Post by Chloë Gabriella Black on Sept 22, 2012 1:02:30 GMT -5
Earlier that day, a crisp autumn leaf had fallen from a tree straight onto the top of Chloë's head, a depressing reminder that fall was approaching faster and faster. She'd swung her head from side to side, her sleek dark brown ponytail whipping in the air, until it had floated off choppily. Chlo had watched until the leaf finally met with the ground and then she had ground it into the dirt with the bottom of her fancy cyan shoes, as though destroying that one leaf could stop millions of others from falling around the country and the world. But she had to face the facts. The fall equinox had happened that morning while Chloë was doing her makeup, and school had started for regular mortal children. The campers that came just for the summer term had left seemingly all at once, and the camp seemed eerily silent.
Contributing to such eerie silence was the fact that the infirmary was packed. Chloë had not been one of those unfortunates who had fallen so ill, but it seemed to her as though she was in a minority. Campers were seen staggering to the toilets and slamming the doors, doubling over with hacking coughs in the middle of conversations, and who knew what else...one of Chloë's few close friends at camp, a Demeter girl named Calla, had left camp temporarily; she was so frightened of what was happening. Though Chloë herself put on an apathetic air, she couldn't pretend anymore that she wasn't at all concerned. What had first started out as a temporary bug had turned into something much, much worse.
As she was staring at the pathetic remains of the leaf she had ground into the earth floor, a dark lock of hair fell into her face; but not before she began blinking madly. Something had gotten into her eye...so not what she needed right now.
Fifteen minutes and several wet (and strategically placed) q-tips later, the pain in her eye was gone and forgotten. Why was that? Because Chloë had something else on her mind. Normally near this time of day the young girl went to look for her half-brother Francis, or as everybody at camp called him, Frank. If she were brutally honest, she would say that she was worried about him...but since Chlo was actually anything but, she kept her trap shut about most things regarding her brother for fear she would blurt out the wrong thing. Frank would never forgive her, nor would her parents. It was a good thing that she was at least not too mediocre at keeping secrets, or else she would be in such hot water. Sometimes she felt as though it was best if you set the bar low, a horrible thought but painfully true. Nobody trusted you with anything, which meant there was nothing for you to ruin. And Chloë had ruined some things in her sixteen years of life. Almost seventeen.
Seventeen, she thought as she stood, spine straight, keeping her chocolate brown eyes peeled for her brother. Sometimes on forms, she accidentally said she was fifteen. One thing about camp was that time did fly by fast, even if it was pretty monotonous. Train, sing at the nightly campfire, scrape food into fires as offerings to your godly parents...there weren't too many things to do, if you thought hard, but at least it was better than being told what to do by her older relatives all the time. That was, quite honestly, one thing she didn't miss about being home. Her thoughts wandered, and soon enough, Chloë found herself tripping over a rough patch of grass near the Big House.
"Damn!" she cursed aloud, wide eyes scanning the nearby area in hope that nobody had seen her klutzy move. She pushed a stray curl out of her eyes, tightened her ponytail, and pushed herself up, dusting a bit of dirt off of her white skinny jeans. Her day was so made. So totally made.
