Every year, my family visits my grandparents' beach house in Sea Island, Georgia. My cousin Kathleen and I are very close, and we always have an amazing time in the few days we are there.  When I was seven, we used to do this camp throughout the week at a beach club that was very close to my grandparents' house.  The camp was a blast every time we were there, they had certain plans for us each day.  For example; one day, we spent our first day near the pools eating lunch, and then learning how to make sand castles. The other day we would learn about the basic rules of the beach and the environment around us.   It was one of those camps for younger kids, and now that I am looking back, it was kind of basic, but I always remembered it being the best time of the summer.  

On the first day of the camp, Kathleen and I were out of our beds and ready to go before our moms even knew it.  We were excited to start our summer off with an awesome camp where we knew we would have fun.  Kathleen and I were at the camp, it was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the heat was hotter than ever, and it was just perfect. We started by meeting near the ocean, playing in the sand, and meeting campers.  The counselors were all nice and so was everyone else.  Unfortunately, it went downhill from there.  

After we finished our gathering we started walking to the pools.  The pool area consisted of two big pools close to each other.  Right near the pool was a large staircase, in this area there was a restaurant, candy and ice cream store, and a few other shops around. The candy and the ice cream stores were combined into one.  There was everything you could ever think of in this shop.  Ice cream, for example, had every flavor in the shop, every treat from tiny lollipops to huge packs of Sour Patch Kids.  Every time I took a step into the shop I smelled a sugary sweet aroma throughout the whole store.  Then there was this restaurant, located right next to it.  There were so many options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, that I never found myself repeating the same meal.   

Then, our camp decided to break into groups.  Different groups ate lunch at different times.   I remember I ate grilled cheese with fries on the side, it was delicious!  Kathleen and I were just sitting there waiting for the others to finish lunch.  After everyone had their meals we decided to go for a 30-minute swim break.  The water was at a perfect temperature, not too hot and not too cold.  Kathleen and I swam until it was time to get out.   We were so excited to get back to our counselors and have fun near the ocean!

We went over to our counselors and I asked,  “What will we be doing now?” 

They said we would just have to wait and make the best of it while they help the others, it was harsh and upsetting to hear this.  I could see the water from Kathleen's face slowly dripping down, it may have been a tear, but I wasn't sure.  We both sat down and waited and waited for them to come back.  Nobody came to watch us, everyone slowly moved farther down the beach that it had come to a point where we had to start walking to the others.  I went up to our group counselor and asked if we could teach a fun game for the younger kids.  She replied, 

 “How about you guys wait a little longer and stop bothering everyone.”  

I could feel the tears coming down my face, my chin almost quivering. I was seven and having an adult yell at me like that was overwhelming.  I walked back to Kathleen with tears overflowing my face and told her what happened. 

 “This is so boring!”   She said,

I stopped crying and agreed with her because I was sad and bored.  Kathleen went to our counselor and asked

 “What time will camp be over?”  She replied “2 more hours.” 

 We were just glad she didn't yell at us.  

We made the best of it, but we were still bored.  Kathleen and I were together with little kids, sitting there on the beach. We both exchanged a look and knew what the other was thinking. We made sandcastles for about twenty minutes and Kathleen and I mastered it within five.  When we were done we just sat around doing nothing.  No counselors were paying attention to us, and nobody else seemed to feel the same frustration as we did. We knew our way around this area, and that if we ran back to our house it would be okay; we knew we wouldn’t get lost.  

Kathleen whispered to me saying, 

 “We should go back to the house.”

 We got onto our feet, I looked at Kathleen, and she started walking away from the beach.  I started to follow her and after that, we started to sprint.  Faster than I ever have run, not looking back until we got near the pools.  I looked back, and I saw adults watching us and starting to walk after us.  My heart was beating faster than ever. We ran to the gate and ran home.  Our feet were pounding against the cement.  We knew our way around but it suddenly looked different as if we may have been lost. I could hear Kathleen panting, along with myself.  I looked back hoping nobody was there, instead I heard someone's footsteps.  I was scared, I took one long step and tripped over a rock, I fell.  I could see my knees dusted up with the dirt and a cut eventually starting.  I immediately got onto my feet, Kathleen was just a bit ahead of me and there was no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't catch up.  I ran. I sprinted. I ran until I couldn't. I finally looked back hoping no one was there, and thankfully I was right. 

We finally saw our house, the sun reflecting off the windows, looking so silent.  We stopped running and took a deep breath, did not say a word to each other, and knew what we had to do.  We opened the door to our house and walked in.  No sound.  No people. We walked upstairs into our grandparent's room.  Weirdly our moms were up there with our grandma, they were talking about dresses.  We walked in and gave an awkward hello.  They looked at us with no confusion, no “what are you doing, faces”, nothing. 

 My mom said, “Oh hey girls, what are you guys doing home so early?” 

I said that the camp was over and we just walked home.  Our moms exchanged a look, they smiled and got back to talking about dresses.  Kathleen and I were confused, why were they not mad? Why were they not suspicious? Or were they?  We went back downstairs, I poured us some orange juice and we just thought about it for a while.  

 “What just happened?” I finally said.

 Kathleen didn't reply until a few moments later when she answered with 

“Do they know?”   

We both were filled with questions.  Our moms came downstairs, we were looking at them helplessly.  They acted normal, with no suspicion.  

The next morning we were unsure if we should go back to camp.   We decided to go back, leaving our questions behind.  We arrived and no one was there. We stayed and waited for a while and only the counselors showed up, then everyone gathered around us.  It was a regular, normal day, still boring, same plans, just it felt odd and off.