My three friends and I all arrived at the summer camp. When our teacher, Mr. McCoy, gets off of the bus, and drags his brown leather oxfords through the dirt to greet each of the camp counselors, Ms. Pratt, Mrs. Dodson, and Mr. Floyd--My friends and I do the same.

After greeting them, they assigned us our cabins. There were only two cabins for the campers, two boys per cabin. Usually the camp is full of campers during the summer--but not this year. It was closed for the other campers because we needed to learn responsibility and we're going to be tasked with chores all summer--Maybe later tonight when we're done with our chores for today, we can start the campfire and tell ghost stories.

I share a cabin with Lee while Jasper and Ray share the other cabin. The two of them were tasked with mowing the grass to keep it fairly trimmed while Lee and I were tasked with deep cleaning both cabins--Lee decided that he wanted to start with the beds and I start with the closet. As I cleaned deep into the closet, I noticed a locked crate.

I debated whether or not that I want to tell Lee about it. I decided to keep the existence of the locked crate to myself. There was also a key for it right next to it, why would somebody leave a key to open their crate? Either they're really dumb or maybe they left it for the next campers. I decided to open the crate.

I took the key and slipped it through the keyhole, the crate easily opened up.

I opened the top lid of the crate and it reveals some cassette tapes inside. I rummage through the tapes.

It appears that these tapes go as far back as six years ago. Did the owner of these tapes leave them here and forget them? I remember seeing a VCR in our own cabin, as well as Ray's and Jasper's, but Lee is still tidying up the bed area. I took what looks to be the very first tape according to the date--it dates back to June 1st, 2019. I take that tape and stuff it into my crossbody bag.

I take the second, the third, and the fourth. I locked the crate back up and shove it back further so it's not in sight and to be sure nobody else gets in, I took the key with me, "Lee..?"

I ask, Lee still has his eyes glued to the bedding area, he perks his head at the sound of his name, "I'm gonna go to our cabin for a moment to use the bathroom--I'll be back shortly."

I lied. I wasn't going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to head to our cabin to play the first tape, then come back to clean. Lee doesn't know nor mind. He just nods in agreement at my statement, and then I head over to our cabin.

I locked the door, can't risk Lee accidentally walking in or something. I crouched down to our VCR and I took the first tape out of my bag, it's titled, 'Welcome to Summer Camp!!' After I examine the tape, I insert it into the VCR and let it play.

A girl appears on the TV screen after I jam my thumb on the play button--I watch and listen to the tape, _‘Hello future campers! I’m Olive, or Liv. But anyway, we’re here at summer camp for a school trip this summer. My friends and I will be planning activities for the little ones and we’ll be certainly documenting our summer on cassette tapes.'_

I feel something strange about this girl--perhaps, it could be how she talks, the tone of her voice, or it could be her dull blue eyes begging for help. Were her eyes always dull? Or were they a vivid ocean color at one point? Maybe, _‘Olive.…[static]....working….[static]....on project….[static].....kids….[static].’_

     You can faintly hear another person in the background of the tape. But I continue to watch, _‘I have to quit recording for now, but I’ll see you in the future episodes. Goodbye and good luck, future campers!’_

     Something felt off about that tape, who was that in the background? It must have been a camp counselor, did our camp counselors work here during this time period? Also–what was the ‘project’ about? I could faintly hear a camp counselor tell Olive that she needs to keep working on a project for the kids, but it was hard to tell through the static.

     Something about it makes my skin crawl–I’m not sure what it is yet. I’ll have to keep listening to the tapes, after all, there is a crate full of them–just..not now.