(Daniel's POV)
My whole life I had been searching for the light, and trying to make other people see it, make other people feel safe.I was looking in the wrong places, the light, it was.... It was here all along. It was inside this happy go lucky camp counselor, why? I have no fucking idea. All I know is I can't possibly let him go. He made me feel like I was on cloud nine and I was never coming down.
"Oh no! It looks like you dropped your Kool-aid on your shoes. Here I can help you with that!" David spoke, I went to go protest but he swiftly appeared near my feet and started wiping the mixture off of my shoes.
"It sure is wonderful that you made Kool-aid for everyone! What are we having a party for?" David asked. I was trying to come up with a lie on the spot but my brain was so scattered with emotions and thoughts that I couldn't think straight. However, before I could reply, Max stepped out from behind David and and started flailing his arms around.
"For God sakes David stop being so nice and actually look around! Something's clearly wrong here and I've been trying to tell you that!" Max shouted, David crossed his arms.
"Max, I thought you were in serious danger yesterday you had me all worried. Obviously you just don't like change. I know making new friends can be a little difficult but surely there's no need to be mean." David told Max. Max looked as if he was about to explode. Neil patted his shoulder and tried to comfort him but Max was still on the edge of snapping.
"Daniel are we going to drink this juice now?" Harrison asked me, the other kids agreed with him. I stared at the cups full of poison and death.
"Thanks for taking such good care of the kids Daniel, I would be so upset if they were upset, but everyone has a smiling face!" David spoke. My heart started to race. If the kids were dead I would lose him. He would call the police right away, I would be locked up and David would be crying. Always crying. I couldn't have that happen.
"We away love Daniel!" the kids chanted. I waved my arms at them.
"Wait kids I just realized we can't drink this juice because I dropped the spoon on the ground and it would taste really bad if we drank this kind! Here, toss your cups away and I'll go and make us a new batch for our party!" I spoke. Why did I say this? The hypnotized kids would obey me, they would be saved, and I would fail my job here.
"Awe Daniel you really do care about the kids don't you?" David asked. Then I remembered. I was doing it for him. I brought the bowl into the mess hall and dumped it out, making sure everyone else tossed out their cups and started fresh. I put in the Kool-aid mix and water and stirred it. Instead of adding poison, I added three pitches of salt, a pint of lemon juice, and crushed sage that I had in my pocket. According to my journal I had kept all these years, this was a way to make the mind control effect wear off at an accelerated pace. If I fed this to the kids they would all be back to normal, and David, my sunshine, would be happy. I hummed as I did this in the mess hall alone, I took the bowl out and began to head for the front door when it swung open and Max was standing in front of it, fists clenched and teeth baring.
"You're a fucked up person with a fucked up life and I hope someone fucks you up more some day! You're a liar! What the fuck are you doing?!" Max shouted these words at me, Neil rushing in behind him. I shot him a smile and held the Kool-aid up over my head.
"Max, people change all the time for different reasons. Today I was the one who changed, maybe you should to." I spoke to him, walking past him to get outside. He chased after me.
"You didn't change! You're just pretending for David now because you want to brainwash him too!" Max screamed, Neil was telling him to stop but he wasn't.
"I don't expect you to understand." I told him. He growled loudly, like a dog standing it's ground when threatened.
"You're faking it to get him under your control you fucking cultist! And don't think for a second I'm going to let you do that easily! I'll figure you out Daniel! I fucking promise I will!" Max threatened me, I just laughed to myself. Max wasn't someone I was worried about and certainly wasn't someone I cared about right now. I walked back to the table and handed our filled cups to everyone. David even took one from me smiling largely.
"To camp Campbell!" I spoke while making a toast. The kids raised their cups.
"To Daniel!" they said. I chuckled and David did as well, the warm smile never leaving his face. I was sort of curious as to why everyone seemed so oblivious here but whatever. The kids drank the new Kool-aid I had made and I took a sip too. Then my eyes got wide, and my mind switched on again. Why the hell was I curing these kids? I need to sacrifice them to Zeemuug! What the fuck was I doing?! I shouldn't have been doing something like this over some guy named David I had only met once. This was a mistake! What the fuck was wrong with me?! My mind was running a mile a minute, my heart started to pound. All my hard work gone because this guy fucked with my mind and made me forget what was really important. Simon would find out. I would get in trouble. He would take me back to the compound, he would put me in the Warm Bath again, he would kil- before I could finish my thought, I started running off to the counselor's cabin. I rushed into the small bathroom there and sunk to the floor. I could barely breath, I felt like I was having an anxiety attack. I tried to control my breathing. In and out and in and out. My heart rate slowed. What was I going to do? All those kids would be back to normal in just a few hours, and I couldn't just starting killing people off, someone would call the police and then I would go to jail and Simon and Zeemuug would be mad at me but at the same time if I didn't start killing people off they would be mad too. My beliefs had be altered by one green eyed monster, how could I have let that happen? What sort of supernatural power did David have?! A knock on the door made me jump up off the ground and turn towards it.
"Um, sorry Daniel I'm just wondering if you are ok, you ran off in such a rush I thought maybe you forgot something important." it was David's voice. I shivered. Why was I getting these conflicting emotions? I felt like a fandom stan, I wanted to kiss his face but I also wanted to punch it at the same time, it was all very confusing, especially because I had just met him. I realized I was taking too long of a pause and gathered myself enough to give him a reply.
"I'm fine, just you know, umm... Duty calls?" I said it in a questioning voice. That was a terrible choice of words. David let out a small, precious laugh and then told me not to take to long and thanked me again for taking such good care of the campers. I felt sick. What in the world was I supposed to do? Save my own life and kill these kids and David, or keep the one thing in my life that finally made me feel something other than hatred, sorrow and fear? Either way, I didn't have to make the decision right at this moment, I had till Friday at least to make the choice, and even once Friday did roll around, I would still be able to work my way around Simon's calls just enough to not be able to contact him during the weekend. I could put this off till Monday, therefore I had to go and throw on my fake smile and act like I didn't just have a meltdown because I had felt something I hadn't felt since I was 1 and my parents still loved me.
"David you're unbelievable." this was Gwen's voice, she was talking to David. David laughed and scratched the back of his head. They were just standing in the doorway of the cabin
"Well, if you're not going to use the rest of your week then I will take it and add it onto my week, how's that sound?" Gwen asked him, he nodded and then rubbed his arm.
"It's just, Max seems really uneasy and he came to me to protect him right? And I know nothing is wrong with Daniel, but if Max thinks that maybe he will feel better with me around to watch out for him." David explained. Gwen nodded and patted his back.
"Ok, whatever you say David I get almost 4 extra vacation days!" Gwen cheered as she turned around to come back into the cabin. She started to collect her things in one of her backpacks. I walked over to the door and stood with David.
"I wasn't trying to eavesdrop but, we're you talking about Max just then?" I asked, I was just curious because Max seemed like he was going to cause me a lot of trouble especially because David just said Max was on to me.
"Yeah, he is a troubled child, but it's because his parents don't seem to care about him and in return he doesn't care about most things. I feel like he's striving for some sort of attention, negative or positive and honestly if I can help him at all I'm going to try." David explained. I felt a pang of sorrow in my chest, something I rarely ever felt. This camp, these kids, this guy standing next to me as we watched the campers run around and Gwen load up the car. This place was going to change me, and I didn't know if that was a good thing, or a terrible, rotten thing.
A/N this chapter wasn't amazing sorry guys... next one will be better promise!!! Senpai Barry's got you fam !