Boot Camp for Bad Boys

Chapter 9

 It was an hour before 5 when Demi popped her head in the cabin door and was squealing excitedly. “It’s time! It’s time!”

Yes, time for the bonfire.

I didn’t nap at all, in fact, Caleb and I spent all of our free time on the guitar where I made Caleb played a bunch of songs that I liked so much and it happened to be on the iPod, and then eventually he was so sick of taking song requests from me, “if you want me to play another song, you best better pay up.” He told me. So then, I had him teach me how to play the guitar myself—see how I progressed from there.

And then one thing led to another, we suddenly began arguing about a book that we both read—Pride and Prejudice. I claimed that Mr. Darcy was ‘romantic’ in his own way and probably wasn’t the best in expressing his feelings to which he countered that Mr. Darcy was an absolute snob who didn’t at all, deserve the lass and there were so many times that Elizabeth Bennet could not even bear him. Guess we had really different views of both the characters.  

Thus, we came to an inconclusive conclusion.

“Sooooo…” Demi began, nudging me when I sat on the chair as she did my hair. “Demi you’re going to burn a hole in my scalp with that iron rod if you continue to nudge me like that.”

“I can’t explain why I’m particularly interested in that little scene I saw earlier, or maybe it’s because we’ve not seen Caleb spending time with another girl to that extent, going all the way over to her cabin just to teach her guitar.”

“P.s., the guitar was already in our cabin, he was just..well, he probably was so bored out of his mind hence why he began playing.”

“I most certainly did not expect that, I mean, I sent that goon off to get my headband but he never returned.”

“He said you probably found a spare to use.”

“I did, but I needed to make sure he didn’t fall into a rabbit hole on the way to our cabin, and Danny insisted that he should follow me.”

“Danny always follows you everywhere, you don’t see me asking you about it.” I smirked. “That’s different.” She argued. “He only ever does that to annoy me.”

“Really? Because the last I checked, if a boy is constantly on your tail, there could only be two reasons. One,” I held up a finger. “Making sure you’re not seeing another boy behind his back and two,” I held up a second finger, “He’s interested in you and feels the need to constantly be around you.”

“And I can assure you it’s neither of those two things that you’ve just mentioned. Danny’s just, well, being Daniel. And there’s nothing else he rather do than just get on my nerves constantly.”

“And you never once wondered why would he even do so?” I asked as I watched her curl the last few strands of my hair. “Nope, I guess, I’m just never thought much about it.”

I smiled. Oh Demi, there’s so much you can learn from me.

“So, what are you wearing to the bonfire?” she asked. I shrugged as I hadn’t had the slightest thought about it.

I didn’t bring any jeans with me, I mean, who in their right mind would ever wear jeans to a Boot Camp in this weather? It was either sweats, shorts or track pants. And right now, the most presentable piece of outfit I owned were a pair denim shorts and a spaghetti strapped blouse I had no idea Amanda had packed for me. I paired it with a jacket over my shoulder, knowing that it would get pretty cold outside later into the night.

**

It was one of those rare nights at Boot Camp—according to Demi, where there were absolutely no rules; we get do whatever we want, no supervisors, no Buffy, no extra push-ups and the best part? No punishments and that only meant one thing—the delinquents ruled the camp grounds tonight.

Okay well, maybe there's only one little rule, well according to Buffy, was to not light ourselves on fire like Danielle did (her words, not mine). The look on Daniel’s face was pretty priceless when he got his name called out wrong, sending a fit of giggles among the girls.

“That goes the same for you too, Nelly.” Buffy turned and pointed towards me.

“Well, guess I wasn’t the only one who got a s*x change.” Danny whispered, wiggling his brows at me and I rolled my eyes at him.

“Daniel, Nelly is a girl’s name.” I pointed out.

“Na ah ahh, we do not stereotype or discriminate.”

“Fine, then I’ll just start calling you by Danielle then, since we don’t discriminate.”

“Oh don’t you dare Nelly.”

We made a circles around the few bonfires that were lit and got ready the barbecue pit that we were about to roast our food on. There were trays of meat, vegetable and other stuff coming out from the kitchen, a whole row of carbonated drinks, well mostly coke and finger food. Someone had brought out their boom box and the song that was currently playing was an old song by Frank Sinatra. I’ve got to say, the campers here really did have a great taste in music.

