Chloe sat down rather quickly, and avoided looking at stage. Strangely, the head counsellor looked our way briefly before continuing his speech.
“To some of you, Camp Woodlands has been a fun little diversion, with its quaint little games and activities. To an extent, that is true. However, this being its tenth year anniversary, we have something a little more…exciting planned.”
“Great, that’s all I need right now. More excitement.” Chloe muttered.
Maria sat between us, her arms folded. It was the first time I had seen her seriously annoyed. “It’s about time they announced this. Maybe they will hand out free clothes. That’s exciting, right?”
“I don’t want to hear you rant about clothes. Just shut up for once, Mary.” Chloe growled. The head counsellor was still speaking, but none of us were concentrating on his words.
“I will if you tell me how you let Jaclyn steal all my clothes last night!”
Chloe turned her head and glared at Maria. “Your clothes? Your clothes? Don’t you mean my clothes? For the last time, I am not an op shop you can borrow clothes from!”
Maria didn’t have a response to that. I wasn’t surprised. Chloe’s black glare was a fearsome thing. I tuned back into the meeting.
“…may have noticed your groupings of four. This was done in preparation for these new activities we will reveal to you in due time. You are not allowed to swap groups, nor invite other people into your group. Your groups are final and non negotiable.”
“Too late for that now,” Maria said. “Dylan’s gone and ditched us for them.” She was looking past me to the opposite end of the log we were sitting on. Dylan was indeed talking quietly with the guy next to him, presumably part of the same group as Maria’s nemesis Jaclyn.
“How can you be sure of that,” I finally said. “He might be trying to gather opinions about what happened ten years ago.”
“Well, you heard what Jac-that stupid girl said. ‘Delinquents’. I bet she got that from Dylan. It’s the type of word he uses.”
“Maria…that’s not very plausible.”
“What, you’re defending him now? Thinking of ditching us as well?”
“I think you are just angry about losing all your possessions to Jaclyn. Just calm down. You can deal with everything later.”
You know…I don’t understand how you can put up with Maria. After everything she has put you through. First the ‘rescue’, now this. Not to mention what she did ten years—Never mind.
‘…If it wasn’t for the fact that you’re inside my head, I would smash you right now.’
“Excuse me?” Maria said suddenly, breaking my train of thought. “Did you just say you wanted to smash me?”
“…What?” I said, stalling for time. That was exactly what I thought before! How could she have known…? “You’re just being deluded.”
“Deluded? Deluded? Well, how about yourself? Not remembering anything about before, maybe Chloe is right, you are definitely hiding some—“
“WOULD YOU GUYS JUST SHUT UP!”Chloe was glaring at the two of us now. She definitely turned some heads with her exclamation.
Maria scoffed, but nonetheless said nothing. I shrugged and turned back to the front.
“…each group will be in direct competition with another group. These rival group pairings have also been decided for you. You will be competing with your rival group in every event and activity.” He paused, looking around at the crowd.
There were a fair amount of groups, around twenty. That made the amount of people around eighty…to think that many people turned up for this anniversary event at the same time with no other reason but to ‘investigate’ the past was very suspicious.
“Each group will be graded in these activities by their teamwork, performance, and creativity in solving the task. You may not notice our observers, but rest assured, we will be watching. No foul play will be missed. No decision will go unnoticed.”
That was creepy. Looking around, I saw some other people frown as they also realised the impact of what he just said. Did he have cameras all around? How was it possible to observe everything? Other people were just grinning and whispering to each other, presumably planning strategies or something of the sort.
“The first activity will occur at 1800 hours today. Please meet with your group just outside the forest on the southern edge of the camp grounds. The place will be clearly marked. You are now dismissed.”
People were getting up and leaving. In a remarkably short time the meeting site was mostly clear.
“Oh, I wonder who our rival group will be,” Maria said, glaring at Jaclyn, who was talking animatedly to Dylan and his friend. Dylan was frowning, but it seemed before he could do anything Jaclyn was walking in our direction. Maria froze.
“Did you enjoy this morning, Maria?” Jaclyn said. “I hope you did. It was a present.”
“How did you do it?” Maria said through gritted teeth.
Jaclyn smirked. “I had help, of course.” She then pointed to me. “This is Forrest, right? Have you told him?”
Maria’s eyes became slits. “Told him what?” she growled.
“Oh, perhaps what you did to him ten years ago?” Jaclyn walked closer. “It was such an illuminating read, I’ll tell you that. Such emotion! ‘He doesn’t even remember and that’s why it hurts. I did this to him.’ You should win an award for such writing!” Maria looked mortified. Jaclyn laughed.
