Chapter Nine

Shane woke with a start.

That was some seriously good sleep. He thought. And yet, he was all of a sudden wide awake. Everyone else in his room was still sleeping. It’s a wonder none of them were disturbed by Brightlee last night, either. Camp really wears some people out. As Shane returned to consciousness, he had many ideas flowing back into his mind.

First, Brightlee wins the award for creepiest flirting.

And second, what was up with that dream? I still remember it. I never remember my dreams, at least not this clearly. But I remember this one. Did I die? That’s probably not a good sign. And Keah, Brightlee, Tate, and Kim were all there. Man, I feel like Dorothy right now, just without the tornado and the ruby slippers. Boy would they be really nice to have! Just a heel click and then… ahh I’m getting off track… What the hell happened last night?

Someone stirred. Shane looked at his watch.

4:17am.

Usually he hated being up so early, but today he was glad to be awake at such an odd hour. He had so many things to think about. And he really needed to talk to Kim.

He snuck out of his room and crept to the other side of Salem, to one of the girls’ rooms. Keah and Brightlee had their own room in another cabin with Tate, so Shane wasn’t worried about running into them. But there were still about twenty other counselors to be concerned about waking up. And he wasn’t supposed to know Kim.

Shane crouched down, reached up, and very gently turned the door knob. He inched the door open and peaked inside, making sure he hadn’t woken up any of the girls. Luckily, Kim’s was the closest bunk to the door. He crawled inside, extended his arm, and covered Kim’s mouth as he roused her awake. Shane thought he looked pretty creepy at this point, but he really couldn’t risk her waking everyone else up. And he just had to talk to her.

Kim’s eyes opened wide. She was definitely a little scared. But when she saw Shane, she calmed down. Shane motioned with his other hand the need to be quiet and urged Kim to come outside with him. They both snuck out of her room, through the common room, and out the back door.

As soon as they were outside, Kim let out a squeal, but quickly stifled it with her hand. She recognized that tall building.

“So you saw it, too.” Shane whispered.

Kim nodded.

“That’s why I had to talk to you. That dream—you had the dream, right?”

She nodded again. “Shane I thought you died!”

Shane hugged her. It felt good to do that again. It had been so long.

He pulled away, grabbed her shoulders, and looked her in the eyes as he whispered “That dream was far too clear. This place is way too creepy. And it can’t be a coincidence that we’re both here.”

They looked up at what Tate had called “just a maintenance building” the day before—the gigantic structure where all of the terror of last night’s dream had occurred just a few hours ago.

Kim broke the silence. “Can we talk somewhere else? I’m getting the chills just being so close to… that.”

They walked to the side of the cabin. There were some trees that they could hide in while they talked.

“I just want some answers.” Shane let out.

 “I don’t know anything, Shane.” Kim insisted. She wanted to help, but she felt so clueless.

“No, no. There has to be something. We’re just lost. Let’s retrace our steps. How’d you find out about this place?”

The nineteen-year-old relayed her story, her note from Keah, and her strange journey in the pencil-shaped aircraft.

“Shane, we saw them before! When we were in Salem! Keah said she had wanted to bring us here a year ago.”

“That’s why I recognized her.”

“And I remember something else… on the way to Camp Peace...”

“What?”

“Keah said something like ‘just trust me now because we’ll all have to trust you two later.’ What do you think we’re going to have to do?”

“I don’t know. Let’s just keep filling each other in. There’s probably something else we’re missing.”

Shane started on his experience with the camp flyer and not being able to find Camp Peace online.

“And Brightlee- she already had me on her list even though I didn’t sign up.”

“Oh this is just so strange, Shane.”

“She was a little weird last night, too. She was in my room after I woke up from the dream.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah and she asked all of these questions about the dream. And as usual for this place, she was acting strange. To tell you the truth, I really don’t know what is strange anymore. I think we’re going to need a new word just to describe the weirdness of this place.”

“Well, how was she acting?”

“She was flirting with me. And—“

“And what?”

“Well, after I told her about the dream, she kissed me.” Shane blushed. “And then I fell right back to sleep.”

Kim now liked Brightlee a lot less.

“Let’s add that to the list of weird things about Brightlee: knows people’s names before they tell her, wears tie-dye outside of music festivals, has magical sleep causing kisses.”

Kim thought she was being funny, but Shane heartily agreed with her statement. So she returned his agreement with a very serious nod.

“So let’s get back to our info sharing session.” She added.

Shane continued on about his dream. Kim added parts that he missed.

“And what was that doctor’s name… Dr. Gustafson!” Shane remembered he wanted to ask her about him. “You’ve told me about him before. Who is he again?”

“My therapist. I’ve been seeing him a lot this year. I know people you know can end up in your dream, but it’s a little strange that he ended up in your dream. You don’t know him.”

“Kim, we had the same dream. All of this is weird.”

“Fair enough.”

“So why do you think he would he be here?”

A twig snapped in the distance. Both heads turned.

“What was that?” Kim whispered.

Another twig snapped. And this time some whispers. The two teenagers looked each other and then at their watches. Their discussion had lasted too long. It was almost time for breakfast. They had to get back to their beds before anyone knew they were missing. They would have to talk about the rest of the dream another time. They crept back to the cabin, pinned themselves up against the side of the building, and looked around the corner. Tate and Brightlee were having a pretty heated discussion at the front door.

Shane and Kim snuck around the back and tiptoed through the door. As they parted ways, Shane squeezed Kim’s hand. And she felt the warmth she missed all last year.

They edged back into their rooms just in time for the front door to open and the lights flick on.

“Rise and shine!” Tate shouted.