Hell on Earth

Chapter Thirty Six - Off to Camp Knowhere

Cynthia went into Dustin's room. He was going to have a big day tomorrow. They both were.

"All packed up, Dustin?" she asked as she lingered in the doorway.

"Yep!" Dustin smiled at her as he turned away from his suitcases. "I've got anything I could ever need down at camp."

"You have everything you need for almost an entire month?" Cynthia asked.

"Of course," Dustin scoffed. "I'm literally going to a camp for genius's. I'm not going to forget anything.

"Oh, really?" Cynthia raised her eyebrow. "Is that why I found your travel toothbrush still in the bathroom?" She held up the brush so everyone could see.

"I meant to do that," Dustin said as he got up to snatch the brush. Cynthia held it over her head. "Give me the damn brush!"

"Say you forgot it!" Cynthia taunted her brother.

"Give it back," Dustin was jumping trying to reach the toothbrush.

"Say you forgot it!" Cynthia taunted again.

Dustin tackled her onto his bed. He tried to use the momentary confusion to grab the brush. Cynthia still tried to keep it out of Dustin's reach. She pushed Dustin off of her and tried to race off the bed. Dustin grabbed her leg and pulled her back to him.

"Give me my damn tooth brush," Dustin said as he jumped on top of her to grab the toothbrush.

"When you admit you forget it," Cynthia tried to crawl away.

But, in the end, Dustin was able to steal the toothbrush away from Cynthia.

"Aha!" he exclaimed. "Got it."

"You're a brat, Mr. Genius," Cynthia got off of the bed.

"And you're insufferable," Dustin rolled his eyes as he put a toothbrush into his bag.

"You know you're going to miss me," Cynthia smiled at her brother. "Who else are you going to bother?"

"Oh please, you'll be the one missing me," Dustin said. "What are you going to do without someone to annoy you."

"Live in comfortable silence," Cynthia teased. The Henderson siblings sat in silence for a few moments. Cynthia sat on Dustin's bed. "I am going to actually miss you though."

"I knew it," Dustin laughed as he sat next to her. "I'm going to miss you too. It's going to be weird not seeing you for an entire month."

"Just think of it as practice before I go off to college," Cynthia told him.

"I can't imagine what it's going to be like when you go off to college," Dustin said. "I'll be so lonely at home. I'll have no one to talk with."

"You'll survive," Cynthia couldn't help but laugh at her brother. "Promise me that you'll write me how everything is going at camp, okay."

"I promise," Dustin said. "I'm so excited to be with other people who are excited about science. It's going to be awesome."

"I bet. I couldn't imagine going to a camp where everyone shared my interests. Can you imagine me going to, like, some art camp. I don't think I would come home."

"Maybe you should look into an art camp. Maybe you'll meet some more friends that way."

"First of all, I have plenty of friends," Cynthia raised an eyebrow at her brother. "Second of all, do you really want to insult the person who is driving you to this camp?"

"Thanks for reminding me about that," Dustin said. "You have lots of good-quality friends."

"There you go," Cynthia smiled. "Do you want to watch one movie before we head to bed. Me driving four hours one way, is something I want to be well-rested for."

"Thank you for driving me there," Dustin told her.

"It's going to be an epic road trip, Dustin," Cynthia promised him. "Just wait and see."

The siblings went into the living room and watched some random move that they had on hand. They popped popcorn and laughed at some of the cheesy effects in the movie. By the time the movie was over, it was almost 9:00. They went to their bedrooms and shut the door. Cynthia didn't know if Dustin was going to bed, but she hoped he was. She smiled as she went to her drawing book. She looked through all of the old photos she drew of her and Dustin. In some of them, the siblings were characters. In others, the siblings were just themselves.

Cynthia grabbed her phone and dialed a familiar number. The phone rang a few times before the person she wanted to talk to picked up.

"Hey, Cynthia, why are you up?" Nancy asked. "Don't you have to drive Dustin to that camp tomorrow?"

"I do," Cynthia said. "I just wanted to talk to someone for a few minutes before I head to bed."

"What do you need to talk about?" Nancy asked.

"I'm just going to miss Dustin while he's away," Cynthia told her. "We've never been more than an hour away from each other in our entire lives. Besides, he's my little brother, so I always worry about him."

"Focus on the positives, Cynthia," Nancy told her. "He's going to a nerd, science camp; he'll be fine. And there's another positive too."

"I know that voice," Cynthia bit the inside of her lip. "You're going to try and get me to blush."

"I'm just saying that Dustin's going to be gone and your mom works and you have a boyfriend...."

"Nancy Wheeler," Cynthia slapped her forehead and turned a bright shade of red. "You are horrible."

"You're blushing aren't you," Nancy laughed.

"I probably look like a tomato right now," Cynthia laughed alongside her friend. "And I'm going to bed before I hear any more of your perversions."

"Goodnight, Cynthia," Nancy said. "Get a good night's sleep."

"I'll try," Cynthia told her. "Night."

Cynthia hung up the phone and laid in bed. She closed her eyes and hoped that sleep would overtake her. Her alarm was blaring loudly. Cynthia turned over and saw that it was time to get Dustin ready to go. Cynthia went to the kitchen and found Dustin sitting there with all of this things.

"You ready?" Dustin asked.

"Let me eat my damn breakfast first," Cynthia yawned. She grabbed her keys from the counter and threw them at Dustin. "Get your stuff in the car while I eat. After I'm done with that and take a quick shower, we can go."

Dustin raced out of the house with his stuff.

Cynthia knew that that task would keep him for long. She quickly ate some cereal and hopped into the shower. After about five minutes, she got out, got dressed, and headed to the car. Dustin was already sitting in the passenger side seat.

"You are too chipper this morning," Cynthia said as she got into the driver's side.

"I'm just excited," Dustin was basically bouncing off his seat. "Let's go."

"All right," Cynthia laughed as she revved up the car. "We're going. We're going."

Cynthia pulled the car out of the driveway, and just like that, the Henderson siblings were on their way to Camp Knowhere.