Chapter 12: The Invisible Girl in Room Thirteen by Stephen Simpson
The yellow school bus stopped in a large, level area on the
other side of the lake.
When I stepped off the bus, I looked across the flat, calm
surface of the lake and saw the school building on the other side, a darker
shade of grey than the surrounding clouds. I was mesmerized by the image.
“Alison?”
I turned around to his voice. “Hey, Oliver.”
“Scary, isn’t it?” He asked as he came to stand next to me.
“What’s scary?” I forced a soft laugh.
“The school from all the way over here.”
I looked back at the building in the distance. “Yeah. At
least it’s far from here. I’m looking forward to this break, that’s for sure.”
The weak sun shone high above the surrounding trees as the
other girls from my year group disembarked the bus. Behind that, the boys leapt
with raucous pushing and shoving from a navy and white bus. Not long after,
bags were scattered on the ground and the two buses pulled away from the
campsite.
Mrs Scott’s voice boomed, sending birds scattering from the
treetops. “Girls get your bags and move them to the pod you were allocated to
yesterday. If you weren’t paying attention, wait by the picnic tables until I
get to you.”
I turned away from Oliver. “Better get going.”
“See you later,” he said as he walked away to find his own
bag and to get settled in his allocated pod.
The pods were built close together and the campsite could
accommodate thirty-six students, six per pod and then the four staff members
each had their own pod. The toilet and shower facilities were immediately
adjacent to the pods and were shared. There was a strict schedule with boy/girl
time slots stuck to the door of each pod.
Evelyn called me over. “I’ve saved you a bed. Top or
bottom?”
I looked at the bunk bed. “Bottom?”
“Perfect!” She clapped her hands together with glee. “I was
hoping you’d say that.”
Glancing around the area uncertain, I wondered if we were
supposed to unpack our belongings or what.
Evelyn explained, “I forgot it’s your first year. You just
live out your bag while we’re here. We usually just push them under the beds to
keep them out of the way.”
I unzipped my bag and pulled a jumper from the top, before
zipping it closed again and sliding it under the bed with my foot.
After Evelyn pushed her bag under the bed, she suggested,
“We’re allowed to keep ourselves entertained until lunch, so Colin, Oliver and
I usually go for a walk, are you coming with?”
“Okay,” I agreed. This was my first time here and by the
sound of it, Evelyn had been coming here every year, so until I got my
bearings, I decided to stay close to her.
As we left the pod, Evelyn explained, “Each year group has
their own camp-site, so every year it’s a different area to explore, so it’s
quite exciting.”
Colin and Oliver were waiting for us and as soon as we
reached them Colin took Evelyn’s hand in his.
Awkwardly I fell in step next to Oliver and was barely aware
of the conversation between Colin, Evelyn and him.
My eyes kept glancing to Oliver, but he seemed oblivious of
me as he let his fingers drift over the knee-high grass we were walking
through.
My mind started drifting as we came to a clump of trees. A
faint mistiness seeped between the trees while the sunlight made long streaks
from above the treetops to the ground below. Taking deep breaths, I let the
crisp air clear out everything that had happened to me since the thirteenth of
February when I walked into Lily’s room for the first time. Quickly, I pushed
Lily from my mind. The surroundings were too beautiful to let her spoil it for
me.
“Are you ignoring me?” he asked.
“It’s so pretty here,” I said without looking at him and
noticed Evelyn and Colin were further ahead.
“There’s something we need to talk about.”
I stared into his perfect blue eyes. “I don’t really want to
talk about anything that’s happened the last couple of days,” I said. “I just
want to forget and pretend.”
Pretend we met at the dance and you liked me, pretend we
never saw Shannon disembowelled, pretend we could be together, be normal.
Oliver shook his head. “No. About you and I.”
“Okay?”
“That night at the dance, when we met...”
Birds fluttered from the tree branches around us and I
jumped with fright.
Mrs Scott’s voice echoed toward us, “Girls! Boys! Lunch!”