“That’s not all! How about: ‘That night…The screams…I wish he could remember! I wish he was mad! I wish he would just slap me or hit me or something ‘cause I don’t think I can handle this anymore!’”
“Maria…what the hell is she talking about? Is this true?” I asked. Jaclyn had a look of absolute glee on her face.
“I…how…I thought my diary was well hidden…”
“Really? You really thought that? Well, you don’t deserve it then. Your poor diary…”
“What have you done with my diary?” Maria thundered.
“Oh, I may have…accidently trodden on it a few times. It might have slipped, accidently of course, into some water. Then it somehowmay have found its way into a bin of some sort…”
“You BITCH!” Maria shouted, stepping forward and slapping Jaclyn across the cheek, hard.
There was a pause in which I saw everyone around us freeze. Chloe stared, dumbfounded, at Maria. Everyone was waiting for Jaclyn’s reaction.
“. ..It wasn’t enough for you to humiliate me totally ten years ago? You had to slap me as well?” Jaclyn’s smirk was gone. “It was just an innocent camp prank. You had to turn it ugly.” She lunged at Maria.
Before it could turn too ugly, I had my arms around Maria, with Jaclyn’s group mate doing the same to Jaclyn.
“Let me at her! My diary needs to be avenged!” Maria cried, struggling to get out of my grip.
“Your diary is not the only thing that needs to be avenged,” Jaclyn spat back. I shook my head. I will never understand how females fight.
“I’m Tyler, by the way,” the guy restraining Jaclyn said. “I think sometimes Jaclyn can get a bit…carried away.”
“Hey! This was nothing compared to what she did to me,” Jaclyn said.
“Tell Dylan I think our group needs a little talk,” I replied. Tyler nodded and forcibly led Jaclyn away.
This was crazy. We had group activities coming up, but there was no way we functioned as a proper group…
“Um, Forrest? You can let go of me now,” Maria said. I looked down. Oh. I was still restraining her. I let go, slowly.
“It’s okay; I’m not going after Jaclyn. I have to go back to our dorm and mourn my diary.”
“First it was your clothes, now it’s your diary. You have serious attachment issues, Mary,” Chloe spoke up from behind us.
“Oh, so you’re speaking to me again, then?” Maria said.
Chloe looked away. “Well, I—“
“Is everything alright?” A new voice spoke up. It was the head counsellor. Up close, he seemed…creepy. I noticed that Chloe shrunk away from his look.
“Yes, it’s all been sorted out now, counsellor,” I informed him. He had a slight smirk, barely noticeable, when he looked at me. Was he…expecting something?
“Well, I’ll be in the head office if I’m needed to…sort anything out,” he said, starting to walk away. Then he stopped. “Kari, I think your group is waiting for you. You should get ready for tonight’s activity.” Who was Kari? Then I saw.
To our left stood a tall, slim young woman, who was frowning at us. Did she call the head counsellor because she saw the fight? When she caught me staring at her, she winked. What? She walked away to where Tyler, Jaclyn and their other male group member stood. So she was part of the same group…
That Kari…she hasn’t changed.
‘What was that? Did I know her?’
Maybe. Wait, yeah, I suppose there’s no harm in telling you. You two talked a lot ten years ago. You even considered ditching everyone just to join her group.
‘Oh, great, more group politics. How do I even know you’re telling the truth?’
Well about you try to be the nameless voice in some thick headed person’s head and see how you deal with it!
‘Oh, have I hurt your precious feelings? I am so sorry. I didn’t know you had feelings. You’re just a voice!’
Heh…we’ll see about that, Forrest. In fact…I think you are just about ready.
‘Ready for what?’
But it didn’t reply. In fact, its silence was disturbing.
“…I was just talking to Tyler about how we ended up at this camp. That’s all. He also thinks there is a definite connection between things going in the outside world and this camp,” Dylan said. Wait, when did Dylan come? Stupid voices. They can be such a distraction.
Maria folded her arms. “So you didn’t just ditch us because you were sick of us?”
I sighed. “Maria, just drop it. Perhaps Dylan can explain to us what new information he has back in the dorm room.”
“And when did we make you the leader, Forrest?” Chloe said. She wasn’t glaring at me…yet.
“You are more than welcome to be the leader, Chloe. Just, you know, suggest stuff for us to do. Don’t just stand there looking all moody and angry all the time,” I replied.
“I am not moody and angry all the time!” Chloe shot back.
“I…have to support Forrest in this,” Dylan spoke up. “If only you would tell us what happened to you last night, Chloe. You have shown a remarkable change in your behaviour since yesterday. Something obviously happened.”
“Yeah! What was with coming in the dead of night all shaken up and all that?” Maria said.
“You saw her come back? What behaviours did she exhibit?” Dylan asked.
