song is an old tune from my old family. For some reason, I've never forgotten it." Elliott continues, a bit embarrassed that her friend heard.

"Oh Elliott! It's 10:30! We need to get everyone up!" exclaims March as she checks her watch. The two girls get up and look over the campsite. Elliott walks over to one of the bags and gently shakes it as March immediately heads to their packs.

"Come on Turk, wake up," she says softly. The wrap of blankets shifted and revealed a small brown-haired head.

"Elliott, five more minutes please," comes a muffled voice.

"No Turk, you need to get up. Our parents need us at the lab today, remember?" Elliott reasoned. The girl sighs and looks up at her friend, who was grabbing a large pot from their bags.

"March no!" Elliott whisper-yells. The red-haired girl smiles at Elliott, then starts banging the pot and the stick together, making a great deal of noise. Elliott glares at March, then laughs as the three others scrambled to see what the noise was.

"Oh come on March! Again?" yells Tobias. He shifted himself halfway out of his sleeping bag.

"I can't hear you!" March shouts while hitting the pot harder.

"Ok, ok, we're up March!" bellows Finn, his sandy hair sticking straight up. He gets up and taps Turk, who still was sleeping.

"Turk for god's sake, get up. There is no way you can sleep through that,"

"Fine." Turk mumbled and the pile of blankets began to shift. March finally stopped the noise and started packing. Elliott came to help.

"That wasn't really necessary," laughs the girl as she bends down, her blonde hair falling in her face. She brushes it behind her ear and March giggles.

All five of the kids are now up and helping to pack up their camp.

An hour later, the sun was high in the sky and the band of kids finished packing and started their 2 ½ mile trek down the mountain. The gang finally reached the bottom at 11:00.

"We need to hurry! See you guys at noon!" Says Turk as he dragged his brother down their street. Elliott and Finn left down another street soon after, then March headed back to her house.

At noon, the five friends and Mrs. Remington, Tobias and Turk's mom meet at their house and drive to the lab. Hawkins Lab is a grey concrete building with many glass windows to peer through on the upper floors, but everyone knows of the sealed basement where many peculiar tests occur. The party passed through the barbed wire fence and the dozens of armed guards patrolling the perimeter. Elliott leans against Finn nervously and March hangs out of the car window, her red hair flowing behind her like a flag as she admires the guard towers and bunkers scattered across the property. Mrs. Remington hits a bump and March slams her head on the roof of the car. Turk giggles as March sheepishly pulls herself back into the seat.