3. Keisha/Sylas

“Two hours ago, I had to say goodbye to Portland, and all my friends, shout out to you babes! But nooow- check it out...” Keisha held her phone out, doing a small spin to show the rustic camp around her. Its wooden buildings were nestled so snugly into the pine forest it looked as though they had grown there organically alongside the trees. “First day of camp, I’m excited! I’ll post updates when I can, and DEFINITELY we’ll be making time to stream later in the week. ‘K, love you darlings! Wish me luck!”

She tapped her phone, ending her recording. Her face immediately fell, dropping its happy demeanor and adopting one of critical seriousness, piecing together her instagram story like a work of art, with learned, calculated precision.

Her father, a man with a stoic face and a soft tone, spoke. “Keesh baby, you done with your little insta- uh ... with your little phone project thing, now?”

Keisha hummed, her tone wavering between light hearted and annoyed. She took a moment to finish posting her vlog before finally replying. “It’s not a project dad, it’s a job. And yes, I’m done.” She breathed a long sigh as she surveyed the camp around her. “It’s not too late. We could still pack it all back up and send me to space camp.”

Her dad leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. “It’s too late.”

She gave an exasperated groan. “Daddy come ON! Space camp I could at least put on a college application, THIS place ... it’s a waste of time. I mean I couldn’t even get a position as a ‘cabin leader’, they gave the only spot available to some other bitch.” Keisha sat down on the steps leading up to cabin 2 and let her backpack slide off her shoulders. “Who in the hell made that decision? Did they even LOOK at the CV I sent them?”

It was so frustrating, feeling like she was being cornered into mediocrity. Keisha was ANYTHING but mediocre, why were all the adults around her so hell bent on forcing it on her?

“Hey hey...” her dad settled down next to her. “Now I know it’s not exactly whatchu wanted, but me and your mama- yes your mama too ... we both think this will be good for you.”

Keisha looked at him skeptically. She wanted to glare and snap at him, tell him that if that’s what they thought was best for her, that just proved they were idiots ... but she never could stay mad at her dad.

“I know you’ve been having some trouble making friends, in school and all of that. You see me an’ your mama working so hard and think you have to as well ... but life ain’t just about work, baby. This is a good chance for you to take a break from all of that an’ just have fun out here in the woods for a while.” He smiled and rested his arm around her shoulders. “Make some friends, roast some marshmallows, run around, I don’ know. Whatever things kids do at a summer camp.”

Keisha stared down at her phone in her hand. It was off but she could already feel it buzzing with notifications.

The truth was, making friends intimidated her. It was the only thing that ever really did. Everything else in life was so simple, cultivating an online presence, building her career as an influencer, it had been such a methodical process. A few sponsorships here, a strict streaming schedule there, learning how to dress to attract views, how to do her makeup, how to talk. She preferred the carefully designed personality she showed people online, pretending to be that perfect girl all her viewers loved. Her social media persona was her safe space, the idea of actually getting to know someone else in real life ... it was FAR out of her comfort zone.

“I’ll try dad.” She lied.

Her father gave her a satisfied smile. “That’s all I ask, baby. Are you sure you’re gonna be ok moving all these things in on your own?”

Keisha stood up. “I’ll be alright, daddy. You get on back, you got the night shift later.”

Her father stood up with her and sighed. “How the hell I’m gonna stay awake for that after all this driving is beyond me.”

Keisha frowned, turning away from him in annoyance. “Well don’t drive sleepy, stupid head. If it’s too much, skip out on work and find a motel to stay at or somethin’.”

He chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.”

They passed a few more words between them before he left. Keisha dodged his attempts to convince her to call him with updates, she knew him and her mom watched her streams, they’d get their updates there. Any further communication was just unnecessary.

With a stoic face she watched him leave, then began hauling her luggage up the stairs into her new cabin home.

Keisha pushed her way inside, a bit lost in thought. Her suitcase banged against the frame of the door, requiring a few extra tugs to get it over the mantle. Once through, she sighed in relief and stopped at the sight in front of her.

A girl with long blonde hair was stooped on the floor, crawling on her hands and knees. Her eyes were focused on a huge mouse trap in front of her, her nose almost stuck in it as she intently tried to balance a small slice of brie cheese on the little lever.

At Keisha’s arrival she looked up and the two girls locked eyes. For a moment all thoughts slid out of her head as Keisha tried to come up with any kind of response to the odd scene before her. All over the room there were at least two dozen more mouse traps set up, the smell of freshly sliced brie filled the cabin.

A moment of silence passed them by, then the other girl’s voice came out almost as a whisper. “Don’t touch the beds ... I’m not done with them.”

Keisha seriously considered turning around and joining her father on his way home.

“And don’t walk around at night without a flashlight!” The blonde sat up and tried to fix her frazzled hair. One of the poorly set traps behind her snapped shut on its own. “I’m Natalie by the way!”

