Chapter Text
Leda-
Summer camp is torture. The sad part is that it used to be fun. It used to be my safe haven, my safe place. But then my wicked cousin Cynthia started coming along with me, and now I’m stuck in hell. What’s even better is that it’s only the first week.
I stood at the edge of the dock and looked out into the ocean. Our camp rests right inside a bay, but it’s more like a gulf. Camp Gulf I’ve always called it. The sun was setting and the wind was picking up. Storm clouds roiled in the distance and I knew we were going to get hammered with rain tonight.
I sighed heavily. I’d rather be out here than sitting in my cabin for the rain to pass. My cabin was now vacant because the only true friend I’ve ever had is dead and all the others I made at this camp were swayed by Cynthia and her propaganda.
The dinner bell rang out across the camp. I gave one last longing glance to the ocean and headed to dinner. A crowd had amassed outside the dining hall, everyone aching to get in. I stayed toward the back so no one would talk to me.
The doors opened and everyone funneled in. Looks like dinner was meatloaf. Not a very popular dish, but I personally didn’t mind it. I heard people complain about it and I stayed silent. I got my food and sat down at the broken table in the corner. No one will look at me or talk to me.
Dinner is mundane as ever, but quiet on my end. Everyone is exiting the dining hall and heading back to their cabins. We were going to do recreational activities, but they got cancelled due to the storm. Honestly, better for me. As much as I love to play Nuke ‘Em and beach volleyball, I am very much a target for Cynthia and the rest of the camp.
I’m walking down the path to get to my cabin when I start to hear snickering behind me. I take a deep breath and keep walking. Whether they were laughing at me or not, it’s better to ignore them.
I made the mistake of not paying attention to where I was walking and ended up tripping over something. When I looked up, I saw my cousin and her band of hellkites laughing like hyenas. I rolled my eyes and pushed myself back up. This is very petty even for her and she will not get the better of me.
“ Watch where you walk,” Cynthia sniggered.
“ Thanks, will do.” I mutter and keep going down the path.
“ Not so fast,” my cousin stopped me. Her goons grabbed my arms and dragged me backwards. This feels like something out of a movie, but then again, Cynthia isn’t known for her originality.
“ Shall I plead with the tyrant queen?” I scoff as her goons keep me bound in front of Cynthia. “ Oh you ass, please don’t cut off my head. How else will I mock you?”
I know antagonizing her isn’t the best idea but damn the look on her face is so satisfying.
“ Don’t forget where you stand, Lesbo.” She spits the slur. “ Girls like you have no place in this world. Maybe that’s why your little friend killed herself. She understood her place.”
The mention of my friend makes me snap. I wrench my hands free and swing at Cynthia. My fist hooks her jaw and she stumbles back. Her friends gasp and I throw a withering glare over my shoulder and they both stand down. They always act so high and mighty until I actually retaliate. I turn back to my cousin, keeping my glare fixed.
“ Don’t forget your place, Cynthia,” I spit her name like a slur. “ You don’t ever, ever, talk about Cora that way. And the next time you do, I’ll make sure to hit you so hard, you won’t even remember your own name.”
I don’t give her a chance to get in the last word before I storm past her and back down to the dock. Tears are pouring down my face, but the aggravated wind whips them away. I’m trying in vain to keep Cora’s face out of my head. She did not kill herself because she knew her “place”. That I knew. She would never do something like that.
But… I never thought she’d kill herself either.
I’m at the edge of the dock before I even realize it. I gasp for a breath, watching roiling waves come crashing to shore. The clouds above looked dark and unforgiving but no thunder or lightning pierced the air. The wind was as ruthless as the tide, but I couldn’t care about any of that.
Against my better judgement, I dove into the water. The cold instantly nipped at my skin and a shiver ran through my body. I swam through the waves, ignoring the cold in my bones. The waves fought me at every opportunity, but I didn’t want to turn around. I needed to swim my anger out.
My anger at Cynthia, my anger at the fact that no one could accept me as I am, my anger at my best friend for leaving me alone in this cruel world.
I stopped swimming and glanced back at the shore. Jeez, I swam farther than I thought. The thought occurred to me that I should head back so I started to swim back but when I looked back at the shore, it appeared farther away. I bobbed like a buoy in the waves, trying to figure out if the shore was really farther away or an optical illusion.
I kicked a little harder, yet the shore still looked farther away. Actually, it appeared to be even farther away than it was before. As I watched more intently, the shore kept getting farther away. A sinking realization set in; I was stuck in a rip current.
“ Shit,” I curse. The sky above rumbled in agreement and the waves felt stronger, bigger.
Stay calm, and swim parallel to the current. That’s all there is to getting out of a rip current. But getting out of a rip current with high waves in a storm? Hopefully it isn’t that much different.
I take a deep breath and face the parallel to the shore. I start swimming that way, but waves keep picking me up and displacing me. My arms are starting to ache. The sky opens up and it starts raining hard. Thunder shakes the clouds and a crack of lightning splits the sky in two.
“ Shit!” I shout to the wind.
Could have just gone back to my cabin, but nope, I had to swim while a storm was approaching. What is wrong with me? Even in my anger, I should’ve thought a little more critically, or maybe swam to shore from the dock rather than far away from it.
The waves are sending me up and taking more of my energy to stay afloat. My body is aching and my head keeps going under. I come up sputtering every time, and each time, I lose more steam. The storm is raging, the wind is whipping, and the waves are aggressive. I’m fighting a losing battle that I know I’ll never escape. But I have to get back to shore!
I keep swimming parallel to the rip current, even though I’m almost out of the bay entirely. Keep going, Leda, keep going! I urge myself. My body is so cold, I’ve gone numb. I’m exhausted and it’s becoming increasingly harder to stay above the waves. My arms are refusing to cooperate and I feel my head go underwater.
It’s so dark underneath the waves, but oddly tranquil. I can feel the rip current acting on me now. I can’t bring myself to swim to the surface again, but I think I’m okay with that. My vision is going black and all I can picture is Cora’s face.
Hang on Cora, I’ll be there soon.