“Are you gonna chicken out?” Josh taunts
“Fine. I’m going.” I reply. As I stick my foot into one of the ill-fitting holes of the gate and hoist myself up. I land on the floor and wipe the dirt off my hands. I scramble back onto my feet, pick up my glasses, and catch up to the group.
“Okay, Elijah, I dare you to climb onto that,” Jayden says, pointing up to the roof of an abandoned warehouse. “and put this there.” he continues while handing me a folded sheet of paper.
“That’s for the guys at Clovis Academy,” he says
“That still doesn’t explain what you guys are going to do-”
“That isn’t for you to worry about, ” he replies, cutting me off.
Josh sends me a glare before I’m off, jogging towards the building.
I grip the paper as I arrive towards the building. Turning around, I don’t see anyone from the group. Viewing the rising moon behind the warehouse, I look up.
“Geez, that’s tall,” I mutter, and I begin to climb.
The crumbling warehouse had dense ivy crawling over it. The memories begin to flash at me: climbing every tree in sight and scraping my hands-on branch after branch from one of my old homes. But that was years ago. They couldn’t care for me, so they sent me to yet another home. That’s how the system works. Just continuously being unwanted until you find the right home.
Reaching the top, I can’t remember what I came up there to do. My foot begins to tap as my hands look for something to do. Sticking them in my pocket, I find the paper and remember, and I set it down with a rock fragment as a paperweight.
That’s when I see them.
The red and blue lights were blinding in the night, but the sirens got louder and louder.
“Shootshootshootshoot,” I mutter to myself, “Where is everybody!” Do I run or… I didn’t finish my thought. Using the vines as rope, I get down as fast as I can. Then, I begin to sprint.
I’ve never been excessively athletic. Most kids my age have already been through several programs. However, I have not. The people who put these kids into these programs are their parents, and that’s the problem. I don’t have parents. Of course, I have parents: biological parents, just not legal ones. I have guardians, though. Guardian after guardian because no one wants to adopt me. I’ve been in the system ever since I was 2, so 13 years. And none of my guardians have put me in sports and it shows.
I don’t see any of my “friends.” Of course, they ditched me. In the distance, I hear:
“You are trespassing on private property. Come out with your hands up.” Somebody snitched. Okay, what do I do, I can run, get caught, and get in trouble, or I can go to them and get in trouble. Both options are not good. They haven’t said my name. So if I run and don’t get caught, I should be fine.
“Elijah Moore,” I wince. “you’re trespassing on private property, come out with your hands up.” oh great, it’s officer Hastings. This lady is always on my back. I jog until I get a few paces away from the gate, and I can see her face.
“Come on, Elijah, you know better than to trespass.”
“To be fair, I didn’t come alone.”
“Sure,” she says with a sigh, “I can take you home.”
“I can go by myself!” I protest
“Nope. Come on”
Just like that, I was on my way home in the back of a cop car. After an eternity of talking about how “it’s the second time this month” and “you should make better friends” and “I thought you knew better” along with the every once in a while “hmm” from me, or “yep, yea” I was finally at my house.
Walking into the house, Lori keeps a firm hand on my shoulder, and I can feel her grip tightening. Once Dan closes the door behind her, I try to retreat to my room. Instead, Lori grasps my shoulder a little too tight. She points to the couch and announces “Sit.” her voice cold as stone. Tensing, I sit on the couch. “When you said ‘I’m going out with my friends,'” she begins, “I didn’t think you meant trespassing!” oh no, her voice is rising. “Elijah, this is the second time this month. It’s only July 14th.” She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath “You need to understand that it’s hard enough being foster parents. You need to set an example for your younger siblings.” “Even your big siblings don’t even get into this much trouble.” beginning to pace, she continues, “you’re lucky that we’re friends with officer Hastings, or else they would have taken you to the station”
I’ve learned from the past that talking back is never the best option. Some parents will hit you, and some will shrug it off. Some parents can’t differentiate the difference between discipline and child abuse.