“Um, well I wrote it all in my diary, I can just get—Oh. That’s right. I don’t have my diary anymore.” ....
.. ..
“Look, guys, nothing happened last night. Stop bothering me about it, okay!” With that, Chloe stomped off to the dorms.
“She did that to me this morning,” Dylan lamented.
“There’s no point bothering with her now,” Maria said. “Just let her go. Oh, and Dylan…I’m sorry about the whole switching groups thing. Jaclyn has just pissed me off a lot, so…I kinda took my anger out on you.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Dylan replied. “At least we could come to an understanding.” He gave me a sidelong glance. I ignored it-Chloe was being the difficult one, not me-and we walked to our dorm.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Chloe kept to herself, occasionally walking outside the dorm room, but never far. At meal times she picked at her food, saying nothing. We just ignored her. Dylan and Maria were the only ones talking, presumably discussing Chloe’s unusually moody behaviour.
They found Maria’s diary-turns out that Jaclyn was only bluffing after all, but her words still puzzled me to no end. They sounded real, done in Maria’s own hand. When I brought it up with Maria, though, she avoided my questions and kept up with the theories about Chloe. That just confirmed it. She didn’t want to talk about it. It had to be real. Something happened between us ten years ago, and it still haunted Maria today.
My head was also blessedly clear of my voices. It was nice being a ‘normal’ person, but their absence still disturbed me. Why was it being silent? Was it plotting anything? But I didn’t fret about it.
The day passed quickly, and soon it was time for the first ‘activity’.
We were a few minutes early, but most of the people were there already. Everyone was talking, pointing to the….things just outside the forest.
“Are those…motorbikes?” Maria asked, straining to see over the crowd.
Dylan was having almost as hard a time seeing over the crowd as well. “I think they are. I didn’t think this kind of thing would show up at the camp, to be honest.”
Chloe spoke for the first time in ages. “Well, why not? The first activity has got to be a race.”
“A race through where?” Maria replied. Before anyone could respond, there was someone shouting for quiet.
“As you can see from these motorbikes behind me,” the man pointed at the range on offer, “this first activity is going to be a race through the forbidden forest.” There were sudden murmurs.
“There are clearly marked tracks through the forbidden forest, and as long as you stick to those, you should come to no harm. Though it is unfortunately named, the forest is really quite harmless…for the most part.”
“Each group will be assigned two motorbikes. They are marked with your names, so read carefully to find the right one. Concerning the structure of this race, you will be competing directly with your rival group. There are enough initial tracks through this forest to accommodate all of these rival pairings. Only once you reach near the end of this race will you be competing with every other group. I suggest you ride quickly to get a head start.”
“Good luck, and for those who don’t know how to ride a motorbike, speak to me now. You have ten minutes until the start of the race.”
There was sudden movement, and we quickly swept up by the masses to get to the motorbikes. Closer to the edge of the forest where the bikes were, we saw that they were spread out further than we anticipated. There were a lot of starting entrances to the forest.
“What a surprise. It’s Jaclyn and co.” Maria commented upon seeing them next to their bikes. “And look at this!” There were two unattended motorbikes on the opposite end of the forest entrance, marked with our names. “We just so happen to be their rival group.”
“You’re not going to slap Jaclyn again or anything?” I asked. I glanced at our rival group, but they were too occupied with their discussion.
“No, of course not. She’s not worth the honour of being slapped by me.”
“And that makes sense because…”
“Guys, just shut up for a moment,” Chloe interrupted; examining the two motorbikes we were assigned. She was treating them as if they were hallowed objects. “Whose gonna ride these beauties?”
“Um….” Maria looked at me. “Forrest?”
I shrugged. “Sure, I’ve ridden a few at my parent’s farm, but…I’m no pro.”
“Better than me, at least,” Dylan commented. “They are interesting devices, but way too…dangerous for my liking.”
“Well, considering I came to this damn camp on one, I’ll ride. Who’s coming with me?” Chloe said.
Nobody volunteered.
Maria grabbed my arm as if it was her lifeline. “I’m going with Forrest.”
Chloe glanced at Dylan. “Well? We don’t have all day.”
Dylan looked scared at the prospect at riding with Chloe. It took a few moments for him to start moving toward Chloe’s bike, slowly.
I glanced at my bike. Great. A race. I was glad that my voices were absent. Dealing with them on such a demanding ride would have been hell.
“Forrest…” Maria was sitting on the seat, fiddling with the handles. “Before we start, I need to know something important.”
“Yes?” I replied, grasping the right handle, which had the brake and the accelerator. Yep, that was somewhat familiar.
“If I told you that I did something pretty awful to you, ten years ago, would you be angry with me? Would you hate me?”
Ah, this was about the diary entry. So it was true then.
