Astrid Kingston's Story

Astrid sighed as her car hit some bumps in the gravel road. She could have been doing so many better things than just babysitting a bunch of delinquents at camp, but she was already stuck here for a month of her summer. She sighed again, giving this one a more dramatic edge to it. How long was the drive anyway? As if on cue, a sign up ahead read "Esther County Camp" without any cheesy sugarcoats like "Have a magical summer!". It was a good, straightforward sign. Astrid's car stopped as she pulled into a small dirt parking lot. Could Esther County not afford pavement? She stared at the camp's outside view. It looked like prison. One huge fence wrapped around the entire camp, barbed wires decorating the top. Astrid chuckled. She guessed the delinquents had attempted escape a couple of times.

Astrid took a deep breath and hopped out of her car. She put a happy smile on her face, a mask she didn't intend to take off. She walked through the dirt and muck to the front gate, a welcome center sitting in the only opening in the fence. She figured you walk through the center to actually get in the camp, so she pushed open the doors and stepped in, some alarm going off at her presence. Metal detector... A security guard rushed to stop her, but she pulled out her badge, which had slipped down into her shirt. It was a little plastic piece of paper on a lanyard that read "Astrid Kingston- Counselor". It saved her skin for when the security guard saw it, he stopped.

"Sorry, ma'am. We position guards to check the doors, but you're early so we hadn't had anyone here yet." Ma'am? Astrid was liking this already.

"It's okay, chief," she said, smiling. "Sorry I came too quickly."

He directed her to the girl's cabin. She'd have to be rooming with... delinquents... She shivered at the thought. What if they killed her in her sleep? Astrid knew there wasn't a very big chance of that, but she figured to be on her guard just in case. She threw her stuff on a top bunk and sighed. "This is going to be a long month..."



Josh sat in the back of his parent's car, feeling like a child. They had taken away almost everything from him after his little shoplifting incident; his car, his phone (which they gave back for camp, but erased all his contacts), and all other means of entertainment or connection. Josh and his parent's hadn't spoke to each other the whole ride down, save Josh's occasional "Can you turn the radio up?" Was he mad about his parents sending him to correctional camp? Of course. Josh could fend for himself, sure, but he didn't want to be locked away with a bunch of other delinquents...

The car pulled to a stop in front of the camp, which didn't look very pleasant. His parents got out of the car. He was hesitant, but finally unbuckled and stepped out. He had a horrible feeling about this, but his parents obviously didn't for they walked right to the welcome center and stepped right in. Josh looked back, staring at the outside world for one last time. "Goodbye, cruel world," he muttered before stepping in and having an alarm almost deafen him. The security guard was on him in a second, ordering him to empty his pockets. Josh knew exactly what had set the alarm off and groaned, pulling it out and dropping it, letting it skid across the floor. The security guard picked it up and looked at it. A pocket knife... The security guard stuck it in his pocket.

"Lift your arms please," he ordered. A pat down? Was this necessary?! Josh shot his parents a pleading look, but they just shook their heads. Josh groaned and lifted his arms, looking back at his parents.

"You're locking me in a camp with a bunch of delinquents. I wasn't going to use it, but it'll make me feel better just to have it." His parents shook their heads. Once Josh was able to go, his parents didn't even hug him.

"I'm sorry it has to be this way, son," was all that his father said before turning and leaving, the doors shutting behind him. Josh sighed. Marvelous...

---

---

Astrid watched the other girls walked in from her place in the top bunk. She was concealed by her position, sitting in a way she was a bit hard to see from below. Deciding she wasn't in the mood to get someone's bags thrown on her, she sat up, her lanyard almost flopping off her neck. She looked (attempting not to glare) at the delinquents below. They were definitely not people she intended to make friends with, but to avoid being stabbed to death in her sleep, having her throat slit, or any other creative ways these things would kill her, she put on a happy, friendly face.

She watched as they were already fighting with each other, acting like idiots. How the heck would they last a month together in this prison camp? Some seemed to be making conversation, so she decided not to intrude. Just let them make friends and be done.

Hopping down from her bunk, she wriggled her nose, eyeing the girls around her in the cabin. She allowed her lanyard to fall into her shirt, hiding her name tag in which she wouldn't be persecuted for being a Counselor- what they didn't know didn't hurt them.

She grabbed her iPod from her pocket and shoved her headphones in her ear, Coldplay "Fix You" almost instantly blasting in her ears at maximum volume. She had heard horror stories about how she would go deaf if she kept it that loud, but she really couldn't care less about stupid people's opinions. She quickly corrected herself in her mind. Be NICE. She gnawed on her lip, quite in the mood for some sort of frappe, but she doubted she'd find a Starbucks in a prison camp- not even for the Counselors, who were supposed to get "special treatment". That was bull crap.

___________________

---

---

Stepping into the cabin, he let the musty smell flow into his nostrils. He began heading to the bunk where his things were sitting when he realized someone else was in the cabin, sitting on the bunk above his. Startled, Joshua jumped, but quickly regained his composure. "Sorry, didn't see you there," he said giving the guy a sort of smile, which, due to his mood, was mainly just a quirk of his upper lip.

He hopped onto his half of the bunk and snagged his dead phone, tapping it with his thumb as if to preform CPR. At least others may have been able to bring technology. He was going to die here, suffering, without any communication with the outside world. Josh brought his knees up to his chest and exhaled, wondering what was happening outside. Were his parents feeling bad they locked him up in this horrible place?

Of course not.

Josh sighed, rummaging through his bag, wrinkling up neat, folded clothes that his mother had packed. Oh, would she have laundry to do when he got back or what! Sure, he was nineteen, he could do it himself, but when getting home he would just want to curl up in his bedroom and take a long nap, watching all the TV show episodes he missed. He felt a bit happier, reminding himself there would be an end to this nightmare, a month with no technology but a dead phone. Then a thought occurred to him- why not ask the other delinquent in the room if he could borrow a changer, assuming he had one? Josh counted the odds the stranger would be willing to choke his belongings up to a random guy, but maybe he could ease the guy into it with conversation.

"So," Josh began, awkwardly, "what are you in for?"