The smell of meat roasting wafted through the air and I was already salivating at the smell of it, it was forever ago when I had last been to a barbecue party. The last being at a high school party where one of the Quarterbacks hosted his birthday party that was an all barbecue night with more booze that anyone can handle.

I was so pissed out drunk that night I had not touched a beer ever since.

"Here, careful, they're piping hot." Caleb used a plastic fork to remove the beef sausages from the metal rod and placed them on a paper plate and giving it to me.

"Thank you." I received the paper plate with two hands, the heat from the meat seeping quickly through the thin paper; I blew at it, hoping that’ll cool it down faster.

“Hey Nelly, play us something.” Danny came by with Demi’s guitar in hand. “Danielle,” I chimed in. “You very well know I can’t play the guitar.”

I heard Caleb scoff from somewhere behind me. “You sure babe? Weren’t you taking private lessons for Caleb earlier?” he waggled his brows at me and I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Maya was getting her food from the barbecue pit and she heard the little exchange, let’s just say she was looking not too pleased.

“I only messed around with a few chords, I can’t seem to remember any of it anymore.” I lied, I do remember, but I wasn’t about to embarrass myself in front of all these people.

“There goes an hour of my life wasted on you.” Caleb shook his head at me and I made a face. “You two suck, I’ll just get someone else to play then.”

“Yeah, you do that Danielle.” I waved at him with the sausage I had in my hand. “That looks so wrong on so many levels.” Danny smirked. “Oh god, I swear I’m surrounded by the biggest perverts.” I heard Demi say.

We spent a whole hour eating and talking about the high school stories that took place back at Caleb’s and my high school, Demi was a drop out so she didn’t share much and Danny did mention that he too, played Quarterback in high school but eventually did drop out because of certain reasons.

"Hey, do you guys have any horror stories in mind?" Danny asked casually when we were all laying on the grass, watching the night sky above us. The rest of the campers thought for a bit and then Caleb raised his metal rod, "I've got one, but I'm pretty sure Nelly here won't be able to sleep tonight".

“You bet your ass I will be able to.” I made a face at him.

"Guys gather around! Campfire stories part 4!" Demi whistled and waved at everyone. We waited until everyone else huddled around closely and Caleb sat closely next to me, making the circle as close knit as possible so everyone could hear.

"Alright, here it goes." He begins.

"This was based on a true story. There was once a peaceful village, where everyone was happy, however like in every small town, no one actually ever minded their own business. It was then one day, a married couple who had two girls who arrived at that village called Saint Petersburg. Their clothes were torn and tattered, their faces and clothes were covered in dark soot. The villagers took pity on them and took them in since it was snowing heavily everywhere they had nowhere else to go. However no one ever did question them what happened to their bloody legs and feet, or the fact that there were cut marks on their wrists.

I huddled closer to Demi as Caleb continued.

"Day passed, then weeks, spring came, then summer followed by fall. Nothing happened, the village was still a peaceful place to live in. The older girl of the two sisters was named Morgana, she helped around a lot in the village for the past few months as a sign of gratitude to the villagers. The village chief had a son, where he was supposed to marry one of the girls from the same village, it was known that they were childhood friends then turned lovers."

"Morgana took quite a liking for this young handsome and did everything she could to get closer to the chief's son. The chief's son fiancée, Isabelle had noticed as the older of the two sister’s attempts in approaching her man, finding every opportunity just to talk to him—she did not like Morgana hanging around her man, and neither did Morgana to Isabelle. The chief's son, Sam began talking more and more to Morgana, offering to do her chores for her, even chopped fire wood for her and he began to ignore Isabelle altogether, thinking that his fiancée was just overthinking the situation altogether.”

“It was then Isabelle had noticed Morgana had a little pouch hidden under her apron at all times. No one ever did question her about it, because once a little girl tugged at the said pouch, Morgana would scream hysterically. Strange things happened every night approximately around 3 in the morning, there would be a loud rumble and whispers coming from deep the woods, the air got eerily cold, villagers would talk saying they could feel someone tugging at their hair, feet, blankets while they were asleep. Some heard loud thumps below their houses.