“…No, I wouldn’t hate you. I might be angry for a little while, depending on what it is, but…I would respect your need to talk about it. Just don’t keep it bottled up, yeah?”
“Okay…thanks for telling me that,” Maria replied. She gave me a quick smile. “Looks like Chloe and Dylan are ready to go.”
I glanced over. Dylan was sitting behind Chloe, his hands hovering over her midsection.
“So…I’m meant to hold on, right?”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “Yes, of course. You don’t want to fall off.” Still, Dylan didn’t touch Chloe.
“Are you completely sure about this?” he asked.
“Just grab me.”
“But…”
Suddenly, Chloe reached behind, grabbed Dylan’s hands, and set them around her.
I couldn’t help but laugh. Dylan looked extremely uncomfortable.
“Everyone ready?” the overseer shouted.
I quickly mounted the bike, with Maria falling into place behind me.
“Good luck, and remember, don’t stray off the track!” the overseer said, shooting his starter gun. I kick started the bike and gently pulled back the accelerator handle.
“Hold on tight,” I informed Maria, before we set off for the entrance. We lagged behind Chloe and Dylan, but we were still making good time compared to our rivals. I saw that Kari and Tyler were on one motorbike, with Jaclyn and the other male on the other bike.
The track was little more than an overgrown pathway through the trees; it was quite hard to navigate through with all of us clamouring for the top position. Chloe was in first place, but that was to be expected-she was experienced with these things. Dylan seemed to be holding on for his dear life.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Maria shouted over the roar of the engines. There was a bump as we rode across a particular big root.
“I’m doing my best,” I replied, trying to pass Kari and her partner. She glanced sideways and upon seeing me, winked again. There was something seriously wrong with her, I swear. I mouthed ‘what’ back to her, but she had no reply. Instead, she took a sharp right, and much to Tyler’s exclamation, they disappeared into the darkness off the track.
“Are they crazy? Or do they know a shortcut?” Maria shouted.
“Dunno!” I replied. Thanks to Kari’s crazy decision, I was able to speed up to Chloe.
“That Kari chick and Tyler went off the track!” I shouted to Chloe.
She didn’t bother to look at me. “Good. Less competition for us. Watch out for—“
Her mouth opened in surprise.
I looked forward quickly, but I didn’t see whatever freaked Chloe out so much. I looked back at her, but she wasn’t concentrating on me. Instead, her face seemed kind of…blank.
Then she screamed and gunned the accelerator, propelling her and Dylan through some trees, then off the track into the darkness.
I was stunned. What was so freaky that it made even Chloe scream?
“Forrest, look out!” Maria shouted. Huh? I scanned up the track quickly, but I didn’t see anything…
That was when the bike seemed to catch on something.
I braked as hard as I could. But it was no use.
The bike seemed to disappear beneath us. We were thrown onto the ground.
…
…
…
“Take her away,” came a familiar voice. “I’ll deal with her later.” Who said that? Where was Maria? Where was everyone else?
As my vision cleared, I saw two men restraining Maria. She saw I was conscious.
“Forrest! FORREST!”
I struggled to stand up. They were dragging her away. I couldn’t get to her.
Someone stood in my vision.
“So, Forrest…here you are, finally, in my control,” came the voice again. I looked up.
It was the head counsellor.
He grinned.
“Ever wondered why your voices haven’t been bothering you much today?”
What the hell was he talking about? There was no way he could have known about that…unless…
“Yes, Forrest…I am the voices in your head. Didn’t expect that, did you?”
This was absolutely crazy…I couldn’t respond. Didn’t want to respond.
“You were, of course, the logical choice to inhabit. I was able to isolate you, contain your memories, mould you into what I wanted.”
He came closer. “You would have been a threat otherwise, when you were old enough to realise what we were doing. What you had done.”
He laid his hand on my forehead. It was cold and clammy. I shivered.
And now…you are ready for your memories. Do you want answers, Forrest? I know that is what you deeply desire. And I can give them to you.
‘Get out of my head!’
Tut tut. That is no way to talk to the person who can take away the deceptions ruling your life. All it takes is one word.
This wasn’t fair! Answers were within my reach, but do I make a deal with the devil to get them, so to speak?
Do I consort with the enemy? Am I that weak? That desperate for answers?
…
…
…
I guess I am.
‘Do it.’
Heh, I’d knew you wouldn’t be able to resist.
There seemed to be no change. I didn’t feel any different.
But that was when I realised that I remembered.
Everything about ten years ago I knew. Chloe, Maria, Dylan, I remembered how they were ten years ago. I remembered all of my observations, all my theories. But that wasn’t all.
I remembered that I betrayed everyone ten years ago...
And that I had to betray them again.
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