Page 31 of Dark Seduction

“Yeah,” I shrug. “It’s a long story.” I pause, unsure if I should continue or not. “Come on. There used to be a damn good swimming hole here. Coolest water in Texas.”

“You brought us all this way to go swimming?” V blurts out. Mack smacks him in the arm, and he clutches his arm like I have shot him.

“Thank you,” Mack says for the both of them.

“This way.” I peel away from the car, heading toward the swimming hole in the back side of the cabins. The camp’s cabins, once vibrant and full of youthful laughter, now wear the heavy cloak of neglect. Their wooden walls have faded to a weathered gray, and the paint that once adorned them in cheerful colors now flakes away in surrender to the elements. Broken windows stare vacantly, their shattered glass creating a mosaic of fractured reflections that only hint at the stories once told within.

The central gathering area, once bustling with energetic campers, now sits abandoned and overgrown. A cracked flagpole, stripped of its banner, stands as a lone sentinel overlooking the deserted space. The worn-out benches, gnarled and splintered, barely hold their forms amid encroaching grass and weeds. A cracked fire pit lies dormant, its stones and ashes a testament to the countless campfires that once crackled beneath starlit skies.

The camp’s mess hall, a place that once resonated with clinking cutlery and jovial conversations, is a shadow of its past self. Its roof sags under the weight of accumulated debris, and the warped wooden floorboards creak as if mourning the absence of bustling activity. Tables and chairs, their surfaces marred by the scars of time, remain as stoic witnesses to memories long gone.

The only thing that seems to be still the way I remember is the swimming hole just ahead of us. The blue green water sparkles under the scorching summer sun atop of us. Some of the shade trees that had only been saplings the last summer I had come here are full grown. Their leafy canopies provide more than adequate shade from the heat. A light breeze tickles through their leaves.

Mack stretches her arms out wide, basking in the wind. A wide smile appeared on her face. Happiness swelling inside of me that I could bring them both here. To a place that had been the one beacon of light in my shitty childhood.

I rip my t-shirt over my head, tossing it onto the ground next to me. My hands falling to my fly when V notices what I am doing.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m going swimming. I didn’t come all this way to sweat my balls off in the woods.” I unzip shorts, stripping down to my boxers. I smile, then run towards the lake, eager to jump into the refreshing water on this scorching hot day. My body hits the water hard, the smack of the landing punching me in the gut just like it had as a child. My head dips down below the surface before I kick my feet and resurface.

“Are you two coming in or what?”

Mack looks to V. With a shrug, she strips down to her underwear and charges at the water. She dives into and swims to meet me. I admire the way the light danced across Mack’s skin, illuminating it like a pearl in the dim light. The swirls of her tattoos shining along with it. Leaving only V standing on the shore. Mack calls to him from the water, yet he doesn’t budge.

“Come on, asshole. Are you just going to stand there and watch us?”

V grimaces. “If I get in that water, and something bites my ass, I’ll end you.” He strips off his shirt, and jeans before trudging towards the water like he’s pissed at it for being cool. With a few long strokes, he joins our party. Mack splashes him. He frowns. She does it again, and this time, V splashes her back. It’s all that it takes for a water fight to break out.

And that is how we spend our afternoon. We swim for what felt like hours, enjoying the freedom of being in nature. We play games, chasing each other around the lake, splashing water at one another and laughing all the while. Even V let loose.

As the sun sets, we emerge from the water, feeling rejuvenated and refreshed. The three of us lay on the sandy shore. Allowing the cooler summer sun to dry us off.

“Tell me about your time here,” Mack asks.

“I came here the first time when I was in third grade. My grandma had just died, and I had been with my first foster family for a couple of months. My time with them wasn’t easy. My foster dad was a long-haul trucker who was never around, and my foster mom had four other kids to care for. They thought it would be good for me to be around other kids.”

“Were they right?” Mack asks.

“Yes, and no. I was so mixed up mentally that I didn’t take part until the last week.”

“What happened in that last week to change your experience?”

“Marty,” I sigh. “He was the tiniest kid in my cabin. Nerdy little shit, too. He had these big round glasses that made his eyes seem like they were four times bigger. We were all at the pond when I heard him yelling for help. One of the bigger kids was holding him under the water. Our counselor was busy breaking up a fight, so I went. It was my first fight. The kid was twice by size, but I clocked him hard enough that he let go of Marty. He came up out of the water, gasping for air. I helped him to shore. That’s where I found out Marty’s parents had drowned. That he was in the car with them. According to him, the only reason he made it out is because his mom shove him through the broken window.”

“Oh my god,” Mack gasps. She reaches out, taking my hand into her hers with a squeeze. “That’s horrible.”

“It was. Marty spent the next week sticking to me like glue. Even after camp was over, we wrote letters until we got back to camp the next summer.”

“Do you still talk to him?” V asks.

“Marty died the summer before our last year of camp. Cancer.”

“Jesus, man. I’m sorry to hear that.” V reaches out and grasps my shoulder.

“I didn’t come back that last year. Honestly, I haven’t been back since he died,” I admit. My heart is heavy.

“So, why did you bring us here?”

---