Their crops began to die, so did their livestock, a weird disease seemed to have spread all across the village, and many died of ‘freak’ accidents. Once, Isabelle had witnessed Morgana carving out wood and accidentally cut her hand with a little black blade and she bled black coloured blood. Isabelle had kept her mouth shut and decided not to tell anyone about it in case it drew attention."

"Then after, strange things began to happen during the winter season; it was especially cold and everyone stayed indoors after 5, but Morgana would still be out doing chores at this hour and she loved to go into the forest to collect more firewood. Isabelle followed her one evening, she had been suspicious of Morgana ever since the day she and her sister had stepped foot into the village. Isabelle hid behind one of the large oak trees when she saw then Morgana had halted in her tracks, that girl only had a thin piece of cloak wrapped around her and Isabelle thought she was crazy to dress as such in the blistering weather such as this; the wind had picked up its speed and her teeth were chattering, her nails turning purplish blue."

"At first Isabelle had heard whisperings here and there but shrugged it off and thought it was the wind and the rustling of dead leaves. But then, the whisperings became louder and louder and Isabelle felt the hairs on her neck rising. Morgana took out something from her pouch and Isabelle had a good look at it, it was a tiny doll, ash black in colour. Isabelle thought she had been hallucinating when a dark figure appeared in front of Morgana and touched the doll."

"Isabelle could not forget what she had seen; she ran back to the village and heard loud wails. The chief's wife had passed away; she was one of the few who did not take a liking to Morgana because of her weird behaviour and intentions she had when she was around their son. Any mother could easily see through her and what she does and now Morgana was quick to act to get rid of anyone who gets in her way—anyone who she didn’t like. That reminded Isabelle she got into a squabble with the wood cutter who didn’t allow Morgana to take more wood that was required and the next day, he had his hand chopped off. The same thing that happened to an older girl who kept picking on Morgana’s sister, she had her neck slit in her sleep, bled to her death.”

“Isabelle was furious and she rushed over to Sam and the chief of what she had seen in the forest while following Morgana, she accused her of witch craft. Sam had not believed Isabelle and told her to stop being jealous. Morgana appeared at the door just as quickly and acted really clueless. Isabelle, out of pure rage, had pulled the pouch under Morgana's apron and tore it apart but found flowers instead. Out of confusion and anger Isabelle pushed Morgana and ran off on her own."

"Ever since Isabelle left, things took a turn for the worst. The chief began to look out for Morgana secretly, he found himself starting to believe Isabelle after his wife died, her face distorted in such agony, mentioning something about a doll she had seen turn into a full grown human being that looked like the devil himself. Crops started dying, fires started out of nowhere, accidents from hunting were more severe, and some hunters claimed those weren't animals at all in the forest. The chief spoke to Morgana's parents who had mysteriously showed up in town, warning the chief with all sorts of hand signals and it was then he realized—neither of them had a tongue.”

"The chief, after remembering what Isabelle had said before, followed Morgana into the forest and realized whatever Isabelle claimed was indeed true. He was running out of the forest when suddenly a black figure appeared in front of him—the scene of those tortured dead villagers played in its sockets where eyes should have been.”

With a dagger pierced the head of the ragged doll that the spirit was holding, the chief cried out in pain. The village chief was bleeding out in the snow and he was slowly slipping away into a total abyss. It was then the group of hunters and Sam came running from the village came running when they heard the chief's screams, the black figure returned as Morgana. That day, the chief died in the arms of his son."

"Sam, enraged by this accident, was determined to flush out whoever did this; he too, believed that it was the work of witch craft. Sam, who was now the new village chief ordered every house to be searched thoroughly, even his own was not to be spared. Sam himself saw things around his house at night, he had restless nights. Every night, at 3, Sam would wake up on the floor near his window in cold sweat. He thought he was seeing shadows walking past but it got so bad to a point where he would see them up close and scream and run out of his house. One night, Sam woke up to someone muffling his mouth, he stopped struggling when he saw it was Isabelle."

