Camp Koradel

“It’s beautiful!” The log cabin was another story larger than their old, one story, mundane brick house. Gazing out the car window dreamily, Sophie admired the way the second story balcony wrapped around the house to face the woods. “I love it.”

“Good, because starting tomorrow, that’s where you’ll be staying.” It wasn’t until later that she realized he hadn’t included himself in that statement.

“Where are we going to stay tonight?”

“We will sleep in a hotel.”

“Oh, I’ve never been in a hotel.” Her father didn’t answer; he was focused on his phone. They were stopped at a stop sign down the street from the log cabin, and he pressed his phone to his ear.

“Oh. We can? …Yeah, alright…We’ll be there in a few minutes, Mr. Wellman.” He hung up the phone and pulled into a gas station, and after filling up the tank, he asked, “Would you like to go ahead and stay tonight?”

Sophie nodded with no hesitation, and forced herself to calmly say, “Of course.”

“Alright,” he grunted, pulling out of the gas station and driving back towards the cabin. When they pulled into the driveway, she grabbed her things and studied her new surroundings. The porch looked big enough to hold around ten people comfortably. The lush, verdant grass was unable to touch the house because of an interceding sidewalk and garden. They walked along that sidewalk until they reached the door. Oddly enough, Sophie’s father rang the doorbell.

“Don’t you have a key?”

But the door opened then, so he couldn’t answer her question. “Hello!” The man looked down at Sophie. “You must be Sophie Graham.”

Nodding hesitantly at the man, she thought she saw coldness deep in his icy blue eyes, even considering the benign smile he offered. She also thought he needed to shave; he was a bit scruffy.

Sophie then noticed what —who— was behind him. All she could really see were girls lined up in the cabin’s living room. What is all this?

“Welcome to Camp Koradel, Sophie.”

“Camp?” She asked, confused.

“Mr. Wellman, I haven’t explained…”

The strange man nodded knowingly. “We’ll inform her of the circumstances.”

“Alright; thank you.” Sophie stared at her father, and he looked back with a sad smile. “Well, Hun, I guess this is goodbye.”

“You’re just going to leave me here?”

“Of course, dear.” He shrugged nonchalantly as if this was just some daycare and he would be back in a mere matter of hours.

Not sure whether she should laugh or cry, she turned to the man in the doorway. “How long will I be staying here?”

“It depends.”

Before she could reply, her father’s beefy arms were around her. “I guess this is goodbye,” he repeated.

“Yeah, um, okay,” she muttered awkwardly, knowing he was just trying to put on a show, and she shifted the weight of her luggage uncomfortably.

“Oh, excuse my poor manners! Let me take your things.” He picked up her baggage and carried it inside for her.

“I don’t understand,” she demanded.

“They will explain,” he said in a bored tone. “I must leave now. I love you.” With that, he left hastily.

“Love you too,” she mumbled into the still silence, and then she stepped inside the cabin door. It was gorgeous, everything composed of a soft brown wood. The floors were wooden as well, and in the room she walked into, seven girls were standing in a straight line. Trying not to stare at any of them individually, she directed her eyes over the flat screen TV, the wooden table, the two brown leather couches, and even the ceiling fan above them.

“Alright, girls,” Mr. Wellman said, entering the room suddenly, “this is Sophie Graham. She doesn’t really know what’s going on here, so we must explain it to her.”

“Tell me what?” She looked at Mr. Wellman, but a girl with brown hair, a black tank top, and jean shorts, answered, “Why we’re here at Camp Koradel.”

“Galvin, we can explain everything to her.” Another girl said, looking at the man next to Sophie. This girl was wearing the same clothes as the first girl, but she had blonde hair with black highlights.

He hesitated a moment, then nodded his approval. “Okay, goodnight, girls.” His large hand patted her shoulder as he past her; then he was gone.

The seven girls relaxed; the brown haired one walked towards her. “C’mon, Sophie, we’ll explain everything.”

Sophie followed the girl reluctantly, and saw that the other girls pulled out two huge mattresses and were placing blankets over them.

“We don’t always sleep in here, only on special occasions.” Brownie looked at Sophie with complete understanding. “I’m the newest here before you. It’s all crazy, but at least they know you’re a girl. When they found out my name was Erin, they gave us the address to the boys’ camp!”

Sophie giggled despite her confusion. “That must have been interesting.”

“But, like, at least you knew about the war, Erin,” said a blonde girl.

“True…” The 8 girls (including Sophie) sat in a big circle, and Blondey looked at Sophie.

“We should probably, like, start with names. I’m Paige.”

The girl beside her had reddish-brown hair and light green eyes. “I’m Sabrina.” To her left was Anna, who was the girl with blond and black hair. Next was Kasie, a pale girl with brown hair and mossy green eyes. She was the prettiest in Sophie’s eyes, and she kind of reminded her of herself.

Then there was Mary, who had her arm interlocked with Kasie’s. She was the palest, which was a stark contrast with her black hair, and she also had piercing blue eyes and a loop lip ring. Charley sat next to Mary, and she also had black hair, but beautiful, hazel eyes and dark skin.

“Okay,” said Erin (Brownie), who was on Charley’s left and Sophie’s right, “now we have to tell her about the war.”

Anna took over. “First of all, you’ve heard all about the ‘hatred of America,’ right?”