“Do you ... work here, or something?”

The blonde girl rolled her eyes, taking out a small pocket mirror to look over her hair. “No I don’t ‘work here.’” She mimicked Keisha’s voice. “I’m just being a good cabin mate and making sure the place is clean!”

Keisha folded her arms. “That’s very sweet of you, when I get my toes stuck in one of those I’ll be sure to thank you.”

“That’s why I said- hey! What are you doing?”

Keisha had already pulled out her phone and started recording Natalie on the floor amongst her traps, a look of confusion plastered across the girl’s face. “Hey everybody! First night at camp, and I just met one of my new cabin mates! Her name’s Natalie, and she...” Keisha panned over to all the traps laid out across the room. “Brought her own mouse traps, and set them up all over our cabin! Sooo cute, she’s such a cutie, in kind of a serial killer freak kind of way-”

“H-hey!” Natalie’s look of confusion intermingled with one of embarrassment, it was clear she wasn’t used to being talked about like this.

Keisha flipped her phone camera so it was looking at her and turned away from Natalie, dropping her voice into a fake whisper. “I’m not making a big deal out of it of course, I think I saw her name on a list of kids sent here on a sort of ... special program. I am just SO glad they let girls like her with mental retardation- is that the correct term?” She laughed. “I don’t even know! I’m SO un-in-formed about this kind of stuff, but I’m ALWAYS trying to learn more and more everyday because THAT’S how you make the world a better place-”

“Hey who the hell do you think you are?!” Natalie stammered out, jumping to her feet.

Keisha closed her phone. “Not an idiot who wanted to turn my cabin into her own personal psycho slaughter house for toes, that’s for sure.”

“Fine! God, I’ll clean it up! Just don’t post that shit online.”

A bell rang from outside the cabins. Keisha smiled, “whatever Rat Girl, better hurry up! Initiation’s starting, and I want every single one of those traps gone before you leave.”

She couldn’t help but feel impressed with herself. It didn’t matter what those retards running the camp thought. She was born to be cabin leader. She got shit done.

Natalie called after her. “Hey, you know Rat Girl isn’t gonna stick! No one’s gonna fucking call me- it’s Natalie! You hear me?! It’s fucking-”

The door shut behind Keisha, silencing the vengeful cries of the blonde girl.

Preparation had taken longer than anticipated, he’d barely had time to move in his things. Already the evening light glowering in through his cabin window was fading and Sylas could feel the blood of the beast thrashing restlessly deep within him. It felt ... good. Like a lust he knew would be sated. Like endless wild night crawling just beneath his skin, ready to rip and tear, first this weak pathetic form ... then ... then ... well a hunter’s virtue was patience.

All around, he could smell them. The children. There was something about their soft meat that burdened his mind, more so than any of his so-called “coworkers”. They were fresh, their smell stronger, their bodies more pliable. Sylas had relished how the camp filled with them that day, their voices echoing through the once silent woods, their feet running up and down the once barren pathways of the camp. Paths that had, in times long past, belonged to his family. They must think this place home. He chuckled internally. They would soon realize whose home these woods truly were.

“Sylas.”

He jolted from his thoughts, accidently breathing in some saliva, which caused Sylas to cough violently to dislodge it from his windpipe. “Hana!- ahk! I- terribly sorry, I didn’t even hear you come in-” he wheezed, whirling about to face the girl standing in the doorway of his cabin.

She smiled at him politely, her fingers folded neatly in front of her. “Sorry! Didn’t mean to startle you, I’ve been told I don’t have much of a presence.”

“No no! It’s- uh, it’s alright, I’m simply not used to being snuck up on, I was completely lost in thought.” Sylas tried to regain his composure, although reasserting his usual gruff aloof manner was a bit difficult. “What uh ... what can I help you with?”

“It’s getting late, don’t you think it’s time we start the initiation ceremony?”

Sylas stifled a grimace. “Yes of course. After you, I suppose.”

Hana grinned in excitement and mouthed a ‘yay!’

She was a local college girl as he’d heard it. Studying ... psychology? Gender studies? He couldn’t remember, it had been something along those lines. He had to admit the girl brought a lot of energy to her job, though somehow maintaining a bit of elegance with every movement, a slight Korean accent slipping out any time she got enthusiastic. Maybe she was just happy to be taking time off from school, or maybe she genuinely enjoyed the job.

He followed her out to the clearing between the cabins. Situated in the center was a large fire pit, surrounded by logs to sit on. At the head, squeezed between the ends of two logs was a small wooden arch about as tall as Sylas, from it hung a fat metal bell.

