Camp

"Hey Marcus!" someone called from across the field. Flag ceremony is at 6 in the morning, and I am so not a morning person. Plus, it didn't help that my attention was already transfixed. Coming down from the girls cabins were the twins, we've known each other our entire lives. My attention was on Regan, the twin with the shorter hair and tomboy appearance. Since we got to camp, I haven't been able to take my eyes of her. She's changed since her mom died, we've all tried to talk to her, but she won't talk about it, with any of us.

My friend Riley came down from the lodge towards where I was standing, trying to get my already preoccupied attention. "Hello?" he said, waving his hand in my face. I snapped back to reality. "Where has your mind been?" he asked as we headed up to the mess hall for breakfast.

"I don't know, I guess I've just been thinking." I replied, grabbing some pancakes and sausage links.

"Hey Marcus." I heard from behind me, echoing in unison. It was the twins. Sofie was, very obviously, very much awake, she probably woke up at 5 to go on her morning run. Though, I could tell that Regan was less than amused at being woken up at the same time.

"Hey guys," I said, a little more awake due to Sofie's overly awakeness, "you ready to head home later?"

"Definitely." Regan replied with a half-hearted laugh, taking her seat next to me. "Though, I wish we had a little more free time." I knew what she was talking about. She was in love with the camps archery range, simply because it was so much bigger than the one we had to practice on at school.

"You know archery seasons not till spring." I said, watching her expression drop at the reminder. I could hear her mumble something, probably cursing the wrestling team for taking our practice space.

After breakfast we all headed for our cabins to pack up. When I finished, I realized that I had about an hour or so of free time, so I grabbed my gear and headed across the parking lot to the range. I could understand why Regan loved this range so much. It was three times the size of the one we had at school, plus it wasn't inside of a cramped auxiliary gym. When I got there I heard the sound of an arrow hitting one of the styrofoam targets.

I took a guess and wasn't surprised when I saw Regan standing on the platform. "Is the range cold?" I asked, remembering the proper protocol. She looked over and she wasn't surprised that I was there either.

"Is now, come on up." she said, getting down to retrieve her arrows.

We stayed there practicing until we realized that it was almost time to go. We started packing up and headed to my car.

As we were leaving closing ceremony we started talking, though I was surprised that I was able to do anything other than just watch her. I still couldn't figure out what was different about her, she looked the same as she always did, thin, tan, and an average height, but she looked more mature, like she was so much older than me, even though she's seven months younger.

"Hello?" she said, trying to get my attention, "Anybody home?" She looked annoyed, so I knew that I was treading on thin ice. She's a great person, but when things don't go according to plan she gets a little grouchy.

"Why don't you ever pay attention?" she asked, the irritation radiating from her voice.

"I do, I'm just out of it today." I said, trying to find a way out of the oncoming argument.

"Today?" she retorted, "Cause I haven't heard that one before." she smirked.

"I do pay attention," I repeated, annoyed that she wasn't listening, "you just get irritated by everything."

"So I have a temper, it's not like I'm the only one." she said, pointing her face in my direction, indicating that she was talking about me.

"Well, at least my fuse is longer than yours is." I retorted, her smirk still fixed firmly on her face. "I mean come on, you're set off by the smallest things."

"And the fact that you're bothered by this proves that you're just as bad as I am." this only adding fuel to the already blazing fire.

"You're impossible." I said. She just flashed a grin and started off towards the girls cabin. "Ever think that this is why she's dead? Because you're always running away?" What the hell did I just say? She stopped dead in her tracks, staring straight ahead of her.

After standing in complete silence for about a minute, I tried to speak but as soon as I opened my mouth she bolted. "What the hell is wrong with me?" I asked myself, continuing towards the lodge.

"You a*****e!" Sofie started off screaming as soon as she found me, making my friends heads spin. Though, I knew it was coming the moment I had said that to Regan. "You know better than anyone that she already blames herself for what happened!" She waited, probably for me to explain myself. When an explanation didn't come, she asked, "Why would you say that?"

I paused, trying to figure out why I had done what I did. "...I don't know, I wasn't thinking... I haven't been able to think around her lately."

She stood still, staring at me. She finally looked away from me and shook her head. "Yeah, well, your excuses aren't going to work on her." she said, looking towards the door. "After she told me what you said, she..." she trailed off, looking as though her thoughts were not ones she was used to, "she stopped talking. She won't even talk to me or Alice."

"I'm sorry." I said, feeling that that was the only thing I could say at the moment.

"Don't tell me." she said, turning to leave.