Rock Climbing Conundrum

Chapter 7: The Call

Max was taken back for X-rays while Gwen stayed behind to finally call David and tell him about the events of the day. She quickly dialed his number while sitting in her chair. There was a beat for a minute, Gwen was just about to give up until she heard "Goooooooooooooooooooooooood evening, Gwen!" on the other line. "Hi, David." She replied awkwardly. "So how are the campers?" David asked eagerly. "See, here's the thing..." Gwen began to speak. "I'm kind of at the hospital right now." Both of them went silent as Gwen's anxiety started to flare up. "Why?! What happened?!" David asked. Gwen went on to explain what happened during the rock climbing activity, bracing herself for how David would react. "Max is just getting X-rays done, now. He's taking it like a champ." Gwen said. David began to panic on the other end. "Did anyone else get hurt?" He asked. "Nope. Just Max." Gwen replied. "Well who's watching the other kids?!" David snapped. "The Quartermaster! Duh!" Gwen replied, trying to hold it together. "Oh, I KNEW I should've just skipped this family reunion!" David said on the other line, forgetting that Gwen was still there. His words felt like an arrow to the heart... And not in a good way. "I'm gonna start looking for a flight home tomorrow-" David said before he finally got cut off "I'M TRYING MY BEST, OK!" Gwen finally snapped. "I don't know HOW you do it, David." Her hands began to shake as she struggled to hold her phone. "Gwen. I know you're trying your best." David said trying to reassure his co worker. "But you don't trust me, right?" Gwen said in her usual monotone. "Of course I trust you!" David tried to speak. "Then ACT LIKE IT!" Gwen hung up after she spoke. She threw her phone on the ground and buried her head in her hands. 

Back at camp, Nikki brought her backpack into Neil's tent while her temporary roommate was finally asleep. But unlike Neil, Nikki couldn't sleep. She took this as a way to work on her gift for Max. So she pulled out a white piece of paper and a bunch of items she collected since the beginning of camp and slapped them onto the paper. Her excuse for glue? Honey. This idea would prove to fail later on, but she wouldn't know just yet. Just as she was about to sign the collage of many nature themed items, the tip of her pencil broke. "Dammit..." She whispered, trying not to wake Neil. So she set her masterpiece outside of the tent to dry while she finally went back to the cot and fell asleep. 

Gwen continued to beat herself up mentally for letting this sort of thing happen. She WANTED to show David that she could manage the kids on her own, but felt like she failed at doing that, just like how she felt like she failed at pretty much everything else. "Maybe David is right..." she thought. "He was right not to trust me. I fucked up with outta the gate..." She didn't remember how, but eventually she wound up laying on Max's hospital bed, curled up in a fetal position. Gwen still had her phone laying on the ground, but she didn't care. The only thing that mattered was making sure Max was safe and that they'd both get back to camp safely. She thought she was alone, allowing a few stray tears to fall. But then she heard a familiar voice from the doorway.

"...Gwen?"