Chapter Thirteen - Through someone eyes
The sun rose in the sky, breaking the horizon with such an amazing golden hue that it shone like an angel’s halo. That was the signal that morning was breaking over the calm water of Lake Pawa. Already ninety three degrees before six thirty in the morning.... It would seem to be a cue for everyone, that would be one of the hottest ones.
Cabin Nine was just starting to stir to face another day. Girls were in and out of their rooms constantly, racing around in an hurry as breakfast was only less that a half hour away. By the states of dress of some of the girls were at this moment, they might end up to be the ones who would not be ready in time.
Out of her room, Alison stepped into the main area, popping her cigarette pack into the pocket of her almost too long cargo shorts. The brainy girl started to walk off, and she caught the dusty skinned girl named Brandy coming out of Isis’s room and heading into her own. Alison noted that the girl was wearing a plain white camisole and a odd choice of very baggy multi-colored boxer shorts that were obviously men’s. They were, eve to the brainy girl, one hell of a fashion choice to say the least.
The dark skinned girl paused to actually glare at the Alison once, then simply give a snobbish sneer and then disappeared into her little living quarters. The brainy girl shook her head and giggled, the sight of what Brandy was wearing was a visual nightmare to her and hit her as comical.
" Those are some very crazy shorts!" She mused to herself, thinking about the bright rainbow of colors the girl had on them while walking on.
The girl in the glasses headed down the row of rooms, and stopped in front of the doorway that was to Mandy’s cubbyhole. She paused for a moment as she noticed that Isis had come out of her room at that very moment, flanked by one of the other girls that made up the group who always were together. Alison watched the two for a second, then turned and ignored the girl.
Alison had every reason to ignore the two snobby girls right then. She had just overheard the term ‘dyke’ whispered between Isis and her fawning friend, and she knew the comment had more than likely directed at her, or at Mandy’s room she was in front of. Ether way the girl meant it, this type of behavior constantly reminded her of the hate filled words written on that letter by Isis... and that made the girl feel ever creepier to her.
Settling herself from the little episode that just had happened, Allison was glad that she was going to see Mandy... the only sane person in this cabin, other than the Councilor who headed up around here
" Are you up?" The bookworm called out to the drawn drapery door.
Oddly, Allison got not one response from her call-out. She frowned a little at the drape but simply called out the question for a second time. Once more, the same result came back, dead silence. She paused for a moment, staring at the hanging white material as she gave it a couple of moments more.
Almost half a minute had passed, still nothing. Now curious to why Mandy had not called back to her, Alison pulled back the edge of the drape door and slid herself through the small space she had made..
Allison found that the room was lit by a single bulb over the head board, perfectly lighting the fact that there was no Mandy inside. She was puzzled by the fact that Mandy was not in her room at that time, but with the empty room staring at her like this... she could not say why the girl was not there.
With the eye of a very observant type of person, she saw the bed had seemed to have been barely slept in . The sheets looked a little rumpled and the pillow had a indent, but for the most part the bed looked almost unused. Looking down, she noted that the girl’s pair of flip flops were missing, the closet where they stored their things in was left a little open as well. All the signs that the girl was already up. When she turned , she noticed that the girl’s pack of cigarettes, normally that Mandy tucked under one corner of her pillow, was gone.
The fact the smokes were not there, told her that the girl might have slipped out of the cabin slightly earlier than she normally would have for a smoke, as it was already way too hot. Now that she knew where the girl might be, she turned and decided to join the pretty girl for one too, before trying to choke down what the cooks were trying to pass off as food around here. That, for Alison, was not very appealing... and hoped that they would serve something good for a change.
The young bookworm headed for the great outdoors, making a hurried beeline around the side of the cabin. She already knew that was probably the place where Mandy would be having her morning smoke. She already had int in her mind that with breakfast being far from a culinary delight, it was safe to assume that Mandy would not be hurrying her smoke for getting there.
