Raven Potter

You are probably wondering to yourself:

What the heck just happened?!

Is she a daughter of Poseidon or a daughter of Hades?!

That is seriously overpowered!

Yeah! That would be but I’m not entirely sure if I even am a Half-Blood. It was hard to determine as I haven’t encountered any monsters yet. I only had a weird encounter with two boys and a terrible nightmare. I could have just been asleep the entire ride to the camp for all I know. Anyway! Where was I last? Oh yeah! The Camp Director! Very forgettable!

It was actually Jesus Christ himself! No kidding. I am dead serious. The man wore that same crown of thorns he died with. A reminder of the sacrifice he made or something? Anyway! He had a sharp hook nose with a golden complexion and long dark curly hair. He looked like he just stepped right out of Anicent Egypt and was given a Camp Director button upon arrival. He looked like he had no clue where he was. He kept making wine out of water but sometimes he’d turn wine right back into water. “ Anyway! My beloved children! I have finally returned to you.. Rejoice!” He started up, looking as high as a kite and spoke kinda like a certain walking carrot with a blonde wig, “ I will bestow upon you blessing and good fortune! Welcome to Camp David!” He gestured a hand up to the camp’s flag: an Egyptian style off-white banner with the star of David in the centre. That’s why the camp is called Camp David.

I let out a yawn of boredom and that was followed by other campers letting yawns or expressing boredom some other way. This did not please Jesus in the slightest. He came back from the dead for this nonsense?! Jesus clearly hadn’t been expecting to deal with teenagers and younger today. Jesus looked around, keeping up a smile as he held a mic in hand.

The lounge area was very comfortable but just cross the way there was the stadium where Jesus stood. I personally would have preferred Greek Mythology over this. Norse Mythology is pretty cool too. I already knew Jesus’ story and how it went. I don’t need to be reminded over and over again. Jesus was born to a virgin. Jesus was a good kid and grew up to be a prophet. Jesus had a bunch of friends but one of those friends decided to betray Jesus. Jesus knew this was going to happen. Nothing he could do to stop it I guess. Jesus was then sentenced to death for calling people out. Jesus had to carry his own cross like any other person sentenced to death during his time. Jesus just never complained and even helped people. Jesus was nailed on the cross and he died. He dies every night for our sins. What a drama queen, am I right? Giving up his weekend plans for us.

I zoned out while Jesus started to play some music. It was Michael Jackson’s Peace to the world. How very peaceful and relaxing. His voice was calming despite the images not being very calming.  I could sleep to this and I did end up falling asleep to this. I opened my eyes, blinking as I stood standing on that shore again. Everything was black. There was ashes falling from the sky. I still heard the lyrics playing as I walked through this place. People dying. If you care about the living. Make a better place. For Me and for you. 

There were different sizes, shapes and colours of the undead. It reminded me of Micheal Jackon’s Thriller music video. Wow. He was right about Hell. Eternal damnation for everyone. A lot of walking. A lot of talking. Answering people’s questions. Some poor souls were even forced to tell you their year of birth. What tragedy! I ran along, being ignored by all the souls marching up a hill to be put on trial. Was there anything good in this place!? I could hear the sounds of explosions, guns and land mines going off every which way. One blew up right behind and made me trip over onto my face. I laid there for a moment. What kind of nightmare is this?!

I stood, took in a breath and realized.. Wait. Nobody can see me. Suddenly, being invisible was a good thing as I walked along and listened to the different stories of the dead. I walked around in a baggy Camp David t-shirt. It was may too big for me and was torn at the edges and sleeves. My jeans looked torn and a little bit dirty. My booths covered in mud. My dark brown hair was a wild mess as I peered around with a soft smile, keeping my hands behind me and cupped together. I hummed the tune that was playing in the waking/living world as I walked by myself along a dark path. I slowly started to see the beauty of this place. The tragedy, the loss and grief but also hope, longing and justice. I thought I saw a large castle up ahead but before I could try and reach it, I woke up. 

