Temperance

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A shoe flew past your head as you did your best to shuffle through the cabin door with an overstuffed duffle bag. It missed you but hit Elizabeth behind you. Right in the face, too.

"So," she seethed, closing the door so there was no escape from her wrath. "Who threw it?"

There were three suspects.

Suspect number three was a girl sitting crisscross on the top bunk of one of the bunk beds. She was a little thing, tiny really, like a baby songbird among falcons. She was a rare beauty with fair olive skin and enormous hazel eyes. She had dark brown hair that barely made it past her ears because of how curly it was.

Her only imperfections were the little scars that littered her body. You liked them, though. She reminded you of pottery repaired with gold.

She had a silver cord tied around her waist as well as a real belt made of dark brown leather. A small, emerald green book hung off one of the loops of that belt. She also wore a pair of silver spectacles as round as her eyes. Those were likely less accessory and more necessity, however.

You thought you could safely rule her out, though, as her arms were preoccupied with a teddy bear wearing a surprised expression. Her own expression was unreadable, but she still didn't look like she could hurt a fly.

Suspect number two was a girl about your height standing in the middle of the room.

Her brilliant copper skin had a natural, healthy flush to it. She had sad brown eyes, emphasized by a tear-shaped mole under her left eye...

Doe eyes, like Hers. God, you didn't want to think about Her right now. Not here.

The girl's shiny baby afro was various shades of brown and decorated with an assortment of gold barrettes and bobby pins. She also had a gold shawl wrapped around her waist and an antique yellow scrap of lace tied around each wrist.

You didn't think she was the perpetrator either. She looked shocked and mortified by the crime in question, eyes wide and hands cupped over her mouth. She could have just been a really good actress if the evidence against suspect number one wasn't so damning.

Suspect number one was a girl of intermediate height -bigger than suspect three but smaller than suspect two- who stood at the back of the cabin, wielding a shoe that matched the one that was just thrown.

Her skin was like white jade and her eyes like black diamonds. Her hair was a combination of the two. She had a shoulder-length split dye topped with little space buns.

She even had freckles! You didn't think that was possible. Then again, Lucy Liu had freckles too. Although, she was Chinese, not Korean.

She wore a number of thin black belts accented with silver, whether those be studs, spikes, or skulls. Around her neck were two matching chokers.

"Whoops," she cackled. Despite being caught red-handed, she didn't have the good sense to at least act ashamed. Her eyes twinkled with mischief and her grin rivalled that of the Cheshire cat.

"Chaeyoung, you're on thin ice," Elizabeth warned. Her tone reminded you of your mom's. Enough so to send sympathy chills down your spine.

Chaeyoung's smile turned to a scowl, and she immediately tried to shift the blame by pointing to suspect two and saying, "It's Louise's fault! She dodged."

"Is not!" Louise chirped defensively, turning to her accuser with her arms crossed over her chest. "Excuse me for not wanting to get hit by a shoe!"

Above you all, suspect three -you thought her name was Diana, maybe- remained blank, but she turned a knob on the head of her teddy bear and the bear's face switched from surprised to amused. Huh. Neat trick.

"Girls, please," Elizabeth sighed, reaching up to massage her temples. You wished you had a bucket of popcorn to eat while you watched all this go down. "Not in front of the newbie."

Louise blushed so hard it could be seen beneath her already ruddy cheeks. "Yes, yes," she said, nervous as cornered prey, "Welcome!"

"New blood, huh? What did you do to get assigned to Temperance?" Chaeyoung asked.

Suddenly everyone's eyes were on you. They all wanted to know. Too bad you didn't feel like telling.

"I stayed out late kissing boys." It was a good-enough reason, one you devised on the car ride here. You didn't want to tell these incredibly religious, potentially troubled girls you were gay. It felt like inviting trouble. Even if they didn't bully you for it, they definitely wouldn't look at you the same.

She pursed her lips and shook her head, like you misunderstood her. "No, no. That would get you into Prudence at worst. What did you do to get assigned to Temperance?"

You still didn't quite get what she meant. "I don't know," you answered dismissively before turning the question on her. "What did you do to get assigned to Temperance?"

Her eyes lit up, and she gave you a shit-eating grin. It was like she was waiting for you to do, to ask, just that. "I tried to kill my mom."

... What? "What?"

"Chaeyoung, stop," Elizabeth interjected.

Chaeyoung did not stop. She continued, "Poisoned her so bad she had to have her stomach pumped. Now she sends me here in the hopes Nurse Thorne will exercise my demons or some shit. Really, she just wants me out of the house as much as possible until I'm eighteen and not her problem anymore."

"Chaeyoung! One more word and you'll be in Confessional for the next two days," Elizabeth warned from behind you. She put both her hands on your shoulders to... To what? Comfort you? You didn't know when you got so tense, but she certainly wasn't helping.

It was a wonder you weren't shaking. What kind of camp did your mom fucking send you to? Was everyone here as "troubled" as Chaeyoung?

A silent tension had its grip on Temperance. Chaeyoung eventually surrendered her glaring contest with Elizabeth, crossing her arms with a huff -but not another word- and looking to the corner of the room.

"Y/N's reason for coming here is between her and God. Please do not pry into her affairs any further," the camp counselor ordered her cabinmates before using her hold on your shoulders to turn you around so you were facing her and away from everyone else. "Now, Y/N... Are you a top or a bottom?"

You immediately started sweating. She definitely didn't mean it like that. Get your mind out of the gutter. "Uhhh... I feel lucky just to have a bunk bed!"

"You'll be sharing a bunk bed with Dinah. She likes high up places, so you'll be in the bottom bunk. I hope that's agreeable to you."

"Yes, yes..." You said, trying your best to act like someone hadn't just admitted to attempting murder in the last ten minutes.

"Good," Elizabeth told you before letting her hands fall away from your shoulders and assuming a soldier's resting position. "Now get to unpacking. I'll be here to supervise. If you need a hand, just ask."

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