*NOT EDITED*
I am completely fucked.
Ryan Brooks
You could tell that the whole camp were holding their breaths. I glanced from Lanie to Sean. Why wasn't he the one who was running camp fire? Why is Goodwin here, and why the hell is everyone so tense?
Sean had clenched his jaw, his hands curling into fists. I turned my gaze back to Lanie and Goodwin. He was walking toward her and my hands mimicked Sean's. Kris's leg kept bouncing up and down anxiously. I wanted to tell him to cut it out, but I grinded my teeth together. Goodwin placed a hand on Lanie's shoulder and two rows in front of me, Moore shifted -- noticeably -- in his seat, clearly as uncomfortable as I was.
Goodwin cleared his throat and then readjusted the satchel that was around his shoulders. He kept it close to his body, patting it every once in a while.
"Lane Noelle Daniels, seventeen years of age. Blonde hair, blue eyes, five feet and one inch tall, one hundred and ten pounds. Lane Noelle, what is your biggest fear?" Goodwin bent his knees so he was eye level with Lanie. Her nostrils flared as her eyes darted from Goodwin to nowhere in particular, over and over. Goodwin chuckled. "That's alright, Lane, you can tell us. I, of course, already know. I know everything about you."
He stood and then he spoke. "You came here in 2008, when you were twelve years old for breaking and entering, defacing private property and attempting to murder a police officer." Lanie's face fell and I could understand why. This man was about to spill her entire life in front of all these people.
People looked from one another, finally finding out how Lane had gotten here in the first place. Kris glanced at me and I felt like apologising, telling him that the rumor of her parents being spies was much cooler, but I only looked back at Lanie.
"This was strange for your parents," Goodwin continued. "You had never gotten in trouble before and you had suddenly jumped from their little-goody-two-shoes into this brat that they didn't think that they could control. And then, through out your years here, Lane Daniels, you have just been a large pain in my ass. You've attempted to escape a numerous amount of times, which is truly disheartening." Goodwin stopped pacing directly in front of Lane.
"I thought you would enjoy your stay here. Especially after you met your good ol' friend Cal," I saw Moore shift again, and guess he was who Goodwin was talking about. "But you know what I think?" Goodwin leaned over her, his hands on the chair's arms. "I think you only got close to Cal Moore because he reminded you of home."
Lane's nostrils flared again and this time when her eyes darted away from Goodwin, I sware she looked directly as me, our eyes locking for at least a milisecond. "What's that kids name again? Oh, yes! Of course! He just arrived here didn't he? Ryan Brooks?"
I felt more than a dozen eyes shift to me, but I kept my eyes on Lane. From my peripheral vision I could see Moore shift again, the veins in his neck bulging.
"So tell the camp, Lane. Tell them your biggest fear," Goodwin backed away from her and when she stayed silent he sighed. "I'll tell you what, Lane," he says, condescendingly. "I'll tell them what it's not. How about that?" He pats his satchel.
"It's certainly not leaving your parents forever, we know that they couldn't give two shits about you," he waved his hand, as if it was nothing. "It's not about never leaving this place, you fit in quite well when you're not trying to escape." He used his fingers to count as he spoke. "It's obviously not losing Cal Moore, or Ryan Brooks for that matter. I mean you don't truly like Cal, do you? He's just a replacement. And Ryan, you obviously know you'll never lose him because he's so obviously in love with you that whenever you decide to go running back to him he'll welcome you with open arms," Goodwin glanced over to me, he knew exactly where I was sitting, and then sent me a wink. My jaw clenched tightly.
Lane made no show of any emotion. She was always good at that. "And lastly, I'd say that you're not afraid of me, or punishment or death. You just despise me, and that is completely different from fear. And you welcome punishment and death, because both would take your mind off those thoughts that always circle your brain." Goodwin stepped behind her chair, placing one hand on her shoulder and the other reached into his satchel.
"No, Lane Daniels is not afraid of much," he spoke out to the rest of the camp. "Many of you know of her and you know that to be true. But now I will show you the one thing that can get Lane Daniels terrified." His hand retreated from his satchel in a fist, but I couldn't see what he was holding.
Sean shot out of his chair, tense as ever as Goodwin placed his fisted hand on Lane's shoulder, and then opened it.
Lane's scream pierced through the building, a large contrast to the silence there was before hand. She shot up out of the chair and I watched as something bright red fell from her shoulder, wriggling and twisting as it fell onto the floor.
"Snakes," Goodwin smirked.
Lane danced away from the thin, long, red snake as it slithered on the floor at her feet. She brought her hands up to her lips, chomping away at her nails.
"Everyone out! Camp fire over!" He shouted and everyone shot from their seats, getting out as fast as they could, not daring to glance at Goodwin as they passed. Sean, Moore and I were the only ones who hesitated. We eventually followed everyone as they exited the building. I watched as Goodwin left, heading straight for his cabin in the woods. He donned a smug smile and I wanted so badly to punch it off his face.
I turned and saw at least five men, all dressed like Sean, circle around Lane, who was still in the camp fire building. She figeted where she stood, glancing at the boxes that each man held. Someone tugged at my arm, pulling me along and I turned to see it was Sean. I shrugged my arm away from him and kept walking.
I froze when I heard Lanie scream, abviously petrified. Sean stopped too and he turned, his eyes as wide as a full moon. I was afraid to look back, but when I did I saw the men leaving, closing the large doors to the camp fire building. Through the crack in the door, before they were completely shut, I could see Lane in the middle of the room, completely surrounded by the dozens and dozens and dozens of snakes that slithered out of the wooden boxes.