I coughed and nearly choked on my own saliva. I got up and went to find a bathroom. I would enter it and walk up to sink, my own reflection facing me. My hair wasn’t as messy as I had imagined. It was perfectly straight. It just looked like I had rested on it for a little bit. I wiped away the drool from my mouth and found that my nose was bleeding. My lips cracked as I could see these red dots appearing on my face. I watched my eyes widen in the mirror, turning the sink tap to turn the water. I leaned over and washed my face with warm water and soap with my finger tips. I kept my eyes close while doing so. I took in breaths and hoped that the movies I watched weren’t lying to me about this working. When I opened my eyes, I looked fine. My face was as pale as it usually was. My eyes looked less tired and there were no more red dots. My lips were no longer dry and cracked.

Is this because.. I ate Jesus’ body? That little circular bread chip you get during mass. I didn’t drink his blood. They did put ash on my forehead a few times before. At every single Church mass. Every single year. It was getting tiring and overdone. I just.. I wanted something different. Something new. Everyone always gets mad at me. I always do something wrong and need to step away for a moment. I’m always on time-out. I turn on heel and leave the bathroom. 

The cabins were separated based on what you were born as. Male or Female. The camp councillors asked each person what their assigned gender was.

” Male.” Answered Ryan.

“ Forced to say Male, born to say Neither.” Dylan gave up a sneer. 

“ Oh.. uh.. I’m Female.” was Veronica’s answer.

” Female!” Heather M cheered and that was followed by a hesitant angry sounding voice of Heather D saying, “ F-female..”

“ I’m a man!” yelled somebody by the name of Alex H. 

“ .. Nobody was asking you, Alex.” Jesus pointed out.

Alex H frowned and went back to what he was drawing while sadly singing, “ When I was a young boy~”

Okay.. Weirdo much. I shook my head and blinked upon my turn to answer the question. I hesitated for a second as I found myself forgetting what my assigned gender was again. What even was gender? Aside from a social construct to keep us chained and put into boxes. Tiny boxes all alone by ourselves. Tiny little boxes of Solitude. We are more than a label!- “ Oh. Uh. Both? Is that an option?” I asked in turn. Everyone stared at me like I had just spoken in a foreign language. I thought somebody in the distance cough and then the sound of a cricket. I took in a breath and let out a breath. “ Okay. Both is definitely not an option. Uhhh.. I guess I’ll pick Girl.”  I answered. I should have known both wasn’t an option. In either Pokemon, Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing. There are two options and you have to pick one. Or just don’t play the game, that is also an option.

- - -

Boys and Girls were separated into two cabins. I never got to see inside the boy’s cabin, so I couldn’t tell you what it looked like but inside the Girls’ Cabin: It was practically Barbie’s Dreamworld meets the Zombie Apocalypse. It was chaotic but a very organized kind of chaotic. I knew what to expect from each girl. Some were predictable. Others were unpredictable to the point of being predictable. I must have been the most predictable then. I was a walking talking machine to them. I made precise movements, froze whenever anyone shouted and always knocked on the bathroom door. Every girl had her own thing going on while I kept to mine.

Keeping my chin up and my shoulders down. I kept my nose out of another girl’s business unless she was talking directly to me about it but it was hard to not hear what they were saying as a lot of the girls talked loudly. I waited for my turn to use the bathroom. There was line of girls waiting ahead of me though. They talked while they waited. I just stood there and listened. What else was I do? 

“ I was thinking..” Heather D started up in a friendly yet sassy tone while talking to Veronica. Heather D and Veronica were going into their freshman year of high school. They were much taller and prettier than me. I must be jealous, right? Yeah. That made sense. Maybe I admire them a little. Heather D said whatever she wanted without thinking about what others thought of her. Yep. Canada’s version of Heathers had been playing right before my eyes and my ten year old self had no idea. I stared up and saw scary high schoolers. I held my fresh clothes close to my chest and looked away while Heather D continued to talk. What did the D stand for again? Duck? Ditch? It wasn’t actually Duke, I remember that much.

