I am the Skeleton in the Closet

Camp

In sixth grade, as a sort of extreme ice breaker activity, the school put together a trip to a camp for each team to go on. I was in Team B so we were the second group to go. My cabin was called Kickapoo next door was Yuk-ta, then Crow and lastly Blackfoot. The girls cabins were situated near the entrance of the camp. The tired yellow buses dropped us off in a big parking lot full of cracks and patchy lines just as the sun passed mid day. The drop off site was a bit chaotic as every sixth grader swarmed for their luggage.

Have any of these kids even been to camp before? I wondered watching the third girl in a row trip over the same luggage freaking out because they couldn't find theirs. Op, there's mine. I sauntered over to the black bag I had packed. It was about the same as most other peoples black bags, but this wasn't my first rodeo. I had tied a red bandanna on to the straps so I could easily find it, if that happened to have been pulled off I also had a name tag the parents had gotten on one of the trips we took. Unlike every other girl in my class I only had packed a single carry on sized bag for the week. It was about a foot cubed in total volume and was just enough to fit a clean pair of clothing for every day and my toiletries.

Past the buses were the cabins. They were a little run down, but not any more than you'd expect from a school planned trip. Kickapoo was literally right in front of the bus drop off so I was able to walk straight between the two towering pines along the cheapest wooden fencing money can buy into the sea green cabin. The cabin looked bigger on the outside than it really was on the inside. Unlike some other places I'd stayed for camp the walls here were a white crumbly drywall and the ceiling was paneled. The cabin itself was split down the middle with a drywall section. Each side was connected by one long crusty bathroom that was shared by both sides. I felt like I was still in class, but it had been relocated to a woods hours away. As expected the beds were all bunked in a sturdy wooden frame with the same blue vinyl mattresses every other camp supplied. Going out of the cabin and to the right was the mess hall and really everything else for the camp. Though I never went down the left side I was told it housed the boys cabins.

Makes sense with all the screaming. I confirmed in my head later that night as I tried to sleep.

We were all separated into groups by the cabins we were staying in. Each cabin only really housed about ten kids on each side. The first day was filled with tedious ice breakers meant to draw all the cabin groupings together. I was with some of the immediate acquaintances I had on my team, but didn't really hang out with anyone in particular. That's not to say I didn't try, but everyone had their own long term friend they'd known since elementary school to hang out with so I was left floating between pairs.

Ice breakers are more tedious than helpful... I gotta pretend I know everyone's name and favourite color now that they've told us all. I complained internally as the seventieth kid stood up during lunch and regaled us with facts like the others had before, scooping another spoon of clumpy mac and cheese into my mouth.

The second day was much more fun. Each group had specific activities planned for them each day that went in rotation with the others so every kid got a chance to do everything. I had been hearing stories of the fifty foot rock wall the camp had. In fact, that was the main attraction. Day two was when we got to climb it. The wall was wide enough for two groups to go up at once so naturally that's how they scheduled it. There was always a male and a female group going at the same time.

Now I've always been a great climber. Trees were my favourite thing to play in when I had to go to the various church retreats mom loved sending me on. There was a pair of pines at a park near my house that I could jump between since they were so close and hollow in the middle where they touched.

"Who wants to climb it?" Our counselor asked the timid female group as the males had already gotten a line together.

If anything this wall is smaller than those trees. I told myself, raising my hand as the first volunteer. "I'll do it!" I was probably one of the smaller females on the team. Immediately the friend groupings started to whisper amongst themselves. I'll prove myself here and then I'll make friends for sure. I rationalized pretending not to notice the chatter.