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Approximately 39 Hours Remaining↞

Two Days Later

"Samuel? Samuel, please wake up...!"

Samuel blinked his eyes opened groggily, rubbing at them. His eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness--he was waking up way earlier than he was used to. 

"Millie? What are you doing? It's like 5 AM...!"

Millie looked down at him in bed with wide eyes. "Sh! Don't wake anyone else up, please... I... I need to talk to you."

Samuel's brain was still turning on, but suddenly, he understood that something about Millie's voice was urgent. He forced himself to sit up. He whispered, "Okay, okay. Lets go outside. Too many people in here."

Millie took ahold of Samuel's hand and led him through the dark as his eyes kept adjusting. He couldn't tell where the flor ended and the walls began. The door squeaked on its hinges as Millie opened it, but no one shifted in their beds. 

Samuel took a seat on the small porch outside of the cabin, patting next to him to encourage Millie to sit, too. Samuel realized as she sat that she was completely dressed, while he was still stuck in his pajamas fresh out of bed. She must've been awake for a while...

"So... What's bugging you, Mils?"

Millie looked away, locking her eyes onto the ground to her left. "I... I don't wanna go home."

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that." Samuel frowned. "That's why you woke me up so early, huh? It's Wednesday... You guys are supposed to be heading out in a couple hours. Today's your last day, and it's okay to be sad, but... there's always next year?"

"No!" Millie blurted out, then covered her mouth in embarrassment. She sniffled hard, like she was about to cry. "You don't get it..."

"Then help me understand."

"My...my mom is sick..."

Millie trailed off for a bit, but Samuel had a feeling that she wasn't finished, so he didn't say anything.

"Like... uhm... really sick. She's pretty much in the hospital all the time... It's--It's bad... A-And..." Millie's voice cracked. She rubbed at her eyes, and her fingered came away glistening with tears.

Millie threw herself into Samuel's arms as the dam broke. She burst into tears, squeezing onto him tight. 

Samuel... wasn't the best with hugs. But he wrapped his around her tight and let her cry into his shirt. "Hey now... Don't cry, it's okay... You can tell me. What's going on...? I want to help you..."

"H-He's--He's mean...! I--I don't w-wanna go home!"

...Oh.

Samuel was not properly equipped to help with that sort of problem. He squeezed Millie tighter. "Millie.... I'm so so so sorry... that's really awful. You... You can't stay forever... But, I'm--I'm sure that you could stay another day with me...? I could give you a ride home tomorrow... I know my brother wouldn't mind... If that's you want?"

She nodded, sniffling.

It was the least he could do.

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Hours later, after the sun had risen, the children were loaded onto the bus. A 3-hour drive later, and they would see their parents again after a summer away.

Except for Johnny, Millie, and Kiara, of course. By 10 AM, those three, along with the counselors and Mr. Addison, were all that remained at Camp Crescent Moon.

"Really? Are you sure? I've never heard her mention it."

"Yes, really. Trust me on this guys. It's today."

"Jackson. You really didn't bring it up sooner? What are we going to do last minute?"

"I wanted to wait until the kids were gone...! Don't worry, guys, I got this. Seriously. Just don't tell Lucy that we remembered her birthday."

Indigo, Benny, and Calvin looked at him.  "So... what's the plan, then?"

"Right. So... you know that movie night that Cass is hosting tonight? We're surprising her right after the movie ends. I already told Cass and Michael and they're in."

"You told them before you told us?"

"Indy, I'm putting you on distraction duty. Obviously. Keep Lucy busy. I don't care how." Jackson completely ignored the question.

Benny nudged Indigo in the ribs with his elbow. "And remember what you promised me!"

Indigo's face grew hot and she gently pushed Benny away.

"Now, Benny, Calvin, listen up... We got work to do."

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The counselors always moved all their junk into the same cabin for the final night, rather than being spread around all of the ten total cabins around camp. Each cabin housed twelve, though they were never completely full, and the typical rule was one counselor per cabin unless there was more counselors than that. This year, two whole cabins were left empty, so the leftover children claimed one of those. Made it easier to clean the others if everyone got out.

