Holidays; Scratch

Scratch. Scratch. Scratch. This time I didn’t bother to see who was being tortured by those merciless bugs. This dream trip was already turning into a nightmare. When dinner was served, we all became a little cheerful but our cheerfulness was short-lived, it evaporated as soon as we saw our plates, being filled with tasteless boiled rice, hot salty watery stew and hard rock bread. Even the water was weird; sweet and salty. I felt like we were serving in a prison. I think Ms. Orla lied to us when she said there were no fruits left. What could we do? She hated us! Somia murmured something in sleep. She was also in our group. We met her when our names were called out. Good thing, she isn’t a bit like Claudia. Yeah, you guess right, Claudia, Fat ..same person. But no way I’m gonna call her Claudia; it doesn’t suit her at all. Fat is perfect for her. Anyways, I was telling you about Somia. When we met her, we felt as if we’ve known her forever. We just hit it off. And she’s brave too, not afraid of spiders and lizards. She even killed one spider for us!

Scratch. Scratch. Oh God! Something is crawling on me, I screamed inside. I wanted to run away, free of insects, like crazy, jumping up and down. After dinner I’d almost said to Sk ‘I want my mummy’, see, I was this bad.
I couldn’t sleep. Whenever I closed my eyes I saw myself being eaten alive by a giant spider. I shuddered at the thought of it. I turned around restlessly and saw a mosquito dancing on my arm as if though my arm was its land. A sudden fear struck me. What if I got malaria? Or even worse, dengue? Mosquito repellent, you silly girl, Camper voice said in my head. I obeyed and reached for my bag, opened it and saw my precious stuff lying there. I’d brought my party dresses too, I laughed wearily when I saw my blue sequined dress. What was I thinking? Mosquito repellent was buried under my clothes. I took it out and sprayed all over me, hoping that it’d also protect me from lions and bears and giant spiders. It’s a nice scent, I sniffed. Scratch. Scratch. Poor Sana, I thought as I saw her scratching her cheek and I sprayed the repellent on her too. She stopped scratching immediately. I smiled triumphly and sprayed all over the tent, until the bottle was empty. I put the empty bottle in the bag and slept happily.
*********************************

‘AHHHHHHHH’
‘OH MY GOD! LOOK AT ME. THOSE BUGS HAVE EATEN ME ALIVE’

I opened my eyes and saw a red creature crying. Sk was sitting quietly in the corner, she’d had covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes squeezed shut as if couldn’t bear to look. I rubbed my eyes and peered closely at creature. I yelped when I realized it was Sana.
‘OMG! What the hell happened to you?’ I cried with shock.
‘I don’t know’ she sobbed, looked at mirror and cried loudly ‘they’ve ruined my face, I feel like I’m on fire’ she scratched on her cheek, then on her arm, again on her cheeks making them more scarlet.

‘Don’t do that’ a familiar voice said. I turned around and saw Fat, eating her gum.
‘What?’ Sana said scratching.
‘Don’t scratch!’ Fat said calmly ‘It’ll get worse’ I’d to agree with her. I shook my head when Sana raised her hand to scratch her forehead. She sighed and dropped her hand and cried. Sk slowly uncovered her face and opened her eyes. I looked at her helplessly.

‘Somia has gone to fetch Ms. Orla’ Fat assured us. I wondered why she was being so nice. Maybe she did something to Sana. I watched her suspiciously, trying to find a trace of guilt on her face. She saw me looking at her and smirked. We held each other gaze. It was like a competition, who’d turn away first, making other a winner. My eyes began to water but I didn’t blink. I was trying too hard. On the other hand, Fat was staring at me calmly, smirking at the same time. Thankfully Ms. Orla arrived with her paid servants; I mean the two boys and Somia. We both blinked at the same time and looked at Ms. Orla.