“ about how much of a b-..” Heather D paused in the middle of her sentence as if recalling that there are younger children present and she couldn’t say the b-word anymore. She took a breath, scrunching up her nose in disgust and said, “ That.. rancid witch! Heather!” 

“Yes, Heather?” Heather M blurted out in response

” Is the bathroom available yet?” Heather D asked.

” No, Heather. I threw up.” Heather M answered.

I would tell a tab on my shoulder and look to see Dory Not-The-Fish. She was one of the girls in my class. She was the first familiar face I had at our Grade School after transferring. She had long blonde hair that curled into waves. She smiled and giggled like a dolphin and smelt of blueberries and bubbles. “ Raven? The line for our bathroom is.. over there!” She pointed over to the line on the left side of the hallway. My eyes followed her point and after feeling a little embarrassed, I went over to join that other line. It was much shorter than the High Schooler’s. I stepped in right behind this short girl named Zoé. She seemed to flinch upon my arrival. 

Zoé had wavy hair and glasses. She looked as pale as a ghost and stood like a goat awaiting slaughter. She looked familiar but I couldn’t quite place where or when. I met so many people! It was hard to know which faces I knew in real life and which faces I’ve only seen on television. She was in the same grade as myself but attended a different school. Ahead of her were four other girls waiting to use the bathroom. It took about five or so minutes as a woman blew a whistle and announced, “ First school to finish up morning clean up first gets to pick their first activity today!” .. And that made things go a little more quickly. 

I still took my time and waited outside for Zoé to finish up. I leaned my back against the wall as I watched different girls of different age ranges and body types run around. I had to just wait there while watching a few teenagers start to fold and put away dirty clothes into a laundry basket. It was Veronica’s job to carry the basket around and see if any of the other teenage girls had any dirty clothes to throw in.

On the Grade School end, a girl in my class named Mackenzie was the one chosen to carry the laundry basket. I honour her sacrifice by holding up three fingers and humming that whistle tune from The Hunger Games. Many other girls whistled or hummed the tune and held up three fingers as well. To pay tribute to Mackenzie’s sacrifice as she looked to be dying. 

Mackenzie fixed her glasses with an awkward smile as her messy hair was kept in a rushingly tied up Scrunchy while holding out the basket and walking around the Grade School side of the cabin. A few girls tossed a rolled up sock into the basket and others walked right up to place their dirty clothes inside the basket. Mackenzie looked ready to give up either way yet she kept going. 

It wouldn’t be too long until I was able to wash up and get dressed. Comb my hair and brush my teeth. I wore a plain v-neck shirt with short sleeves, a pair of denim jeans with my green plaid jacket tied around waist and wearing black socks. I put my toothpaste and toothbrush back into the plastic bag I originally had it in. My long dark brown hair was trimmed at the right length and formed my face the right away. Perks of knowing a hairstylist. 

I combed my hair some more and left the bathroom. I placed my dirty clothes into the laundry basket and moved along to put my plastic bag of personal hygiene products back into my luggage. It was only the first day and on the final night, each school had to perform a dance in front of everyone on that stadium from earlier. The performance came with a theme everyone had to stick to and that year it was: The World. Each school was free to interpret those two words however they liked. There were many different ways to go about it after all. 

My school decided on different sections. One dance section for the girls, one for the boys and a final one for both. I have no idea what the boys decided for their section but for us, the song we chose to dance to was We Run The World by Beyoncé. I had to spend extra after school for several weeks to practice the dance routines with everyone. I still kept messing up somehow though. I just hoped I wouldn’t screw it up while on stage. My dark brown hair flowed behind me as I walked and looked around to find something to do. I scanned over everyone and most in my class were just hanging out. I soon felt myself get pulled down into a seating position on the floor just as the cabin door opened and a camp councillor looked over the scene. 

