Phat (Escape From Reality #2)

by Taylor Henderson

  I nodded, crossing my legs instinctively. “Is there a bathroom?”

  Kelsey slapped her hand to her forehead. “How could I forget to show you girls where the bathroom is? Follow me.”

  Sighing in relief that she didn’t say what I thought she would, I followed her around to the back of the grouping of cabins to where a large cement building stood. Next to it was a smaller cement building that looked like a miniature version of the first.

  She pointed at the little building as she said, “That’s the laundry room and the larger building is where the bathrooms and the showers are.” Kelsey laughed as I sprinted toward the door to the larger building. As I was pulling the door open I heard her say she was going to head off. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who had to pee either, because everyone followed after me—just at a much slower pace.

  Inside, the bathroom was cold, but surprisingly clean. I hurried toward an empty stall and relieved myself before coming out and washing my hands. In the front of the bathroom there were four bathroom stalls, which faced the sinks. After the sinks and the stalls were larger stall doors on either side of the room, which I assumed were the showers.

  I washed my hands slowly, taking my sweet time in an attempt at passing the time faster. My plan for the night was to clean the cabin, unpack my bags, eat dinner, and then sleep. Then the plan for the two next months until it was time to go home was to sleep in every day and go to bed early in order to make each day seem shorter.

  The stall door behind me opened and then banged shut as Peyton joined me at the sink. From the corner of my eye I could see her watching me in the mirror. Not wanting to get stuck in a conversation I wasn’t interested in, I pretended not to notice as I turned the sink off and grabbed a paper towel from the dispenser hanging on the wall. Peyton shut off her sink and grabbed a paper towel before hurriedly following me out of the building.

  “Wait up,” she called, when I started to walk a little faster.

  I wanted to groan as I came to a slow stop. When she fell into step with me I resumed walking.

  “I’m Peyton,” she began, smiling hard. Her glasses frames were a little too small for her face and left an indentation on either side of her head.

  “Hey,” I responded, my voice flat. I didn’t want to be rude by not saying anything at all. It wasn’t her fault I was here.

  Peyton didn’t seem to care even the slightest about my lame, one-word response. Her smile remained full watt. “Is Abby short for something?”

  I shook my head. “No, it’s just Abby.”

  “Oh.”

  I glanced at her, feeling bad when I noticed that her smile had faltered noticeably. We walked in silence for a moment as I tried to think of something to say. Finally I said, “Did you think it was short for Abigail?”

  She nodded, her smile returning.

  “Most people do. That was my dad’s mom’s name. He wanted to name me after her, but my mom wasn’t a fan so they compromised and picked Abby,” I explained. I didn’t know why I was telling this girl my life story, but I didn’t want her to think that I didn’t like her or something. I only resented the fact that she liked it here; otherwise I had nothing against her personally.

  “Oh, cool. Are you from Colorado?” she asked, raising a reddish-brown eyebrow.

  “Arizona,” I answered as we approached our cabin. Peyton pulled out her key and unlocked the door, letting me enter before her. The smell inside was significantly better than it had been when we first came in. “What about you?” I questioned as I went to close the window I had opened earlier.

  “No, I’m from Utah.” Peyton flicked a light switch on the wall near the door and the room brightened instantly. Other than the light from the two windows it had been pretty dim. In the brighter lighting the spider webs on the walls and the dust stood out more. This time I actually groaned out loud, making Peyton laugh. “It won’t be as bad as it looks.”

  “Won’t be fun though,” I countered.

  “That’s true.”

  As if on queue, there was a knock at our door. Peyton and I looked between each other before she opened it to reveal Kelsey.

  “Hey again. I brought you guys some cleaning stuff.”

  “Oh, thanks Kels!” Peyton took the broom and disinfectant wipes from Kelsey.

  “Of course. Let me know if you need anything Abby, although I’m sure Peyton can answer any questions you may have.”

  “Okay,” I answered. Then I added, “Thank you,” as a rushed afterthought. She didn’t seem to mind though and just gave me a friendly wave before she left.

