I haven’t returned to Camp Woodlands until now, though it has never been far from my mind. It has always been a place of mystery and confusion, possessing the key to many momentous changes. Even ones as big as the geosynchronous orbit of the moon over Gotum. It makes no sense, all seems unnatural, and it all involved this location those ten years ago. Considering this, I was surprised to find what appeared to be a fully functional summer camp.
The line of parked cars started a kilometre before the gates of the camp and did not experience a single break. I don’t know what I was trying to achieve in continuing to drive. I couldn’t even make it near the gate as some people had decided to park in complete objection to any traffic wishing to travel the thin dirt road. It baffled me how they thought that was acceptable. I imagined myself giving each of the mystery parkers a very stern talking too as I began a three point turn, which happened to posses a few more points than the name describes.
I backtracked to the end of the line and pulled over to the side of the road. I quickly disconnected my laptop from the car charger and slid into its special section of my back pack, routinely checking that none of my other possessions had escaped during the trip. None had, help captive by the awesome power of a zip. Ok, off I go.
I didn’t mind walking as I was fond of the outdoors. I didn’t see it all that often but absence does make the heart grow fonder, or something like that. It was me who had wanted to go to ....Camp.. ..Woodlands.... when I was young anyway. But nature felt tainted, or not tainted enough. Once again it seemed too normal. I had kind of wanted desertion, deformed trees and unnatural darkness. Something at least to create a world different from the one I could understand. But no, even entering the camp there was just normal people. I think I saw about seven of them scattered around the car littered kiss ‘n’ ride just inside the gate. They were my age, likely leaders employed to keep the kids in order; none of which I could see although I could here a reasonable commotion originating from behind the block of buildings that housed the main office. The only unnatural thing I could discern was the apparent popularity of the place.
My interest wasn’t with them; not that I really had any idea what it was with. But I decided to head towards the main office. It seemed the most logical place to get information on the past. I just hoped they would be compliant.
The reception area consisted of a small room which held several chairs placed against the walls and a small counter assembled so as to obstruct passage into a hallway which led deeper into the building. On this counter sat a computer, a phone, and a bell, attached to which was a sign instructing me to “ring for service”. There was no one else but me. I would have thought the station would have been manned considering the amount of visitors. However, there was a probability that the person was on a break. This gave me two options; one, try and attract the attention of whoever manned the desk, or two, see if the computer held any information. After performing a visual and aural check to make sure no one was coming, I quickly pulled a small USB device from my bag and plugged it into the back of the computer, hopefully out of sight of anyone not looking for it.
The USB was a small wireless device that, when accessed by the computer, opened it up for control by a remote host. I had no certainty that a person would give me the information I required, even if they had it. The computer was non-partisan and would allow me access to all it had. I sat down on one of the chairs and retrieved my laptop from my bag, quickly logging in. I checked once more that I was alone before opening a link with the camp computer
It requested a password but that was easily cracked by the software coded into the USB device. That was courtesy of a friend I had in software development. He liked abusing his knowledge. ....
I began a search for any file that had been created over 9 years ago. Immediately a list began to swell on my computer. It took a good 13 seconds before it stopped expanding. From this I filtered out the system files which considerably reduced the list. Still there was a lot, generally consisting text files and account files, all of which I began to copy onto my computer. 3 minutes remaining. To pass the time I just passively watched their migration to my computer, occasionally glancing down the hall to make sure I remained alone. Suddenly a file stuck out.
It was an unknown file; the computer could not identify what it was. My computer was not one to be stumped by just any file, anything Labresci created was likely on it, and it was the chief supplier of software for this region, and if not a fair slice of the world. This meant that the file was likely encrypted, which led to the conclusion that the creator had wished to keep its contents hidden. What made it more interesting is that the file had been edited within the last half hour. Luckily, I had the tools to explore deeper.
I opened up my decryptor and set it loose on the file. It rapidly tested the file for compatibility with common encryption algorithms. After several seconds it announced failure and began trying to decipher the file without the help of a known structure. Estimated time: 4.5 minutes. Whoever made this file was quite insistent on keeping it secure. I was definitely happy with my find.
I was interrupted with a minute left by someone entering from outside. I looked up at was met with a young woman who seemed to have a strong affiliation with the colour black. Pants, shirt, hair, eyes, all black. The only recognition of colour was a dark purple coat which appeared to be made of severely worn leather. Despite the fact that she appeared to be quite short, even shorter than me, she did inspire quite a sense of discomfort; a feeling which intensified when I realised that I had been staring at her for a good length of time. I went to check if she had noticed and our eyes met, she had. I hastily busied myself at my computer, a task not so easy considering it was still working on the mystery file. I began browsing randomly through other files, the notion that she was familiar tugging at my mind. Could she be Chloe?