Gripping the rope of the bell with gnarled fingers, Sylas began to ring it. The sound was deeper than he’d anticipated, the bell much heavier and robust than he’d thought to be necessary. With every strike of the clapper the frail wooden structure holding it shuttered. Its clanging notes echoed through the camp grounds and the adjacent forests, and from every corner he could see the campers begin to crawl towards their site, like maggots scurrying towards feted meats.

“Gather up, children. Sit.” Sylas glowered at them, murmuring to the few near him, “for soon begins the night’s ritual of initia-”

“Initiation!” His ever excited coworker burst out, “I’m Hana, and this is Sylas. We’ll be the camp counselors for cabins one and two!”

Sylas passed a glance at her. He could tell she was desperate to get started, and although he was several decades her senior, and a man, he decided he was willing to allow her to take the lead, if for no other reason than to avoid irritation. They waited for the last few stragglers to come running down the path, or wandering across the nearby meadow, the teens for the most part seemed to already be making friends, a few coming in groups of two or three.

“Welcome everyone! To Camp Moon Lake!” Hana clasped her hands together as the kids sat down around the fire pit. “And welcome to initiation! Tonight is the night that you become Mooners!”

A few of the teens exchanged looks.

“Camp Moon Lake is not an old camp ground, but we ARE a proud one, and by the time you’re done here you’ll have wonderful new memories and friends to last a lifetime! Our motto iiiisss ... do. Your. BEST! Because that’s all we ever ask of you!” She winked at one of the boys, a chubby White boy who glanced around in confusion, then spread her arms wide. “Say it with me now! Do. Your. Best!”

She managed to coax a half hearted few to chant the phrase with her. He wasn’t sure why, but Hana unnerved Sylas. He wondered if she was having a similar effect on the campers.

Sylas took a deep breath, “yes thank you Hana. We will soon begin the ceremony of initiation, however ... before that can happen we will be taking attendance to ensure all are present. When I call your name, you say hi, and tell us a little something about yourself, Hana do you mind getting the fire going while I do this? Let’s start with ... Travis Barrett.”

“Wussup, I’m here.” A little blonde haired shit spoke up, his overly familiar tone grating on Sylas’ ears.

Sylas glanced over the clipboard given to him by Bennett. Travis Barrett, let’s see ... local boy born and raised in Moon Lake, straight A student, athlete, apparently has a little sister who was supposed to come but canceled last minute. He must be feeling lucky.

“Well Travis, is there anything you’d like to say? Besides ‘wussup’?”

Travis gave a crooked smile. “Yeah, uh, hey how’s it goin’?” He glanced around at a few of the girls and one of the other guys snorted in laughter at him.

Sylas watched Hana struggling to dump a bunch of logs into the fire pit, huffing as she chucked them in. She looked at the pit full of logs, and then glanced around uncomfortably, as though uncertain what came next.

“Yes, well thank you Travis, sit back down. Erin Bird, is there an Erin-”

“Yes! Present!”

“Again, you don’t have to stand up when I call you, you can just ... it’s fine, thank you Ms. Bird. Is there anything you’d like to tell us about yourself?”

The ginger girl stood sheepishly next to her friends. One of them, a girl with short blonde hair and red glasses, got up to help Hana, stacking the fire wood into a proper pyramid shape and stuffing it with kindling.

“Uh- I like swimming, although I’m not very good at competitions! I mostly do it for fun now, and I uh- love bugs, and all kinds of insects! Me and my mom used to collect them when I was little-”

Sylas flicked through the file on her while she babbled. She was a real good girl type, came here as part of a program with her church, no criminal record ... grades seemed a bit on the low side though, C’s and D’s. Not a very bright kid it seemed. Just a quick glance told him why her swimming career hadn’t taken off. Even at such a young age the girl’s body had clearly been rocketed into womanhood. With that much extra drag it’d be a miracle if she won any prize outside of a wet t-shirt competition.

Sylas interrupted her halfway through her soliloquy. “Next up ... Caldwell. Keisha Caldwell...”

He looked up and noticed he was being filmed.

The owner of the phone, a Black girl with short, straight hair and blonde highlights, looked up at him over her device. “Oh it’s my turn already?” She ended her recording. “Hi, my name’s Keisha, I love hanging out with friends and having fun! And also streaming, I’m a streamer, I mostly do beauty stuff but I’ve tried streaming horror games too, you can find me on Twitch and Instagram at-”

Again he tuned the girl out, this time however he could tell he wasn’t alone as the other kids quickly started playing with rocks and looking at their phones. Keisha’s file on the other hand, was certainly interesting to say the least. Multiple fights in school, one charge of assault on her record ... and yet perfect straight A student, with a number of extra curriculars, and even an award. She apparently sent in a CV when she signed up for cabin leader ... all in all, a very strange girl.

“Yes, thank you Keisha. Kayden Cook, is there a Kayden Cook here?”

One of the guys, who had previously been lying back, staring blankly at the sky, sat upright. “Ah hah, yah that’s me, teach!”