It was cracked and lying on the ground beside me. I didn’t remember dropping it. I didn’t remember lying down. I didn’t remember anything after Heather’s face leaned in too close.
I tapped my phone’s screen three times until the light pierced the shadowed corners of my surroundings.
1 p.m.
Holy shit.
Camp check-out was in an hour. It should’ve been loud—cars, kids, counselors, parents—but the woods around me felt padded and far away.
I knew these woods so well. I had grown up around them. But today, I felt like a stranger in a new world.
I felt so dehydrated that I could have drunk a lake. I sat up and almost fell backward. My head was pounding, but not in a normal hangover way. It felt like pieces were missing. Every time I tried to grab a memory, it slipped through my fingers and left this raw, empty ache behind. A heavy wave of depression rolled over me from nowhere, like I’d just gotten the worst news of my life and forgotten what it was.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
Something had happened, but my brain was mush. The last thing I remembered was talking to Heather. She’d slipped me something, right? A drink? A pill?
Panic struck me when I thought about Mackenzie. Shit. She must be so worried about me. Actually, she was probably furious and planning to make me pay. She was plotting my death right now. I could just see her furrowed brow as she bent over her journal, jotting down all the ways she was going to kill me.
I stood up too fast. The world lurched sideways. I staggered, catching myself on a tree. My steps felt delayed. Like, there was a half-second between my brain telling them to move and them actually doing it.
The walk to the cabins felt eerie. It was almost silent. Usually, the camp buzzed with kids’ chatter as they waited to be picked up.
By the time I stepped out of the trees, my shirt was damp with sweat, and my hands were shaking.
As I returned to my cabin, most of the counselors had already left. The only person remaining was Heather, passed out in her bunk with her blonde hair splayed across her face.
I ignored her and headed straight back to my room to find Mackenzie and apologize. But it was empty.
At first, I didn’t panic. Perhaps she was in the dining hall or in the bathroom. Maybe I’d walk in, and she’d be there, sitting on the counter, rolling her eyes, calling me an idiot.
I opened the bathroom door and was met with darkness. The air was stale, like no one had been in there for days. I flicked the light, just to be sure. The harsh yellow glow fell on the tile and an empty trash can.
I looked around. Her bags and belongings were gone.
I tried to rationalize with myself that I wasn’t seeing what I was seeing.
My ears started ringing, a high, thin whine that drowned out my own breath.
No, no, no, no.
I grabbed my phone and shot her a text.
Trouble, where are you? I’m so sorry to worry you. I dk what happened last night.
I’m at the cabin. Please txt me as soon as u get this.
The bile rose in my throat as a distant alarm sounded. I stared at the text after I hit send, half-expecting it to disappear, for the words to rearrange themselves into something I hadn’t typed.
Nothing was making sense.
I ran to the front of the cabin and poked Heather’s shoulder. I used more force than I would’ve used for a girl, but I was freaking the fuck out. My fingers felt clumsy, too strong, and too weak at the same time.
She opened her eyes, rubbing them.
The look she gave me told me that something bad had happened, something really bad. It stirred a paranoia inside me I hadn’t felt before.
“What thefuckhappened?” I croaked.
