6. Med Time

While Indigo lectured Peter on which acorn was the most round, Berry contemplated whether to ask Finn something or not. He seemed busy, looking in the bushes for something that ‘represented him’ as the Scavenger Hunt said, but not too busy.

“Is it always like this?” she finally asked in a hushed voice, drawing near to him. She didn’t want to offend anyone, but everything that had happened (and almost everyone) was seriously weird.

Finn held up a twig and squinted at it. “What do you mean? The scavenger hunt? This is the first one I’ve done.”

Berry pretended to be thoroughly looking through the bushes herself and said, “I mean, do they always just let you wander around? This is supposed to be, like… rehabilitation.”

“Well,” Finn started, looking up at her.

“This is the roundest!” announced Indigo, suddenly appearing beside Berry. She held out a fairly round acorn to Berry. “Hold it,” she ordered.

Not wanting to argue, Berry took the acorn and looked at it in her palm. She realized it looked extra small against her long fingers.

“I like your hands.”

With wide eyes, Berry looked up at Peter, whose ginormous eyes stared back. Heck, why didn’t they turn his eyes in for something round?

Before Berry could say anything, Peter had reached for his camera and click! took a picture of her hands with the acorn.

What was wrong with him?

“Peter, you’re weirding her out,” Indigo chastised, grabbing onto his arm. She then turned to Berry. “He has this thing about photographing weird things—what do they say? Our uniquenesses—and doesn’t like taking pictures of anything else. Quite bothersome. Can’t take him anywhere,” she said with a shrug and a smile.

Berry’s eyebrows drew together. “Oh,” was all she managed.

“Did you find anything, Finn?” Indigo asked cheerily.

It took them another half hour to finish traipsing through the woods. By the end, they had a rock, an acorn, a berry (clever, right?), an old shoe they found, and a shell from the sandy bit by the lake.

Peter wanted his camera to be his item, which Berry had thought shouldn’t be allowed, but it wasn’t explicitly against the rules, so she didn't say anything.

The shoe was Indigo’s because “no one wanted it” (a depressing sentiment), and the shell was Finn’s because “it’s what’s inside that counts”. He had said this with a rather cheesy grin, and something about it made Berry think he’d been planning this joke for some time.

When they arrived back at the lunch cabin, the sky was purpley-dark, and most of the other lodgers were hanging around, seemingly done with the scavenger hunt already.

Twain The Muscle Man greeted their group, and accepted their items (save Peter’s camera) with just a slight grimace at the aged tennis shoe.

Then, Berry lingered uneasily next to Peter while Indigo discussed a TV show Berry had never heard of with Finn.

During this time, Berry looked around at the Highwater lodgers. She counted twenty-three, not including the two maroon polos (counselors) or the many white polos (which Berry still did not know the purpose of). The employees in white seemed to be more bodyguard-like, and stood at varying distances, watching the lodgers like hawks.

Berry also thought she caught a glimpse of Amelia’s—or Josephine’s—pink sweater, but a large boy with a baseball cap was standing in her way. Berry had nearly forgotten that her strange encounter with the girl had happened that same day.

Three more people returned, bringing Berry’s official count of lodgers up to twenty-six. After they handed in a variety of items, Kristee clapped her hands twice.

“Thank you all for participating! Now, we have one more thing to do before bedtime!” Kristee’s bright eyes swung over the crowd, and locked with Berry’s.

Oh no.

“We have a new lodger!” Kristee squealed, rushing forward, braids flying. She grabbed Berry’s hand and urged her forward, to the front of the lunch cabin where she’d been standing. “This is—” she stopped, looking at Berry.

“Where’s your nametag?” Kristee asked in a low voice, head cocked.

Berry was dying here, being shown off like a prize in front of everyone, and Kristee was concerned about her nametag?

“I’m Berry,” Berry reminded her.

“I know,” Kristee said through a suddenly stiff smile. Then, to the rest of the group, “Meet Berry Robinson!”

So, Kristee did know her name.

There was scattered applause, and a very loud, slow clap from Indigo, who whooped a little as well.

“Med time, everyone!” Kristee yelled, and the kids began to disperse. Berry thought that this time Kristee said ‘bedtime’ sounded a lot like ‘med time’.

“You can follow me, Berry,” Kristee said. Suddenly, Berry had a feeling she was going to be punished for throwing her nametag in the trash.

Everyone seemed to be moving in the same direction, Kristee included. As they walked, Kristee said, “Do you have the nametag?”

“I—I didn’t think it was important, it—I mean, my name was spelled wrong. I, just, I threw it out. Sorry,” Berry managed.

Kristee gave Berry a walking side-hugged. “No biggie! Just ask before you throw things out! We could’ve gotten you a new one,” she said.

They stopped in front of a grey cabin. While everyone else lined up under the watchful gaze of the White Polos, Kristee steered Berry inside.

“There are just a couple of things we like to do before bed,” Kristee explained.

The inside of the cabin was white-walled and disturbingly clinical; the cabin exterior must have been a façade. There was a hallway with three doors, and Berry was shown into the first. It looked like a nurse’s office.

“Wait here. I’ve got to get Dr. Buntly,” Kristee said warmly. Berry nodded uneasily, and Kristee left the room, shutting the door behind her.