“Good morning campers!”

Everyone groans at the sound of David’s voice as he skips into the cafeteria. “Remind me again why we have to be up at 6am every single day?! I’m tired.”

A little voice yells from the back of the crowd, pushing people to the side on his way to the front.

“Well Max, maybe you wouldn’t be so tired if you didn’t stay up so late. I put all the campers to sleep at nine for a reason! Oh, and also coffee isn’t good for your body Max! Give that to me right this instant!”

Snatching the cup, he places it on the counter.

“Now everyone! Eat your breakfast. I’m sure Gwen put a lot of time and effort cooking it for everyone here! Right Gwen?”

The only sound Gwen makes is a sigh.

“Well campers, I have something really special planned for today’s activities! So eat up and let’s go!”

He bounces out of the cafeteria leaving everyone to wonder, ‘what’s so special about today?’

Max throws his plate out after finishing breakfast and goes out to join David

in… whatever they’re doing today. His black poofy hair sways in the slight breeze.

“Why hello Max! Is there something you need?”

“Actually David, there is something I need.”

A smirk starts to form on his face.

“Give me your phone.”

David’s taken aback.

“What? Why?”

“Because I need it… to search… to contact my parents! Yes that’s why! You know I haven't talked to them all summer.”

He says with puppy dog eyes. David reluctantly hands over his phone. “OK… but only to talk to your parents! Nothing else! You understand?!”

Max waves bye as he walks off to his cabin.

“Let’s see what we have here…”

He says quietly. Mischief gleaming in his eyes.

“Oh…? He has Daniel’s phone number? Heh, this is going to be fun…”

Typing in the message bar, he thinks thoughtfully about what he’s going to say.

“Hey Daniel!! I know it’s been awhile, and I know you're in the hospital because of me, but I was thinking that maybe you could, I don’t know, come back to the camp? I want to talk over some tea and apologize for what happened! Thanks, your friend, David.”

He repeats the message out loud. A twinge of guilt rises in his stomach but he quickly pushes it back down and walks outside.

“Here’s your stupid phone back.”

“Well? Did you talk to them?”

He grabs his phone back.

“Yeah. They don't care like usual….”

The ding of Daniels phone wakes him. It’s unexpected, as this never usually happens.

“Who in the world would possibly want to text...me?”

The name on the screen reads ‘David’.  

“Hey Daniel!! I know it’s been awhile, and I know you're in the hospital because of me, but I was thinking that maybe you could, I don’t know, come back to the camp?”

He didn’t even read the whole message as that was all he needed to see. ‘This is going to be easier than I thought!’ He thinks as he grabs his suitcase and rips the IVs out of his arm. He hastily changes from the hospital gown into his usual all white attire. After awhile of trying to escape from the room, he settles on a window, opens it, and carefully climbs down from the third floor with ease. “Camp isn’t too far from here, I could probably just walk.”

He started down the road but quickened the pace at the sound of an approaching car.

“Daniel?”

Daniel stops in his tracks and looked up at David’s beautiful green eyes.

“Oh hey David! Mind if I hitch a ride back to camp?”

“Um, sure! But I don’t know if you can stay considering what happened last time…”  

He looks down at his hands in his lap.

“That’s fine! I really just wanted to say bye to all the campers one last time before I went upstate.”

He climbed into the passenger's side of the car and they drove off. ‘I could just kill him right now…’ He silently thought to himself. ‘...no. I want to make him suffer. Make him see everything that he loves be destroyed. Yes, only then will I be satisfied.’

The two guys arrive at camp and Daniel is immediately ushered into the counselor cabin.

“I don’t really want the campers to see you.” David says with a sad smile.

He leaves the room and returns with Gwen about a minute later.

“Gwen, you remember Daniel, right?”

“How could I forget…”

An awkward silence ensued until it’s finally broken by David.

“Um, I’m going to go check on the campers. If you want, Daniel, it’s a sunny day and you can swim in the lake. Or you could make yourself some tea and read.”

He says pointing to a big pile of books in the corner of the room.

“Please, make yourself at home.”

Gwen and David both walk out of the room, but not before Gwen turns back to shoot Daniel a suspicious glance. ‘She has to be the first to go.’ He thinks. ‘I underestimated her last time, let’s not make the same mistake again.’ An idea pops into his head.

