The Camp of Elements

Card Games In The Cabin

This morning is different. I wake up to nothing— no sound, no rambunctious shaking. This morning I just naturally wake, my arms reaching above my head to stretch. Brisk air hits my face and arms, I groan and rub my cheeks. My eyes snap open, my vision isn't as blurry as it normally is. I immediately notice that my cabin is unusually dark, and that the only light is the whole cabin is coming from the ground. My eyes float to the floorboard where my four friends play a card game with candles surrounding them. They are each wrapped in warm clothing—I can see why, it's freezing!—, holding five or six cards in their hands. I toss off my blanket, it lands in a heap near the end of my bed. I shiver as soon as my blanket loses contact with my skin, I reach for my 'stay weird' sweatshirt, but then I remember that Camila has it. I grab my blue jacket and purple scarf, both were hanging on a ladder step.

I pull my jacket on over my torso and tie the scarf around my neck. My friends haven't looked up from their cards, I have no idea what they are doing. I wiggle my feet in my dirty socks, I grimace at them. I kick open my suitcase and grab a pair of black socks, I quickly slide my feet into them. Running my fingers through my hair, I walk over to my huddled friends.

"Good morning." I greet them, sitting beside Camila who is wearing my 'stay weird' sweatshirt.

"Good morning, Laur, can you grab me a blanket?" Dinah asks, hugging herself while shivering. She is wearing a red snow-hat—you know, the ones with the long strands of yarn that hand from the ends—  and an orange sweater.

"Sure, your majesty." I mumble playfully, earning a wide grin from Dinah.

"Can you get me one, too?" Normani questions, pulling her hot-pink hat over her ears. She wears a simple rain jacket, which probably isn't providing her much warmth, and a red scarf.

"Me three." Ally adds in, she eyes her cards slowly. "Camila, do you have any eights?"

"Go fish." Camila replies in a monotone voice, she looks really tired but otherwise happy. I see a small smile tug on her lips when Ally groans loudly and reaches for the deck of cards in the middle of the circle.

"Do you guys just think I have endless blankets?" I ask, standing up and strolling over to my bedside.

"Yep." Normani, Dinah, and Ally all respond at the same time.

"Normani, do you have any threes?" Camila questions, flicking the corner of one of her cards.

"Dang it, Mila!" Normani sneers, grabbing a card from her hand and handing it to Camila who grins widely. She sets the card from Normani against the card she was flicking and places them together as a pair on the ground.

"Whatever." I mutter under my breath, grabbing four blankets from my suitcase. Hmm, maybe I do have endless blankets. Maybe I have too many blankets, or possibly my father packed too many of them. I swiftly snatch the yellow blanket off Camila's bed, the one I gave her a few nights ago. I toss a neon red blanket to Ally, a brown blanket to Dinah, and a blanket that has a rainbow on it to Normani.

"Ahh!" Normani exclaims a few seconds after the blanket hits her, after she realizes what is one it. "Lauren is rubbing her gayness on me!"

"Normani!" Ally scolds in a loud voice, slapping the darker girl on her knee with the backside of her hand. "That's rude!"

"But it's true!"

"It's fine." I chuckle, dropping the yellow blanket in Camila's lap as I walk behind her. She jumps as if she is surprised.

"Wait, but I didn't ask for one." Camila says, nevertheless wrapping the blanket around herself gratefully.

"It's okay, I still got you, babe." I reply, smiling gently at her while I sit down beside her.