Borrowing Freedom

Despite his aversion to the physical cabin itself, Alec found himself complaining far less about his bunkmates this year than he had the last. Somehow finding himself in one of the least occupied cabins it had proven to be more peaceful than HALL this time around. Stuck between Aaron, who was alright enough guy, Lyle, his never-quite-admit-it-fuck-you-if-you-suggest-it-best-friend, and Ben, his roommate, all of his complaints were more of their own sake than out of any real spite. 

So there was an uncharacteristic lack of dragging to his steps as he made his way back to his cabin as the sun finally disappeared behind the tree line. Hands in the pockets of his hoodie he tried not to make eye contact with the other campers he passed along the path, taking to alternating between glaring and giving small nods of acknowledgment as needed to those he failed to not look at. Half on the balls of his feet to move faster he thought he might have run right into Ben had he not heard the other boy’s exclamation. 

It was one of the rare things to see Alec in a better mood than usual. Normally he would be all grumpy and annoyed by everyone and everything but today he seemed much relaxed even though he knew he was probably wondering what was up with him. Ben wasn’t sure if he would tell him or spill it when he’d return. Either was stupid at this very moment.

Taking a step back to give Ben more room to stand he shook his head, a huff of a breath that may have been a laugh escaping him. “Ah, no, did’t even go.” He cleared his throat, placing a hand over his chest dramatically. “No one is ready for the wailing melodies of Alec Karkadann. Seriously, no one.” He frowned. “My dad told me to shut the cat up the last time I sang.” Crossing his arms and drawing himself out of his memories he glanced back at Ben. “So you heading up or out?” He jerked his head to indicate back down the path. “I’ve got nothing to do for the rest of the night.” 

As soon as the words were out of his mouth his grin from before began to slip, uncertainty taking over as soon as he slowed himself down to think. Was that a weird thing to assume that Ben just wanted to hang out with him because he was there, or to think Ben even had the time in the first place? Or was that just how friends worked? Oh, that was a sad train of thought ‘how do friends work?’ Okay maybe people were right and he did need to get out more. 

Sitting at the end of the stairs to Sky Cabin Ben let his gaze trail around in the dark. He knew it was way past curfew but he didn’t care like he didn’t care about much lately. It wasn’t like him but ever since he got another letter from his dad with a date when he had to go home Ben felt restless. Of course his dad made sure it would reach him right at the beginning of summer camp so it was already ruined before it had even started. Ever since he lay awake every night, whishing he could stop time so the day of his departure would never come. But now it were only a few hours left and he hadn’t told anyone. Not even Alec and he was actually the only one who knew everything about him. Well, almost everything.

He was a bad friend for not telling him and Ben didn’t even know why he hadn’t told him yet. The hunter let out a sigh. Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as he expected it to be. But deep down he knew he was cherishing false hopes because his dad was a cruel man who didn’t tolerate friendships with supernatural creatures of any kind and Ben had some by now.

Despite his aversion to the physical cabin itself, Alec found himself complaining far less about his bunkmates this year than he had the last. Somehow finding himself in one of the least occupied cabins it had proven to be more peaceful than HALL this time around. Stuck between Aaron, who was alright enough guy, Lyle, his never-quite-admit-it-fuck-you-if-you-suggest-it-best-friend, and Ben, his roommate, all of his complaints were more of their own sake than out of any real spite. 

So there was an uncharacteristic lack of dragging to his steps as he made his way back to his cabin as the sun finally disappeared behind the tree line. Hands in the pockets of his hoodie he tried not to make eye contact with the other campers he passed along the path, taking to alternating between glaring and giving small nods of acknowledgment as needed to those he failed to not look at. Half on the balls of his feet to move faster he thought he might have run right into Ben had he not heard the other boy’s exclamation. 

Instead she burst into tears.