"Isabelle had brought priest from afar and told Sam all about what Morgana had done, it was no doubt his father had died at her hands. Isabelle had described the doll and in the doll there lived a dark spirit, the doll needed human blood to feed it—giving it strength. That explained the frequent deaths occurring in the village which made it seem like accidents.

It was then revealed, on a winter where Morgana had murdered her entire village by causing a rabid fire. She had waited for that particular season because the snow was easy to cover her tracks and her doings. Those who she called parents weren't even her parents, there were prisoners she captured from the previous village; she had their tongues cut off so they couldn't talk to anyone. Isabelle was quick to act, searching, asking anyone whether they knew anything about the previous burned down village. After she learnt what she did, she rushed off to find the priest who was waiting downstairs."

"Sam and Isabelle were determined to end this mess. Sam called the guards and had Morgana's house surrounded and searched. But she was not home. Isabelle recalled the forest and he had a bunch of people follow her in with torches. The snow was getting thicker each passing minute as the villagers made their way through the clearing and found Morgana floating in the air, the doll in hand, the blade in the other. The same dark spirit circled Morgana and possessed her. She admitted everything with a laugh, an account of whatever she had done in the previous village, what she did in the current one and how she killed Sam's father. “Your father begged for mercy, for me to spare him, you should have seen the look on his face.” She said. And Morgana’s face distorted into Sam’s father, confusing him for a minute.

"The priest stepped forward and did the exorcism but it was to no avail. She killed the priest as well with just one wave of her hand. Isabelle caught the sight of the blade and wondered if she could get hold of it. Isabelle told Sam to ask the hunters to hold Morgana long enough and get her to the ground. And when the hunters shot at Morgana with arrows that were dipped in silver and iron, she dropped to the ground, she was screeching, or the spirit was. Isabelle pounced on her and pinned both her hands down, kicking the knife away. Sam grabbed the knife and retuned the deed of what she had done to his father by stabbing Morgana in her heart. Everything was eerily silent that night, no one slept but packed to leave that village that very same hour. That knife and doll was buried along with Morgana, the very same spot all of you are sitting on right now. This was the village that Morgana used to stay in after she destroyed the previous one."

When the story ended, there were yelps and people began to disperse and went back to their camp fires.

"Are you serious, what the hell?" I whispered yell to Demi. Demi was no doubt shivering as she got up off the ground and sat on the log next to Danny. "Dear lord I hope this was all just a stupid story." Demi glared at Caleb. Caleb shrugged. "That was what I was told." Caleb shrugged.

"By who?" Danny asked.

"An article that I read some time ago before my ass got hauled in here."

"I'm going to throw up." I placed my half eaten beef sausages, imagining it to be the severed hand from the axe cut I heard from the story.

"Aw man, I’m not sure if I’m able to sleep a wink tonight at all." Danny groaned, a hand covering his face. “This is all your fault Caleb.”

“Hey, it was your dumbass who asked if anyone had a horror story to tell, and now you’re complaining.”

“Well, now that you’ve mentioned that we’re on the same exact spot that the entire incident took place doesn’t make it any better.” Danny shot back.

"If you get any ideas on bunking in with me on my bed tonight, I suggest you might as well forget about it." Caleb mumbled as he popped a melted marshmallow into his mouth.

"The Danny incident" Demi recalled. "The Danny incident." Caleb nodded. "What about the Danny incident?" I asked.

"Let's just drop the topic okay guys?" Danny looked tired but he didn’t look like he was able to sleep a wink at all.

"Fine you can pull your bed close to mine but make sure you leave a space between us. I don’t you manhandling me in my sleep.” Caleb relented, taking a sip of his coke.

“I know you always have a soft spot for me.” Danny waggled his eyebrows at Caleb who now kept him at an arm’s length.

**

That night, I tossed and turned around in my bed restlessly—sighing out loud when I figured there was absolutely no way I was getting any sleep in. I did try closing my eyes hoping sleep would take over me, I even tried counting imaginary sheep in my head, I tried picturing my principal dancing on his table like a stripper—but that only scarred my brains.

I kicked the duvet away in frustration, turning my face against the pillow until I couldn't breathe no more. I gave up.

"Demi! Pst! Are you awake?" I whispered. Demi's returned my whispers with soft snore. I then decided to get out of bed, pulling a sweater over myself before heading outside for a walk, hoping I’d get some fresh air in instead.

