Chapter Text
You stared at your own front door, contemplating if you should either go inside, or just go anywhere else. Today was the last day of school, and you always dreaded this day of the year, while other kids felt the complete opposite. Another summer break meant another whole summer with...him.
Him, as in, your father. You were terrified of your own father, you have been ever since you were born. The day you were born, was the same day your mother died, due to complications after giving birth, and he blamed you for everything. He called you a murderer, a monster, he even told you he shouldn't have brought you home with him from the hospital on that day. He absolutely hates you, and is definitely not afraid to show just how much he hates you.
This has not only fucked up your mental state, but your physical state as well. That's right; he hits you. He hits you on almost a daily basis, whenever he can. Hell, last summer you were taken to the hospital he hurt you so bad. Some strangers found you in your very bad condition while trying to run away in the middle of the night. Once the doctors contacted your dad about the situation and asked you what happened, you had to tell them a stray dog attacked you while you were walking to the store.
This is why you try to avoid him as much as possible. Staying in your room and keeping the door locked is what you mostly do in that house, and you hated it. Why couldn't there be a year round school or something? Anything that would keep you far, far away from the man living with you, yet still having a roof over your head.
You were snapped out of your thoughts when you heard a weird noise from behind. You turned around to see a small booklet blowing away in the wind. Feeling curious, you quickly ran after the booklet, and once reaching it, you snatched it off the ground and looked at the front cover. It was a brochure...for a summer camp. It read: 'ADVENTURE CAMP' in big green letters, and in really small font below that said 'and more!' On the very bottom, were the words: 'CAMPE DIEM!'
Your face lit up like a kid's first Christmas as you ran towards your house again. Now without hesitation, you opened the front door and ran up to your room and started to pack your things. However, it wasn't like you had a lot of things anyway, you packed literally all your clothing (which was mostly hoodies and other clothing that could hide your bruises), your necessities, such as a toothbrush, a hair brush, a razor and all that other junk, and before you knew it, you were already done packing. You had a satisfied expression on your face as you looked at your packed luggage case, and looked through the brochure again, this time looking for an address. When finding the address on the second page of the booklet, a smile grew onto your face. Camp Campbell wasn't even that far away from you! It was only about two miles away, which is not a lot for you, considering you do a lot of walking.
"Welp," you thought, while grabbing your bag and heading downstairs, "what am I waiting for? Summer camp, here I-"
"Where do you think you're going?" A voice suddenly boomed behind you after you reached for the front doorknob. Oh no. He's back from work early today.. You quickly spun around to look up at the angry man, you were too scared to reply. "Answer me, you little brat!" He slapped you, resulting tears to form in your eyes. You looked at the floor, and with a shaky hand, you gave him the brochure. He snatched it from you and looked at the cover, "summer camp?" He made a dry chuckle, before crumbling the booklet up and throwing it in the trash, "absolutely fucking not. You don't go anywhere this summer, ya hear? You're grounded for the next 3 months for trying to run away again. I'm not putting up with any of your bullshit." He grabbed your bag and threw it with great force towards the staircase, "unpack, and come back down here for your punishment," he said in a stone cold tone. You still didn't reply to him, but instead, you followed his demand and took your bag, quickly heading back up to your room.
You closed your door and locked it, the tears in your eyes still threatening to fall out. Your face still stings from that slap he gave you earlier. This was your life; pain and torment from one man, ever since the day you first existed in this dumb world. "What the fuck did I do to deserve this?" You thought as you felt a tear roll down your cheek, "why can't I just have a normal family, a normal life?! I can't even make friends because of my asshole dad! Fuck everything!" You were now full on sobbing, "why does he blame me? Does he think I asked for mom to drop dead? That I wanted this? That it's my fault they both wanted a child, and after I had come out, he starts acting like he never wanted a fucking child in the first place!? I just want to leave! Is that too much to ask?! I just...want to..."
Your sobbing came to a halt as you looked at your window. Without hesitation, you ran to the window and unlocked it. You opened it to reveal the dark outdoors, "good thing I remember the address!" You took your bag and chucked it out the window, hitting the ground with a large 'thud!'
You smiled as you looked below at your freedom, the height not even fazing you. You gingerly stepped out the window and sat on the edge once both your legs were out. You took a deep breath in, assuring yourself this is the right thing to do and that you won't regret it. You swiftly pushed yourself out of the window, and braced yourself for the impact below.
You landed in a bush, a prickly one. You quickly stood up and checked yourself for bleeding. Luckily for you, you actually weren't bleeding anywhere. However, walking over to your bag was not good on your left leg. You stumbled a bit after the sudden jab of pain that shot through the area. You huffed at yourself, "hurting your leg is nothing compared to what might've happened if you went back downstairs, so suck it up and start moving." You grabbed your bag and slung it over your shoulder. Turning around, you took one last look at your now former house. You smiled at it...before flipping it the bird. You snickered as you started to run, you avoided limping even though your leg hurt like hell. While running, you looked over your shoulder to shout, "have a nice life, cocksucker!"
Finally, you were free, free from him! You were going to a place where people actually care about children, and feed them! You started sprinting faster at the thought of eating a meal that wasn't oxygen or complete garbage, and your smile would not leave your face.
"Goodbye hell, and hello Camp Campbell!"