“Tea!”

He shouts out loud. Stirring a large pot of it, he grabs a bag of poison out of his bag. Pouring the contents into the brew, he laughs. ‘This is going to be fun!’

Later that night, Gwen walks into the cabin where Daniel is while David is putting the campers to sleep.

“Hey Gwen!”

“What do you want?”

“Oh, nothing! Nothing at all.”

He says with a large grin on his face.

“I made you some tea…”

She looks at it hesitantly before asking the flavor.

“Chamomile. On the ride here David told me that was your favorite type…” “You know, Daniel, I’m not really in the mood for tea right now. Maybe later though.”

She says, waving him off. Later in the night, Daniel sneaks out from the cabin. ‘Where’s David?’ He thought. ‘It’s not like him to be late to bed. Especially not 3 hours late…’ He was right, David was usually in bed at 9:30pm. In fact, that's not all he knows. He knows everything about him. His relatives, favorite kids, favorite ice cream… It’s like he could go on forever. It may sound weird but it helps him to know how to gain trust, and the perfect moment to strike.

“Daniel?”

A small voice says.

“...What are you doing out here?”

Daniel rounds the corner to find David, he is  immediately taken aback by the sight before him.

“...David? What are you doing!?”

David looks up from the massacre that he made and his fingers start to twitch.

“You see Daniel, not everyone is perfect.. We all have our… moments.”

A dead person lay before him, stabbed straight through the heart, ripped

apart. Torn up beyond recognition. What did he just do?! David looks up and his eye twitches in irritation.

“Daniel? Are you okay?”

He says with a large grin.

“I thought you’d be able to handle this considering what you’ve done in the past....”

“What do you know about me?!”

Daniel backs up a few steps and David stands up, spinning a curvy knife in his hand.

“Come on Daniel, do you really think I’m that stupid?”

He takes a step towards him.

“I know you kill people. I knew that your goal from the start was to kill us all.”

Daniel takes another step.

“But I’m so sorry. I can’t let you do that. These are my children, my life. I won’t let you take that away from me… I’d be careful with your next move if I were you.”

He smiles and walks off into the cabin. Daniel stands there, smiling as well. “Nice try David. But it’s going to take more than that to scare me off.” He mutters.

In the next few days, Daniel is introduced back to the campers. They didn’t take kindly to him, but they warmed up to him… just like last time. David only smiles at him happily. Gwen approaches David at the cafeteria while all the other kids are distracted eating.

“Hey David.” She says.

“Hey Gwen!” David responds.

Everything seems normal about him, but Gwen noticed one thing that confused her.

“So, I’ve noticed that you haven’t been talking to Daniel lately… I mean, why would you bring him here to not talk to him? Did something happen?”

She has a note of concern in her voice.

But David stays silent.

“David? You ok?”

“Gwen, stop trying to get us together.”

He sighs.

“You know it’s not going to happen.”

Frustrated, she gets up and heads to the counselor cabin. David stares at Gwen as she walks away.

“It will soon be time..” David mutters to himself.

“Hey….!” Daniel says as he takes a seat across from David.

David spins around to face him.

“Why hello Daniel! Do you need something?”

“Oh nothing, just admiring your beautiful eyes.” David blushes but covers his face with his hands.

“I-If you have nothing to say, you should get busy. You should be watching the campers right now.” Daniel frowns at his reply and walks away, his eyes downturned from disappointment. David sighs with relief. ‘I can’t be developing feelings for him… that will only make it harder when he needs to die.’

Daniel walks into the counselor cabin, still filled with disappointment.

“What are you doing in here, Daniel?” Gwen asks with sass.

“Nice to see you too Gwen.”

She goes back to reading her magazines and casually blurts out,

“So when are you two going to kiss?” Daniel shoots a look at Gwen.

“Hopefully soon..”  

The reply catches Gwen off guard and she violently spits out her drink.

“I KNEW IT!”

“That’s cool and all, but just know that if anyone finds out, and I mean ANYONE, I’ll kill you.” He say with a menacing smile. She stares at him, concerned.
“Hahaha Gwen! I’m just joking! You couldn’t possibly think I’m being serious!” He laughs hysterically.

