The cabin trails
Half way through my fifth grade year I was invited to take a trip to a trail to experience first hand the path and life of an underground railroad escapees. It was meant to be a reenactment of history as all of my classmates. We were all told to leave everything at home and pack to sleep at night and plan to spend two nights in this experiment. I packed for a trip that I was glad to be a part of as anything was better than being at home with a absent mother.
We all started our trip where we were all given paper assignments of of role we were to play along with history of our characters. This was supposed to be a graded assignment due to participation. We all started off with our packed hiking bags. where we had our belongings on a wooded path as a tour guide made us suddenly drop to the ground and lower our heads.
I knew it was supposed to be a reenactment of the actual conditions of the the road to freedom for the slaves in the underground railroad as I laced my fingers in the earth and felt a tether and whispers as all the voices from the past sounded like they were in the air an vibrating through the earth and into my soul .
I instinctively bowed my head as I felt a door open up inside of me as my eyes rolled back in my head and I could feel the pain. The panic. The fear. The absolute feeling of destitute and struggle . I felt the hunger, the tiredness, and pain of soreness in my legs from running so long without rest.
I began to say words that were not my own in a voice not my own . Words I could hear but from afar like they were muffled and in a distance. Like I was on the outside watching my own performance.
Afterwardsfall to the ground like I was not my own self . I felt what ever spirit that walked the grounds as the energy filled me as I saw shadows and glimpses of the past.
This was the first time I connected to the other side as it felt overpowering like I had absolutely no control over my mind or body. As I felt like a vessel for the past as I was there witnesses the past as the shapes,sounds,objects acted out right in front of me . It was like I was watching a movie but with clips and jolts and feelings and then I felt things pass through me. Heard voices and then a rush of the energy left me . I held myself up in my hands as it shook from the energy it took from me as I came consciousness of myself once more.
As quick as it came and filled me. The quicker it left me as when I regained myself I was in the woods with my classmates and the tour guide staring at me like I had three heads and was breathing fire. The clear and shocked looks on their frightened faces was self evident. But no one said a word. No one made a noise.
We all got up to move and all of my classmates stayed far away from me as I walked alone in the back of the trail. But I didn't mind .I felt things and saw images running and fading in front of me and if I hadn't known any better I could be mistaken for crazy as I stopped to watch the brief scenes of past actions and witness their struggles until I came to a one room cabin with no door and all the girls looked around not wanting to be in my cabin.
The three popular girls Ashley, Morgan ,and Tiffany I could see lights around their bodies now as it flickered red and orange as I was confused what I was seeing but I also felt their reluctance and their uncertain fear as they looked at me .
" Well I'm not scared of her she is just a freak." Said Tiffany as the other two girls strolled up to Melina as she knew something was going to go down and she was bracing herself for the kick back on what the class witnessed Melina doing during the reenactment.
The tour guide had a fire going as it was getting dark and there was three teachers that were in charge of separating the boys and girls in cabins to sleep for the night . Since there were three cabins and there was more girls then boys they had to separate the girl groups . The three teachers fussed over what happened as the tour guide a trail tracker looked at me without taking off his focus as if he knew what I was.
I smiled as the fire flickered as I thought about the rythmic pattern of the flames . I didn't like the way this guide stared at me and it was making me uncomfortable in fact a little pissed off.
I made a small knowing smile in his direction when a burst of flame breaking his attention from me as the three girls approached me and I rolled my eyes. Here we go. Let's get this part over with I thought.
" So like what was that back there are you like some kind of psycho or something?" Asked Tiffany as the other girls remained quiet.
Melina wasn't bothered by the accusations the girls were making but she was fascinated by the colors that surrounded them as she saw them fluxerate from one shade of color to another as it looked like a prism of colors as it faded and brimmed with the next color that replaced it. She looked at the colors as she heard the question again.
" Are you a psycho ?" Demanded the girl named Morgan as she was really just a lackey of the group as she knew her and Ashley were on again off again friends and this week they happened to be friends next week maybe not.