Alison was shocked to find that Mandy was not behind the cabin. There was not even a hint that the girl had been there in the first place, noting that there were no fresh butts in the rocky space they put them. She looked down the hill to the bathroom cabin, thinking that the girl might have gone there first to tend to business, and then hid behind that place to have a smoke. She hurried down the hill to find out if that was where she was..
Both inside and out of the bathroom facility, there was no sign of Mandy. Alison was getting a little upset that the girl seemed to be nowhere she usually was. Placing her hands on her hips, she stood their looking around, she now was really wondering just where that damned girl had gone off to. Admitting to herself, this was not like the long haired girl to go off like this, even if she had gone solely for having a smoke.
Allison quickly realized that she had not talked to the girl since yesterday.... just before going off with her younger step-brother and a few other friends to find relief from the heat at the spray park just past the Camps property. When she came back, she could not remember if she had ran into her or not.
Thinking on that, It struck Alison right then that she had not seen Mandy down at the campfire gathering last night. Thinking on for there, when her and the others had headed off to bed, she still could not remember if she had seen her or not. She felt very bad that she could not remember that, and she looked up the hill back to the cabin.
The brainy girl was getting a little worried now. Mandy had been always a bit of a loner now and then, but disappearing like this was way out of her character. The brainy girl had some sort of idea of where the other few places were that Mandy liked to hid to smoke but they were all too numerous for her to check each and every one before breakfast all by herself. She started back to the cabin, hoping that the girl would have gone back to the cabin by now, or she would just show up in the dining hall.
Just as she neared the cabin, she lifted her head and was startled to find someone right in front of her. There was Councilor Olivia, in her path.
" Oh!!" Said Alison, with a start. " I did not see you there."
" Sorry I gave you a start..." The woman said, with a smirk.
" It’s alright, Miss Olivia!" The girl replied, her heart now felt like it was beating once again.
The woman wasted no time, seeing the girl was over getting a surprise like she had.
" I just wanted to see where two of my campers got off to on me..." The woman promptly explained. " I saw that there were two of ya were missing a few minutes ago... and I thought both of you might be just having a smoke out here... seems that I was at least half right in my assumption, but now I have to ask where is your partner in nicotine?"
Alison looked at the woman, and took a deep breath.
" I was going to have a smoke with Mandy, like you thought..." She started. " But I found that Mandy was not out here at any of her usual spots. She was not in her room, or even at the bathroom... I was just now going to check if she had gone back to the cabin already, but because you are here asking me where she is, I will guess that is a no."
" Do you have an idea whatsoever where that girl could be?"
" No, Ma’am." Answered Allison. " That is why I am out here, with you, looking for her."
The councilor looked at the girl standing there, she seemed a little irked at the whole situation.
" Let me get this straight... you have not seen her at any time this morning?" Inquired the head of Cabin nine.
" I have not seen her in quite awhile...." Plainly said the young girl.
Pausing, the councilor seemed to be getting a little alarmed with the missing young girl. Olivia seemed to look around her for a moment.
" I don’t remember seeing her last night off hand... That is with the fact that I also had been busy helping out in the eight and nine year old cabins.. I guess I had forgotten to take any notice of Mandy...." She muttered low. " Was she down at the Campfire last night?"
" I was at campfire with my Half brother... and I never saw her." Alison said flatly. " Truthfully, I have not seen or talked to her very much since yesterday afternoon sometime before lunch"
The woman nodded, while it seemed like she was searching her memory, back to see when the last time it was that she had personally saw the petite girl last.
" I do remember that she was at the supper table last night." Olivia said, thinking back hard. " I would have to say that was the very last time I saw her for the night."
" Yeah... I know she had been there..." Allison said, her eyes twinkling with her remembering that small piece of information. " I remember that I sat next to her, beside the far wall where our table is."
" I remember seeing you both there now..." Said the councilor, with a nod. " Tell me then...How did she seem to be at supper? Did she say anything at all to you about some sort of problems she was having or anything at all that might tell us if she has run off or something?"
