Becca's pov
"No that pin is supposed to go on the other side." Tyler yelled just as I was about to slap on it with a hammer.
"You serious?" I rolled my eyes "They all look the same, why does is it even matter?"
"Because. You just don't understand how this tent works."
"Right." I sighed. It had been this way ever since we unloaded the tent from the trunk. Tyler knew everything better.
"Why don't you just cook dinner? Gotta say, I'm quite hungry."
"Yea. Okay. I know my place." I got the cooker out of its bag together with the pasta and sauce we were gonna eat.
"You know how this cooker works, right?" Tyler lookes up from hammering.
"Of course, I do. I'm no imbecile, in contradiction to what you think. We work with this stuff at the community all the time." I told her, being a bit annoyed by her.
"Oh. Sorry." She seemed taken back by my answer.
I sighed loudly before putting some water in the pan to let the pasta cook.
"Done" Tyler suddenly yelled "Gonna put some sleeping bags and stuff in it. I actually love how small this tent is. It will be cosy."
"Yea. I'm so in the mood for that." I rolled my eyes.
"Oh come one, Rebecca. I'm sorry for yelling at you but I just wanted to be done very fast so that we could just enjoy each others company instead of being so busy." She explained as I put the sauce into a pan.
"It's okay." I stood up to give her a quick peck on the lips.
"So swimming, huh, is that still going to happen after you cooked dinner?"
"Tyler..."
"Okay, so swimming." She smirked.
"Maybe. Grab some plates. It's almost done." I told her. Tyler got some stuff out of the car and soon we able to eat.
"You cooked surprisingly well. When I cook off that thing something always burns." Tyler complimented me.
"It's a good thing you did the tent and I did the cooking then." I took a bite from my pasta "It's way to cold too go swimming tho. It's already getting dark, we can't see anything."
"Ooh, so you wanna see stuff. I could show you right away." She smirked, once again.
"Tyler!" I yelled as my cheeks turned a dark shade of red "That's not what I meant and you know that."
"I just like teasing you, babe." She put her empty plate away "But we could roast some marshmallows as well and watch the stars."
"I love watching the stars." I smiled "Right after my grandma died my mom told me that the first star that would come up in the sky every evening was our grandma to watch over us."
"So that right there is your grandma?" Tyler pointed at the only start that was to be seen right now.
"Yeah."
"What a beautiful thought."
"It is." I smiled at the thought of my grandma. Her and I had always shared a special bond. She didn't seem to fit into the community, just like me. When I was eleven she died and it broke my heart.
" Let's look for some wood to start a fire with." Tyler interrupted my thoughts as she stood up from the alternative wooden bench we had found when we arrived and took a torch with her as I followed her into the forest.
"Hold this" I was handed two blocks.
"And this." Three more.
"This one." Tyler held up one more.
"Okay, seriously? I can't really carry more than five huge blocks of wood. I guess we can built a fire if you carry two as well." I stated.
"You're right." Tyler bent over a picked up another one and shone the torch again "Let's go back."
"I hate the sounds in this forest." I said as another animal made sure we knew he existed.
"That's camping, honey." Tyler kissed me on my cheek.
"Well, at least you're with me so I'm already used to animals."
"What?! If I didn't have my hands full..." She narrowed her eyes at me.
I just laughed at her as I settled myself down at our self-made bench as we arrived back to our spot. Tyler made a fire a got some marshmallows with some skewers.
"Here" she handed me some "You know how this works, right?"
'Of course, we did this a lot with the youth at the Amish. Mostly on Sundays and holidays."
We roasted a few of them om the fire, after Tyler made us some hot chocolate.
"This is delicious." I told her as I sop the last marshmallow in the chocolate.
"I know, right, though it's getting a little cold here."
"We could go to bed, it might be better there." I suggested "But it's, like, really early."
"Going to bed doesn't we have to sleep, yet."
"Tyler..." I rolled my eyes.
"No! That's not what I mean, Becca." She defended herself "But you could tell me a story. About yourself. Something that marks you."
"What do you mean?" I frowned.
"Like the huge scar on your arm I just noticed today. You managed to hide that well, although it's nothing to be ashamed of, I guess."
I sighed internally. I knew this day would come. I mean she's my girlfriend and I knew I should eventually tell her, but I just never thought I would have to tell anyone since everyone at community knew. I mean, how could they not? It's not only a scar on my arm, but also a big scar in Amish' history.
"I guess I'll tell you, but you'll have to tell me the story of the scars on your ribs to me."
"Okay." Tyler agreed.
We soon changed into our nightclothes and rolled into the small tent. We both had the our own sleepingbag but we had to share our air mattress.
"Pretty cosy, huh?" Tyler wrapped her arm around me, making me roll closer to me.
"So I guess I start telling, then?"
"If you ready, yeah." She planted as small kiss on my fore-head to encourage me.
"Okay so have you ever seen the movie 'Amish grace?" Tyler shook her head.
"Okay well, Amish grace is a movie that's based on a true story that happened to us." I started my story. "It happened in 2006, 10 years ago, when I was only eight years old. As you can guess I went to a school, back then. It was a one-room schoolhouse, with only children in the ages 6 to 13. On a day, October second, a man, Charles, came into our classroom. He mumbled some words I don't remember and left. But he came back, with a gun, wires, chains, nails, tools and some small bag. I didn't really knew what was going on, but I was so so scared. Some parents with infants were visiting that day and he made them leave, or let them escape, together with a pregnant women and all of the boys. Only the girls were still there, including me. There were ten of us left. He made us line up against the chalkboard. We knew we were in danger, real danger and suddenly two of the girls, Marian and Barbara, suggested that he would shoot them first so that the others could be spared. Marian was indeed killed and Barbara was wounded. And suddenly he just started shooting at us, randomly. He shot eight out of ten people and killed exactly half of us, before killing himself in front of the eyes of those who where still alive, like me. I was one of the eight girls that was shot but I was also one of the five girls who stayed alive. He shot me in my arm, which made me have an operation, which caused the scar. Naomi and Marian died immediately, Anna when we arrived at the hospital and two sisters, Lena and Mary, where taken off of life-support, eventually. There was no desk, not one chair, in the whole classroom that wasn't splattered with either blood or glass. There were bullet holes everywhere, really everywhere. But the community bought it really well. We are built up of forgiveness and hope. People might say we are a cult, and maybe we are, but we are also good people. Just a few hours after the shooting one of the fathers, from a girl that was shot, went to the family of Charles and told them that we forgive him and that we felt sorry for them and their loss. Another man from our community held Charles' sobbing dad in his arms for as long as an hour. And you know what? I don't even really blame Charles. He killed my friends, scarred me physically and mentally, but what is life without mercy and grace? I can hold grudge against him but I will not make me feel better. I can be mad at his wife and kids, but they didn't do anything wrong. But sometimes, just sometimes, I get so angry at him. In his suicide notes he said that he was held anger against God, but did have to take it out on us? We didn't do him any harm, did we? Why, Tyler why? It's so unfair."
"Shh" Tyler held me even closer as the tears streamed down my face "I'm here now, honey, I'm here. You're safe with me."
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In case you were wondering, this really happened at the Amish' community sad, but true. I used some real names and the mostly the real story... It happened in West Nickel Mines. And story is just so sad. Those girls must have been so terrified, but it was beautiful to see how much forgiveness those Amish people spread tho (: Have a nice week!!