I blinked and looked over to who had pulled me down with what I hoped was an apologetic expression. It was Dory who was sitting on my left while across from me was another girl from my class named Katie. Katie was the one who could do backflips and court-wheels even in heels. Katie’s short hair was as black as coal and her skin was as white as snow. A red bow headband kept her bangs out of her face while she was doing her morning facial routine. She kinda looked like somebody’s grandma or aunt. Each girl was doing her own morning ritual or routine while I.. I kinda just sat there because getting washed, combing my hair and brushing was all the routine I normally had in the morning. I just sat there in silence while listening to the girls walk amongst each other upon hearing the door close.

I let out a breath and soon felt Dory edge my arm with her elbow. I looked over with slight confusion and Dory shook her head in response. She pulled her make up palette and showed me the different range of colours she had. Dory stared at me like I was a blank canvas waiting to be painted on. She did her own make up already. It looked to be inspired by Dory from Finding Nemo but also had that hint of Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls. It was sparkly and cute. 

I was told that my eyelashes were long enough on their own without having to use mascara and that my hair was soft to the touch. I actually knew that second part to be true as I often play and hold my hair when nervous. Dory seemed to slowly realizing all this stuff at once as she slowly blinked. Katie peered up after finishing her own make up and opened her mouth in a silent gasp as she too noticed how I looked. I didn’t feel comfortable as slowly every girl in our age range stared at me.

I just kept up a smile as I held my hands on my lap. Yep! Just another “child of God”.  Nothing to see here, folks! I was quickly surrounded by the other girls close my age. They kept talking on and on about how naturally thin I was, how I had a flat butt and soft hair. It was.. very sad. They all looked at me and saw things they didn’t have. It made me want to cry. I felt so selfish. So spoiled. They had to work real hard to be that pretty everyday. I just.. got real dang lucky in the gene department. Eventually the group of girls and I were just trying not to cry as we shared what we were thinking and feeling. It felt so nice to share. I even told me about how stressed out I was about the dance. How I didn’t want to ruin it for them but it turned out that they were the exact same way. 

We talked some more after that bonding moment and made plans. We were gonna take names and kick butt! We agreed on a certain time to spend practicing in our section of the camp or just anywhere that was available to us. We even re-discussed what outfits we needed to hear for our section of the dance. Katie had gotten the costumes for everyone after learning all our sizes. We just needed to try them out to see if they actually fit alright or need adjusting. We really were gonna rule the world together! That’s what it felt like in the moment anyway. 

- - -

We headed out of our cabin and headed to the mess hall. There was a section of the mess hall with a cafeteria where you go and grab what food you wanted. There were whole lot of options ranging from donuts from Tim Horton’s to even salad. I went over and looked over it all but couldn’t see anything that I wanted to eat. No twinkies. No chicken nuggets. I frowned to myself and tried to find something that I wanted to eat while that Heal the World song was playing in the speakers. There are people dying! If you care about the living.. Goddamn it, Michael Jackson! Now is not a great time to be reminding me of starving children in Africa!

And that was when everyone had to stop as soon you could hear somebody’s voice on the speakers, “ Alright, kids! Time to say grace before getting food.” Was what the person causing everyone to pause and freeze wherever and no matter what they were doing. I just cupped my hands together and closed my eyes while everyone said the prayer:

Our father who art in Heaven

Hallowed be thy name

My Kingdom come, I will be done

On Earth as it is in Heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our trespasses

As we forgive those who trespass aganist us

And deliver us from evil

Amen!

I let out a breath, opened my eyes and looked up at the chef stationed. “ What would you recommend?” I barely spoke above a whisper as a I stepped forward with a plate. I couldn’t see everything that was being served. The chef looked me over, held a hand up to signal me to wait and went down to open up one of the.. little metal sections with a cover that often had hot food in it.. and revealed a whole bunch of spaghetti. Finally! Something I could eat! I held up my plate with a smile, letting the chef fill up my plate with spaghetti with a metal spoon. He placed the spoon and used a pair of tongs to add a cheesy garlic bread onto my plate. 