Alison’s eyes flashed a downcast gaze, that matched what her face was showing.
" She did not say much to meat supper.. we did talk a little, but she seemed more quiet than usual..." She realized. " I just thought she was tired because of... the heat. I was feeling real tired from it myself, so I did not think anything of it." She looked at the girl. " You think she ran away for some reason?"
Olivia rubbed her face lightly, it was showing that she was beginning to be beyond worried at this point. She took a deep breath in, trying to calm herself down so she could think this through.
" I don’t really think that Mandy is the type to run away like this, but I had to ask on the off chance that was it." She said, then it seemed that frustration started to set in. " Dammit that girl anyways!!"
Alison looked at the woman for a second, seeing the frustration boiling out of her. She sighed and took a step closer to her ‘cabin mother’, as some kids called the councilors.
" Should we be out looking for her then, Miss Olivia?" Asked the brainy girl. " She might just be close very close... perhaps she does not know it is nearing breakfast.."
Olivia looked over, snapping out of her momentary lapse into the unwelcome world of frustration. She collected herself quickly, her mind going through the proper procedures for finding a missing camper.
" I think we have to.... This is not like Mandy to vanish like she has." Said the woman. " Let’s round up the others in the cabin to help look around the camp... It will be faster than if we do it."
Just as they were going to hurry back to gather some of the others to help look around camp, they spotted the unmistakable form of Mandy walking slowly up the trail that led to the athletic sports area at the far side of camp.
" I don’t believe it!!" Stammered Olivia. " There she is!"
" So that is where she went..." Said Alison, her face showed the relief she had flowing through her mind.
" Let’s go meet up with that girl.... Just so you know, I am going to be first to ask her where the hell she was all this time..." Said The councilor, her voice sounding like she was on the edge of being infuriated. " You will have your chance, Alison... but I get first crack at her!"
Olivia started off walking so quickly, eating the yard up with her purpose filled stride. Alison followed quickly behind the upset woman, telling herself to simply lay back and let the woman be first. she did not want to get into the line of verbal fire that was bound to be swung like a club by their councilor. She was happy to see Mandy, but wanted to find out why she had simply took off and everything, but she knew those questions and more the frustrated woman will getting the answers to.
Olivia got to the girl so quickly then did not hesitating firing her questions at her. Allison stood back as silently as she could, listening to Olivia go off..
" Where were you, Miss Thayer?" She snapped with fire, seemingly being angrier than she had let on.
" I went for a walk and had a smoke a little earlier..." Stuttered the young girl wide-eyed, her voice sounding almost deadpan. " Guess that I kind of lost track of time while doing that."
" You usually stay out back behind the cabin, or just over at the bathrooms.... at least then I know where the hell you are then..." Olivia said sharply, her face turning red. " Why in the hell did you go off like that without notifying me, or giving a heads up to anyone else for that matter before you sashayed off like that?"
Mandy looked at the very upset woman for a second, then let her head sag forwards a little.
" I should have told someone I was going for a walk, I guess.." She said.
" Next time.. tell me where your going...tell someone for God’s sake..." Olivia said with a tight voice, then sighing to relieve her tension. " You know my bosses really take a dim view of a councilor losing their campers at the best of times, and you chose to just walk off without telling someone? Regardless if you are safe or not, I could have been canned right on the spot for this."
" You.. could have?" Sputtered Mandy.
" What do you think... they would throw me a party for losing you.." She said. " They would fore my ass in a New York minute."
" I did not mean to make trouble." Said Mandy so sheepishly.
The woman looked at the girl, eyes flaring a little but seemingly getting a handle on the anger..
" You are my responsibility here at Pawa... If you get lost, get hurt or God forbid, worse... I would be the one who gets my backside shot out from under me." Olivia said, her voice very stern.
" I will make sure I tell someone then...." Mandy said, showing her remorse. " I never wanted you to get into trouble."