Looking down at my bouncing leg, I begin to tap my fingers on my other knee. I am a terrible child. Of course, nobody wants to adopt a teenage African-American boy with a criminal record. Especially not in this twisted racist world. I’ve caused so much trouble for this family and all my past ones. As tears begin to fog my eyes, I push my nails into my palm to hold it back.
“I understand. I’m sorry.” At that, they let me walk back into my room in silence.
After waking up, I go downstairs. I see Samuel and Rachel fighting with the tv controller. Dylan, eating cereal on the couch, and Julia is taking food from the refrigerator. No Mom and Dad. I grab a bowl from the cabinet and set it down to get cereal. I get my favorite cereal, ChocoCrisps, begin to serve myself and say
“Hey, do you guys know where Lori and Dan are?”
“They went to a conference with Mr. Brewer,” Dylan replied and my heart dropped to my stomach.
“Mr.-Mr. Brewer,” I stutter, “do…do any of you know why?” I say while my fingers fiddle with my spoon.
“No,” Said Rachel, “but they said they’d be back around two.”
“Okay.”
I check the time: 1:27 pm. “okay, ” I mutter to myself. After I eat my breakfast and watch my fair share of Claw Control, I head upstairs. I get dressed for the day: 1:42 pm. I head back downstairs.
“Who’s ready for school!” Julia sings, and a collective groan rises. “It’s starting soon!” she adds teasingly.
As the oldest, Julia and Samuel (especially Julia) find it their job to bug the rest of us. Julia and Samuel are the only biological children of Lori and Dan. They are pretty much just copy and paste. The rest, like me, are in the foster system or were adopted. Dylan has dirty blonde hair and striking dark blue eyes. On the other hand, Rachel has straight black hair and slanted brown eyes.
I sit next to Rachel, and five minutes into the program, I check the time: 2:14 pm. Two minutes later, I hear a knock on the door and bolt up to get it. After both of them enter, Dan tells me, “come on,” and leads me to sit at the table. I don’t know if my siblings were supposed to be there, but they did a pretty terrible job of hiding their eavesdropping. Lori started:
“Dan and I have been looking into schools, and we’ve made a decision.” She then gestured for Dan to finish her thought.
“We’re sending you to a boarding school in Colorado.” and just like that, my heart stopped beating. Everything just stopped. Colorado? The hillbilly state? Boarding School? What is happening? Of course, I was too stunned altogether to speak, but I just gave them a pleading look. Lori looked back at me with a set determination. They handed me a pamphlet, and that was that. The end of the discussion.
“We’re doing this because we love you.” and I went to my room in silence.
3:39 am. The clock blared in my face as I read the pamphlet for the one-hundredth time. Colorado Wilderness Boarding School for Troubled Teens. Beginning on August 6th this year. Has your child been getting in some trouble? Send them to the Colorado Wilderness Boarding School for Troubled Teens. Here, they can learn necessary survival skills and be taught that every action will have disciplinary consequences. With our Core Knowledge Curriculum, your child will learn alongside their peers. The correct way. Enroll Your Child Today! There were some pictures of probably paid actors in the mountains and forest. Great. The last time I was exposed to that much greenery was in my old home, and I loved it. But what did I know? I was only eight.
A week has passed since our talk, and now my siblings don’t even bring the school up. They’re not really my siblings, though. No matter how accepting they try to be, I’m not really their brother. They have their little cliques, and I’m not part of one. They all knew each other years before I came along, so they’ll do fine without me.
The upcoming days blurred together until, before I knew it, I was all packed up. The car ride was mainly silent, except for the constant reassurances from Dan and Lori.
“It’s gonna be fine.”
“You’ll do great, don’t worry” Then we got to the bus stop and had to wait, the bus was late.
“I just want you to know,” I begin pushing back tears. “that it’s not your fault. I’m just not a great kid. You guys are amazing parents and-” I was cut off by a hug from Lori, and when I looked behind her, Dan was crying.
