He’s uneasy the whole way back to camp. It’s the water that’s got him spooked- dark and glassy and too deep to see the bottom. Even now, being in the middle of the lake sends jolts of fear through his body, his throat tightening with the vivid memories of water forcing it’s way down his throat, causing his lungs to burn. Of helplessness, panic, then nothing.
He’s quiet as the other children chatter on- well, not Max, who still seems too traumatized to speak- and watches with wide eyes as the oh-so familiar camp draws nearer and nearer. His memory before the accident is hazy- he was a camper, he knows, but many of the details of his time at camp campbell are missing. The bits and pieces of memories that remain, however, he tries to keep buried in the back of his mind. They resurface mostly in the form of nightmares, flashes of water overtaking him and pulling him down until he ran out of air.
It’s better he just forgets.
When they reach the shore, they’re greeted by an enthusiastic counsellor (it’s good to see the grumpy old man that had retrieved them is not an accurate measure of the staff here). It’s funny, his rambling seems familiar to Jasper (and those starry eyes when he gets excited…) though he can’t quite place it.
But suddenly, the stranger(?)’s attention is turned on him and Jasper fears he’s upset him. He should be used to this look- the fear, the wide eyes- but this seems different, less like he’s just seen a ghost and more like he’s just seen- someone he knows? And it’s startling, to say the least, to have his name come out of the mouth of someone he doesn’t know, He takes a few steps back instinctively; distance has always been a friend to the anxious boy.
“I- yes? Do I know you?” He hasn’t expected this and now, well, he’s just as scared as the red haired man.
❝ Don’t youknow - ? ❞ David mumbles, the alarm giving way to the slightest sliver of hurt . He didn’t know HOW, but there was no denying the ｒｅｓｅｍｂｌａｎｃｅ between the BOY before him and the friend he’d once had in his ｃｈｉｌｄｈｏｏｄ; To have NONE of that ｒｅｃｏｇｎｉｔｉｏｎ he himself was experiencing passed back towards him cut DEEP and it took him a moment to realize the kid was stepping AWAY from him .
Quickly, David let his counselor ｉｎｓｔｉｎｃｔｓ take over, plastering a SMILE on his face that certainly felt a little more ｆｏｒｃｅｄ than it did when DEALING with the usual 𝕔𝕒𝕞𝕡𝕖𝕣 antics . Slowly, David ｌｏｗｅｒｅｄ himself to the other’s LEVEL, trying to come off as ｆｒｉｅｎｄｌｙ as possible to keep from SCARING Jasper further .
❝ Hey,hey, ❞ he murmured, putting his HANDS up in a gesture of ｒｅａｓｓｕｒａｎｃｅ. ❝ It’s alright… I’m not gonna hurt you or anything .I’m a friend.Okay? ❞ His ｗａｖｅｒｉｎｇ smile growing a TOUCH more ｇｅｎｕｉｎｅ. He briefly cast a glance OVER the top of Jasper’s head to the Quartermaster, silently ｐｌｅａｄｉｎｇ with him to ROUND up the other children and take them back to their TENTS. The man must have gotten the idea because he started ｕｓｈｅｒｉｎｇ Max, Neil and Nikki AWAY as soon as David ｒｅｔｕｒｎｅｄ his gaze to Jasper .
❝ My name’s David, ❞ he explained ｓｏｆｔｌｙ, turning one of his hands to OFFER more of a handshake . ❝ I was a𝕔𝕒𝕞𝕡𝕖𝕣 just like you once, and now I’m a counselorso I know just about everything about this𝕔𝕒𝕞𝕡 .I’m here to help. ❞
campsongcounselor reblogged this from camperlost-blog 
camperlost-blog reblogged this from campsongcounselor 