1. Highwater Reserves

She opened the car door and swung her feet outside. With one more glance at her mom, Berry exited the car, tossing herself onto the sidewalk as if that was the only way to get out.

“Try to have fun!” Her mom’s voice flew at her through the open car door. Berry tried to dodge the sound waves and didn’t respond. This wasn’t summer camp. “It’s only a weekend,” her mom tried again, but Berry just pulled her luggage out of the car without looking at her.

“Bye,” Barry said flatly, luggage in one hand, the other holding the door.

“Bye, Berry,” her mom said. Berry slammed the car door and walked away.

Highwater Reserves was not the place for a casual weekend getaway. In fact, everyone that lived anywhere near it tried to stay away.

Highwater Reserves was positioned next to Inversion Lake, which would be scenic enough if not for the variety of freaks that populated the lakeside. All year round, the Reserves took in “troubled youth” and other kids that “just didn’t fit in” and tried to fix them.

If you were being sent to Highwater Reserves, one of two things were true. Either: 1) No one knew you were coming here, and no one would ever find out, or 2) All the other kids have told you repeatedly that you need “The Highwater Treatment” and now you were finally here.

For Berry, the second was true.

Berry was always different than her classmates. Her differences were not so easy to hide, even if she did everything to fit in (which she had tried for the first ten-ish years of her life). But a physical deformity put her at quite a disadvantage, because she had been hearing Highwater jokes for her entire life, no matter how normal she acted.

At a certain point, she had accepted her fate of being made fun of. But she had always vowed to not ever actually end up at Highwater Reserves.

After all, what could a bunch of shrinks do about giant fingers? Cut ’em off?

Berry had definitely considered.

At birth, Berry had looked like a fairly normal kid. Her hands were a little long, and her arms and legs were a little skinny. Then, as she grew, all were surprised to find that she had not two joints per finger, but three. And, each of her fingers were double the length of normal humans’, to boot.

Now, at seventeen years of age, Berry was probably done growing, thank goodness. Her limbs were all long and skinny, and her fingers were even longer and skinnier.

“Spider-fingers”, they called her.

At least her toes were normal.

And today was the day she had finally been forced into it. Highwater Reserves. She and her mom had argued for years, and she and her mom had barely spoken in days. Berry refused to after her mom told her that she was requiring her to go to Highwater.

“It’ll make you feel better about yourself,” her mom had said.

“It’ll permanently label me as a freak!” had been the last words Berry had yelled at her mother.

After that, Berry didn’t speak for a day.

But her mom had already paid (and, boy, this place wasn’t cheap) and there was no turning back, Berry had to go. A weekend, her mom had told her. Short.

Berry had been here two minutes, walking up the gravel path to the lodge, and she was already sick of the place. Everything was moist and buggy, and the pines made weird hissing noises in the wind.

She sighed. 47 hours and 58 minutes to go.