“You’re not a bad kid, don’t let anyone tell you that you’re the sweetest, most empathetic, sweet child I know. This is for your own good.” “We love you.” Then the bus pulled up behind us, and I was on my way to Colorado.
I was one of two people on the bus; me and the driver. Because of this, I decided to sit near the back. I didn’t plan to fall asleep. When I did, it wasn’t a regular dream. It was more like memories coming back to me.
Eight-year-old me, climbing a tree. Once I jump down from the tree, I realize I don’t know where I am. Only endless woods surrounding me. Instead of the panic I’ve become so used to in these closing years, I explore even further. I don’t remember this, but I also…do. I sit by the stream and begin to take off my shoes. Looking into the dark forest across from me, I see the shadow of a creature. All shadows. Its slim fingers dragging on the floor behind it, and its arms are just as long, if not more so. Its somber silhouette almost was a disfigured mirror of my own, but its drab eyes stared back at me. With curiosity? No, knowingness? Maybe. But I was frightened and didn’t want to stay and figure it out.
Waking up, I found out that only a few hours had passed, and I still had a fifteen-hour bus ride to go. Only now, there were two more people on the bus. After fully waking up, I grew tired of sitting for too long, and I wanted to move around, but there were people there, so I decided better of it. Bouncing my leg repeatedly, I drifted off into my regular daydreaming. The rest of the bus ride consisted of me falling asleep, waking up and daydreaming, other people leaving, and getting on the bus.
Upon getting off the bus, I go to the RTD. The RTD is much more crowded and smells like….well, it smells like public transportation. After finally getting off at my stop, I clutch the paper that Dan and Lori gave me and approach the building. It was a broad building designed without a bit of imagination. Above the massive oak doors, the words Colorado Wilderness Boarding Academy sat. The paint was peeling from age. Behind the building, there was an endless space of deep woods.
1:17 pm, I’m only two minutes late. Entering, there were cold stone floors, but a loud buzz of people not too far. Turning where I heard the most noise, I opened the double doors and was immediately greeted with the sound of hundreds of people in a gymnasium. Many of the teenagers are accompanied by one or two adults. I sit down on one of the few spots left vacant on the bleachers, then a woman appears on the ground. She speaks in the microphone.
“Hello everyone, and welcome to Colorado Wilderness Boarding Academy!” Taking a slip of paper from her blazer, she continues, “I am Principal Montaño, and this year, we would like to welcome 72 new freshmen and 98 new students of all other grades.” A roar went up in the room. She continued with her speech, talking about their curriculum and the camping events, sporting events, and tournaments they had planned for the year. Whereas I, instead of listening, got distracted and began to scan the room. Amongst the group of people, there was some diversity, but not much.
“If anyone has any questions or concerns, I am available until 2:30.” “Can all students please follow vice-principal Wind,” she said, gesturing to a woman in the back. “to be separated into dorms.” Standing up, I head towards the principal, who was already crowded by questioning parents. But all students followed the vice principal. Only some had their luggage. Finally reaching her, I introduce myself, and hand her the paper.
“Oh yes, your parents called in and couldn’t make it.” reading the paper, she continued, “Yes-Mhm. Okay. Just follow Ms. Wind, and she’ll lead you to your dorm.” “Okay, thanks,” I reply.
I was led into a somewhat open room. Double bunk beds on either side and a shaggy green and purple carpet in the middle. One window on the other end of the room was accompanied by two desks crammed in with the bunk beds. On the opposing sides of the bunk beds, two doors led into the closet and bathroom. A room fit for…four teenage boys.
The last thing I noticed was two boys already on beds. They were diagonal from each other. It seems that two of the dressers near the door were already taken up. They were setting up their posters and pillows. After a careful examination of the room, I hear a voice behind me.