A small laugh left his lips, releasing the breath he didn’t know he had held. His green eyes shifted over at his friend, letting him lean in closer. He studied the other’s face with a mocking smile on his face. “You do have wrinkles, right there.” Ben pointed at the none existing wrinkles on Alec’s face obviously joking but it gave him an opportunity being closer to the other without having to explain himself.

Aware that they were beginning to gain a small audience of bored students looking for anything to entertain themselves with, Alec scooped up the fallen notebook and hurried after the absconding harpy. “Okay,” he continued, voice dropping in an attempt at privacy. “Here, just...come here,” he instructed quietly. Raising his hands again he touched one to her shoulder, just enough to let her know where he wanted her to go, but gentle enough so he wasn’t pushing, as he guided her into the closest empty classroom. 

“Fi-ne,” she almost choked on the word and snatched the notebooks away from him and shoving them into her broken backpack unceremoniously on top of the other things. Her lips had turned absolutely white she was pursing them so hard. Heather stood up and clutched her jumble of objects to her chest while take a few hesitant steps back.

“Just…you know…tired,” the words had never sounded convincing but this time they even tasted bad, like lying to Alec was different than lying to everyone else. Not just different but wrong. She couldn’t even look at him and used the excuse of yet another student knocking into her shoulder to take a few more steps away from him.

Alec managed not to yelp or jump as Ben grabbed his arm unexpectedly, settling for a quiet gasp before allowing himself to be drawn down beside his inebriated roommate. Few people in this world could get away with manhandling Alec, but it was a system he was beginning to become accustom to from Ben. The combination of being pulled and giving in threw Alec a bit farther onto the bed than he had anticipated, pushing him flush against Ben in an awkward move that left him all but in the others lap. “Quit pushing me around,” he snapped with absolutely no heat in his words, shifting quickly so there was a respectable inch or so between them. 

Floating was a good way to put it. Auto pilot would have also been acceptable. Heather was sure that people noticed, maybe even commented, and a few may have asked her if something was wrong. She kept repeating the same answers so often “stressed about school” or “weather got me down” or the standard “just tired”. No one really cared what the actual answer was and the less people that knew, the better. How do you explain to someone how dirty you feel? And Heather wouldn’t want them to. She wouldn’t wish these emotions on anyone. She tried to continue her daily routine. Classes. Eat. Training. Keep things clean. Pretend to socialize. Some things just started slipping through the cracks no matter how hard she tried. She didn’t wear her usual wardrobe, sweat pants  and sweaters were her norm now. The baggier the better. Her hair was just piled on top of her head untidily and her signature red lips were no where to be found. She just couldn’t bring herself to do them.

Complete distraction was unfortunately a side effect of the auto pilot she was experiencing. She often would go from one class to another or off to her room and not remember how she got there or whether she had done anything on the way. Very few things could bring her out of this but running smack into someone was definitely one of them. Heather fell backwards on her rear end and her bag broke open almost on queue. Books and notes. Pencils and her sewing kit. They all went flying and some was even kicked further away by laughing students as they passed. She sniffed and slowly turned to pick her things up.

It was a path he knew he probably should take less often, given how easily he found himself wandering down thoughts of self-doubt and questioning that were probably better left unexplored. Something was off with his healing magic, or maybe just off with him, and Thompson had sent him out of the infirmary until he could straighten himself out. Tense and stressed, Alec kept his shoulders high as he moved through the halls, unsure if he was thinking too much or too little. Maybe he was so stressed his magic was fritzing, maybe it was some sort of unicorn puberty. Maybe he just sucked. Whatever it was, and whatever his brain could concoct had to be put on hold as his entire thought process was suddenly derailed. 

Staggered slightly he was not so much thrown off as the poor girl he had managed to slam into. Bracing himself against the wall he watched with wide eyes as various supplies were thrown everywhere, the echo of laughter ringing in his ears almost as loud as his own pumping blood in embarrassment. “Ah, shit, sorry.” Going down on his knees he scrambled to collect what he could. “Sorry, sorry, wasn’t looking.”