The chef opened another container to reveal french fries and used tongs to place some of those onto my plate. This was amazing! I continued along to the drinks available. Bottles of water, orange juice and apple juice. There were a lot of juice boxes including koolaid. I was tempted to have koolaid but decided to just have a bottle of water for now. It was cold to the touch too! Sweet! My first day at camp was going perfectly. I found a spot at the table for our school, placing my plate down in front of it and my bottle of water next to it after having gotten a plastic fork to eat my spaghetti wth but I didn’t eat just yet. I had to wait for the rest of my class.

Wow! Being a good neighbour is so much fun! Look at me, just sitting there and starving myself as I wait for people to hurry the heck up already. Eventually the other kids sat down at the table for our school but most didn’t sit near me. I was fine with this. I was good with focusing on my food. When I saw that the seven girls and seven boys who arrived at camp were at the table and the EA assigned to me gave a the go ahead, I started eating. I did not care if I got sauce on my chin- that is what napkins were for! I did however care about the sauce getting onto my shirt though. I was careful and slow while the kids talked to each other about boys, sports and barbie dolls. I don’t remember what ten years talked about back then. It could have been about war for all I know. 

I was happy with just eating my food. I love food! Never take food away from me. Food and I are besties. I drunk some water to help with swallowing down the noodles, garlic bread and french fries. It was a lot of bread now that I think about it. Could tomato sauce also symbolize the blood of Jesus or was that restricted to red wine? Tomato sauce was red. I mean, Tomatoes were red at least. 

The conversation at the table quickly moved onto parents and vacations. I had to think about when I last went on a vacation with my family. It must have been.. when I was nine. We went to a family resort called Great Wolf Lounge. I really enjoyed the interior and out-terior designs of the place. It was cozy yet also had a lot going on with fake bones and skulls. A statue of a big wolf. There was a lot of wolf imagery. Nobody asked me about my vacation but I listened to them talk about theirs. Katie was planning to go to Paris and then maybe check out Hollywood. Katie, yes! You go! 

Dory didn’t sound very certain about her own family vacation plans. It’s okay! I often think my dad forgets I exist sometimes!

Ryan was going to another summer camp but instead of it being about God and Christian or Catholic beliefs, it was going to be about tech stuff. Very smart stuff. Ryan was looking into robotic engineering. 

Dylan kept staring at me as if trying to decipher some hidden code or message. I just turned my head over to face him and blankly stared at him as I slowly took my napkin and wiped away the red on my lip. Was it my own blood again or just tomato sauce? I’ll never say. I might have a taste for blood tomato sauce! 

When the class was done eating, a sharp whistle could be heard and we all looked over to where it came from. I finally blinked while Dylan wasn’t looking. I often just phantom blink. Don’t miss any detail while you’re playing a video game. You need good reaction time and if you blink even once, you might miss something super important. Video games are very good for hand eye coordination. 

We sometimes play Just Dance on a projector for Gym Class and every one in class has to try to mimic the dance moves as close as possible or you are capable of and comfortable with.

In my house, we had a whole tv and gaming lounge in the basement but it got flooded one day while I was out somewhere. I often think about that day because a friend had let me borrow his Sonic the Werehog plushie and said plushie got hit by the flood because I had left it in the basement that day. After that happened, we moved the gaming consoles into what used to be my bedroom. We had gotten a second floor to the house at some point during grade school or perhaps the second floor was always there. It felt like it was always there nowadays but let’s focus back onto ten year old me who had just finished up eating her spaghetti.