“Do you mind?!?” The voice made me jump, and almost trip over my suitcase. My glasses fell to the ground, so I pick them up and turn to see who said that. Using my shirt to clean them, I squint and make up a face that doest seem too pleased to be here. But I’m out of the way now, so he rudely enters and claims the remaining bottom bunk.
As I’m putting my clothes into my new dresser, two of my roommates begin to talk.
“Did you hear that Xavier came back this year?”
“Aspen did too!” the other one replied
“I thought they wouldn’t-” My third roommate interrupted
“Will you two shut up!” it wasn’t much of a question.
“Ehh…No.” one of them replied. I have to try my hardest to hold back a laugh. The boy’s face just goes red with frustration. Stomping out of the room, he slams the door. The one that said that was a boy about my age, with bright orange curly hair and a glint in his eyes that said he liked mischief. And his companion, a boy also my age, was scrawny, much like his friend, with straight black hair and large brown eyes. He was holding back a laugh.
After he finished his sentence with his friend, the black-haired one turns in my direction and asks,
“So what’s your name Muchacho?”
“Uhh, me?”
“Noo, I’m asking the wall,” he replies with a grin.
“I’m Elijah.”
“Well, we’re stuck together this year with this loser,” he says, pointing to the red-haired guy. “I’m Marco, by the way.”
“Says you. Well, I’m Phin.”
“Hello,” I say with a wave. “So, have you guys been here before?”
At the same time, they both reply “Yes.” Marco continued “ We’re widely known for what some people call fun, and others call annoying.” After a brief silence, Phin goes on with a chuckle, “We like to punk people.” “And, some of our other friends do too. They were put in other dorms, though.” “I’m pretty surprised they put us together.” He looks over at Marco and raises his eyebrows. “Anyway,” Phin says with a joking eye-roll. “You should be able to meet our other friends in a little bit if they haven’t changed the schedule.”
“So, who are your friends?” I ask.
“There’s Shreya and Aspen. They’re in the girl’s dorms. I saw them at orientation-”
Turning towards Marco, I ask, “Why are you wearing a long sleeve shirt?” His olive skin begins to redden, then Phin replies
“He just wears them everywhere. I dunno why.”
“Just because,” Marco replies, running a hand through the top of his hair.
“What prank did you guys do?” At that, they both smile.
We head towards the student assembly after two things. An explanation of their long prank list; and a lecture about what “cologne-bombing” is.
As soon as we enter the room, a few eyes dart in our direction, and we head towards two other girls.
“Hello, I’m Elijah,” I say with a wave. Then I take a seat around their group.
A smooth voice calls out from behind Marco, “Hi, I’m Aspen.” Then I see a girl with long and dark auburn hair holding out her hand for a handshake. Shaking Aspen’s hand, I hear another voice beside her,
“And I’m Shreya.” The girl beside her says with a wave. Pushing her hair out of her face, she continues, “Are you guys excited for the amazing field trip we’re gonna have?” The sarcasm in her voice is thick. I’m just about to ask about the field trip, but I get distracted. Her face has two colors. The base seems to be a warm bronze tone, but there were spots of fair skin around her face. One above her left eye, leaving half her eyebrow white, and another underneath her right ear, reaching her jawline. And other small spots near her cheekbones and nose. She must have noticed me staring because she tells me, “If you haven’t noticed, I have vitiligo. It’s quite lovely. No?”
“Sorry.” I begin to say. “I didn’t mean to be rude.”
“Nah, it’s fine.”
Trying to change the subject, I say, “Where are we going on this field trip?”
“They do an annual camping trip for the students to bond,” Marco replies. Making air quotes with his fingers.
“It’ll be fun!” Aspen contradicts optimistically.
“We-” Phin begins to talk but is cut off by Principal Montaño.
“I am sure that you all are beginning to acquaint yourselves with one another. I’m also sure that many of you have heard of our annual camping trip!” I glance towards my friends, and they seem bored. “This year, we will begin with the sophomores because the freshmen still have some introductions to undergo.” A collective groan followed by some cheers rose in the room. “The trip will be a week-long, and additional details and information will be given along with class schedules and further paperwork.” A short pause. “Will all freshman and new students please stay. Everyone else is welcome to go to their first-listed class. Many kids stood up to leave. My friends send me a smile when they’re on their way.
