Read Brenowa Camp :: Brenowa Camp

The airpods are still in my ears as I rest my head against my arm. I fell asleep during the ride. Before I knew it, we were in Tari, the countryside of Trid. It feels as if I was in Osandra minutes ago. Stretching, I walk outside the car. The entrance sign above me reads 'Brenowa Camp.' Snatching my phone from the carseat, I tuck it in my back pocket. I notice dad carrying out my duffel. The bag is halfway out when I rush to assist him.

"Thanks Jussy." He replies with a smile.

"No problem." I return the gesture.

"This place doesn't look so bad, right?"

He asks, hands on his hips. I shrug, strolling ahead. Past the entrance, a large grass field with a lake beside it bluer than my eyes spreads across. Farther down ahead of me, eleven cabins stand beside each other horizontally with a sand volleyball pit in front of them. The sun highlights the roofs. Walking past the entrance, rotating my head in different directions to study the camp, I come across a tall, slim tree. I crouch down to sit under it. As I turn my head to the side, a cabin labelled '11' lies in front of it.

Next to it lies a hallway of cabins, all painted in black and white with brown, glossy doors. Dad is walking through the same path as I did with mom catching up to him, her purse barely hanging onto her arm. I sigh, crossing my arms on my arched legs. It felt very refreshing, sitting in this spot. Some wind blew by, blowing some notes on the rocky ground up into the sky. I could even see a balloon floating up high. Beside the cabins was a volleyball net with sand surrounding it, and a dusty, torn white volleyball lying on the sand. I hear footsteps pattering louder, coming towards my direction from behind me. Walking happily toward me, stands a tall ginger-haired man wearing a violet polo, black shorts and sneakers.

"Hey there!"

He greets.

"Hi."

I reply.

"I'm Tom Jo, the main camp leader here at Brenowa Camp! It's a pleasure to meet ya!"

He pokes his hand to me, begging for it to be shook. I do so, pursing my lips feeling a little intimidated over how loud he was.

"How you feeling?" He asks with a smile too good to be true.

"I'm a little tired, but other than that I'm good, thanks."

I reply, resting against the tree.

"Oh hi I'm a little tired, I'm Tom."

He chuckles at the dad joke as my hand fights the urge to face palm and my lips purse.

"I-I'm Justice by the way. Justice Owlet."

"Welcome!"

He replies happily. I stare at him for a little longer, not knowing what to say next.

"How was your trip here? You live far away?"

"Oh, it was good. I live kind of far away, but it's not too far."

"Huh. Fun. I live in another province, so coming here was a challenge and traffic has been nuts. I-"

Tom continues to ramble on about his journey coming here; involving the crazy climate that came his way, as well as other adventures. I try my best to look interested by pursing my lips lighter and nodding my head, not wanting to look rude, knowing I will regret it afterwards. Glancing at my side, Mom and Dad are closer towards me. Mom's face is written with disgust as her eyes study Tom as if he was wearing the worst clothes on Earth. The ginger introduces himself to my parents, no different to how he greeted me.

"Your daughter seems great."

He beams. Both of them search every way how I could enjoy myself here and explain to Tom.

"I'm sure she'll have a great time! Oh, and by the way Justice, your cabin is right behind you. Cabin #11. The other girls should be arriving shortly."

He smiles at me, pointing at the small grey-painted cabin not too far away from me. My parents continue chatting with Tom. They seem to be having the time of their lives with all those laughs and agreements. As time passed by slowly, I wondered if my parents would come back to say goodbye, but they seem to be to busy talking with the ginger. Another woman passes by to chat. She had the same orange polo and black shorts as Tom, and she had long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. I sigh, fiddling with the twigs by me.

Farther ahead of me sat a girl drawing. She had jade green hair and there was a boy beside her, leaning against the wall. He kept ruffling her hair. Annoyance surrounded the girl's face. Hopefully he's not another Tom Jo. I think. Something is telling me that this girl is cool, judging from her appearance. I remain seated, yanking out my phone playing Dodie. I still wonder what will happen if I talk to that girl. Her sketch tips over, and though It is upside down, it looks like a woman with black lipstick. The sketch is beautiful, detail and smoothness surrounded all over it. Dad comes back and holds his hand out to help me up.

"Sorry we didn't come. Tom's a bit of a chatterbox."

"Don't worry."

I reply. Mom comes closer to me, brushing the sand off my long sleeve shirt and stroking my hair.

"Justice, honey please try to be happy. And make some friends. It's all I want."

I sigh like a horse.

"I guess."

Mom sighs in disappointment.

"We'll pick you up at the end of August."

Dad comes over to hug me and kiss my forehead. Mom repeats it as I hug them back.

