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Approximately 14 Hours Remaining↞

At 6AM on the dot, Mr. Christopher Addison awoke. He'd woken up at this exact time every single day--no exceptions--since he was about 17 years old, and he had gotten to the point that he didn't even need to set an alarm. He often enjoyed the first streams of sunlight peering through his window, and often he could hear birds chirping their morning songs. Usually, it was a very peaceful awakening.

But not today.

Dammit. God. Fucking. Dammit.

Mr. Addison slid out of bed, and made his way to the office phone immediately. His office was just next door. He pulled the phone off the receiver, and dialed in the number that he knew by heart without even looking. It rang. It rang. It rang.

"Hey! You've reached Nicole Addison. I can't come to the phone right now, but feel free to leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can, hm?"

"Nicole? Where the fuck are you? I can't believe you're doing this to me right now. You promised. You better get here before sundown. Don't call back."

Mr. Addison hung up the phone. Then, he slid open one of the drawers in his desk. From it, he withdrew a pair of scissors.

With absolutely no hesitation, he cut the phone line.

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"Psst, wake up."

"Ugghhghhghgh. I... I think I'm dying."

Michael tilted his head. "Cass, you're so dramatic."

"No, I think this is really it." Cass threw their arm over their face. His throat was dry and sore. He felt like his head was going to explode. They were sweaty. Light hurt. Sound hurt. Cass was pretty sure that those symptoms were all perfectly in line with dying. In their experience, anyway.

"Well... You got enough time to drink a glass of water before you cross the rainbow bridge?"

"Oh, yes, please." Cass sat up slowly and took the glass of water from Michael quickly. "W-Wait, am I--? Am I on the bottom bunk?"

"Yeah. There was no way you were getting yourself up there last night. And I couldn't help you either."

Cass sipped his water. "Fuck. Mickey, I-I'm really sorry, you know? I dunno what's wrong with me... I shouldn't've have got so drunk... made you take my bunk."

"Oh. Well. No worries 'cause I...I didn't."

"...Did you sleep on the floor? God, that's--that's even worse."

"...No, I..."

Cass didn't understand. "Then where'd you sleep?"

Michael didn't respond, his eyes falling to the floor. A red flush started to creep onto his cheeks, spreading over his nose and to his ears...

"Oh, Mickey...? Don't tell me..." Cass snorted, then winced from the pain that shot through his skull. "Geez, if you wanted to cuddle then you could've just asked! I can't believe today is the last day... Think of all the wasted cuddle time."

"Oh, s-stop it. You must be fine if you can still talk like that."

"Actually, I still feel like shit."

"I know. It's noon. That's late to wake up... even for you. Mr. Addison has been waiting for you to wake up. He's got something to say I guess." 

"Probably just his usual goodbyes... Let's go see then."

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"What the fuck?"

"Now, please, children, there's no need to be upset. It's... It's just a small delay, that's all," Mr. Addison explained. "The van will be here soon, I'm sure. My sister is getting it fixed as soon as she can."

Johnny's whole world come to a halt. The... van... broken? A heavy cloud filled his head as he recalled the phone conversation that he had overheard only a few days earlier...

"It can't happen again."

What... what had Mr. Addison meant by that? What couldn't happen again?

"Hey, kid, you alright? You're looking a little pale."

It was Tory. She was looking at him with a concerned look on her face.

"Y-Yeah, I'm good. Just stayed up too late late night, I think. I haven't even finished packing up yet."

Tory raised her eyebrows questioningly at him, but they didn't push it. "Huh. Well, at least you're not as fucked up as Cass."

Johnny snickered, looking at the visibly-roughed-up Cass. "I'm grateful for that at least."

Kiara seemed to be very nervous, fidgeting with her hands and looking down at the ground. "I... I... can I call my parents...? Tell them what's going on?"

"Unfortunately, that's not possible... I've already called and made arrangements with all your families, but I can't allow any of you to make any phone calls for yourselves using the camp phone. If you'd like, I can return your phones to you, but I doubt you'll get any service anywhere around here."