After most of the students were gone, the principal handed out schedules and packing lists.
As soon as I get to my room, I begin to panic. We have to be packed by tomorrow at seven am. And-oh shoot. I’m supposed to be in class. Grabbing my paper, I sprint towards the hallway, only to realize that I have no idea what class I’m going to.
Okay, room 154 Geometry. I can tell I’m already going to hate it. In the rush, it didn’t occur to me that there might be other students in the class. So naturally, I barge in to find over twenty pairs of eyes staring at me. Heat rising to my face, I take the nearest available seat, only to hear the bell ring. I missed the whole introduction.
Next class, I make it in time to hear the whole lecture. After listening to eight only slightly different lectures I go to my dorm room and begin to pack; but while folding my shirt, Marco and my other roommate walk in.
“I never got your name.” He comments, turning towards me.
“Oh,” I say, shocked by the softness in his voice. “I’m Elijah. What’s your name?”
“I’m Austin.”
“Why are you packing already?” Marco said, glancing at the two of us.
“The real question is,” I begin, turning towards him. “Why aren’t you packing? And where were you guys?”
“You don’t need to pack yet. We never leave on time.”

“And where is Phin?”
“He’s in the lobby.”
When Phin came back, I convinced Phin and Marco to pack, but I was finished and tired.
In the morning, I was woken up by the bothersome calls of my roommates. Bolting up, I check the time. Oh shoot, it’s already 7:07. We were supposed to be gone at seven. Stumbling off my bed, I gather my things and head to the bus with Phin and Marco. Meeting our other friends, we sit together. Three people on one side and two people on the other.
During the bus ride, Phin, Marco, and I talked and talked. But the only thing that really caught my attention was when they said that a group of kids always pranks a new kid, but I should be fine. After the long bus ride, we arrived at a large clearing surrounded by woods.
A voice from the front called out, “Everybody stay seated please,” “We are going to read who will be sharing a tent with whom. First for the boys,”
“It’s always two and two,” Phin comments after seeing my confused expression.
After some names were called, I heard Phin. He was paired with Austen. I was with Marco.
I guess it’s organized by roommates. All the boys’ names were called, and we exited the bus. After a brief explanation of what to do and what to expect in the next few days, we prepared for a good night’s sleep. But that night, I couldn’t sleep. Early in the morning, maybe two or three am, I heard voices outside.
“Are you sure this is his tent?” One of the voices whispers.
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
“Okay” Then a head pops into my tent, and I pretend to sleep. “Which one is his? ” the boy hissed.
“Probably the fatter one the newbies always overpack.” He grabs my bag and darts out. Perking up, I stuck my head out of my tent to see where they were heading; into the woods, typical. They forgot to take my shoes. I slip them on and try to follow them, but they’re so far ahead I can hardly hear them.
Taking a right turn, or was it a left? I turned and in every direction was just a dense area of trees, overgrown with moss. I begin to walk in one direction, but I trip over a tree root. I turned onto my back to look at the stars and let out a cry of frustration. Apparently, nobody heard me. Looking towards a direction at random, I see a blackness like no other. Like, avoid sucking the blackness of every crevice and nook. It had an uneasiness to it, so I went the opposite way, hoping to find the camp again.
Stumbling around on small plants and roots, I look for the campsite. After what felt like a few hours of searching, I realize how tired I am. Sitting and resting my head on a nearby tree, I relax and beg my eyes not to close. My eyelids are getting so heavy… But I can’t sleep, who knows what Kind of animals could hurt me here? But I’m so tired… At that, I fell asleep in the woods.