This year was unique, as there was exactly three campers who were also among the leftovers. Perfectly twelve.

"Dibs on the top bunk!"

Cass and Michael were the last two to finally move. There was only one bunk left for them. Michael tossed his bag to the side and quickly scrambled up to the top bunk.

"I really don't get why you like the top bunks so much. I hate climbing up."

"Mickey! I'm healing my inner child...! Don't be so judgmental."

"Oh. Right."

"Apologize."

"What? I'm not gonna--"

"You hurt my feelings. So, apologize. Come on, Mickey, don't make me cry now."

"Cry? Cass, you're so dramatic."

Cass sniffled loudly, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye that was not even there. "Ow... My inner child... weeping..."

Michael rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry--"

"No." Cass dangled their legs off the side of the bed, ruffling their curly hair with a hand before holding it out to Michael daintily.

Michael scoffed, taking hold of Cass' hand. It was best just to give in to Cass' little moments like this. Plus, it always made his heart jump a little bit. "I'm so deeply sorry, your royal highness, for how I offended you and your inner child. How ever could I possibly atone for my horrible mistake...?"

Cass opened his mouth, probably to offer an atonement, but Michael interrupted him by planting a slow kiss to the top of Cass' hand.

"Oh! Mickey, you devil, you!"

Michael always quite liked when he could surprised Cass. It was a rare occasion (Cass always seemed to expect everything), and in fact, it always seemed to be happening the other way around.

"Nobody talks like that."

Cass seemed to recover, though the faint blush on his cheeks almost suggested otherwise. "Maybe I do! So... do you wanna help me set up for the movie tonight then...?"

"Actually, I... I think I'm gonna take some time for myself, if that's okay? If you need me to help, then I will but--"

"No, no, don't do that."

"I'm...sorry?"

Cass shook his head, hopping off the bed. "No, don't apologize either. You always do that... If you want to be alone, then just say so. I promise you don't gotta ask permission or whatever. It's chill. I get it. I've known that you like being alone since the beginning of summer, and I'm not gonna fuck that up for you."

"Y-Yeah, okay. Then... I'm gonna go be alone for now. Whether you like it or not. I guess."

Cass winked at him. Like, actually for real winked. "That's what I like to hear. Seriously, if I'm getting annoying, you can just tell me to fuck off."

"I'm... not gonna tell you to fuck off."

"I know."

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"Come on, Cass, aren't we supposed to start at exactly 10?"

"Hold your horses, Jackson! I promised Johnny we'd wait if he hurried."

The movie was held in a quiet, secluded clearing in the woods that, with the exception of this one night a year, was mostly used for counselors to make out in private. A white sheet had been strung up between the trees for the movie to be projected onto, and Cass had wheeled the absolutely ancient DVD projector through the uneven dirt. Camping chairs, along with plenty of overturned logs and the like, were littered throughout the clearing for plenty of seating.

The moon was high in the sky, illuminating the ground and trees. The chirping of crickets and the buzz of dragonfly wings filled Jackson's ears.

It was pleasant, but a nervous glance at his watch made him worry that by the time the movie ended, it wouldn't even be Lucy's birthday anymore.

Almost as if on cue, Johnny stumbled through the trees. "Sorry, sorry, I'm here! Mr. Addison did a room check at 10; I had to be in bed. And then I had to sneak out without waking up Kiara and Millie and..."

Kiara and Millie weren't in tight with Cass like Johnny was, so they were not invited to the movie (unbeknownst to them, Kiara would be quite sad if she were aware that she had been excluded from the horror movie night).

"Finally!" Jackson interrupted Johnny's apology. "Let's get this movie started already."

Lucy tilted her head curiously as Cass and Michael loaded Trick 'r Treat into the projector. "Geez. What's got you in such a rush?"

No one answered her.

Approximately 22 Hours Remaining↞

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