I looked up at her again. She was closer, as in I want to converse close. Her eyes drilled into me, I quickly broke eye contact. Though I had looked at her long enough to see resemblance between this young woman’s features and the scant memories I still had of Chloe.
‘Dylan, right?’ oh great, I was not ready for this.
‘Yeah’ I squeaked. Idiot, you know this person, grow a backbone. ‘Chloe?’.
I forced myself to look back up and was slightly relieved to see she was looking down the hall.
‘Why are you here?’ she asked. I didn’t know how much I should tell her. I hadn’t seen her or any of the others in ten years, far from close friends. But again, she had as much involvement in this whole situation as I did.
‘I wanted to check this place out. I want to find out what happened.’ Well, at least that should avoid silence. At that she focused back on me.
‘And what have you found?’ I glanced back down at the screen, the file had finished decrypting.
‘I’ve just been searching through the camp computer system for anything of interest. Pictures, roles, that kind of thing.’ I opened the file.
‘Wow, how unexpected of you.’
The file appeared to be a page divided into three columns. The left had consisted of names which ran down the page. The centre had photos of children around ten years of age, each coinciding with a name, and to the right of most of the child photos was what appeared to be the same child at the age of twenty. The third column was not complete, as many adult photos were missing. There didn’t appear to be any order to the names. I checked the time stamp and surprisingly, the file had been edited only twenty-three minutes ago. This was interesting.
‘Weird’ I said involuntarily; not remembering whether I had actually decided on baring forth all my discoveries
‘Are we there?’ asked Chloe. I jumped. She had manoeuvred herself into a view of the screen without my knowledge, her head just inside my peripheral vision.
I quickly brought up a search box and typed in my full name. And I came up. Well at least a ten year old photo of me. And that wasn’t all.
In the three slots surrounding my photo there were also pictures of Chloe, Maria and Forrest, all appearing to be taken ten years ago. The third column was empty in three of the four cases, the only exception being for Forrest. There was a recent picture of him, a look of confusion on his face.
‘What the Hell?’ gasped Chloe. ‘Have you asked about this?’
‘No, I only just got it.’ I said. With out a pause she stood up and strode over to the counter, leaving me desperately clutching after.
‘Wait!’ I hissed. ‘Be discreet, keep this a secret.’ She looked back.
‘I’m not an idiot.’
‘No, that’s not what I was imply-,’
‘Hey!’ She shouted, pounding the defenceless push-bell. I jumped up to retrieve my USB, managing to grab it just before someone entered the passage. The person who came was a woman who appeared to be into her thirties who, despite living in the middle of nowhere, wore corporate dress. She didn’t even get to her computer.
‘What the hell is going on?’ Chloe snapped. The lady looked at her, smiled, nodded, and replied with a very sincere:
‘Just wait a moment please.’ With that, she sat down at her station and began a frenzied combination of mouse clicks and keyboard taps. Chloe flinched, only able to watch the ladies work.
‘Name please?’ asked the lady. Chloe recovered.
‘No, I want to know why I am here.’ Said Chloe, fighting desperately to establish an offensive. The woman sighed, inputting a few more commands. After several seconds she held up what seemed to be a pen. There was a pause before she resumed tapping at the computer. Once again, Chloe was stunned. I was completely oblivious to what had just occurred. Chloe moved to speak again.
‘Chloe?’ asked the lady. ‘Your name?’ This was both amusing and disturbing to watch.
‘I’m not telling you!’ Chloe snapped. The lady glanced between me and the computer screen.
‘And you must be Dylan,’ she said looking back at me. Alright, this was creepy.
‘Yeah,’ I replied.
‘Can you please come over to the counter?’ I did. As with Chloe, the lady picked up the pen like object, held it up, and then returned her attention to the computer. The pen could have been some sort of a camera. That being the case, mine and Chloe’s photos would soon be recorded just like Forrest’s was.
‘Tell me what’s going on.’ Chloe demanded. Finally complete with her task, the lady directed her full attention on us.
‘Out the back, behind this building, there will be an assembly where you will be informed as to what your purpose in coming here is. From there you will be designated dorms to stay the night. After the meeting, the camp facilities will be open for your use. Any questions?’
