"Help! Help!"

Instantly, I'm alert, eyes scanning my surroundings, flitting between left and right to find the source of the cries. Once I've decided that the danger isn't within my cabin, I run outside to the common area in the centre of the girls cabins to find Colton's boys covered in a wet, sticky substance... that's red.

Being the only group at the sleeping ground for rest, I'm the first and only counsellor on the scene. Assumingly, the boys have come from the woods but Colton isn't with them. They should've had a scheduled activity currently, so why isn't he?

Hearing the crunching of gravel behind me, I whip my head round to find my campers in tow. Crap. There's no time to deal with the boys and the girls but I can't leave them in the cabin alone. Crap!

Right, I need to address the situation... and fast.

"Briella, grab me the first-aid box, now!"

Briella scampers off back through the door she just exited to find the box we had been treating her wound with and I reach the boys. From head to toe they're drenched in the colour red but the funny thing is: no notable wounds are obvious. The thought lingers in the back of my mind but I shake it off. Cuts can drown in blood, right?

Regardless, the boys camp t-shirts are nearly ripped to shreds, almost as if they've been ravaged by something. One boy has lost a shoe, another's shorts barely exist anymore and one boy's glasses, broken. And of course, Colton is still nowhere to be found.

My first-aid box not within my hands yet, I decide to start questioning the boys. "Where's Colton?"

They look at each other, sending a silent message through air, before a boy with ginger hair speaks up. "We don't know, the last time we saw him... was when it happened. "

"When what happened?"

"When the bear attacked."

Gasps erupt behind me, Lillian tugging on my shirt with urgency. "But Vivian said you'd find wolves faster than you'd find bears!"

"I said it was a wolf!"

I frown. "No, you didn't."

"Yes, he did," one of the boys pipes up.

"Tell me again, slowly, what happened?"

"We were at rock climbing when a bear comes out of nowhere and starts attacking us. Colton didn't make it." Bingo.

I purse my lips. "So, Colton died when the bear attacked?"

"No?"

"But you said he didn't make it."

"He didn't."

"So he died then?"

The boy who had tried to help his friend stop drowning starts to sink himself, mouth opening and closing like a fish.

"Well?" I prompt.

"I don't know." The boy finally decides, stepping back and allowing the boy with the glasses — or what were glasses — to take the forefront.

He sends the other boy a look before turning to me. "What he meant to say was that we ran so fast we have no clue what happened."

"Right, got you. And it was a bear right? Do you think it's still out there?"

"Probably." He shrugs.

Lianna tugs on my sleeve. "But I thought they said it was a wolf." Duh.

"They did."

"Yeah, we did."

Lianna turns to me confused. "But they just said it was a bear?"

"They did."

"Yeah, we did—" The triumphant expression the boy was making turns sour, realising he's in a bit of a pickle.

It's at this point Briella runs over, puffing her hair out of her face and chest moving up and down. She looks at the scene for a minute before she draws a wiggle on her forehead. "What happened to all the blood?"

Frantically, the boys look down at themselves, noticing that the 'blood' is drying at a rapid pace and that it's rather obvious they have no life threatening wounds.

"Well, Briella what's happening here is that the boys' story is evaporating just as fast as the blood is drying on their skin. Notice how crusty — flaky even — it's becoming? It's quite bizarre because blood normally doesn't stop pouring till the wound is sealed and for the amount visible on their body, I would've expected a deep cut that needed stitches."

"What are you, a doctor?" One boy huffs.

I smile. "No, I'm not, but we should probably get one for Colton. If he didnt make it back the bear or wolf must've really hurt him?"

"It did."

I fake a look of panic. "Oh, no! We better call an ambulance!" I pause taking in the looks of 'oh shit' on their faces. "But don't worry they'll understand that the whole thing happened too quickly so we don't know what attacked him."

"Oh... good," he says with less confidence.

I roll my eyes, seeing the bronzed boy entering out of the woods looking for something. "Colton!" I wave. "Over here!"

He spots us and breaks into a jog an annoyed expression on his face. "Where the hell did you disappear— why are you covered in ketchup?"

"Because they were trying to prank my girls, again." I roll my eyes, again. "Good to see you're not dead."

He gives out a small chuckle. "I'm glad you're glad then."

I shake my head, a smile lining my lips. "Just sort out your boys."

"Right." He nods. "Boys, go back to the cabin, get cleaned and then we're talking about this."

He shoos them away, all of them squabbling about who's at fault on the way. I do the same, ushering my girls away before turning to him. "I'm sorry."

He quirks an eyebrow. "For what?"

"For blaming you. I should've believed you when you said it wasn't you pranking me. Clearly, your boys are more mischievous than they led me to believe." I sigh.

He looks off, watching his remaining campers disappear over the green horizon, leaving only wooden cabins, trees and a never ending path in sight.

"It's my fault too. It's not like I gave you any reason to believe I wasn't."

I shrug. "Guess we're both idiots then."

"I really am sorry you know?"

Do I know? Who knows. But what I do know? I want to start again. Life isn't for living in the past, it's for living in the future. And now, right now, I'm deciding that I'm all for what's to come. The past can build a bridge and get over it, for all I care.

"It's in the past. Truce?"

He nods, smiling. "Truce."

I give him a grin. "Now go deal with your mini-me's."

He groans. "Do I have to?"

I roll my eyes for the third time. "No shit."

"You're so mean to me."

"You bet I am." I smirk.

Later that night when the girls have finally fallen asleep, I stare at my phone. It blinks in the darkness, a message illuminating on the screen.

i hope you haven't forgotten about me.

and boom! chapter 18! also yes i realise i didn't update on wednesday but i'm changing it to tuesday okay!! that's the only reason no update was on wednesday! (:

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qotc: who's loving shawns new music??

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same with banners, i've not transferred to my laptop and blah blah blah hehe. ([email protected])

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till tuesday,

xox,

jessie.