Waking up at who knows what time, I check and am pleased to see that I still have all my limbs. Across from me, I see the stubby tail of a deer and stand up. Stretching and surprised at my own calm, I realize my own thirst. Going towards a small stream, I ran across a larger stream that I must have stepped in last night. Finding the running foamy water, I drink out of it with my hands because I didn’t think to bring a water bottle. Brilliant. I find myself in a particularly dark part of the forest. Maybe It’s the one from last night. I can’t tell. Things look different when they’re barely illuminated by moonlight to when they’re barely illuminated by sunlight. When I’m pretty deep into the dark part of the forest, I see something. Well, I don’t really see it, but I can see the absence of something. I vaguely remember something like this before I fell asleep, but I don’t fully remember it.
I look into it, and I can make out a tall skinny creature made from what looks like darkness. As one of its exaggerated limbs reaches towards me, I recognize it. Not from early this morning, but from before, when I was eight, I saw a similar creature. This one is supersized in comparison.
“ELIJAH!” I hear a voice call
“ELIJAH!” Another voice rings out, and a few more after that. My friends.
I yell, “I’m over here,” and begin to run closer to them. I meet them near the edge of the dark segment I was in, and I get pulled into a bear hug by Aspen. Shreya comes behind her and begins to rant “Where the heck were you! We had to sneak out because they wouldn’t let anyone look for you-” She was cut off by Phin giving me a hug, followed by a high five from Marco. Marco takes one look at my bloody knee, and his eyes go wide.
He unwraps a cloth strip from around his wrist and begins to wrap my knee.
“Nononono you don’t have to do that,”
“It’s fine. Jeez man, how much blood did you lose, this cut is bad.” Looking down, I see his other wrist, still wrapped in cloth. “Why do-” Then I see his exposed wrist covered in old scars. Some faded and some new. He finishes wrapping my knee and stands up. “What were you going to say?” He asks, unaware that I answered my own question.
“Uhh-Thanks. Also, there’s this thing in the-”
“Nope. We’ve been gone for like a few hours, you’ve been gone for even longer, and somebody is gonna get sued.” Shreya says.
“We should go back,” Phin adds.
“But there’s this thing-” I try again.
“They’re right, you’re cut, probably dehydrated and-”
“Actually, I drank water from the stream,”
“That’s even worse!” Aspen proclaims
“Come on Marc-” We turn and see Marco looking Hypnotized, staring into the darkness with tears streaming down his face. I turn to see what he’s facing and see an engulfing blackness reaching out to him, touching him on the forehead. Marco fell onto his knees, and I stood in front of him. Instead of it connecting with Marco, it connected with me.
I thought It would be physically painful, but at first, it just sent a chill through my body. Then I was in my mind, everything black. Then the creature appeared then morphed into Lori and Dan. Just them suffocating me in negative thoughts. Saying I’m not good enough. All my insecurities all at once. Then it morphed into my schoolmates, criticizing me about my skin and lack of skills. Then it morphed into Bryan, one of my past foster parents.
“Nobody will ever love you,” he snarled, then hit me with the back of his hand. This brought back flashbacks of when I was with him because he would beat me. “Nobody will ever want you!” he says with another slap “Tell me! How many years have you been passed around like an old toy!”
“That’s not true!” I say, my voice trembling. “Lori and Dan-”

“Only tolerated you,” he contradicts. I feel the grown swaying beneath me, and as I’m about to collapse, I feel a hand grip mine, then another. I fall to the ground and open my eyes not to see Bryan but my friends.
Marco pulls me into an embrace and looks at me with his tear-streaked face. “I know how bad it was,” he says before pulling me into another hug. But I hug him back because he might have gone through so much worse. Shreya lets go of my hand, and Aspen looks at Marco and I. “Are you guys okay? What happened?”
“It’s like that creature showed us our worst memories mixed with something else. I dunno,” I say. “Can we talk about this later? We should really get back to camp in case that thing comes back.” Phin says after letting Marco out of his arms. “We should go, come on,” I say. At that, we all head back to camp.