Chapter Eight: Event I in Action

Event I in Action

Tour

‘I could see Raven was quite distracted while we took a run to the campsite. I haven't gotten a single moment to speak to her since I have arrived, for now, I wonder what's going on inside her head? She has been so distant and cold.’

Roxie kept wondering why her sister was being so cold towards her. She was not even paying any attention & acted afs if she was some kind of a stranger. Also, it felt as if they were around each other for the first time.

While Roxie was busy pondering and probably getting worried about nothing, the instructor suddenly yelled “HAULT!” Roxie was startled and taken aback. It was enough to bring her back into reality.

“Dear Campers, this will be where you will be setting up your own tents, if needed you can form up duos. Also, you can find the tents rolled up in front of the road-sign ( “THE ROOKIE FOREST”) over there. Do not go too deep into the woods, you might get into trouble. Remember to always stay close and behave yourself”. The instructor instructed after reaching the campsite occasionally pointing at places and assigned spots to the campers.

"Further, in case of bad weather conditions, all of you will head back to your rooms with no questions asked. Other than that, you will eat only in the dining hall as we don't want the activity grounds to be covered in wrappers since you kids are very fond of junk food…" the instructor continued while rolling his eyes from time to time. It seemed he was quite used to giving this speech and this was his hundredth time reciting. There were no breaks and a slight bit of irritation in his speech which is quite understandable if one is giving it in a loop for ages. He simply walked away after he was done. The in-charge was left to look over but he was soon out of sight as well. As though he disappeared unnoticed.

There were dense trees surrounding the camp and at a distance, you could hear a faint sound of the water running down at the riverside. The view was oddly beautiful and exciting yet there was something about the place that made Roxie give it a second thought. The odd silence gave it away, it was eerie since you couldn’t hear a single bird chirp or animals squeak. It is safe to say that there was dead silence except for the campers chattering.

“Is it not beautiful ‘Aven?” Valerie sighed at the site.

“Yes sure it is, I like how musky and earthy it smells” Raven replied, as she took a deeper breath than the last one.

Roxie walks up to Raven, who was standing with Valerie gazing up at the sky and as her eyes wandered off & around her. The weather didn't seem very pleasant but it was gloomy and cosy at the same time.

"Do you uh.. Wanna pair up with me Raven?" Roxie went up to Raven, suggesting they should pair up, well of course, they were sisters afterall.

“Um.. Okay...sure!” Raven replied, confused looking at Valerie.

“Uh, is okay ‘aven, I can pair up with someone else”, Valerie said while shrugging.

“If that’s whatcha want”, She added.

Raven was feeling almost guilty for accepting a stranger to pair up with rather than her best friend, but Valerie seemed to be okay with it. Sigh. Maybe she had someone else in her mind to pair up with as well.

" Hola Girls! Valerie, would you like to pair up with me?" A girl with thick black hair and a cute smile approached Valerie.

"I'm Sharon '' the girl introduced herself, her accent focused a lot on the letter "R" as she extended her hand to shake.

"Aa… Suae" Valerie shrugged her shoulders and walked away with her arms wrapped around Sharon.

Raven could sense Lyla watching them, and as soon as Raven was left alone without Valerie it seemed like Lyla's plan was working.

Some time passes by, Roxie is trying to get things to work but it seems like Raven is not present. She is there with her physically but has her mind somewhere else - Lost in her thoughts.

Lyla makes a mean comment and that breaks Raven out of her thoughts. She has tears in her eyes ready to roll down but she isn't that weak. She won't let Lyla make her cry, will she? Of course not.

Tim notices that Raven’s still got a lot left to do and there is not much time in her hands to be able to finish it all by herself.

On the other side at the end of the line of tents, Tim was unrolling his tent when he saw Lyla picking on Raven.

“Hey man, hold this for a while; will ya?” Tim asks a chubby guy (who is supposedly his partner) to hold onto the tent.

Soon Tim leaves his tent with the chubby guy and heads towards Raven, after all he gotta be her knight in sleek hair.

“Ahem…… Mind if I interrupt you, ladies, a bit?” Tim politely says as he places his hand gently over Raven's shoulders & surprises her from the behind.