‘Good God! This batch is cursed, I think’ she muttered under breath but a bit too loudly. The two boys laughed. Ms. Orla glared at them.
‘What happened to you?’ Ms. Orla asked, checking Sana’s hands, which I noticed were also red and blotchy. Sana shrugged.
‘Farhan, Call Dr. Stitch’, now’ she shouted to one of boy. Farhan saluted her and ran off.
We waited for Dr. Stitch to come. I noticed the other boy, who’d winked at us, looked like Nick, one of those cute Jonas Brothers. He looked really cool in his black t-shirt and rugged grey jeans.
‘He’s cute, isn’t he?’ Somia giggled. I was surprised, Somia was a total tomboy, and she didn’t strike me as ‘crushing’ type girl. I nodded, both staring at him. He caught us looking and winked his oh-so-cute-and-famous-wink. We blushed and looked away. But no, I wasn’t crushing on him, if that’s what you’re thinking. He wasn’t my type, he wasn’t Zac Efron.
Farhan came back with Dr. Stitch. He was one hefty man. He was bald and shiny and dark. He was also grinning; his teeth were all white and clean, sparkling now and then. Maybe he used to work in toothpaste advertisement.
‘So, what have we got here, huh?’ he grinned at Sana but when he saw her crying he replaced it with a gentle smile.
‘Hmm’ he put on his glasses and examined her, ‘Did you use some perfume or anything which you’re allergic to?’ he asked.
‘No, I didn’t’ Sana said.
‘Are you allergic to something?’ He asked. Sana closed her eyes to think.
‘When I was six, I used a raspberry perfume. Same thing had happened’ Sana told him. Suddenly I’d a very bad feeling. I wanted to get away. I slowly stood up with my bag and crept away outside towards the lake, I splashed some water on my face. Took out the empty bottle and read the ingredients: alcohol, isopropyl myristate, blah, blah, blah and then my heart thumped loudly when I read the next word: raspberry flavored aqua. I dropped the bottle in the lake, hoping some big whale would eat it and cursed Summer Fun Classes. If I’d not joined those classes I would have never met Camper and his repellent. And then I wouldn’t have met Mrs. Habib, and I wouldn’t have come here and used this stupid repellent and Sana wouldn’t have got allergic. But why cry over spilt milk? All’s done now.
I’d a feeling that someone was watching me; I looked around and saw Nick-look alike grinning at me.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked, dropping beside me.
I nodded. Why did he have to come now? Why wouldn’t he just go away and leave me alone?
‘You don’t look ok’ he said, concerned.
‘Why?’ I asked, annoyed.
‘You look like some mad person on runaway,’ he laughed ‘your hairs are sticking out from here and there. Your face is so pale like you haven’t seen the sun for ages’. I didn’t say anything. I was too tired to retort back.
‘Hey sorry, I was just joking’ he did sound sorry ‘you look fine’ when I still didn’t say anything he extended his hand to shake mine ‘I’m Blue’
‘Blue?’ my voice came out like a croak.
‘You need water?’ I began to say no, then changed my mind and nodded. He handed me a bottle. I took a big gulp. The sweet and salty water somehow tasted delicious.
‘Yeah, Blue’ he grinned ‘Nice isn’t it?’ I smiled.
‘And what’s your name? ’I told him mine. I wasn’t in a mood to talk. He started telling me about the lake and some train service. I tried my best to listen. He caught my attention when he said the word ‘lion’.
‘Sorry, what?’ I asked, alert.
‘I said there are no lions here. It’s not a big forest, you’ll find only a few wild cats and boars and some deer. And you see this lake? It’s called Lunar Lake. The boating is possible here, I tried to talk Mr. Sajid into it but he didn’t agree’
‘Mr. Sajid?’ I asked curiously.
‘He’s our incharge, a tough cookie’ he laughed ‘have you seen that cranky baldy man, that’s the one’
‘Yeah, I met him on the train, he was really ...’ I searched for the right word then gave up ‘cranky, as you said’
We remained silent for a moment then he said in this oh-so-serious voice ‘You know what, I’ve this feeling that I could trust you’ I raised an eyebrow.
‘I’m going to tell you a secret but don’t say a word, ok?’ I nodded solemnly even though I can’t keep a single secret. I’ve a big mouth, and sometimes while gossiping I exaggerate too.
‘When you guys will be going, I won’t join you. This is my home. I come here during every vacation but I’m not going to go back now. I’ll be a Tarzan’
‘Tarzan!’ I snorted and quickly changed into a cough. He looked hurt.
‘Everybody laughs at me when I tell them that I’m going to be a Tarzan of Changa Manga’ he sighed exasperatedly. Then back to his spunky manner, he said ‘and who knows I might find my Jane’ this time I laughed freely and he joined me too.
‘Hey, I almost forgot to tell you, I found this underground tunnel near those trees’ he pointed towards the tress who were swaying in the wind faraway ‘we are gonna get in there. Somia and Claudia agreed to come, would you join us too?’
I was tempted. ‘Can I ask my friends, too?’
‘Yes, of course. My friend, Farhan, might come too. But not a word to the teachers’
‘Yeah, it’s a deal’ we shook hands.
‘So be there tomorrow at 5am’ he said getting up ‘have to go now, or Baldy’ll be mad. Catch you tomorrow’
‘Yeah, sure. Bye’ I smiled. When he was gone I began to plan my apologizing- speech to Sana. I knew she’d forgive but I couldn’t help feeling bad. I got up and slowly walked towards our tent. I went inside, dreading the moment when i'd tell her that it was all my fault. Sana and Sk were alone. Sana was rubbing a lotion on her arms and face. Sk, reading a magazine.
‘It was the mosquito repellent’ I said to Sana, meekly.
‘Yeah, I noticed’ she smiled ‘Silly me’
‘What? You’re not mad at me?’ I asked, surprised.
‘Why should I be mad at you? You didn’t know I was allergic. And beside, I put on the spray myself’ then I remembered that I’d given the other two bottles to Sana and Sk. I told Sana and Sk about how I’d emptied the bottle on Sana the other night. We all laughed heartily. I didn’t tell them about tunnel-trip. I’d tell them later I thought, at the right moment.
Fat barged in suddenly and said ‘we’re gonna Insect study now, come you two’ she said to Sk and me ‘You can stay if you want’ she nodded to Sana.
We all looked at each other, when Fat was gone.
‘If you guys are going, I’ll come too’ Sana said. We three got up and got dressed in our most comfortable clothes and went to study insects.

A lot happened then! But my hands are tired now, so later! Cya!