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Not even former campers are immune from the rumors, which I learn when I open Facebook on my phone and finally unmute the posts from Camp Nightingale alumni. The first thing I see is a photo posted an hour ago by Casey Anderson, a short, red-haired counselor I had met on my first morning at camp. She was also, incidentally, the first Camp Nightingale veteran to seek me out on Facebook. Although I genuinely liked her, that friend request went ignored with all the others. Now I stare at a photo she took of the cabins with Lake Midnight glistening in the background.
Back again,she wrote.Feels like old times.
The picture had already received fifty likes and several responses.
Erica Hammond:Have a great summer!
Lena Gallagher:Awwww. Brings back memories.
Felecia Wellington:I can’t believe you went back there. Franny could offer me a million dollars and I still wouldn’t go.
Casey Anderson:Which is probably why Franny didn’t ask you. I’m happy to be here.
Maggie Collins:Agreed! That place always freaked me out.
Hope Levin Smith:I’m with Felecia. This is a bad, bad idea.
Casey Anderson:Why?
Hope Levin Smith:Because that place and its lake are messed up! We’ve all heard the legend. We all know there’s a ring of truth to it.
Lena Gallagher:OMG, that legend! Scared me so much back then.
Hope Levin Smith:You had every right to be scared.
Casey Anderson:You’re all being ridiculous.
Hope Levin Smith:Casey, you’re the one who talked about it the most! You can’t call it bullshit now that you’re back there.
Felecia Wellington:Don’t forget we all know what happened to Viv, Ally, and Natalie wasn’t an accident. You said so yourself.
Brooke Tiffany Sample:Who else is going to be there this summer?
Casey Anderson:Of people you know, me, Becca Schoenfeld, and Emma Davis.
Brooke Tiffany Sample:Emma?!? Holy fuck!
Maggie Collins:After all that shit she said about Theo?
Hope Levin Smith:Wow.
Lena Gallagher:That’s, um, interesting.
Felecia Wellington:I’d love to know how that happened. Watch your back, Casey. LOL
Casey Anderson:Be nice. I’m excited to see her.
Erica Hammond:Who’s Emma Davis?
I close Facebook and turn off my phone, unable to stomach reading another word of gossip and crackpot theories. Other than Casey, I can’t recall meeting any of those women while at camp. Nor have I heard the stories that the lake is cursed or haunted. It’s bullshit. All of it.
Only one of the responses is the absolute truth. What happened to Vivian, Natalie, and Allison wasn’t an accident.
I know because I’m the one who caused it.
Although their eventual fate remains a mystery, I’m certain that what happened to those girls is all my fault.
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