Oliver rolled his eyes. “After lunch, okay?”
I nodded my head.
“I mean it. Right after lunch,” he insisted and the look in
his eyes was serious. He really had the most incredible eyes.
All the way back to the campsite I wondered what he wanted
to tell me.
The dining hall had a long serving counter on the back wall
and two long wooden tables were set on either side of the large room, from the
front to the back, with long benches on each side of them. We queued at the
serving counter after grabbing a paper plate from a stack and getting plastic
eating utensils wrapped in a white serviette.
Lunch was burgers and chips, and after we were served,
Oliver and I followed Evelyn and Colin to a table. The room was filled with
loud laughter and happy voices.
Mrs Scott came to stand at the end of our table and waited
for us all to look up at her, so she had our full attention. “After lunch,
everyone seated at this table will go sailing on the lake. Make sure you take
something warm.” Without waiting for a response, she turned and walked to the
other table.
Oliver nudged me. “Lucky us, we picked the right table. The
other table will only get to go tomorrow.”
His smile was endearing, and when he looked at me it felt
like he actually saw me. A feeling of overwhelming warmth filled me and all I
could do was nod.
After lunch, we boarded the cutter with a single mast and a
mainsail, one by one. Oliver got on ahead of me and then offered me his hand. I
did not need his help, but I wanted to feel his warm fingers curl around mine.
There were benches along the side of the hull, so we sat down
as the skipper stood in front of us and gave us safety instructions, the most
important one being: When we hear him yell, ‘Duck,’ we had to crouch down
immediately without hesitation otherwise we might get knocked into the cold
waters of the lake and never be found again.
I thought he was being overly dramatic about the never being
found part, but he seemed serious as his eyes moved from one person to the
other until he made eye contact with each one of us.
We pulled away from the dock and then we glided out to the
middle of the lake. The breeze got stronger the further we got from the shore.
I leaned over the edge, dangling my fingers in the icy cold
water as the boat skimmed along the small waves. It was quiet, except for the
shushing sound of the water and every so often the ring of the metal grommet
banging against the mast.
A strange feeling came over me as my fingers glided through
the water. Its coldness welcomed me. The dark depths felt like home.
A few hairs had come undone from my ponytail and blew in a
crazy random way around my face. Brushing some flyaway hair from my face, I
asked Oliver who was seated beside me, “What did you want to tell me?”
“Maybe later.”
I shrugged. Earlier it seemed so urgent to say what he
wanted to say, but I did not want him to think it bothered me that he did not
want to tell me anymore.
The wind changed direction suddenly and we crouched down
immediately when the skipper’s voice yelled, “Duck,” as the sail swung around.
“If you could sail anywhere?” He asked me.
I laughed softly. “Don’t know. This is my first time
sailing. You?”
“The Bermuda Triangle,” he said seriously.
I looked at him and laughed. “That sounds very ominous.”
He laughed with me. “Would you miss me?”
“Maybe,” I said, looking away.
We sailed around the lake until the sun began to sink toward
the grey monolith of the school building.
As soon as the cutter came to a stop next to the dock,
everyone jumped down on to it. The supports squeaked loudly under the weight.
Oliver had already jumped off, but something made me wait
and I let everyone go ahead of me. For some reason, I liked the way the boat
swayed on the water beneath my feet, it made me feel relaxed, it gave me a
sense of belonging.
Everyone else walked along the dock back to the campsite,
discussing the sailboat, the way the boarding house looked so ominous from this
side of the lake, and things I could not make out.
When I did not have a choice anymore, I jumped from the
cutter and joined Oliver where he was waiting for me on the dock.
He said, “You know what we should do?”
“What?”
“Hang out?”
“It’s almost dark.”
“So?” he asked like he had expected me to agree immediately.
“So, I need a shower before dinner.” I stared at the ground.
“Okay.” There was a note of disappointment in his voice.
I looked up at him. “Afterwards?”
Although I fell in love with his pixilated smile the first
time, I saw him, I knew deep down he was going to break my heart.
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