  Once the door was shut and locked, Peyton held up the broom with its attached dustpan and the bottle of disinfectant wipes. “Do you want to dust or sweep?”

  I didn’t even have to think about her question. I reached for the broom so fast it was as if my life depended on it. Honestly, it kind of did. Being stuck with dusting meant that I would be the one who had to deal with the spider webs, which also meant I would be on spider duty and I hated spiders.

  Little did I know, having the broom left me in charge of not only sweeping the dust off of the plastic encased mattresses and the dirty floors, but it also meant I had to knock down the spider webs. It wasn’t long until I switched to dusting. Peyton swept as I wiped down the mattresses, windowsills, and the sink. We were finished pretty quickly and when we were done the cabin looked ten times better and smelled like the lemon disinfectant wipes we had used to clean.

  Once our cabin was actually livable, Peyton and I got to work unpacking our bags. She was moving at a much faster speed than I was as she tossed all of her clothes into the small dresser drawers. I on the other hand was actually trying to place everything inside neatly. As I got to the bottom of my second duffle bag I had to squeeze the last few items inside. Then I organized everything else I had, including my toiletries, on top of the dresser. The last things I set on top of the dresser was a monstrous bottle of sunscreen and an equally huge bottle of bug spray Mom had made sure I brought with me. Seeing them made me irrationally angry again. If I was able to go the whole summer without thinking about my parents then maybe I would actually enjoy it here, although a part of me didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of knowing that I had a good time while I was away.

  The entire time we worked we had been quiet, just focusing on unpacking, but now that Peyton was done, she was ready to talk again. She went on and on about how she hated when her bus was the first to arrive at camp and about how she couldn’t wait for more campers to come tomorrow. While I listened I put sheets and the blanket I had brought with me on my mattress. As I shook the plastic covered pillow we were given into a pillowcase, Peyton told me that she was ready to start the summer off right. She wanted to wake up early tomorrow and walk to the lake and watch the sunrise from the bridge before breakfast. It was clear then that her and I had different ideas of fun.

  “You should join me in the morning,” she chirped suddenly. Her eyes were so wide I could see the gold flecks in them. “We can get up early and I’ll show you how to get to Faith Bridge and the lake from here. It’s a short walk.”

  I bit my lip, trying to figure out how to say, “Hell no,” in the nicest way possible. Finally I said, “I was planning on sleeping in a little tomorrow.”

  Peyton nodded slowly. “Oh, okay. Yeah, it is only the first day. There’s plenty of time to get up early and explore.”

  “Of course.”

  “Breakfast starts at 8:30 though,” she added.

  My jaw dropped. “As in 8:30 in the morning?”

  Peyton nodded. “Not an early bird, huh? Kelsey will fix that.”

  I wanted to cry. “Do I have to go to breakfast?”

  “Yeah,” she answered slowly, dragging the word out. “It’s mandatory now, especially considering what happened last year,” she added in a whisper.

  “What happened?” I asked, sitting down on my bed. The mattress sank down and squeaked noisily. My cheeks flushed in embarrassment. The old
me was light and graceful. No mattress ever squeaked under my weight before.

  “There was an incident with a camper from last year who wasn’t eating. Now everyone is required to eat at the same time and has to go to every meal. Kelsey monitors everyone and takes attendance.” She paused and sighed before saying, “It’s better this way.”

  “What happened to the girl?”

  Peyton glanced down, her already red face turning redder. She looked embarrassed for the girl. “She was an inpatient at Escape County Hospital for a while, but then her parents took her home.”

  “That’s sad,” I mumbled in response.

  She nodded her head fervently. “I know. That’s why the camp has such strict rules on eating disorders now. Even if parents so much as suspect that their kid has an eating disorder they are required to sign them up to attend group therapy and outpatient treatment at the hospital while they’re at camp here.”