The cool night breeze brushed against my face and hair, give me goose bumps. I hadn't realized I was walking aimlessly and then stopped at the Pavilion where we had the bonfire session just hours ago. The wind howled loudly from all directions and I folded my arms closer to my chest, feeling the place getting a little eerie all of a sudden.

What time was it anyway?

I fished out my phone from my centre of my hoodie pocket and glanced at the screen display, squinting at the brightness, crap, it’s already 3am.

I heard a rustling in the bushes somewhere, followed by the shuffling of footsteps along the grass.

I stiffened as my eyes darted from left to right around my surroundings. Okay what the hell was that?

“Allie….?”

I heard someone calling my name, s**t s**t s**t!

Another gust of cold wind sent shivers down my spine when I saw a white figure standing not too far away, behind me. And I thought the worst, "Oh shit.” I groaned. “Oh God, I'm sorry I had ever broke Cassie Evans’s nose, I apologize for all the mean pranks I've ever pulled on my teachers, I will never not want to wax someone’s balls again, I’ll be good I promise, and I won’t even attempt to steal that potted Fern plant I wanted from Principal’s Walters office!" my words probably came out gibberish and started walking really quickly hoping to get away from the white figure that was getting closer and closer.

“Don’t look back, don’t look back.” I chanted as I quickened my pace across the field. “You’re just imagining things Allie, it’s all just an illusion, yes, just an illusion.”

"What’s an illusion and where do you think you're going?" the figure asked and I probably saw stars. "No go away, I'm warning you! I'll wax your balls I swear! Don’t test me" I squealed in horror as I began jogging faster, oh no, my shoelace was untied.

"Gotcha!" the figure grabbed my arm and pulled me into the nearby tunnel at the obstacle course. And boy did I scream my lungs out.

It or whoever that person was put a large hand over my mouth and muffled my screams. I might or might not have punched that 'thing' right where the sun don’t shine with my eyes squeezed tightly, hoping and praying that this was all just a sick dream.

"Ow, f**k, god damn it Allie, it's me." Caleb grunted in pain. My eyes opened wide when he revealed to me who he was.

"What the hell Caleb?" I asked in annoyance, smacking him square in his chest with a fist. "What were you thinking? Creeping up on me like that at 3am.” I hissed, wanting to smack him again but he caught my hands in his before I could do so, pulling me closer towards him in such a swift motion, I was pulled right into his arms.

My heart rate increased rapidly and I could hear my blood rushing through my ears as he held me at such a close proximity.

It was just like this afternoon—that same adrenaline rush, and right now, it was happening to me all over again.

“Why is your pulse speeding up so quickly?” he frowned and I open my mouth to say something but nothing came out. Could it be he could hear how fast my heart was beating? Or worse, the thoughts that were circling wildly in my head.

“Also, I can’t feel my man hood at all.” He grunt and I took it as an opportunity to remove myself from his hold and lean back into a proper seating position.

“Oh dear, are you okay? I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was you.” I whispered, looking at his crotch but then I realized, that, was wrong, and that I shouldn’t be looking. He scoffed. “You think?”

Now it was my turn to scoff at him.

“But then again, if I knew if it was you, I would have still done the same.”

“Really, now you’re telling me that?” He shook his head as he finally relaxed against the cement hollow circle we were huddled in. He released my hand and I whimpered at the sudden removal of body heat.

“You deserved it for what you did to me earlier.”

"I'm sorry, it won’t happen again." he whispered, flicking the tip of my nose and I swatted his finger away, glaring at him.

"It's not funny okay? You really scared the s**t out of me."

"I'm sorry, I had no idea you were that easy to scare, and also, damn woman you have the loudest scream ever. I wonder if you’d actually sound like that in be...”

“Oh my god, don’t you dare.” I warned as I felt my face begin to burn up the second I knew what he was about to refer to next.

“I’m just guessing...”

“Well it’s too bad then because you won’t be staying long enough to find out.”

“We’ll just have to see about that.”

I swallowed hard at what I’ve just heard, watching him smirk at me.

Great job Allie, now you might just have to eat your words.