We were all sitting in chapel when Marquis gave us the news that would break our hearts. Marquis has been our Grotonwood camp counselor for the past 2 years. Dead silence filled the room. Everything was still; not even a hush was heard. The clock went tick-tock, tick-tock making every moment more and more nerve-racking. We were anxious: we wanted to know what was going on. Marquis steps on to the stage and our hearts beat fast! I could hear the echoing of my heart. Thump, thump, thump the loud pounding of our hearts simultaneously joined together to form a force field. Marquis would try to communicate with us, but the words wouldn’t come out!
He would stumble then try all over again.”Uhh uhh” no words seemed to come out.
Suddenly a tear drop elegantly flows down the side of his face.
I pause for a moment and think to myself, “This must be serious.”
Before I could finish my train of thought Marquis stops me with his words.
Speaking abruptly he says, “I’m moving to Alabama!”
“Wait, what?” I say to myself.
“I’m going to build a church, a barn church. I’ll no longer be able to counsel you guys. I won’t be back next year for another priceless year of camp.”
His voice sounded anguished. His expression lost into the depths of the overwhelming situation. At once all our heads collapse down in disappointment.
“Could it be true? Was he really just going to leave us?”
We couldn’t believe it! Were we dreaming? Someone please pinch me. This couldn’t be happening.
“Are you serious?” someone asked.
“Yes! I am very serious about this!” he said.
“But we don’t want you to leave!” Emily shouted out.
“I have no other choice! It’s what God has called me to do.” He explained.
We all understood, but we didn’t understand why! We were devastated, completely stricken. We had been hit hard by this one. Our hearts sank at the thought of him leaving. We were losing someone I’d never forget. I would look at him. I didn’t know how he was feeling, but he appeared to be suffering. His heart was aching and slowly breaking. I’ve never felt such emptiness in my heart. Seeing him like that shattered my emotions. I could no longer hold it in. Tears ruptured from my eyes and along with my tears came everyone else’s. The first tear stung against my cheeks, odd but I guess that’s how it felt. It felt bitter sweet! The dim-lighting and soft music set the scene. We sobbed on and on. We were emotional wrecks. Before there was dead silence: now all we could here were the cries and bawling’s of the people around. We would clean our tears with tissues, and then when that wasn’t enough to grasp our tears we would grab another tissue. The tears were never ending. It never stopped. When I think back I remember seeing Marquis, and only Marquis. It was as if we were having some type of connection.
“Oh, how I’m going to miss you!” I said to myself
The world had completely stopped for that our or so. We hadn’t been prepared for this. Other counselors would try to calm us down, but there was no use. It was an incredibly difficult situation. I can’t imagine how Marquis was holding on. I guess he wanted to be strong for us, but it was sure hard for him to keep his composure. We were losing one person; he was losing all of us.
“Calm down everyone, calm down!” he would say.
We paused; we were beings selfish. It was time to listen, to listen to what Marquis had to say. It was a delicate subject, but we had to control ourselves. Marquis started to speak.
“I know you are all upset, I don’t want to go either. We’re all going to be okay. I promise to stay in contact with everyone. Yall are very special to me! My little tartarugas! Try to control your emotions. It’s time to make our covenant bracelets.”
There were two lines to make our bracelets, one had Marquis and the other had another counselor. We all rushed to Marquis’s line. We made a long line; it wasn’t so organized, but it was good enough. One by one we had our bracelets made. To make the bracelets we used parachute cable. We burned each side of the cable which melted it and then joined them together. Once everyone’s bracelet was finished we sat back down. Still sobbing we clung to one another for comfort. Marquis had marked his words, and now it was our turn. Each person said something. Each speech was more heart-felt than the other making us pour out in tears even harder. It was my turn.
“What would I say?” I asked myself.
There was so much built up inside, but I couldn’t get it out. I didn’t know if I was strong enough to do it. Seeing everyone devastated like that made my emotions weaker and weaker. It was sad, just plain old sad. I would open my mouth to speak; I would stutter then stop. Breathing in and out I gave Marquis a warm hug.
“We love you Marquis!”
Soon enough the words started to flow out of my mouth.
“This covenant bracelet symbolizes us, this group. We are now connected by the fire. No matter if you’re here with us or all the way in Mexico we will forever be connected. We’re going to miss you! Just promise you’ll visit us sometime.”
“Thanks Lorena! Now you’re making me cry even more!” Natalye shouted.
That broke the ice, but things weren’t okay yet. It was very late by now and we needed to go back to our cabins to rest. We were exhausted. This night had really taken a toll on all of us. We gathered everyone around for a huge group hug and then said a prayer. Walking out of chapel it was pitch black. You could hear the crickets going “Chirp, chirp!” we reached our cabins and it was now time for bed. We got ready, laid our heads down, closed our eyes, and fell fast asleep.