‘Yeah, what makes you think we want to stay the night?’ asked Chloe.
‘Has Forrest or Marie come in yet?’ I cut in. The lady smiled at me.
‘Forrest has, as a matter of fact, do you want me to call him in here. I nodded.
In response, she picked up a phone and dialled before speaking into it.
Several minutes past before the third member of our group entered the reception office. Forrest looked exactly like he did in the photo which sat open on my computer. He had brown messy hair, plain clothes, and a glazed look over his eyes, which were purple. I double took, that can’t be right.
Sure enough, they were purple. Possibly having something to do with what happened ten years ago, everything weird could be linked to then.
‘Why are your eyes violet?’ Good ol’ Chloe, straight to the point.
‘I don’t know,’ replied Forrest. He was now staring at us. ‘I knew you, didn’t I?’
‘What? You can’t remember us?’ asked Chloe. Forrest shook his head. I admit, I didn’t remember the details of what happed, but at least I remembered the others. Why was he different?
‘I remember having friends.’ He answered.
‘Well, I’m Dylan and she’s Chloe,’ I said. ‘Sound familiar?’ He just shook his head. Interesting. Traumatic amnesia maybe. Something had happened to him. I didn’t remember him having purple eyes. And I didn’t notice them on the computer. I went to double check, noting that the person tending the desk had departed down the hall. Sure enough, they were purple there too. Weird.
‘Do you remember having normal eyes?’ Chloe had continued her questioning. Forrest paused for a moment.
‘Yes.’
‘And this was before Camp Woodland?’ Once again, Forrest paused for a significant time before answering.
‘I think so.’
‘Any other changes?’
‘Look I don’t know what happened, alright.’ He snapped. We were both taken aback. He seemed so passive. He dropped his gaze.
‘Sorry,’ he said. With that he walked back out the door.
Chloe started after him.
‘Wait!’ I said. She turned back at me.
‘What? I think he’s hiding something, you can’t just forget.’ Her eyes drilled into mine, notably draining my confidence. She was from Gotum, she had intimidation down. Don’t let her win Dylan.
‘I-I think he’s suffering from Amnesia. If you drill him, he may just get frustrated.’ That wasn’t that hard, she wasn’t so scary. ‘Don’t forget, you don’t remember what happened either.’ She turned and followed after him. Oh well, at least I tried. I ran after her.
Chloe was keeping pace a couple of metres behind Forrest. I established a similar distance between me and her. This continued as we made our way behind the reception office. There were a lot of people, all gathered in front of a raised platform which had a microphone centre stage and speakers flanking it. Forrest skirted the crowds, finally stopping between two buildings, a place where he could observe the stage yet was quite separate from the hoards of people. Chloe and I joined him, but I was relieved when Chloe didn’t restart her interrogation. Maybe she had listened to me. Forrest just fixed his attention onto the stage, to the exclusion of his company.
What had brought all of these people here? There hadn’t been any advertisement; I thought I was just coming here to check it out. This many people couldn’t have had the exact same idea; that just wasn’t probable. I was scanning the crowd when I noticed some one emerge from the forest. She looked ruined. She had dried mud half way up her legs, her hair was messy, and her back was bent from a bag which appeared to be splitting at the seams. And she looked familiar.
‘That’s not Mary is it?’ I asked, pointing. In answer, Chloe walked to meet her, with me in pursuit. The mystery woman caught sight of us as we neared.
‘I made it here, by myself,’ she whimpered. ‘Do you know where a shower is?’
‘Mary?’ I asked. She looked at me with glazed eyes.
‘Yeah?’ And then there were four.
Before I could answer, we were interrupted by the loud speaker
‘Hello and welcome to Camp Woodlands. For all those who haven’t been keeping track, this is the tenth anniversary of the camp and all of you are welcome back in celebration.’ The man at the microphone appeared to be around the same age as the receptionist. However, unlike that woman, he was dressed in a shirt and jeans.
‘For all those interested in staying, this camp will be fully operational, providing you meals at 8,10 an 1800 hours, with all bathrooms and dorms available for your use. If you wish to take part, then please head over to the reception office, out the front, where you can register before making use of the facilities. There will be a meeting here at 1900 hours to discuss camp activities, but until then, your time belongs to you so use it freely. Thank you.’
So, I had become involved in another Camp Woodlands. Well, maybe whatever happened could be repeated. I looked back at the others to see there opinions. Mary had already begun her trek to the reception office.
‘She wanted a shower.’ Chloe informed.
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