  My heart fell into the pit of my stomach at her words. I bit my bottom lip to keep it from trembling. I had assumed that the therapy and outpatient treatment requirement was for all of the campers. I didn’t know it was just for the girls with a suspected eating disorder. I thought it was a part of the camp’s “wellness” angle, but I was wrong.

  I was starting outpatient treatment at the hospital soon and would be taking a bus there every Tuesday to talk to a therapist. I also had to attend group therapy meetings at least once a week for the duration of my stay at the camp. Those were less strict and I got to choose what day I wanted to attend them on when I first arrived; I chose Thursdays.

  It was all clicking now. My parents sent me away because they suspected I had an eating disorder. The worst part was they were right. I didn’t think they would’ve noticed.

  Peyton was completely oblivious to my internal dilemma. She stood up and went to the sink, holding a bottle of liquid soap she’d brought with her. “Want to head to dinner now?” she asked as she washed her hands. “Dinner is from 6 to 7:30 every night,” she explained as she turned off the faucet and dried her hands on her Bermuda shorts. She turned and looked at me expectantly, waiting for a response.

  “Uh, yeah. I’m just gonna finish up here first,” I managed to choke out without my voice trembling and giving me away.

  “Okay, do you remember how to get there?”

  “Yeah, thanks.”

  “Okay, see you there,” she said as she headed out. As soon as the door shut behind her, I let go of all the emotions I had been repressing. It was as if a floodgate had been opened as my tears welled up in my eyes and spilled down my cheeks. Lying in the fetal position on my bunk, I wrapped my arms around myself as sobs raked through my body. Despite how mad I was at my parents, all I wanted at that moment was for them to hold me and tell me that everything was going to be all right. I don’t know how long I lay there crying, but eventually I sat up, wiped away my tears, and trudged off to join my fellow fatties at dinner.

  Chapter 3

  Paradise Falls

  Apparently moping around the cabin and sleeping the day away isn’t an acceptable way of spending your time at Escape Reality Wellness Camp. No, because if that were to happen then your cabin-mate was required to contact the camp director and tattletale on you so she could come put an end to your introversive behavior. Then, said camp director was supposed to talk to you and get you out and about. So, here I was out and about, strolling around in the woods aimlessly. I had been forced to attend breakfast, where I scarfed down two bagels with cream cheese and one yogurt parfait. As soon as I was done, I hurried out and strolled down the first path away from camp that I could find.

  I had been walking for what felt like an hour already and my feet ached from the pain. It had been so long since I had gone on an actual walk, let alone on a hike. Somehow I had chosen the toughest trail to take, and if that wasn’t bad enough I was starting to feel disoriented. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was lost. Every tree and shrub was beginning to look the same. I even passed the same fallen tree trunk twice. The third time around, I took a seat on the trunk to take a breath and collect myself. I knew that if I wasn’t back for lunch then Kelsey would come looking for me, so I wasn’t too worried about being stuck in the woods forever—although the thought of having to hollow out a tree trunk and stock up for winter did cross my mind during my slight panic attack when I realized I was in fact lost.

  My chest rose and fell heavily as I breathed in deeply. Taking slow, deep breaths was the trick to calming myself down. Once I was composed, I leaned back on the tree and just relaxed. I should’ve brought a bottle of water with me, I thought, my mouth dry. Beads of sweat rolled down my forehead, dripping into my eyes. Finally, I stood up and continued my impromptu hike, this time taking a different path than the one that had sent me in a circle.

  It wasn’t long until I was seeing new sights. My legs burned as I walked up a sloped dirt path that weaved through the forest. To the left of me, about two feet away was a steep drop. I wasn’t a huge fan of heights, but the view was mesmerizing. I could see a small town nestled into the bottom of the mountains, which I assumed was the town of Escape, Colorado. How fitting? I want to escape from Escape. I actually laughed out loud at my stupid little pun. It felt good to laugh; something I hadn’t done in a while. I stopped walking and leaned against a tree, breathing heavily from my exertion while just staring down at the world below me. The lake was placid and bright blue in contrast to the little green town. Being from the desert, I had never really seen so much green in one place. It was spectacular. I slipped my phone out of my pocket and took pictures to show India when I got home—if she found a way to forgive me by then, but that was unlikely. She would have loved it here.

