Summer Fling

Chapter 10

Paris sat quietly next to Liam as the eighth graders listened to Mr. Kennedy talk. He was the camp's main psychological counselor. Today the group was talking about fear.

"We've all experienced fear, right?" Mr. Kennedy asked the group. The kids agreed. "Exactly! How did we react? Was it a brief moment of panic? Was it a period of insecurity? Was it a time of pure worry and doubt? How did you deal with it? Are you proud of how you dealt with it? These are all questions we're going to think about today. But first, I need an example of fear. Who's got one?"

Grayson's hand shot up. "Grayson!" Mr. Kennedy pointed.

"When I had to go live with my foster family" Grayson answered.

"Perfect!" Mr. Kennedy praised. "That had to have taken guts! You didn't know them, yet you were having to give up security and let them care for you. Tell me, how did you respond to it?"

"Well, at first I wasn't happy about it, and so I was a huge pain in the a-"

"neck!" Paris interjected.

"Right" Grayson agreed. The group laughed. "I would have an attitude and disobey rules and flat out told my foster mom I hated her."

"When did that change, if it did" Mr. Kennedy pressed.

"Well, my foster parents didn't trade me in, or kick me out, they just showed me love and eventually, I realized that loving with them wasn't going to be that bad" Grayson revealed. "They even forgave me for selling drugs to their nine year old son."

Mr. Kennedy overlooked his last statement. "If you could go back, would you change the way you first acted?"

"Well, yeah" Grayson replied. "They're good people. I was just scared they would turn me away, or judge me."

"Do you have an example of fear?" a girl asked Mr. Kennedy.

He paused. "Yes, I do."

"What?" she encouraged him to explain.

Mr. Kennedy bit his lip and then looked at Paris. "Last year, right after camp ended, my daughter died in a terrible accident. She drowned in the lake."

"I thought Paris was your daughter" a kid spoke up.

Paris gulped. "He's talking about my sister, London."

"I remember her" Grayson spoke up again. "She took away my sparklers last year!"

"Gee, I wonder why" a girl commented sarcastically.

"How did you react to that?" the first girl asked Mr. Kennedy.

"It was hard" he answered. "I mean, it happened right before my eyes, and I couldn't do anything to stop it. Yet, I, and my family," he stated, looking at Paris, "got through it. It took a while to get back into normal routine, but here we are. There's a lot of different fear that goes into that story though. The sheer panic while watching it, the period of defeat afterwards, and the insecurities that come with continuing to love life without her."

Liam looked at Paris, who had tears in her eyes. He reached over to give her a hug, but she pushed him away and stood up. "I just need a moment." She ran out the door.

Liam looked at her father, who motioned for him to go after her. Liam chased after her, and found her the front steps outside. He sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Shh" he cooed. "Shh." She sobbed harder as he held her. "It's going to be okay" he whispered into her air and kissed the top of her head.

She sniffed and swallowed. "That's what they said last year. They said it would be okay and then I watched my life fall apart. I watched my mom build a little shell and hide inside of it. I witnessed my dad close his practice for a while until he got our lives sorted out. I postponed college for a year because used my savings to help pay for the funeral. Everywhere I go I receive looks of sympathy. All I ever hear is words of sympathy! I just want it all to stop! I don't want to be around death anymore!" She sobbed.