Chapter Five: Raven's Arrival

Chapter Five:

Raven's Arrival

Raven had finally arrived at the camp along with her best friend Valerie; they are now standing in front of the entrance. "The Camp" is written on a bricky border, the wall was made up of unpainted bricks with moss growing over most of it along with a lot of creepers.

The board was old with cracks all over, it looked like it could fall apart anytime. Considering how annoyed Raven still is with Valerie, she somehow wanted the board to fall off on Valerie’s head, of course, she didn’t mean it but her gaze stated otherwise.

“Honestly V, tell me, do you think this was a good idea?” Raven questions Valerie, still confused about whether or not she made the right choice whilst having her eyes fixated on the sign.

“Oh stap whinin' aleady, it vill be fun, tust me!” Valerie assures Raven, grabbing her by her shoulders.

“Now lesi gou” Valerie drags Raven.

“Tsk Valerie careful, I might trip, '' Raven gets annoyed by how Valerie constantly kept on dragging her.

Before Raven could give it a second thought, Valerie quickly got hold of Raven’s hand and before she knew, they were already headed towards the entrance.

"We kan't get inn last" Valerie says as she pulls Raven alongside her when she sees other campers getting in.

Raven quickly scans each one of them, but could only see 4 people behind her and her attention breaks as another voice takes over.

“Hmm 1,2,3..just 4 other campers? I was expecting more people” she thinks to herself, how weird is it.. “But then again the mail did say it was only for a few selected participants, oh well” her mind constantly kept on interrogating herself.

“Here you go, We were anticipating your arrival”, the lady hands out a pamphlet to Raven with a smile. Her teeth were crooked and some of them were missing, not a good choice of person to welcome young campers.

She looked straight outta some horror movies, insects could be coming out of her mouth and engulfing her completely, in a matter of seconds. Raven couldn’t help herself from imagining such a scenario. But for Valerie it would be fun, since she seemed to enjoy horror movies especially the jump scares.

“Thank you”, Raven generously replies as she accepts it which seemed like a leaflet. She tried her best not to judge but she can’t help everything her mind does.

A lady in her mid 20s hands each one of them a pamphlet filled with all sorts of rules and regulations along with brief descriptions about the camp & site. Poor dental hygiene for a lady in her 20s? It didn’t make sense, something was definitely fishy. Maybe she only looked young since she had access to some youth elixir while her rotten teeth reflected her true age.

“Gal would yuu louk at those teet? Ahaha ” Valerie quickly makes fun and lets out a chuckle.

“Shhh quiet, she’ll hear you. It’s rude” Raven tries to hush Valerie before the lady could hear anything and decide to “unwelcome” them.

“Whut is this naw??”Valerie scans while quickly as she flips through the pages, completely ignoring what Raven had said a while ago.

“Uh Some kind of a rule book? I don’t know, let's check it out”, Raven answers while flipping through slowly, unlike Valerie.

“It’s tau skinie ta be caulled ah bouk” Valerie chuckled again.

It seems Valerie was having the time of her life, she didn't miss a single chance to make fun out of everything and enjoy herself. This made Raven less anxious about the place but not completely free to also enjoy it like Valerie was.

As the campers walked in one by one the lady proceeds to provide them with the instructions; she announces in her cracked voice:

"As you can see the leaflet I just gave you has your name written on the very top of it, it has specific rules and regulations that each one of you has to follow as long as you are inside the premises. For starters, your room number is also mentioned on the second page; you can settle in and take some rest as the journey must have been exhausting.."

The voice gets distant as Valerie and Raven take every other step inside the camp.

“Ooo Luk we ‘ave the same ‘oom numbe!”, Valerie exclaimed with joy waving both the pamphlets in the air and then in Raven’s face.

They were each allotted a number, which would be the room they’ll be staying in for the rest of the duration. Raven and Valerie got the same room number i.e. 3. As soon as they got inside they started looking for the accommodation building.

The lady who seemed like a guide showed them the way by signing with her hands:

" To the right…"

“Doesn't she hauv a mouth?” Valerie cinches at the sight.

Soon it seemed that nightfall was approaching as darkness began to consume the pathway. The road had several torches placed at all it’s the edges. They lit with fire one by one as they took each step forward, almost as if it were done by magic or sensors in terms of science. The odd part was that the flame was blue, shiny bright blue.

“Merveilles de la science. They might hauv auded saume kemical to lite them up like thaut” Valerie whispers in Raven’s ears. Somehow those words were enough to comfort Raven for the time being as she didn’t feel like running back the path they came in.

“It's honestly a beautiful sight but looks too good to be true”, Raven said to herself.

They followed the path and found a huge cabin-like building in front of them; they were supposed to stay here. Both Raven and Valerie quickly went inside and without wasting anymore time started looking for the number of their room.

“It should not be that difficult to find our room, since it’s 3”, Raven marked.

"9…7...4.." Valerie counted as they continued walking through the long passageway.

“There, faund iti!!”, Valerie called out, pointing at room no 3.