“Right..” Gwen nervously laughs.

“I um... have some stuff to do now.” She says, swiftly leaving the cabin.

The next day, Gwen walks to the lake, and Daniel stalks her from behind. Neil, one of the campers, runs up to Gwen.

“David told me to tell you that he went back to camp.” Neil says looking up at his counselor.

“Okay thank you for letting me know.”

Daniel eavesdrops and starts to walk back to camp. He knocks on the door to the counselor cabin.

“Come in..” David says shakily.

Daniel smiles knowing David is crying and opens the door and closes it behind him. He walks over to the bed, next to David and sits down. An awkward silence ensues. Danie suddenly gets up and walks over to the desk. He grabs out a pack of tissues and pulls one out. He brings his hand up to David’s face and wipes his tears away gently. Daniel looks at David and smiles at him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Just remembering old memories is all…” David says looking at the floor. “It’s really nothing....”

“What happened to the oh-so-strong David from a few nights ago?” He grins. The question took David by surprise.

“I-I uh….” David suddenly gets up. Walking to his desk, he starts to rummage around and then quickly leaves the cabin. Curiosity overtakes Daniel and he slowly walks over to David’s desk. He opens his drawer and a small bottle of pills comes rolling out to the front. Picking them up, he reads the label: ‘Bipolar Disorder’ ‘huh.’ He swiftly pockets the bottle.

“I could use these against him.” Daniel mutters to himself.

The next day, during dinner, David approaches Daniel.

“Hey friend!”

“Oh, hello.” Daniel says, tiredly rubbing his eyes.

“Can I talk to you after the campers are put to bed?”

“Sure. Where?”

“Just follow me after dinner’s over and I’ll tell Gwen to put the campers to bed.” David says.

“Okay.” Daniel says with a yawn.

After dinner, Daniel follows David deep into the woods, until they stop at a clearing where the moonlight shines in.

“You know, ever since I was a child it’s been my dream to work here. Working with all the kids, they’re like family to me.” David says, looking up at the full moon. He sighs and says,

“I would never want anything to happen to them, and I wouldn’t let anyone hurt them.” Pausing to glare at Daniel, he continues.

“So if you EVER try anything to hurt them, I’ll kill you before you-” He’s cut off by Daniel, who is now laughing hysterically.

“You think you can kill me? That’s the funniest thing you’ve ever said!”

 Daniel says, eyes glowing blue.

“Wh-What are you talking about?” David says quizzically.

“I know what you’re trying to do David! You make this too easy!” He suddenly turns serious, and the smile on his face disappears. He slowly moves closer to David and pulls out a curved knife.

“Don’t ever think you can control me. You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

“I-I can do what-whatever I want! I'm the head c-counselor here and there's nothing you can do about it!”

“Oh I’m sure I can do alot about that!” He whips out the pill bottle.

“W-Where'd you get that from? Give it to me!” David tries to grab the pills from Daniel but he moves them before he can grab them.

“Oh no, no David. I’m sure you’d be fired from your job if word gets out about your “condition”. I know what you do if you don’t have your pills…You’re a danger to the kids, or as you like to call them, your family.”

David starts to freak out, desperately looking around to try and find something to use to defend himself. Slowly Daniel inches closer to him until Davids back hits a tree.

“Nowhere to go now.”

He raises his arm, knife in hand. David closes his eyes waiting for the sharp pain of getting stabbed, but instead he suddenly feels something press against his lips. He cup to his mouth tip sfowardd slowley and a purple liquid flows into his mouth. He is shocked but feels a hand over his eyes stopping him from seeing anything. Daniel gets up and moves away from David allowing him to see. He pulls him up and whispers in his ear,

“How about we kill everyone huh? Doesn’t that sound fun?” Suddenly unable to think for himself, David nods.

“Wow. Didn’t think that would work. It did take alot to make that conncotion though. Glad that you finally listen to me David. Let’s get going shall we?”

Daniel’s eyes light up and he pulls him off towards the camp.

LATER IN THE NEWS: A whole camp is left dead. Two people are of suspect. The notorious murderer Daniel Kildrin, and camp counselor David Barclay. Please be aware that the suspects are still on the loose so please stay inside and keep your children safe. That’s all for now. Jasper Salit signing off.