" I didn't hear the question?" Melina said as she pretended she didn't hear the girls making fun of her. Melina heard them she was giving the benefit of the doubt that they would rethink their pursuit of her if they knew any better. She watched the girl named Tiffany began to scratch her neck like something was flying around her as Melina was projecting bugs in her mind as she slapped her neck paranoid. Tiffany began to make short shrills as she tried not to panic from the delusion I casted.
" Can we go. I feel bugs biting me you know I'm allergic to bugs and my spray is in the cabin ." Cried Tiffany as Melina smirked she was the original perpetrator.
" Hmm. Bugs is in nature. It's not a nature walk without them. Kind of a bad choice to make going on a hike if your allergic to bugs do not you think." Melina said without thinking before she realized she said it out loud.
Ashley didn't say a word just stared at Melina as she was the actual leader of the trio as she nodded " go ahead Tiffany we don't want you getting bit." She said as Tiffany ran to the cabin.
Ashley stared at Melina for a minute with neither saying a word as Morgan looked at Ashley waiting for her to weigh in on the picking on Melina for her erratic behavior earlier.
" You should be an actress when you grow up. You really had me believe that you were an escapee slave . I knew they said to get into the role they assigned us at the beginning of the tour and you did a good job of your role." Said Ashley as Melina smirked knowing Ashley picked up she wasn't the one to mess with.
" Thanks, I might take that into consideration. " Melina said sharply as the wind picked up as the tour guide announced it was time to go to the cabins for the night.
" Maybe you can bunk with us. If you want?" Invited Ashley as Melina knew she was trying to show her friends she wasn't scared of Melina as Melina looked at her and could feel her fear loud and clear .
" Why? She is a freak. You can't invite the freak in the cabin with us." Whispered Morgan as she was trying to keep it a whisper but Melina still heard it.
" I'm no more of a freak then you are." Said Melina looking at Morgan. As Morgan gave Melina a dirty look .Then she looked at Ashley and said ." Thanks for the invite . Save me a spot next to you please." Said Melina knowing that was Morgan's spot. She did it to provoke Morgan to justify the nightmares she would give her for calling Melina a freak and a psycho .
To Melina calling people names were rude and they didn't know what she could do to them.
Melina was about to go in the cabin as she passed the tour guide as she turned to face him no saying a word to him just eye contact.The fire lowered as he looked at Melina like a battle of wills . The look between them two was intense . The staring battle lasted mere moments before Melina looked away breaking their connection.
Melina dipped into the cabin with no doors and made of wood as she settled her sleeping back next to Ashley's . Morgan and Abbey moved to the fae side of the cabin away from Melina .
Later on that night Morgan's hair brush went missing as she wanted to search all the bunkers bags in a fit of rage as Melina wrapped Morgan's hair around her finger as she knew how to make people paranoid by taking some hair and whispering to it as she and all the other girls stood up and was moved out of the cabin. Morgan screamed and yelled ripping through the cabins bags of other campers and tossing items around in the dark as all we had was candles to light the room . This was to preserve the experience no outside modern influences were allowed .
Melina moved back outside from the chaos sha caused as she dropped the hair in the fire pit as Morgan broke out of her paranoid trans and began to cry not knowing why she did that tossing everyone's sleeping bags as Melina thought as she smiled as she thought now who is the freak now.
This type of magick was a little gratifying for Melina as she was not a bad child or even an aggressive one but she wasn't also going to be pushed around considering who she was and what she was capable of. Just then it began to rain as they all went back inside the cabin as the camp fire went out leaving the camp in complete darkness. Screams errupted as Melina smiled as she liked the sound of fear.
When it began to rain in the cabin Morgan kept her back to the wall on the far corner of the cabin as it rained most of the day accompanied by thunder and lighting . I had half wanted to strike the cabin we were all in just to spook the girl who was my constant tormenter . But I wasn't completely naive I knew she wasn't the one calling the shots to make my life miserable. But she was the one following through with it.