Kiara quietly shook her head. Samuel had told her stories of desperately trying to find service his first couple years at camp, without ever getting so much as a single bar. She knew it was pointless. She just... had to trust Mr. Addison, and that her family would be okay to come get her... whenever.

Millie let out a shuddering breath, blinking her eyes rapidly. Samuel noticed--the only one--and gave her shoulder a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

"So...are we going to be staying another night, then?" Calvin asked, looking at Mr. Addison.

Mr. Addison... didn't seem well. He was usually a very cheery and chipper man, with neat clothes--usually polo shirts and khaki shorts, belts, and he was hardly seen without his fishing hat on. But right now his head was bare, his belt was missing, and his shirt was untucked. His socks were mismatched, and the laces on one of his shoes was untied. His hair was a mess.

"I... I hope not. All we can do is wait for Nicole to get here with the van. I'm sure she'll be here very soon.... Just later than expected."

The campers started to clear out and head off to wherever to wait out the final day, but Mr. Addison had one final thing to say.

"Remember, kids.. you have absolutely nothing to worry about."

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"You lied to me."

"I-I'm sorry!"

Benny tsked. "You promised, Indy. What happened?" He looked at her from across the cafeteria table. 

"I... I tried...! Really! I... I don't know... It was sometime after Cass and Michael left. After Cass' alcohol was gone."

"Hey...! Happy birthday Lucy... I know I said it earlier, but... I wanted to apologize for not really remembering..." 

"No worries..! I really... uh. Promise not to tell anyone?"

"Promise." 

Indigo held out her hand, pinkie finger extended, and Lucy took it into her own pinkie.

"...I didn't really want anyone to remember. I-I'm so glad that Jackson did all this for me, really! All of you. But I... I don't know... It just seems like a lot of effort. My birthday is always during camp, and I've never really... wanted to have it celebrated. I always just celebrate with my mom when I get back home... I guess... we don't have a lot of money, so I don't really like the... the parties. Is that weird?" Lucy scrunched up her nose. "That's weird, isn't it?"

"No... No I don't think it's weird at all. But... it deserves to be celebrated, Lucy. You're eighteen now. That's a pretty big moment. We were all so happy to do this for you. It wasn't any trouble at all. I think... I think you worry too much about being a burden..."

Indigo felt the words on the very tip of her tongue. I love you. I love you. I love you.

"You... I.... Lucy, I..." Indigo choked. "You deserve this, Lucy."

"It just didn't come out..." Indigo frowned as she recalled the story to Benny.

Benny shook his head. When Indigo's frown deepened even further, his face softened. "Well... You have her number and stuff, right? Gonna do long distance? There's... there's always later."

"Yeah... always later. And... and I think I might try again today. Maybe."

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Hours passed. There was no van. The counselors had scrambled together a quick dinner with the limited supplies, but since there was only twelve of them left, it wasn't a big concern. No one went hungry, anyway.

"Has... has anyone seen Mr. Addison?" Calvin asked, glancing around at his peers around the table.

Jackson hesitated for a moment to think. "No... not since this morning."

"Well, he's gotta be around here somewhere, yeah? Probably doing what he normally does after we leave. I'm sure he's got stuff to clean up...."

Calvin opened his mouth to speak, but Indigo interrupted. "H-Hey! So... I had an idea, if you guys wanna hear me out."

Calvin forgot about it for now, "Yeah, of course!"

"So... it's getting a little late... I'm kinda starting to doubt that we're gonna get out of here any time soon, actually... I was just thinking maybe we could get everyone together and watch the sunset together to send off summer, y'know?"

The others agreed with her proposal. Only a short while later, the entire group of kids-of course including Millie and Kiara this time--had made their way to a campsite overlooking the lake and the trees. The sun was still visible, but it had almost began to dunk below the horizon, the sky already starting to change colors into beautiful colorful streaks--yellows, oranges, purples, dark blues.

And together, they all watched the sun set.

Approximately 0 Hours Remaining↞

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sorry for the short chapter this time but i promise you that the next chapter will be very fun :)

~ iMeowmeow654

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