Chapter Text
Enid gasped, sitting up from her sweat soaked bed, her breathing heavy as she scanned her surroundings, ugly brown wooden walls of a cabin which looked identical to the many of them she had stayed in before, the firm, bumpy and uncomfortable mattress she had endured for 17 days now, the dull grey moonlight filtering in from one of the tinted windows. She curled up on the bed, fingers gripping her dishevelled blonde hair in an attempt at grounding herself, plain claws scratching at her scalp, drawing blood as hearty sobs racked through her and her shoulders shook with the weight of keeping them quiet, the constantly burning sting from the lacerations on her back returning once more due to an undetermined period of time of thrashing and twisting in her sleep. She sat there, heavy tears now silently falling onto her sheets as to not wake up the others in her cabin. She stayed like that until the grey morning came and the blaring voice of her camp leader rang out over the PA speakers situated around the campsite.
Camp was a generous word for this place, it felt more like a penitentiary than a camp. Yet thats what it was, just a plain old lycanthropy camp, one of many enid had endured, one of many which were just fronts for twisted methods of torture and conversion.
Her toes curled against the freezing blanket of snow that covered the ground as she lined up outside her cabin for role call, shoes were prohibited here as it went against ‘a wolfs true nature’. She was one of the last names to be called, having to stand in the snow for much longer than Marcus Abdee from cabin C, she had to work to keep her teeth from chattering as she knew shed get reprimanded for being ‘weak’ or some other bullshit excuse her cabin counsellors came up with. “Enid Sinclair.” Enid straightened out as she locked eyes with the counsellor “yes sir.” He looked at her with the same disdain as her mother, she held back a wince, “dress quickly. You’re with Herd today.” Enid froze in her spot. ‘What? Why herd? I didn’t do anything.’ Her thoughts were cut off by the counsellor “are you deaf mutt? I said go.” He pointed at the door behind her, Enid scrambled back into her cabin, ignoring the sympathetic looks of her cabin mates as she changed clothes.
“Ah, enid. Lovely to see you again!” Herd spoke with a sick smile on his ugly and wrinkled face face. Somehow the little hair he had on his head always looked greasy, and his face was constantly coated in thin sheen of sweat. Enid just stared at the floor, not daring to meet those eyes that haunt her dreams. He was only a normie, but he held so much power over the campers, a light punishment in his eyes meant silver wire wrapping around your wrists like handcuffs. He could instil fear with just a glance and a twisted fucking smile. “Come sit, i have something new today.” He gestured at a stool in the middle of the room, Enid cautiously shuffled forward and sat down, apprehension obvious in her demeanour. “Any progress with your transformation?” Enid stayed quiet. Herd kept talking. “Thats a real shame, we might have to enhance your treatment if this carries on” She wouldn’t look, couldn’t, but enid could still hear the mirth in his voice. “You’re falling behind Sinclair.” Enid stifled a whimper when he grabbed a lock of her hair in between his fingers, bringing it to his nose and inhaling. “Such a fine young woman… if only you weren’t such a failure.” He lifted a chain in front of her face, the smell of silver permeated through the air, his tone made bile rise in her throat. “let me help you succeed.”
Herds cabin door crashed open, a blonde girl landing with a hard thud in the snow, the man behind her wearing that same demeaning and sickening smile as usual. “Ta for now sinclair, i really do wish you the best babygirl.” Enid ground her teeth, clutching her arms, trying to diminish the pain. But the burning remained. It just wouldn’t stop. Why wouldn’t it stop? Why? Just stop. Stop. Stop stop stopstopstopstop STOP. She buried her head in the snow as a guttural screeched breached her lips. The look of twisted pleasure on Herds face burned into her retinas as she screamed.
“Its for your own good enid, I’m here to help you ”
“ It doesn’t hurt. Stop crying.”
“This could all be over you know? If you just transform.”
“You’re a disgrace. Nothing more than a mere stain on your families name.”
“Im helping you.”
“Im helping you.”
“Im helping you”
Herds words rang through her head. She blacked out.
Enid finally came to. Its could’ve been hours, minutes or mere seconds since she lay quivering on the snowy ground. Her perception of time warped, but she had to assume it was one of the former though, as when she finally came around, she was in the lake by the woods. Freezing water lapping at her waist. She stood there, staring up at the darkened sky, snow now falling around her, it was deceptively beautiful. Her voice hoarse and her throat sore, “I should’ve just died. I shouldve taken all their advice and tied a rope in the woods. Then i would be free.” Her eyes were dull as the moon came out from its hiding place among the clouds. Taunting her. She gulped down oxygen, holding it in her lungs as she plunged her head under the icy water. The burning under her skin now replaced by an all encompassing numbness, she opemed her mouth to scream. She kept trying until her lungs burnt, and her head swam, the sound consumed and silenced by the dark water, she contemplated letting her lungs fill with it, letting the dark embrace of the lake take her. Memories of her family. Her mothers degrading looks, her fathers complicity, her brothers abuse and scolding words. She wanted to forget, she wanted to be the chipper girl she was last term in nevermore. She wanted her. She wanted Wednesday. She remained under water. Salty tears swallowed whole by the freshwater lake.
Enid dragged wet footsteps behind her as she opened the door into her cabin. Her roommates were already in there, no one spoke, they were all too broken, in every sense imaginable. Chancy lay staring at the ceiling, his arm in a cast. A result of a forced brawl between him and another boy after they were caught kissing in his cabin. Only the second day of camp and an innocent life was taken, stolen. chancy hadn’t said said a word to anyone since. Enid just kept walking till she reached her bed. Her clothes still soaked in lake water. She stared down at her bumpy mattress and paper thin sheets. Her shoulder rising and falling with her uneven breaths. She closed her eyes. That same ugly smile, that same smell of rotting flesh and revolting pleasure, that same stupid, loathsome, degrading voice.
Enid snapped.
Her claws sprang out, ripping the walls and bed to ribbons, destroying anything she could reach. She wailed, but no tears fell. The cries of her cabin mates falling upon deaf ears as she tried to eradicate anything in her path. Growls and hoarse yells escaping her throat as someone hooked their arms under hers, hindering her thrashing, “ENID STOP.” Erica screamed in her ear. Enid was deafened by her fury, “FUCK THIS. IM GONNA BURN THIS SHIT HOLE TO FUCKNG GROUND AND ALL THOSE PSYCHOS WITH IT” She broke free from Erica’s grip, forcing the brunette to the ground. “I KNOW FOR A FACT IM NOT THE ONLY ONE WHOS COMPLETELY SICK OF THIS SHIT.” She gasped for air. Her lungs still heavy from her dip in the lake. She calmed slightly as she breathed, her face still painted in a painful anger. “Mark my words. This hellscape is going up in flames. Starting with Arthur Herd.” She payed no attention to the terrified looks of Erica on the floor. Her attention only dragged away by chancy, who was now kneeled next to her, staring at enid with a hatred not meant for her. “Let me join you.” He spoke.