"You'll be alright Jussy."

I nod slightly. They walk away, waving goodbye with smiles as I do the same.

---

An hour has passed and the camp is packed with people. Groups of friends are walking around. I rise off the floor to wander around the field, teeming with people. After mom and dad left, I placed my duffel bag on one of the bottom bunks while my phone and AirPods are still in my hands and ears. A bugle blares as everyone muffs their ears. I eye Tom at the flagpole with a megaphone in his hand.

"Alright everyone! Come gather round!" He screams in the mega phone.

Everyone including me, surrounds the flag pole.

"Welcome everyone, to Brenowa Camp! We're so glad that you decided to choose this summer camp and we can't wait to do lots of activities with you guys! I'm Tom, the main camp leader. If you see me walking about, and if you have questions about anything, then feel free to ask me!"

The sky collects the crowd's cheers. Tom passes the megaphone to the blonde woman who my parents were chatting with before.

"Hi everyone. I'm Jenna, Tom's assistant.

The kids "whooo" once more.

"Feel free to ask me anything as well."

She finishes calmly with a smile, her voice high and feminine.

"To get to know each other, we're going to play a game of introduction. Who knows how to play the intro game?"

The crowd stayed silent causing Jenna and Tom to laugh. Jenna smiles once more, this time showing her teeth.

"Alright, so what you're going to do is you'll be split into 4 equal groups. Each group will be here on the field but will be put in different areas. Each group is going to spread around in their circle, but there will be boundaries so no one runs into a different group. When I say freeze, you will stop in front of the person who's closest to you and ask them simple questions. Such as, what their name is, their favourite colour, etcetera." "With that aside, Let's get started everyone! And remember, everyday is a 'Brenew day'! That's our motto."

I fake laugh at the pun, as did some other teenagers aside from me. Jenna walks down from the few wooden stairs and separates us into groups. I follow some other teenagers farther down the grass field, nearby the lake. Among the teenagers was the green-haired girl I saw earlier. She was wearing a black hoodie and shorts with white sneakers. Her eyes were shining hazel and her skin is Ivory. Her mood is displayed proudly on her pretty face, in low eyebrows and slightly sleepy eyes. I stare at the ground, feet turned in. A whistle blows.

"Alright everyone! Is everybody in a group?"

She yelled through the device.

"Yeah!"

We yelled in response.

"Excellent! When I say go, you'll start walking around. 3..2..1.. Go!!"

We roam around as I whistle a bit. Within a minute, she calls out "freeze!" I halt in front of the angry-looking arty girl.

"Hi. W-what's your name?"

I ask nervously.

"I'm Sky." She replies.

"Yours?"

"Justice."

"How old are you?" She asks with her arms crossed, neutrally.

"14."

"You?"

"13."

She replies. Her frown remains permanent as we exchange questions. My stomach does endless somersaults. Stuttering and playing with my fingers, I struggle to search for a question. Sky raises a brow.

"Err.. what do you like to do?" She asks, her face becoming slowly relaxed with every following minute.

"Writing's pretty fun for me." I reply.

She rods in approval.

"That's neat."

"I actually saw you drawing earlier. You're really good."

The girl's brows raise.

"Were you stalking me?"

My stomach drops.

"No, no. I'm so sorry. I just think you're really cool. I mean- your stuff is really cool. I-"

"Time's up! Spread out again!"

Jenna yells. The last thing I hear from sky is a mumble. She trails past me. All I do is purse my lips and sigh. I wish I could go apologize to her. My eyes feel as if they were to burn as my anxiety increases. 'My damn power.' I mutter under my breath. This has been happening for a while. I don't bother to shuffle around the the field. Suddenly, I eye a different pair of feet other than mine in front of me. Jenna signals us to advance the activity.

"Hey, you ok?"

A male voice asks soothingly, about to tap my shoulder. My head darts up, away from looking at the lime green grass as my eyes burn hotter. The moment my eyes meet his, he falls forward from fainting, clutching his head in pain. I scurry back as all I can do is stare at the boy in shock. Even though he's alive, Shame drags my heart down to my stomach.

"Oh my god! Someone get a medic!"

A female voice calls in fear. A person in the orange polo and black shorts camp uniform rushed to the boy. He's lying in front of me, on his stomach, eyes barely open. The employee checks his pulse before showering me with questions.

"What did you do young lady?! Don't you realize he could have had a concussion?! He hit his head on a rock!"

"I'm very sorry, I don't know what happened."

I breathe after the employee screams at me, causing everyone near us to look at me with fear while some smirk.

"It- It won't happen again."

I stammer before the angry person can scold me again. And again.