For Tangerine!

Love ya! ♥️

“This is stupid” I mumble from the backseat.

“Well Kiki maybe you shouldn’t have put a person that was dressed as a clown in the principles office.” My mom says sweetly.

“It was funny.” I whisper crossing my arms.

“Not to the principal who almost got a heart attack.” My mom lowers the music. “You’re only here for a five days dear. You’ll survive. It’s for your own good.”

“Whatever.”

After what feels like a 4 hours drive we arrive at Camp Zero

“A Camp For Troubled Teens”

“Do you need help getting your stuff?” My mom asks Turing off the engine and turning around to face me.

“No.” I say unbuckling my seat.

“Okay well I love you and I will be here at 2:00 sharp on Friday.” She turns back to the steering wheel. “Maybe we’ll get ice cream after!” She hums to the low tune of the music as I hop out of the car.

“Love you too mom.” I come to her side of the car and kiss her temple through the window.

I walk back around and grab my bag. I slam the trunk shut not becuase of anger but becuase my mom is making me go here. Okay I guess it’s out of anger.

“Bye honey!” She yells though the window.

“Bye mom.” I say as I walk up the steps.

I here the car drive away. Now’s my chance! I try to duck into the trees but a counselor stops me.

“Why hello there!” She says with a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. “What’s your name friend? My name is Fray!” She points to her name tag.

“What kinda name is that?” I grumble.

“Mine!” She says her smiling twitching slightly.

“Well my name is Kiki.”

“That’s one cool name!”

She leans down right next to my ear. “If you think you can talk to an adult like that then you’ve been rasied wrong.” She whispers.

I freeze. Then she grabs my arm. “Come on! I’ll show you around!” She pulls and I stand my ground.

Again she leans down, “You better listen or we might have some problems.” She pulls harder this time making me stumble forward.

I walk with her as she shows me around ending in my cabin.

There are four other girls in there all sitting quietly.

“This is Kiki guys!” She shoves me into the room. “Be nice!” She closes the door. Then locks it. I flinch at the sound. She shouldn’t be able to lock it.

As soon as she leaves all the girls faces fall.

“Listen” on says getting up from her bed “Fray is crazy.” She grabs my arm. “She will torture you till the end of the week. You can’t say anything to anyone. If you do,” she lifts up her sleeve and shows me a scare. It looks like it was from a knife starting at the wrist ending at her elbow.

“W-what?” I stare. She can’t do this.

Another girl gets up and lifts her shirt, a slit going around her waist. Starting and ending at her belly button.

“Oh my god,” I stare in disbelief.

“You can’t say anything to anyone. You can’t even look at another councilor in the wrong way. You got it. I can’t have another one get hurt.” She pulls me closer.

“Yes. I understand.”

She lets go.

“Here,” she points to the bottoms bunk bed. “You can’t say sleep under here.”

“How long have you been here?” I ask throwing my bag on the bed.

“A month.”

“But they can’t keep you here longer than a week.”

“Fray makes false reports of use doing things. That gets us here longer.”

Dinner comes around and me and my bunk sit at the same table. We eat, we talk. But I can’t think about anything else but the things Fray has done.

I lie and say I’m going to the bathroom. Really I head to the headmaster’s office.

“Where are you going?” I here a voice say as I’m yanked back by my shirt.

It’s Fray. Smiling with that same smile. That smile. That terrible smile.

“I- I uh,” I stutter.

“You what ?” She grabs my shirt harder.

“I forgot my inhaler at home and was wondering if I could call my mom to come and give it to me.”

“Oh no worries.” She yanks me back hard. Dragging me somewhere. “We can get one from the nurse’s office!”

“Well girls.” Fray says closing the door to our cabin. “One of you tried to rat me out!”

She sat on my bed. “You know what that means!” She pulls out a red pocket knife. “Kiki come here.” He eyes land on me.

I slowly walk toward her.

“Hand please!” I hold out my hand. She cuts a slit from my pinky finger to my thumb. She puts the knife away and puts her fingers on the cut, making it burn. She pulls me closer. “Don’t do that again.” Then she lets go and leaves.

“What did I tell you!” The girl says walking up to me.

“Im sorry I just really wanted to try.”

“Let’s just get some sleep.”

I climb into my bed and shudder as my cut hits the blanket.

Eight scars. That’s how many I have since last Sunday. Now it’s Friday. I’m suppose to meet my mom but all the girls say I’m going to be kept again.

I stand outside my cabin waiting for Fray.

“Your mom’s outside!” She says smiling. “But we’re going to have to break the news that you’ve cause trouble, therefore you have to stay here for another day!” She grabs me by my shoulder and pulls me to the front doors.

She lets go and opens the doors. And there my mom is standing and smiling, a happy smile. Not the one Fray has.

“I’m so sorry,” Fray says to my mom. “But Kiki here has been causing some trouble. We think it would be good for her to stay another week.”

“Oh. What has she done?”

Fray’s eyes widened like she didn’t plan for this. “Well she um-“

“See that right there?” She points to Fray. “You don’ have a good reason to make her stay for another week. I knew something was wrong from the moment you two walked out. My Kiki’s head was down. Never have I seen her head down. And your smile. Isn’t real. It doesn’t meet your eyes. It’s menacing.”

“Come on we’re going home.” My mom grabs my hand and I flinch. She freezes. “Honey?” She looks at me with concern. “What’s wr-“ She looks at my hand. “Is that a cut mark?” She asks me.

“Oh no! She fell and-“

“I didn’t ask you.” She cuts Fray off. I break down and tell her everything.

I’ve seen my mom mad. Furious even. Thought it doesn’t happen often. But this time was different. She looked like she could flatten the earth with one punch.

But that punch is directed to Fray. Fray fell to the floor. Quickly she got up and grabbed my arm. I tried to pull away but her grip was to strong. My mom pounced. Kinda like a dog would if you had a treat.

Fray fell down when my mom was on top of her. Fray screamed my mom punched. And well Fray was kinda dead.

———————

I’m sorry if the ending was anticlimactic. 😓 I tried to make it interesting since I didn’t know how to end it and was running out of words.

QOTD: What’s your favorite movie?

Thanks for reading! Bubbles 🙃 your next! :) Love you guys! ♥️ Have a wonderful day!