  I slipped my phone back into my pocket before deciding to make my way back down the trail, which was much easier than it had been going up, but the view had been worth it. As the ground flattened out again, there was a fork in the path with a sign in the center telling where each way led. One of the arrows was marked, “Camp,” while the other had been sloppily painted over and had the word, “Paradise,” scrawled on it in neat, rounded print. I was tired from my excursion, but I had to admit the paradise sign intrigued me and I wasn’t truly ready to go back to camp yet, even if that meant I’d miss lunch. Kelsey would probably have my ass, but I could tell her I got lost or something. Then she’d have to let me off the hook, right?

  Willing to take my chances, I headed off down the path labeled paradise. I barely made it four steps down the path before I heard laughter and shouting. The noise was coming from further down the path. My curiosity got the best of me and it wasn’t long before I was hurrying down the path to see who was laughing and why. The trees began to open into a small clearing and the sound of rushing water mixed with the laughter hit me full force. I whipped to my left to see a hidden waterfall that cascaded down from a low ledge into a small, clear pool of water that was surrounded by trees. The sight was breathtaking, and if it weren’t for the paradise sign I probably would’ve never known about it.

  There were two girls playing in the water—the owners of the laughter I had heard at the end of the trail. They looked like they were having the time of their lives as they swam under the waterfall, screeching when the water poured on their heads.

  “You coming in?” Asked a voice from behind me, startling me so much that I visibly jumped away from her. I turned around and came face to face with a gorgeous blonde. She smiled at me, flashing me a mouthful of braces with pink brackets and looked at me expectantly. “Well, are you?”

  “No. I didn’t bring a bathing suit,” I answered quickly, my gaze dropping to her thin frame that was clad in a string bikini that would’ve been too revealing on someone with a curvier body shape that was fuller in the bust—someone like me.

  She rolled her big green eyes and scoffed. “You don’t need a bathing suit to swim. Come on.” Then she grabbed my hand and pulled me along behind her as she headed toward the water. “I’m Becca,” she stated as we ne
ared the waters edge. She guided me out onto the short pier that led out into the center of the pool beneath the waterfall and then dropped my hand. “That’s Jess and that’s Willow,” she informed me as she pointed at the bleached blonde first and then at the brown-skinned girl next.

  “I’m Abby,” I responded, earning a smile. Becca smelled like bubble gum and hand sanitizer. It was a strange, but not unpleasant combination.

  “So are you going to swim with us Abby? You could just take your shorts off and swim in your underwear and shirt. We don’t care. We do that all the time.”

  The thought of taking my pants off in front of perfect-looking Becca was horrifying, but I really wanted to swim. So instead of taking my shorts off, I just left them on as I followed after Becca and cannonballed into the water. The temperature was perfect, and when I swam to the surface I whipped my dark hair back out of my face and let out a bubble of laughter.

  Becca laughed with me, smiling hard as she began to swim to where her other friends were. I hesitated for a second until she looked back at me and waved me after her. “Come on.”

  I swam after her, stopping and treading water when we got to Jess and Willow.

  “Guys, this is Abby.”

  Both girls smiled and waved at me.

  “Hey,” they said simultaneously.

  I didn’t know what to say, so I asked, “Are you guys from Escape?”

  Willow and Jess shook their heads while Becca nodded and scrunched her nose in disgust.

  “Yeah, right. I wish. I’m from New York—the concrete jungle,” Willow answered.

  “I’m from San Diego,” Jess responded. “What about you?”

  “Arizona.”

  “Nice. My uncle lives in Phoenix,” Willow stated. “I’ve never been though.”

  Becca and Jess laughed. “Then how do you know if it’s nice?”

  Willow shrugged, rolling her eyes playfully. “You know what I mean.”

  I bobbed my head in the water. “Yeah, I get you. So, why are you guys here?”