They head inside their newly allotted room, it had a red-orange mustardy hue to it, with a smell so musky it seemed as if the room had not been cleaned for ages. Oh and not to forget the spider webs that covered each corner of the room. There was a double bed in the centre to sleep on, of course, it was fraught with dust. The room was quite vintage, and so were the furniture to match the aesthetic.

As soon as they stepped inside, the wooden-floor creaked, it was obvious that the room was old and it looked more abandoned than owned. Raven was not very happy with this sight as it was not something she was used to and kind of began to regret her decision.

"Itz naut dat bad" Valerie sighed as she moved the pillow from its place.

Raven rolled her eyes as she took another step closer to the bed where - Valerie was already seated! She couldn’t bear the sight of filthy covers, especially the condition of the bed.

"It's wause from whee I caum fraum'' Valerie said while dusting the bedsheet clean with her palms to make it suited for Raven.

"I think I'll check out the washroom situation", Raven said in her already disappointed tone, this wasn’t the first impression she sought for.

Raven drops her bag on the floor, she couldn't care less anymore after being disheartened with the condition of the room. She swiftly walks out of the room to check what is the condition of the rest of the facilities.

The passageways were long, never-ending and difficult to get a hang of; in no time Raven was lost and knew only the way out through tracing her footsteps back. For a second her eyes tried to get familiar with the sight but it seemed impossible since there was no peculiar thing they could point out. Every corner looked alike, the walls were all painted in the same hues & the lack of light made it impossible to distinguish.

"Maybe I need some fresh air to clear my head", Raven said to herself as she takes a deep breath and sighs off whilst closing her eyes for a brief period.

Raven decided to follow the only path she knew, it was the way out. In no time she was standing outside the cabin-like building, it looked rather haunted to be accommodated. She thought to herself whether the aim of the camp was to scare the children & teach them survival the hard way.

"At least it's not the same inside", Raven comforted herself. “But none of them could be called better even if you compared them to each other.” she sighed with disappointment.

She walked the torch carved path which was now in desperate need of some light. Soon enough she felt the weather turning a little chilly. She crossed her arms as she walked ahead until a crackling sound reached her ears.

"Damn, What is that? Did I just step onto something?!", Raven exclaimed as she tried to figure out what she stepped on.

She picks it up only to find that she might have crushed someone's spectacles.

"Oh gawd!!! Who leaves their glasses on the road?" Raven questioned bewildered.

"I think you found what I was looking for", a voice announced from a distance.

Raven looked up to find someone standing, it was only the silhouette that was visible.

"I'll take them" The voice continued while approaching her.

Once up close, 3 feet into the sight; Raven could see someone. A guy. Standing a total of 182.88 cm with a dark shade of auburn hair, gently running down his cheekbones, and his clean and sharp jaw-line, bony yet elegant.

Though it wasn't exactly lit he has got a birthmark, on the back of his left hand, that looks like a burn tbh, still smoothly compliments his looks. She noticed them as his hand reached out to collect what was left of his spectacles.

"He looks like an angel if you ask me, with blue eyes, so crystal clear, it feels like you could watch the entire sky within his eyes" Raven mumbled to herself.

A denim-jacket with a hood, a t-shirt underneath, with a pair of black denim and a pair of Nikes completed his look.

"Thank You.." he said while taking the leftover pieces from her hands.

"I'm sorry but it's your fault, you shouldn't have left them here” Raven tries to be as polite as she can be to the stranger standing in her sight.

"Nevermind, it happens to me a lot. Tim, Tim Merly" he said while handing out his hand for a handshake.

Raven shakes his hand as she mocked him " Sounds more like Kimberly" she lets out a chuckle and uses her other hand to cover it.

"Actually that's my nickname" he coughs and tries to put on the glasses, which he miserably fails. His failed attempt of looking serious ends up him getting a curve at the end of his mouth.

"Hi Kimberly, I'm Raven" She giggles once again.

"It's not funny, where were you headed?" He asked while controlling his urge to laugh out loud.

"Out for a walk, yk to settle the surroundings inside my head", She says almost with an empty mind.

"I might need to find a place for you to bury the dead" she continued with a poker face.

"What?" Tim asked in a serious tone.

Raven couldn't handle her laughter and laughed out loud.

"Hahah, I was just kidding, you know," she continued to shrug off the awkwardness.

"You scared me!" Tim complained.

"Where are you headed?" Raven questioned him back.

"To find something", He said while finally smiling.

"Did you find it yet?", Raven asked.

"Oh well, I found you" he winked as his smile turned into a smirk.

Raven's cheeks turned into a light shade of pink as she attempted to look away.

Raven couldn't help but blush, it was after a long time some guy had tried to flirt with her.

"Let's walk to the gates, I might need my parents to send me another pair", Tim invites her to tag along.

"Uhh Sureee..." Raven shuttered.

They walked in silence, glancing at each other at every other instance. It was after a long time Raven really felt like smiling.

The lady who was in-charge was nowhere to be seen, Tim asked Raven to stay there as he quickly ran around to get hold of someone. Raven started to walk around in circles as her eyes wandered around, she didn't want to leave just yet. A familiar sight could be seen as soon as the entrance was at

seemingly close proximity.

To be Continued…