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I couldn't sleep at all. Not when I could hear Lanie's shrieks in the distance. I don't know how long it had been, but all of my bunk mates were fast asleep and snoring. How could they do it? Fall asleep when someone was out there, screaming their head off, as they're surrounded by their worst fear. Maybe it was because I knew her, better than anyone else here did. But I still couldn't understand it.
I threw of the thin blankets, shoved my feet into my boots and donned my black shirt. I peered out of my tent and saw no one walking around. It must've been pretty late, around three in the morning probably, or else the guards would have been out patrolling. I started off walking slow and as quietly as I could, but once I got away from the tents, I changed my pace to a jog, heading for the camp fire building.
The closer I got, the louder Lanie's screams. You could tell she was reeking havoc at her throat, her screams hoarse and broken. The closer I got I could also see the faint light coming from the building's doors.
I slowed when I reached it. Lane's screams hurt my ears and I wanted to cry for her. When Lane was younger , she had sort of a Harry Potter moment. At the zoo, the workers hadn't shut the glass all the way for the snake exhibit. She fell in and the large Boa Constrictor had wrapped itself around her entire body.
"C'mon Lane, you can do it, c'mon please, just walk towards me."
I was surprised when I heard the voice. I knew it was his voice and yet when I turned the corner and saw Sean standing there, a flashlight in his hands, I was still even more surprised. Then I remembered when I was digging holes, and Lane had stopped to talk to Sean, a bright smile on her face, and his.
Lane's eyes darted from Sean to me, and then back to Sean. Seeing her look away from him, Sean turned to look at me, for the briefest second, and when he decided that I wasn't another guard, or the tiniest threat to him, he turned back to Lanie and tried to coerce her into walking toward him again.
That's when I really took in Lanie's appearance. She was covered in sweat, from head to toe, her shirt and shorts clung to her and her hair was dripping, like she walked through a water fall.Three snakes had made their way onto her body, one wrapped around her calf, another dangled off her shoulder and the last wove itself through her fingers. The rest were still slithering around her feet. There were so many. It was like she was standing in the middle of a lake.
Sean advanced forward, toes just about touching the lake of snakes before Lane let out an even louder scream and she cowered backwards as another snake started making its way up her leg. He stopped and dropped his flashlight, startled by the increase of volume. I wanted so badly to cover my ears, but I thought that would just make things worse.
"Fuck," Sean swore as the flashlight rolled away from him. "Brooks, help a man our here, huh?" I took a second to realise Sean had spoken, but then I broke into action, making way for the rolling flashlight. I picked it up and shone it their way. "Lane, darlin', you gotta work with me here," Sean spoke again.
The fourth snake that had begun moving up Lane's body when Sean first dropped the light was no already up to her collar bone and was still advancing. Lane glanced down at her chest, her screams getting louder before they stopped completely. The sandy colored snake was on her cheek, and even though she wasn't screaming anymore, probably in fear the snake would enter her mouth, she looked even more petrified than she had before. It's tongue shot out, wisping at Lane's eyelashes. She shut her eyes.
Seeing this as an opportunity, Sean started kicking snakes out of his way, reaching Lane as fast as he could. When he grabbed a hold of her arm she let out a scream. Sean ripped the snake from her face and then threw her over his shoulder, bringing her away from the lake of them. he put her on the ground, talking to her, trying to get her to calm down as he pulled the three other snakes from her body.
Sean motioned for me to get out of the building, and I did, followed by him as he lifted Lane with his arms around her waist and carried her out of the building. He placed her down once we were outside and I shut the doors. Her arms went around him, and though she wasn't screaming anymore, she was loudly sobbing into his shirt. Once in a while she would let out a loud, short shriek and jerk, like there was still something on her.
And then somethingk clicked. My eyes shot to Seans. "Do you have Chamomile tea?"
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After Sean had given me one of the dirtest looks I'd ever received in my lifetime, I explained to him that it calms Lanie down. Whether it was finding out her first crush liking her friend Alexis or just a sad movie, Chamomile tea always did the trick.
"We're lucky Bradshaw is a complete Mama's boy and keeps everything he sends her from town, even when its tea that he doesn't drink," I assumed Sean was talking about another guard.
Sean had brought us to his cabin and after sneaking away for a moment to go find the tea, he sat Lane on the couch, while Sean and I sat at the small kitchenette table. We were both watching her. Her mug was now empty, seated on the couch side table and she was asleep.
He cleared his throat and then glanced at the clock. I mimicked him and groaned when I saw the lit up numbers. 4:12 in the morning. "Get back to your tent. Before anyone wakes up and sees you. I'll bring Lane back to hers in a bit."
I stood and made way for the door, but he spoke up again and I froze.
"Her brother, Mike, he was in the service with me," Sean says. I quirk an eyebrow, but he keeps his gaze on Lane. "He knew that I was moved down here, and he pops in from time to time, not to talk to her, but just to see her, from afar, just to see how she's doing, but he told me to keep an eye on her for him. She's like a little sister to me."
I have no idea why he's telling me this.
"She told me what you did."
Ah, I get it.
"That's why I hate you. I hate you for doing that to her."
"I--"
"And I'm going to keep making your life a living hell for it." He finally turned to look at me, his eyes like daggers. If looks could kill.
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DUN DUNNNNN. Man, Ryan just can't catch a break.
I don't know if I made it really clear or whatever, but whenever theres a paragraph by its self or whatever, that's Lanie's POV. I put little random bits of her in there from time to time and I didn't know if I was really clear on that. ANYWAY
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xoxo