The scariest moment is always before you start
-Stephen King
Forest Lake Camping Ground,New York City,Earth
March 14
If there's one thing Emily had been right about. It was the bugs. They'd been there for a day already; the school came with a van to their surprise. The van had power supply, but it was out of bounds for the students. That aside, the bugs were everywhere. They would have all been subjected to the pains of dealing with the bugs if Emily hadn't brought the bug spray which nearly the entire camp site made use of.
"Elijah" Emily shakes him as Skai approaches watching the scene confused. Elijah is laying on the grass, the sun kissing his melanin filled skin in an enchanting way that Emily was admiring before he stopped blinking and then his eyes shut completely.
"What's going on?" she asks Emily.
"He keeps zoning out, it's scary" Emily bites her lips nervously.
"Maybe he didn't take his meds, he's probably really tired." She tries to assure Emily. "We should take him to his tent to rest"
"Or we should call a teacher" Emily suggests worry evident in her voice and features.
"You know he wouldn't want that" Skai tells her. "I'll go get the guys to help, I don't think we'll have any luck pulling a guy that's at least half a foot taller than us" Skai cracks a joke to lighten up the mood.
But it doesn't help much. She quickly leaves to get River and Dexter.
"It's probably his meds" River assures them. "He slept really late last night, he needs rest"
"I didn't know you were a doctor" Dexter jokes and Skai smiles a little at it, but no one laughs. "Oof tough crowd...anyways we should play hide and seek in the woods when he wakes up" he suggests walking out the tent to join Emily and Skai outside.
"I like the way you think!" Skai beams "Let's go find safe spots" she winks at him.
"We're not really playing hide and seek are we?" Emily asks River hoping he had a plan to get out of it.
"I'm afraid we might have to, it's either that or skinny dipping with the rest of our year and I do not want to see any cheeks but the one on people's faces" River shudders stepping out to join Emily. He zips the tent shut to let Elijah sleep.
"How on God's green earth do they want to accomplish that?" Emily asks him confused "The teachers won't just let them"
"Not if they mix sleeping pills in the teachers food, it's gonna be a full-on party tonight, if hide and seek in the woods wasn't on Skai and Dexters bucket list, they'd probably be planning to go right now"
"Isn't skinny dipping on their bucket list too?" Emily asks him.
"Pretty sure they've done that" River gags.
Nighttime comes and the rest of Mav Ross high's sophomores are either preparing for their little party, charging their phones in the van or sleeping while Dexter, Emily, Skai, River and Elijah are in front of the boys' tent planning their game.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" River asks
"Oh, don't be such a party pooper Riv, the forest is animal free and we're playing in teams, we'll be fine" Skai grins at him.
"I guess you're right, what's the worst that could happen?" he shrugs.
"So, what's the plan?" Elijah asks seeming rejuvenated after taking his long nap, he never agrees to anything they do without a plan.
"Okay so, I'm guessing we all heard Patrick Sturns put sleeping medicine in the teachers' drinks, he wants to throw a party—which of course we will be joining when we get back by the way—so currently everyone else is either sleeping, prepping their selves or trying to charge their devices in the van while Sturns and his friends prep for the party." Dexter begins "So while they do that, we will sneak off into the woods and play our little game. Two people will seek, and three people will hide together, no splitting up. We don't want to lose anybody. Then after our game we'll stargaze till the party starts" he adds that last part to please Elijah. If Elijah wouldn't agree with something they didn't go through with it. It was just an unspoken rule.
"Why can't we just be like everyone else and sleep or charge our phones in the van?" Emily asks, her head tilted seeming genuinely confused.
Skai throws an arm over Emily's shoulder "Because we're not like everyone else Emily"
"Yeah, we're different" Dexter beams "Besides, who knows when the opportunity to play hide and seek in the woods will present itself before us again"
"Fair point" Skai cheers him on.
"Playing hide and seek in the woods is an opportunity?" Elijah chuckles.
"Experiencing nature in a way a lot of other humans haven't is an opportunity" Dexter indulges him.
"When you say it like that, it actually sounds like a smart idea" River looks at Dexter "It's not." he states pointing out "but you're getting better at convincing people"
"More like deceiving" Emily mutters and Dexter laughs.
"Well take it however you want, are we doing this or not?" he stops to ask them, and they all finally agree and make their way into the forest.
They decided that Emily and River would seek first while the rest of them hide.
It didn't take long before they found them behind a tree.
"You guys really are crap at hiding, aren't you?" Emily chuckles sarcastically, Dexter smiles at her glad she's having fun seeing as she didn't seem into the whole idea in the first place.
"I'd like to see you try, shorty" Skai smirks.
"It's just an inch, let it go" Emily looks down in false agony.
"Hey, what's that light?" Elijah asks and we all turn to the direction he was looking in.
"Yeah, I think it's time we leave, we might be starting to hallucinate" Dexter chuckles in an attempt to hide his fear when he sees the light Elijah is talking about.
"What the hell is that?" Skai asks looking intrigued.
"Something we should probably stay away from" Dexter stumbles back pulling Skai back with him.
"I think we can agree on that Bardo" River moves back as well pushing Skai behind him.
"Shouldn't we see what it is?, it might change mankind forever" Emily says seemingly amazed by it.
"Sorry what?" River looks at her as if she had two heads "Do you even hear yourself speak?"
Elijah turns to face her "We can see it on the internet when someone else finds it and takes a picture of it, but we're not about to risk our lives walking towards something we don't know to 'change mankind'" he gently cautions her, clearly just as scared as the rest of them—except Emily for some reason. Air quoting 'change mankind' because let's be real, none of them intended to put their lives on the line to change mankind besides her.
They had watched enough horror movies to know not to walk towards an eerie bright light that appears out of nowhere in the middle of the night.
Emily walks a little closer but not close enough to be arms-length with it.
"I guess you're right, it's best we leave" Emily turns around and they all start returning. But then a harsh wind comes out of nowhere pulling them back.
"DOOMSDAY" A sinister voice echoes and that is the last thing they hear before being sucked into the bright light.