" If you go out for a smoke... that is one thing..." Said the Councilor, her sternness already beginning to soften back to a smile. " If you want to go for a walk, I don’t really mind that... just tell me or someone that you are going to... that way, if your gone too long, we can go and find you faster that way."
" I promise." Said the girl back, almost meekly.
The councilor sighed, and her face began to lightened a little more with seconds gone. She seemed to be relaxing back to the easy going woman she always seemed to be.
" Lets go get the others then, if you promised to do that.." She chuckled. " It’s breakfast time."
The three turned and headed back up the hill to the cabin. Each seemed silent, and walked like that as they made their way there.
Alison layed back a little and followed the two others. She eyed them, but she was watching the long haired girl the closest of the two. She eyed Mandy while she walked behind them, pondering the girl.
Alison did not totally know what or if something was going on with the girl she had just made love to the other day. Her solemn mood, the solitary way she simply had took off and the look in those eyes told of something was just not right with the girl.
" What is wrong with Mandy?" She asked herself, looking straight at the back of the girl’s head. She had this weird sense go through her, a feeling of something her instincts had picked up for her... the question was just what in the hell was she picking up on. " Something is not right with her."
The girl was not to sure something was actually wrong with Mandy, but she could feel this thing literally gnawing at her. Mandy seemed to be alright on the surface, possibly a little quieter than she usually was, but still mainly normal Noting that, she could not shake off the feeling that something else was screaming at her the complete reverse if that she was seeing, and it came from her own soul.
It was those beautiful eyes, the breathtaking deep and highly arousing pools of hazel that Alison had locked into when she was making love for the very first time, the girl was her first. Now very different, those eyes of Mandy’s had been holding something else in their limitless appeal. It was a heavy sense of anguish and pain locked in those amazing orbs, an a sense of almost confusion mixing with it. It was how she knew something was really off.
The young eclectic girl thought it all through as she followed. There was not a firm understanding to just what it was, that had turned Mandy in to what she was looking like. She pondered the question over and over with in a few seconds, each time trying to reach for the one thing that would lead to the answer.
Her heart suddenly dropped in her chest, a feeling of dread came out of nowhere. Alison now felt a cold shiver shoot through her. She felt sick to her stomach, as she tried to hid her eyes.
" Is Mandy mad with me for some reason?" Her mind reasoned out, that was one idea. Her next thought, filled her a heaviness the instant she had thought about it. " Is Mandy sorry she had slept with her? Does she regret being with me?"
The girl lowered her head so she could not show her face, for it was right there for her. What else could it be, she asked herself. There was no other reasonable explanation for how Mandy was cutting herself off from everyone, she had started doing that yesterday... the day after they had made love.
The hard part of her realizing this very possible notion, was the fact she had thought on everything, and finally had figured out what was in her heart. If Mandy regretted sleeping with her, did not change the reality of her own feelings. It had finally came through for her... she was completely starting to fall in love with the shorter girl. Now plans to express her feeling lay shattered in a million pieces. She could not ever tell the girl how she felt. Not now, not ever.
Alison may have lost a chance to love the girl, she did not want to lose the friendship that had started. It hurt enough to think that Mandy regretted sleeping with her, she did not want to lose someone that she respected so much... even when they were not so close. She fought back the tears that were wanting to burst forward... She steadied herself and kept walking, thinking, no one will ever know.
Putting on a brave face, Allison fought all of her emotions down as they neared the cabin.. The other people from the cabin were already filing out to see if they could head over for breakfast. They joined up with the others, and headed over for whatever the cooks would be calling breakfast this morning.
She took a look at the somber looking Mandy and then looked away quickly. She had felt her heart jump, as the girl just being there, made her spirit want to announce it like a songbird on a spring day... but sometimes a bird in the wild has to die so other animals could keep on living.. Nature and love seemed to work that way in the end, Alison concluded, and you cannot stop nature.
Perhaps her heart dying will let Mandy go on and really live, and all without ever her knowing about it. Alison smiled for herself. If that was the way her life had to be... she was willing to lose it all, so the one she loves can have it all.