The three EAs and the teacher stood in unison to explain what was happening today. “ Alright. Here’s our schedule. Our first activity will be the rock climbing wall. Second is archery. The third and final activity is Kayaking.” He explained to a group of pre-teens. I just smiled in reply while everyone groaned or let out a boo. Seemed nobody wanted to go Kayaking. Hm. I’ve been on a boat countless times before this moment. Surely a Kayak can’t be any different.

I remember one time while our boat was parked out in this large body of water. It was common for people with boats to go there. It was known as Crystal Bay if I’m remembering correctly. People went there to swim, party and have fun. It was usually very stressful for as there was a lot of vibrations and noises. The music playing at full blast but as a preteen, that stuff wasn’t something I would have paid too much attention to. One person had a Kayak and I was able to try it out. It was very difficult but after a few tries, I think I managed to at least not tip the kayak over. It was fun to watch others try to kayak. After everyone threw their paper plates away, we started to make out to the first activity of the day: rock climbing. 

It was indoors and we were given safety gear to wear. It wasn’t just rock climbing in the building though. There was also skate boarding, roller skating and even rope climbing. It was a lot of noises, smells and sights to take in. My long hair was put into a pony tail so that the helmet would better sit on my head. Knee pads, elbow pads and the right shoes. I wasn’t feeling so confident about taking on the climbing wall as the others were doing a trust exercise. I watched one kid would be given a blindfold to wear while climbing the wall. Another kid would have to stand there and give directions to the first kid. Others were free to give their input but I just stayed quiet and watched.

I took a seat on a bench and peered up when a EA addressed me by name, “ Raven. Look what we found. Jump rope, roller skates and even Pom-Poms.” She exclaimed excitedly. I couldn’t help but feel that same level of excitement despite not caring at all.

“ the other girls would really like those!” I smiled up and soon the other two EAs were around me. Dang.. Am I just magnet for EAs or something? They must think how much of a Pinocchio. It was hard to not tell the truth. I just feel a twist in my gut whenever I know I should tell someone something but I don’t really want to. Nobody ever shares those kinds of secrets with me though. I just overhear things on occasion. I wasn’t a snitch! I could keep it in. I could not say anything. I do that everyday of my life. I’m an introvert.

“ really like what?” Dory looked over with a raised brow. She would be quick lit up when she saw the ‘what’ in question, edging her friend and whispering to her. Eventually a few girls and a couple boys surrounded us. Each kid looked into the plastic see through basket and each kid picked something from it. A few of the girls decided that I should join them in roller skating. I looked to an EA and she gave an approving.

After taking off my shoes and putting on the skates, I grabbed hold of Dory’s arm as to not fall over. I was struggling to even stand up on these dang roller skates. I could hear laughter and cheering. It al sounded so fake and phoney. It was like I was mocked. Patronized if you will! Treated like the class pet. I felt myself spiraling and spinning as I did my best to not fall over.

I found myself moving to a bench and sitting down. Heavy breaths and coughing until I found myself feeling like I was about to throw up and quickly placed hands over mouth. I gave a look over to an EA and she seemed to understand right away. Soon I was given a bucket to throw up into.

“ Yeah.. Maybe this activity right after lunch wasn’t the best idea.” The teacher mumbled under breath. The three EAs stared the teacher down with eyes of dagger as if to quietly say that they told him so but their focus went back to the preteen students. 

“ Haha!” a Grade 5 boy let out a laugh and pointed at me, “ Raven threw up!”

I looked away, feeling myself ready to cry. All I could hear was laughter and screaming. It lasted for another minute or so until that sharp whistle came again and the teacher called for a time-out for the entire class. I could feel people staring me down as if it were my fault the teacher didn’t think about the possibility that preteens would vomit here. This wasn’t going to be the last time it happened though. It just wasn’t going to happen to me. I was able to sit out for the next activity if I wanted to. I was able to get water and watch people try to shoot an arrow.