“Yes, of course, but what does that have to do with this?”

Charley snorted. “Honestly, nothing, but adults are idiots. They ‘need’” —she put air quotes around the word— “our help to fight off Canada and Mexico. California was the first to send in kids, because Mexico attacked there at the part that touches Baja California.”

“If you’re 15 or older, you have to go to the War. Isn’t that just wonderful?” Kasie said sarcastically.

“Why would they let kids do that?” She asked, looking at Erin.

“It’s absurd, isn’t it?”

Sophie nodded. “It is.” She paused for a moment, and there was a tense silence until she said, “Wait, parents are fighting, too, right?”

Sabrina answered, “Only if they want to, and we’ll be, like, lined ahead of them anyway.”

“So, we’re all at this camp because of a stupid war that we didn’t even choose to go in to.” As she spoke, Anna’s eyes burned with anger.

“How long have y’all been here?”

Erin spoke up. “I’ve only been here for a month, and Mary and Kasie came about two months before me.”

“Charley, Sabrina, Paige, and I have been here since it started almost five months ago,” Anna offered.

Sophie’s eyes widened and she said, “It’s been five months and I’m just now hearing about this?”

“That’s only because word has been spreading to this area. The government didn’t want it on national television or anything, so no one around here knew until about two weeks ago. Well,” Anna said, still angry, “the kids didn’t.”

There was a long pause in which Sophie used to take everything in. “So,” she wondered out loud, “what exactly do we do here?”

“We train,” Charley answered.

The front door opened and closed then, and Paige whispered, “That’s Madame Rosette. She stays with us overnight, but Galvin, like, does the training and all that shit.”

“Hello, ladies! Where’s the newbie?”

Sophie turned to the woman and failed to suppress her giggles. She wasn’t old, but her face appeared to be mainly plastic. Speaking of plastic…

“Hey, Sophie,” She said with an odd smile. “I’m Madame Rosette; now,” she started, getting straight to the point, “would you like me to strip search you, or Mr. Wellman?”

Sophie’s eyes widened. “Err, Excuse me?”

“If you have too many scars, they have to send you in for surgery before the war,” Erin explained with a somber smile.

“Skinned like a fish,” Paige giggled.

“Well, come on, Sophie!” She stood slowly from the circle of giggling girls and followed Madame Rosette. She was led down a tapering hallway into a two-bed bedroom. It was pretty bland: white walls, light blue blankets and pillows, a white dresser, and Sophie’s bag were the only things there. “This will be your room; Erin is your roommate.” She stared at Sophie, waiting.

She hesitated. “Can’t I just say—?”

“No, I need to see. Bra and underwear only, please.”

Slowly, Sophie let her pants slide down to the ground, and she pulled her long sleeved shirt over her head. After a few moments of awkward silence, Madame Rosette finally said, “Let me see your arm.”

Lifting her left arm, Sophie closed her eyes; she couldn’t watch the woman’s reaction. “Why’d you do this, Sophie?”

She squirmed in her spot, unresponsive even as Madame Rosette continued, “We’re going to have to send you in for surgery before the war.”

Sophie merely nodded, and Madam Rosette sighed, dropping her arm. “I suppose that’s all.”

She hesitated for a moment before asking, “Can’t a razor just pull the scars off with a layer of skin?”

Madame Rosette laughed and shook her head, but Sophie didn’t believe her. She scrutinized the woman with her eyes. “Would you like to try it?”

Sophie nodded, and Madame Rosette left the room, returning just a minute later with a razor in her hand. She reached for it, but Madame Rosette snatched her hand away. “I’ll be doing this.” She pressed the blade to Sophie’s forearm and slid it down as far as the scars went. She repeated the procedure over a few inches of her arm and stopped. “See? No good.”

Sophie sighed. “Okay, I believe you now.” Madame Rosette dismissed her, and she hurried away from her new room. When she returned, the girls were laughing in front of something Sophie couldn’t see. Glancing over her shoulder, Erin saw Sophie standing there awkwardly, so she jumped up, took Sophie’s hand, and chirped, “C’mon, you’ve got to see this.”

A couple of the girls looked up at her, scooting over to make room for Sophie. She could see now that they were looking at a computer, and when she saw it, she covered her mouth to stifle her girly giggles.

They had taken a picture of Mr. Wellman and had drawn over it, and had also drawn a picture of Madame Rosette, which exaggerated her huge breasts just a little bit. Though they were in a camp, training for a battle that their parents were too weak to fight alone, they were sitting here acting like normal, perverted teenagers and laughing carelessly. No one even asked Sophie if she’d had too many scars, so she just never mentioned it. Instead, she joked around with them for a while until everyone calmed down. Absently, she wondered why they were acting so normal about everything, but she didn’t want to ask.

They were each lying on their backs on their huge “bed” in the living room when Anna said, “I used to think Galvin was hot.”

“He is hot, but he’s, like, an absolute jerk, and totally off-limits,” Paige said with a chuckle.

“He’ll probably be all over you for the next few days, Sophie.”

“Why?” She asked Anna.

“Because,” she answered, “not only is he a huge flirt, but you are also very pretty, and you don’t know him yet.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

Erin answered this question for her, “Oh, you’ll see soon. Trust me.”

As the lights went out and everyone said goodnight, Sophie wasn’t sure why, but she did trust Erin.