Chapter 2: The Disturbed
“Have you got everything? Extra clothes? Snacks for the bus ride?” asked a worried voice, breaking into my train of thought.
“Uh huh,” I answered glumly looking up at my mom. She was always hovering over me, afraid that some terrible fate was waiting just for me behind every corner. I wasn’t a little kid anymore. I could take care of myself.
“Alright then,” Mom smiled nervously. “Have fun, and maybe you’ll even make some new friends.”
I shrugged without enthusiasm. A camp for “troubled” kids, as they called them, was not a place that I was looking to make friends. After all, it was probably going to consist mainly of bullies and wimps whose parents shipped them off to this reform program because they couldn’t deal with them.
The only reason I allowed my mom to sign me up was my neighbor, Tifa. Since her mom died, she’s been really sad and her dad registered her for the program in order for her to be able to talk with kids that also lost their moms. I thought this was a stupid idea on her dad’s part though. After all, if Tifa won’t talk about it with people she knows, why would she talk about her problems with strangers?
The school told my mom that I don’t play with the other kids and won’t talk to the teachers, which is a sign that I’m depressed and angry. I don’t understand how they came to their conclusion about how I was feeling inside. Of course, I admitted to my mom that I played by myself, but it’s not because I’m angry. They’re just stupid, playing pretend games that make no sense.
Mom asked me if I wanted to do the program, and after Tifa, the girl I’ve admired ever since I’ve met her, told me she was going, I just shrugged without protest. After all, I loved spending time with Tifa and this would be a perfect opportunity for us to become friends. Now I was sitting on our doorstep awaiting the arrival of the bus with my mom practically crying and stuffing last minute snacks into my backpack.
The screech of wheels and hum of a motor filled my ears as a massive swirl of yellow zoomed down the street and slid to a halt at the end of my street.
“There’s your ride!” Mom announced and then reached over, wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug. “Be careful, Cloud.”
I nodded, looking sincerely into my mom’s tear filled eyes, before turning and dragging my feet all the way to the bus door. I sighed, feeling a tinge of regret for allowing myself to be thrown into a week of uncertainty, but gulped down my fears and climbed the bus stairs.
“No eating on the bus, and no standing while we’re moving. Grab a seat and sit your little tush down until we get to the cabins,” huffed the pimple-faced driver in a raspy voice.
I stared at the driver in pure bewilderment. Her eyes were small and beady, her nose crocked, and her hair seemed to have a mind of it’s own. Was this a woman or one of the hideous monsters that mom always claimed roamed outside our town in the fields and forests? Taking no chances, I quickly hurried along past the “beast” and started down the never-ending rows of silent and motionless kids.
Farther and farther down the bus I went, looking at face after face of unhappiness. Obviously no one wanted to be here, including myself. Tifa’s dad had driven her to the camp earlier on that day so nothing but strangers surrounded me in every direction. I prayed for an empty seat, and luckily my wish was granted as I approach the third to the last seat with no occupant in it.
I dropped down in the seat as we started to move. It was as if someone had turned on a switch because the moment we began to depart, the entire bus erupted in a mixture of talking, shouting, arguing, and laughter.
The bus stopped a few more times, but I curled up on the seat, leaning my head against the cold glass window pane and drifted off to sleep, taking no more notice of what was happening around me.
“Hey, kid, wake up.”
The voice cut into my mind, chasing away all my dreams. I reluctantly opened my eyes to find a red haired boy with an ample supply of freckles littering his face poking me with his finger, and not being the least bit subtle about it.
“Stop,” I said, annoyed at having been bothered. I didn’t feel like talking right now and I didn’t feel like listening to someone else either. After all, the bus hadn’t stopped, and I could think of no logical reason why the boy had woken me up. He didn’t even know who I was.
“Why? You don’t like bein’ poked?” Sneered the boy before jabbing me once again in the side. “This is my seat, new kid, an’ you’ve been snorin’ the whole trip.”
I looked at the kid without interest and then turned my gaze toward the passing scenery out the window. Some people were just not worth my energy, and this red-haired freak was not an exception to the rule.
“I’m talkin’ to you, can’t ya hear?” the boy smacked me on the back of my head. “You stupid or somethin’? Huh?”
I turned, seeing only red, and stared hard, full of hatred at the boy next to me. I felt myself losing control, swallowed up by my rage. I won’t take stuff like that from anyone anymore….
Suddenly, I was being pulled up by the back of my shirt and slammed down on the seat behind the one I just occupied. My mind cleared and I realized that the boy I was now sitting next to had black hair and was grinning at me wildly.
“Zack, why you getting’ in my business?” the obnoxious red-haired boy glared over the top of the seat at me and the black-haired boy.
Holding up a clenched first, Zack grinned mischievously. “You wanna make somethin’ of it, Seth? You mess with this new kid, you mess with me, that clear?”
“Pshhh, you’re so full of yourself,” Seth mumbled before turning around and disappearing behind the seat in front of me.
A moment later, my bag came flying back, headed straight for me. The kid next to me reached over, caught my backpack and roughly handed it to me as if it were nothing he hadn’t expected to happen.
“What’s your name, kid?” Zack asked nonchalantly as he ran a hand through his black hair, styled much like mine in long spikes shooting out in every direction.
“Cloud Strife,” I answered shortly. I was never one for conversation.
“Well, Cloud, I’m Zack. Stick with me, kid, and I’m make sure you get the most out of your week at ‘sunshine’ cabin,” Zack told me with a slight sparkle in his eyes.
We didn’t talk for the rest of the ride, which made me like Zack. After all, he seemed pretty decent, and all I wanted was to get to the cabin and find Tifa. With Zack sitting next to me, I had a feeling that I would have no trouble with any of the kids and maybe this week wouldn’t be as bad as I thought….
That was until I found out about the two separate camps, one for girls and one for boys……..