*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧—chapter eleven: eavesdropping

August 22, 2021
Hackett's Quarry
Upstate New York, New York

ONCE THEY GET BACK TO THE CAMP ENTRANCE, ABI PARKS THE GOLF CART. The three of them climb out and Cassidy grabs the bags for them. The two of them come around to the back to get them from him, Emma taking her duffel bag and Abi taking her blue, regular sized backpack. Then, they head over to where the others are gathered several feet away from the van.

"Hey, Nick!" Abi greets him.

"Hey," the Furcillo boy turns around to face her. "Where were you guys?"

"Wouldn't you like to know..." Emma says, laughing.

"Ignore her, please," Abi replies, shaking her head.

"Let's go!" Kaitlyn says, walking over to them, giving them all a look as she gestures toward the van.

Emma reaches down for one of the bags and picks it up. "Just gotta get these bags up onto the—" She's cut off by Jacob bending down to pick up the other bag.

"Oh, hey, oh, here, let me, uh... Let me get them for you," he says, grabbing the handle of the other bag.

"I can take care of my own bag, thank you," the Mountebank girl replies.

Jacob looks up at her. "Wha— Are you sure? 'Cause, I mean, it's really not that big of a deal—"

"She can take care of her own bag, thank you," Abi butts in.

"We can both take care of our own bag, thank you," Emma adds as she hauls the bag over her shoulder while walking over to the van to put it in the back.

"Cool," Jacob mumbles, lips pressed to a thin line.

"Hey, loser, c'mere for a moment," Sawyer says, grinning as she looks over at Cassidy. The boy walks over to her, frowning.

"I was in a good mood until you called me loser just now," Cassidy crosses his arms, frowning as he stares at her. "You left me back there, you know. I was disappointed when Emma told me you went back here instead of staying over there," he says, gesturing toward the cabins.

The Graves girl's grin widens. "Wanted to see if you'd come back crying to me because you missed me. And I was right because you're whining right now."

Cassidy glares at her. "Don't do that ever again."

"You love it."

"No, I don't. It's torture, being away from you that long."

"Is it because you're touch starved?"

Cassidy blinks, staring at the ground, his cheeks a bright pink. "Maybe..."

"I'm sorry, loser," she laughs, placing a hand on his shoulder. "As Emma and Kaitlyn say, keep your dick in your pants."

"Oh, my God, now isn't the time...!" Cassidy just shakes his head, turning away from her to see Dylan nudging Nick.

Nick, flustered, walks over to Abi. "Oh- Uh... Abi, do you need...?"

"Yeah," she's smiling as she nods, picking up her blue backpack and holding it out for him to take.

"Can I...?"

She sets it on the ground for him and as he bends down to pick it up, she thanks him. "Thank you!"

They are so in love, Cassidy thinks, grinning as he glances toward Abi, who's watching Nick carry the backpack to the van.

"Hey, has anyone seen Ryan?" Kaitlyn asks.

"Oh, yeah," Dylan replies. "He's probably off being all
brooding and mysterious and alluring somewhere..."

That makes the group burst out in laughter.

"I'm here." Ryan says, walking over to the group not even a moment later. His earphones are out of his ears, draped over the front of his shirt.

"What were you doing under there? Having a little 'me party'?" Kaitlyn asks as she gestures to underneath the balcony.

"Uhh... I was listening to a podcast, actually," the Erzahler boy answers.

"Bizarre Yet Bonafide?" Cassidy questions, raising a brow. He's listened to podcasts before and they were all boring, including this one. But Bizarre Yet Bonafide was the one that was the most interesting to him.

"Yep," Ryan nods to him.

"Oh, podcast. Nice. That's cool," Dylan says, nodding.

"What's it about?" Kaitlyn asks then. It seemed she to be trying to know him a bit better.

Okay, here's the thing. They all knew that Kaitlyn likes Ryan and that Dylan also likes Ryan. Ryan likes both of them, but doesn't know who to get closer with or even be with romantically. Plus, when either of them were trying to flirt with him, he usually just ended up getting annoyed when they started bickering.

Dylan seemed to catch onto what Kaitlyn was trying to do, so he butts in, "Yeah, what's it about? Was it about me?"

"You think I was listening to a podcast... about you?" It didn't seem like Ryan caught on.

"Okay, if anyone here had a podcast about them, it'd be me," Kaitlyn replies, putting up her hands in a 'just saying' motion.

"Yeah, if there was a podcast called 'How to Look and Smell Like a Butt'." Dylan comments, looking at her.

"Oh, my God," she scoffs. "You are so childish."

"At least I don't smell and look like a butt..."

