My legs ache.
Scratched with blackberry thorns, flushed and peeling with sunburn, caked with dirt and the rising dust that billows up around us, they are not a pretty sight as I settle down in the parched grass of the rise. The thin evergreen trees overhead do little to block out the unrelenting light and sweltering heat that pervade even the most shadowy of locations. I exhale slowly and rest my head in my hands.
“Hey, Anna, come over here,” Ava calls, and I glance up halfheartedly, looking for my orchestra friend. She’s not in my line of sight.
Groaning, I push myself up. “What?” I scan the hilltop until I spot the shine of her blonde hair, almost invisible against the yellowing stalks of grass around us.
She’s leaning against a tree, an
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As I step closer, I can see pockmarks and scratches all over both, clearly worn with time and weather. “Okay, that actually looks pretty dangerous. Look at all that dried-up grass around us.” I prod the box with my shoe. “Oh my God, what if lightning struck it? There’d be a fire here in, like, no time.”
Ava laughs. “Let’s not think about that. It’s really cool, though. I wonder what all of it’s
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The grass tickles the open toes of my feet in my flip-flops, sprinkled with dew droplets. Frightened, I search the area for someone, anyone. For a brief moment, I wonder if there’s been an intruder and they’ve all been taken away. Camp Danger, indeed. I wish I’d never come here.
“Hey!” I can hear Karena’s voice. I turn, and absolute relief floods through my body, warming everything as I see them all there, illuminated by a streetlamp on the road by the trees. Ava, Hope, Karena, Mikaela, everyone. Releasing a heavy breath, I hobble towards them through the soggy grass.
“What happened, guys?” I ask, wincing as my heel comes in contact with the grass.
Ava shakes her head. “We have no idea. The alarms are still going off. Mikaela thinks there’s a fire, but I have no idea what to think. There isn’t any smoke.”
Hope taps me on the shoulder. “What took you so long? It’s one o’clock in the morning. The alarms started going off twenty minutes ago. Something could’ve happened to you.”
“I hurt my foot.” I grimace. They all nod, solemn-faced, and we’re enveloped by mutual silence in the dark. I look towards the forest, a mass of blackness and tangled shrubbery, and shivers wrack my body. Whether they’re from cold or fear, I can’t be