When I was calm and didn’t feel sick, I walked up to the archery station to get a closer look. I watched as one kid was given a bow and quiver. It looked extremely big and impractical. I had to squint to really make out the details of it. I found myself getting into people’s spaces and being told off. When I was given a chance to try, the bow was definitely too big for my hands or it just felt really heavy and I did my best to balance myself, positioning myself like I recalled Legolas from Lord of the Rings having positioned himself. 

I pulled back on the string, did my best to aim at the target but I was basically blind. I had to squint real hard for my eyes to focus in but I was able to see the target as if it were right in front of me. I knew it wasn’t though based on the archery instructor pointing at it  like it was a long distance away. I took a breath but then got startled by something, let out a scream and accidentally let go of the arrow. I fell backwards and onto my butt. I didn’t get to see where the arrow landed but I could hear it hitting something hard. 

I blinked and looked around to see blurs of people coming over. Sweat was dripping off my brow as I could feel my heart racing and racing while soon I took someone’s hand and was able to get back to my feet to that the arrow had went right over the closest first target. Heck! It went over the second as well and handed bulls eye in the final third target. Wait.. that third was the closest, wasn’t it? Oohhh.. I was looking at the wrong one. My bad! 

“ Whoa! Raven! You are a natural!” The teacher slapped me on the back to congratulate me on a job well. Ow! Please never hit me that hard ever again. I looked around at my fellow students. They crossed arms and felt ready to kill me for a brief second before starting to clap and cheer. I eventually got pulled along into a group hug with the girls while the boys howled like wolves and fist bumped me. It felt nice to not screw up for once or for the most part, not entirely feel as though I did. 

It would soon be onto the next activity. I walked with the other six girls but made sure to keep an eye on the seven boys. It was still the first day of being at camp. We did rock climbing, archery and now we were onto Kayaking. It was located at the docks along the shores of Lake St Claire. I stopped to admire the scenery. The large body of water. I could see the horizon line. I took out a camera to take a photo of the sun slowly setting over the water. I blinked and thought I saw a man riding on the sun. I shook my head and it was just the blinding light of the sun. I looked away from it and headed down to the docks, putting the camera away.

The were about four kayaks and fourteen students. That meant that we would have to take turns with the kayaks in groups of two or three. Some people will get to go more than once. Two out of the kayaks were meant for two to three people while the other two were meant for one person. I had chosen a kayak meant for one person. I was able to float there or steer in whatever I want until the time was over, of course. I took a photo of the kayaks after wards. I found myself a spot to sit and watch everyone after I was done kayaking. I watched the sun continue to set and waited for the perfect moment. I captured the golden hour with a photo. I smiled to myself, hoping that the photos would turn out good. 

- - -

And as the moon raised over the horizon, it was time to head back and wash up. The first day of camp was over but that didn’t mean that the activities were as well. I switched into warmer clothes and stared up at the night sky. I could see the stars. The Aurora Borealis. I held up my camera and took a photo of them alongside the shinny moon. I could feel the cold wind blowing in my hair and smell the sight of a windy night. It wasn’t going to rain or anything. Hey! When you grow up with a dad who hunts for a living, sells houses and owns a boat - you get a good sense for the weather. I’m not really great at knowing the degrees and stuff but I know when there’s gonna be rain. There is not gonna be rain tonight. 

If only I could stay up all night and watch the stars. If only I could see the consolations but all I see are stars. Within a blink of an eye, I thought I saw all the other planets too. Pluto, Venus and Mars. They were circling around the sun as they always do. Hmph. Some people argue that the other planets are circling around the Earth. Those people are incorrect. Within vast cosmos and infinite timelines, Earth is only one of many planets. A single dot in somebody else’s sky. It was both terrifying and reassuring to know how little I matter in the grand scheme of things.

I think you know already but I will say it anyway:

Even the tiniest person can make the largest compact. You just might not ever get the chance to see that big compact for yourself. That is the true tragedy of this world. The greatest minds may never truly realize how great they are. Just like how the moon may never know how beautiful she is. Just like how the sun may never be able to look you in the eye or else you’d slowly go blind.