"Something is seriously wrong with both of you," Sawyer cuts in, laughing as she shakes her head.

"Yep," Cassidy agrees. "Jesus, what is wrong with you two..."

"No, it's— it's a... paranormal podcast. This episode was actually about this place, weirdly enough," Ryan explains, looking at each of them in turn. "The Hag of Hackett's Quarry."

Cassidy smiles at this. Funnily enough, he was just listening to that episode a few hours ago before he had decided to stay out in the middle of camp with the guitar and listen to music.

"The who of the whatsit where now?" Kaitlyn questions, furrowing her brows as she looks over at Ryan. "What's The Hag of Hackett's Quarry?"

"You don't know about The Hag of Hackett's Quarry?" Dylan asks, turning to her.

"Uh, if I did, would I be asking him about it, dumbass?" she glares at him.

"Tell her about The Hag of Hackett's Quarry!" Dylan speaks up, looking over at Ryan.

"I don't think she wants to know about The Hag of Hackett's Quarry," Ryan replies, smiling.

Both Cassidy and Sawyer start laughing at the repetitive use of 'The Hag of Hackett's Quarry'. Cassidy has to covers his mouth with a hand to muffle his own laughter.

"Can we please just stop saying 'The Hag of Hackett's Quarry'?" Kaitlyn replies, sounding annoyed.

Ryan looks disappointed after hearing Kaitlyn's response. "It's just this campfire story for the kids. It's um..." He pauses for a moment, trying to think of how to explain it. "There's supposedly an old woman who died in a fire a few years back. She haunts the woods looking for her lost baby boy. There are, like, reports of whispers, or whatever, and this figure that floats around... You know, textbook ghost stuff. Some people say, that if she catches you alone, she'll try to turn you into her son... or kill you or something, I dunno.... It's never really been clear. Anyways. Hag of Hackett's Quarry."

"Y-You made that up."

"It's right here in the podcast, man," Ryan responds, holding up his phone.

"Cool story, bro." Jacob says, grinning, though he didn't believe any of it.

Dylan was quick to join the topic, smiling as he adds his input, "Seriously though, you should've seen the first time he told the story to the kids at the campfire. They were scarred for life."

Ryan goes to reply, but starts stumbling over his words before even saying anything coherent. "I mean, not for life."

There's a beat of silence that passes between all of them. Cassidy looks at each of them in turn, taking note of their current facial expressions. Some of them were starting to look bored. Sawyer meets his gaze and he has to look away from her in order to not start blushing like a lovesick teenager.

"You got to be careful with this stuff, man," Dylan's says finally, his gaze falling on Jacob. "That shit's true."

"C'mon," Jacob groans, already fed up with all of this. "Dude, bullshit!"

Before any of them could say anything else, though, the front doors of the Lodge open. Cassidy looks up immediately to see his uncle, Chris Hackett. "What's the hold up, Hacketteers?"

Chris Hackett was holding his usual orange mug, that was probably filled with the same coffee he drank every day. He was in his usual camp attire, a khaki button up shirt with matching khaki shorts that reached just below his knees, and hiking boots. In all honesty, Cassidy always joked that his uncle looked like an overgrown boy scout.

"Heya—" Jacob raises his hand as waves to the camp supervisor. "Yeah— uh, nearly done, Mr. H!"

"Hop to it!" Chris says to him, taking a sip from his orange coffee mug. "Get those butts in gear!" His tone wasn't as enthusiastic as it normally was and Cassidy furrows his brows. There was just something off about it, as if Chris was stressed about something. But Cassidy couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Sorry, Mr. H!" Emma calls to him, before adding, quietly, "We had to liberate some luggage."

"Shut up!" Abi hisses through gritted teeth, smacking the Mountebank girl's arm.

"Maybe if someone didn't spend so much time trying to impress the ladies with all his ghosts stories..." Kaitlyn quips, looking over at Ryan.

Ryan looks over his shoulder, a look of annoyance on his voice as he responds, "You asked!"

"Ghost stories?" Chris questions, a look of confusion spreading across his face.

"The Hag of Hackett's Quarry!" Dylan answers, to which Kaitlyn voices her disapproval, squeezing both of her fists in the air at the mention of the very thing she wanted the boys to stop saying.

"Ah," Chris sighs in annoyance.

"Hey, you still have the van key, Mr. H?" Kaitlyn asks, looking up at the camp supervisor.

"Why, yes, I do!" Chris begins patting down his pockets in search of the key in question, only to realize his pockets were empty. "You know, I'd lose my head if it wasn't stuck on! Back to the office I go..." He goes to leave but stops momentarily, looking over at Ryan and Cassidy. "Give me a hand, would ya, Ryan? You too, Cass."