Raven could smell his scent from this proximity, he smelled like spring itself and was blooming with grace. She could hardly stop herself from smiling, there was a man by her side now, always up for her rescue of course, she could handle bitchy girls like Lyla on her own but the idea of someone else, a guy, supporting her made her happy and giggle at times. It was fun for once to relax and not start up a fight or argument with someone.

Raven who was so lost in her thoughts until this minute, was now giggling and working with Tim to complete the given task. Tim helped her with the tent while Roxie was thinking of ways to talk to her sister or at the least help her. But she got avoided nonetheless.

There were a few moments between Raven and Tim when he was helping her finish her task; stealing glimpses of each other, sometimes a little hand brush that would kinda set off tiny sparks. Raven, at this point had reached cloud nine, the chemistry between them was indeed oddly going smooth, even she couldn’t believe it.

And of course, Lyla, somewhere aside the tent was glaring at them with jealous envious eyes but Raven couldn’t care less, her moments with Tim were much more interesting to get bothered about anything else.

In all of this, Roxie couldn't get any chance to speak to Raven. She was witnessing all the romance that Tim and her sister were setting off. This was making her go crazy but now, in front of Tim she couldn't really create a scene. Of course, Raven seemed to be enjoying the activity and secretly blushing at the same time and Roxie didn’t want to be a hindrance to her sister’s happiness.

“That’s about it, think you can handle the last bit on your own now eh? I gotta go set our own tent up, but feel free to call out for me if you need any help” Tim winks as he leaves for his tent.

“Tha...thank you.” Raven thanks Tim as he leaves.

He left Raven blushing.

"ALRIGHT, I think you all must be done setting up the tents.” The instructor has returned.

“I'll show you around so that you don't get lost. And remember to abide by the rules and make sure you don’t wander off alone.” The instructor says in a creepy off tone.

“After that you may proceed for dinner at the dining hall." the instructor added.

He makes everyone follow him towards the road-sign, he announces that the area until the river is free to hang around but the bridge and the parts further are restricted. The bridge was old and hardly manageable to walk on so it was quite understandable. And far off across the bridge the forest was lush and gave off unearthly vibes. Of course no one would want to explore that part of the forest. It was creepy in itself.

“But why are we not allowed to go towards the bridge?” Lyla interrogates with a damn-care attitude as though she would be the first one to break that rule.

“If you don’t want to listen to me then you may give it a try, I have done my job by warning you all. Rest is up to you” There was not a single sign of emotion in the way the instructor replied to Lyla.

This slithered Lyla off of her attitude and notched it down for the time being. Or not, no one could have it infront of her.

They walk back to the crossroad, he says here stands our very own clock tower, and of course your cabin up ahead. Again you are not allowed anywhere further behind the cabin as the area there is surrounded by poisonous plants so it's restricted. He let out a devilish chuckle as he finished off his sentence.

“There you go everyone, go have your dinner, your cabin is up ahead, right?” The instructor asks them to go over for dinner and tells them to get back before 6.

“Les gou, ‘aven!!” Valerie quickly grabs Raven’s hand and heads towards the dining hall, they were the first ones to reach there.

‘1..2..3…..6..7?’ Raven starts to count the number of plates placed on the table inside her head, and notices there were only 7 plates on the table set for them.

“But..Valerie, aren’t there supposed to be 8 plates, I mean what about the girl that was with us, my tent partner?” Raven asks in confusion since she lost her in the crowd.

“Wat gall ae yu talking about ‘aven??” Valerie questioned back.

“That..that girl who was with me..” Raven continues as she looks around her, she notices that everyone was there seated for dinner except that girl she was looking for.

‘Where could she be?’ Raven questioned herself and tried to think quite hard but couldn't help herself from thinking about the instructor yet again. He had her enchanted.

Meanwhile, Roxie was wandering around when she noticed everyone returning from the dining hall and going into their tents, everybody looked tired and ready to fall asleep. She hid behind one of the trees and waited for everyone to get inside their designated tents.

After only a few minutes the camp returned to deadly silence, everyone was seemingly asleep and the in-charge was out of sight.

She heard approaching footsteps which very soon fainted. She peeked out to see the instructor checking-in on Raven and then walking away in the direction of the bridge.

She wondered "where was he headed, and wasn't that area off-limits?"

That's when the sound from the clock tower; it started to echo around the camp. 6 pm it was; Roxie was clueless now.

To be continued..