Joyce had everything packed in her backpack. The only two bags she had was a backpack full of clothes and a sleeping bag. Rachel’s mom picked Joyce up, and also gave her a new bible to keep. Joyce kept the bible in her hand while the three of them were in the vehicle and drove to the meeting place; she carried the bible in her hands for the whole trip to the camp.
It was evening when they arrived, and the moon was high up in the sky, which allowed everyone to make their way through the camp without a flashlight. The camp was different from anywhere Joyce had ever visited. It was on an island and they had to take a boat. Joyce stayed close to Rachel most of the evening, and when they got off the boat they went to the dining hall to eat some cookies and some chocolate turtle pie. One of the other girls was very proud have baked all the food for them—all of which was very good and gone very fast. Tori said that she had more food for them later, but she was quite insistent that Brye would not get any of her baking—he was not special enough, she claimed.
In about an hour and a half the group had an entire stage set up for the worship service; it consisted of guitars, a keyboard, a drum kit and a sound system that was loud. They sang songs about Christ, the cross, and one very energetic song about God being more than enough. Joyce tried her best to follow along with the words on the screen, but she felt kind of awkward. She looked around the room to see what everyone else was doing: Tori stood up straight with her head slightly bent forward, her eyes closed, and her hands were reaching outwards; another guy who Joyce had not yet met had his arm around another girl; Brye and one of his friends were pushing each other; and Rachel, with a bandana wrapped around her braided hair closed her eyes and sang. The worship leader prayed as their set was ending, and then the youth pastor had a few announcements, explained a couple of rules, and then handed the mic over to a arrogantly proud young man who lead them in a game outside.
The game ended; Brye and his friends won. As everyone broke up into their own smaller groups, Rachel, Tori and Joyce got together and the three of them walked back to their cabin in the bright moonlight. Their feet made a hollow creaking noise as they followed the boardwalk trail. Somewhere, halfway from the worship hall to their cabin, a rabbit jumped out of the bushes and made Rachel panic. Her scream made Tori and Joyce laugh, and then Rachel started to smile again as she realized that it was just a rabbit. To be safe Rachel wrapped both of her arms around Tori and Joyce for the rest of the way. When they got to the steps of their cabin, Tori and Rachel went inside while Joyce said that she would be just a few seconds. She leaned against the railing of their cabin’s porch and focused her eyes up into the sky. The stars were much brighter here, and along with the moon their reflection was a distorted portrait of twilight in the lake. Joyce stood there silently, looking, and then bowed her head. For a reason completely unknown to her she wanted to… pray. She muttered two words, “Thank you…” Joyce felt very ashamed.
Inside their cabin Rachel was laying on top of her sleeping bag while Tori sat up straight on her bunk. Rachel pretended to read her bible, however, it was difficult to stay focused on Isaiah since Tori still had a lot of energy left in her. Tori could not resist the wide-open floor in front of her so she started to dance. Joyce took careful steps back to her bunk next to Rachel’s, dodging the spontaneity of Tori’s movements. The others were still out, so it was just Joyce, Rachel and Tori who were in the cabin. Rachel looked down at Joyce:
“So Joyce, what do you think about it all? The camp, the worship service, and everything?”
“It’s awesome Rachel,” replied Joyce. She gently placed her bible on top of her pillow as she leaned her back against the wall behind her bunk. An awkward silence filled the cabin and Rachel realize that something was bothering Joyce.
“I’ll be fine,” said Joyce.
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