Cassidy glances toward Ryan, and he nods to him. The two of them turn away from the group, heading up the steps to the Lodge's balcony.

"Yo, Mr. H," Dylan steps closer to the balcony, looking up at Chris.

"What's up, DJ Dylan?"

"Any chance I can get a little charge? I wanna have some tunes for the road."

"Ah, no can do," Chris answers, shaking his head.

"Cool, cool, yeah," Dylan nods in understanding. "No worries."

"Good man."

"Uh, no big deal," Ryan says, looking over at Dylan from the stairs. "You can share my earbuds."

Dylan doesn't say anything in response as he heads back over to the group.

"We have keys to collect and places to be," Chris announces as the Ryan and Cassidy follow him into the Lodge.

He leads them to the back left corner of the Lodge. There was a room there, his office. Chris unlocks the door and pushes it open, heading inside, both boys following him.

"So, uh, Chris," Ryan says once the three of them were inside the office, "I'm actually glad we got a moment to talk—"

"Uh, uh-oh," Chris says, walking at a hurried pace as he goes over to the desk as he begins to search for the van key. "I'm not fired, am I?"

"Very funny, Uncle Chris," Cassidy smiles, forcing down a laugh. The man was always one for jokes. That's where Cassidy got it from.

"Ha, no, no," Ryan replies, shaking his head, "it's— uh— it's just, you know, about the whole thing with the—"

Before Ryan can finish his sentence, the phone rings. Chris stops searching the desk and reaches for the phone, picking it up off of the receiver.

"Hold that thought, partner," Chris instructs. "I'm gonna have to take this."

"Out here we go," Cassidy says, leading Ryan to the door. He opens it and they both walk out, closing it behind them.

Ryan removes his phone from his pocket and puts in his earbuds, deciding to listen to the podcast while they wait.

Cassidy glances toward Ryan, seeing the boy now distracted. The Hackett boy heads over to the now closed door, pressing his ear against it to listen to the phone call in his uncle's office.

"Cause kids are kids! I can only do so much or they'll— They're almost out of here, all right?" He can hear Chris say into the speaker.

He can just barely hear the voice on the other end of the receiver, belonging to his grandfather, Jedediah Hackett. "You're cutting it pretty close and we don't wanna have—"

"Just hold your damn horses, all right?" Chris is starting to get annoyed. "Everything's a-okay on this end."

"Bobby and I are geared up," comes Jedediah's response. "If he isn't here, we'll get him."

"This is a waste of time," Chris sighs. "You know it, I know it."

The next thing that Jedediah says is something Cassidy can't quite hear.

"No. Should I have?" Chris now sounds a bit worried.

"He's gone quiet."

"Probably staying outta the way. Speaking of which, the longer you keep me on this damn phone, the longer it's gonna take me to get rid of these damn kids!"

Cassidy strains to listen, still not quite sure what Jedediah ends up saying in response to Chris.

"Yeah. Of course. Adios."

The boy hears his uncle set the phone down. Cassidy doesn't move away from the door immediately. And by the time he does, realizing Chris was making his way out of the office, it was too late.

The door opens and Cassidy startles, staring wide-eyed at Chris, who has an unhappy expression on his face.

"I wasn't... I wasn't listening to any of that... I... I didn't hear anything... Well, I mean, I heard what— But I don't even— What were you and Pappy talking 'bout?" Cassidy immediately slaps a hand over his own mouth to stop himself from blurting out anything else.

Chris sighs, shaking his head. "You really gotta work on that."

"Sorry," Cassidy says, quietly, staring at the floor. "I won't... I'll stop..."

"Just wait right here, all right?" Chris instructs, looking over Cassidy's shoulder. "Ryan."

The Erzahler boy takes out an earbud, raising an eyebrow as he looks at Chris.

"Come back in my office for a moment."

Ryan nods, squeezing past Cassidy as Chris opens the door wider to let him in.

"Why can't I ever just know what—?" Cassidy had tried to speak again but Chris just shakes his head, closing the door. Cassidy rolls his eyes, groaning in annoyance as he leans against the wall and slams his fist against it. "What the fuck, man!"

author's note
sawyer calling cass
loser and "bullying"
him is just a running
joke at this point

me when i realize
this whole time i
have been calling
the balcony of the
lodge a wrap-around
porch: i am stupid
like, idk how i forgot
what a balcony was
for four chapters
straight 💀

not cass getting in
trouble by chris for
eavesdropping on the
phone call 🤭🤭

07.22.22