3. Found Files

Despite having followed a path to the pier, it took Berry nearly twenty minutes to find her way back to the welcome cabin. Despite the fact (or the hope) that not all the kids would be as creepy as the girl she'd just met, she was still kind of freaked and wanted to get back to something that resembled normal life. And apparently that was Call-Me-Tammy.

All the pines looked the same, but finally she emerged from the trees and entered the welcome cabin for the second time that day.

The cabin was empty, the receptionist desk vacant.

A large note sat on the desk, though, folded into a tent and arranged to face the door. “Dinner will be in the lunch cabin at 7.”

Two things stood out to Berry: where was said lunch cabin? and more importantly, why on earth would you name a cabin ‘lunch cabin’ if it was for dinner?

Berry was about to sigh and scour the grounds for the lunch/dinner cabin when she saw her name.

A manila folder was open on the desk, and the top paper read:

Berry Robinson, 17: elongated phalanges

Surveillance needed: none, not prone to violence

Entry date: July 08, 2011

Planned exit date: July 10, 2011

Exit date:

Berry’s eyebrows drew together, wondering why all this information was necessary, and shifted the paper to see what was behind it. A photograph of herself, fingers splayed. She was young, seven or eight, and laughing. Her dark hair was nearly at her shoulders, the longest she’d ever had it. Now she kept it at a pixie cut.

Berry covered the picture back up. It was probably the most recent picture with her hands in it at all; she always hid them behind her back now.

There was nothing else in her folder, and, considering Berry was already poking around, she looked behind the desk at the filing cabinet. Basically a gold mine, right? It was like Tammy wanted her to peek.

Berry pulled open a drawer—unlocked—to find alphabetical names like she expected. She pulled one at random.

Brandon Jenkins, 9: extreme flexibility

Surveillance needed: frequent – aggressive behavior when stressed

Entry date: Oct. 29, 2010

Planned exit date: Nov. 05, 2010

Exit date: Nov. 12, 2010

Berry glanced at the photo, a blonde boy with his legs stretched over his head like an acrobat. She thought it was a little silly that he had come to Highwater at all; flexibility was a cool uniqueness.

She wondered why he had stayed a week longer that his ‘planned exit date’, and found her answer in the other papers in his folder. Apparently, he had had violent outbursts, with one report describing how he could “contort his way out of any restraints we tried to put him in”. The unfortunate end of the report was that he had been sedated after he had hit another lodger. (Berry concluded that ‘lodger’ was a codeword for ‘prisoner’ here at Highwater.)

Berry replaced the file, and searched for another. It took some time to find, but finally she found one with the name Josephine.

But, curiously, it was a double file. “Josephine & Amelia Tempsi.” Inside, a photograph of twins, who both looked exactly like the girl she’d run into. So, Amelia had been looking for her sister.

“Hello?” Call-Me-Tammy appeared from some unknown back entrance.

As quickly as she could, Berry shoved the file back into the drawer, and shut it. Shame turning her face red, Berry stuttered an excuse, “I’m so sorry! I was lost and I just found—I saw your note! Where is dinner?”

Horrified that she’d been caught snooping (something she never did) and equally horrified by her extreme ungracefulness in the face of getting caught, Berry died a little inside.

Tammy didn’t seem too upset. “Oh, you must be hungry! I hope you liked your exploring time. We like to let all you kids have some freedom around here to get comfortable. I can take you to the lunch cabin,” she said with a smile.

Berry slid guiltily away from the desk, nodding. “That’d be great, thanks.” Berry smiled, but it was a little forced. She wasn’t very hungry. In fact, the thought of entering a cabin with other kids in it made her insides feel quite empty. But it seemed there wasn’t much else to do.

So, Berry followed Tammy out into the evening air.