You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight

by Kalynn Bayron

The Camp Mirror Lake experience requires all guests to sign a thirty-three-page waiver. Nobody ever reads the whole thing, but it explicitly states that staff members are allowed to push, shove, and restrain the guests. We’re cleared to terrify each and every person who signs on the dotted line. It’s always funny to me to see people upset at the end of the night. You signed a waiver that said a man in a mask can stalk you through the woods, but all of a sudden it’s too real? But it never fails, and that’s why Camp Mirror Lake has the reputation it does. We don’t have a marketing budget. We don’t have commercials or billboards—we have word of mouth and that’s it. We have to dial the fear up to ten so the guests can run home and tell all their friends how scared they were. That’s what keeps people, with what I’m convinced is some kind of masochistic streak, coming up here night after night.

Sounds dangerous for the staff

The light outside my door is strong and steady. I stuck a hundred-watt bulb in the socket, and now it shines like a miniature sun and hums so loud, I low-key feel like it might explode at any moment.

Uhhh, it might? It could even burn your cabin down.

Bezi knows I’d rather be anywhere other than at home, where my mom and Rob are busy forgetting, or maybe regretting, that I exist. When I go home at the end of the season, Rob always acts surprised to see me. Like he’s hoping one day I just won’t come home at all.

“Microfilm?” Kyle asks. “It’s like old-school PowerPoint. Pictures of other pictures and documents all put together on a reel.”

PowerPoint is most certainly not what microfilm is lol

I take out my phone, but I already know what I’m going to see. “I don’t have a signal.” Tasha’s blood sticks under my nails, and my hands are shaking so bad, I can barely keep hold of my phone. “We have to go to the office to make the call from the landline.”

For reference, you can still call 911 without a signal. Obviously the call won't always go through depending on your location, but emergency calls can go to any cell tower, not just the ones from your phone company. Since they still get signal occasionally at this camp, there's a chance they could still call

His shoulders rise just slightly. I don’t know if he’s smiling under that mask, but I feel like he is. “I know much more than that, thanks to someone very close to you. Someone who couldn’t wait to see your guts splashed across these hallowed grounds.”

You think her mom will still defend him? Place your bets!