Chapter Text
1
Summer days, and a long weekend away from their work, some staff from the Knight Nursery decide it’s a good idea to go to a campsite a few hours away. The site was covered in trees for miles, it seemed to go on with no end, so did the lake. Kelly Cabins has been a famous camp since the 60s, it was also one of the biggest sites at one point, before one of the two owners sold the camp after a mysterious accident that killed Ms. Kelly, owner and founder of the site. Some of the nursery staff had heard of the story before, those who had been there before that is. Autumn, Reece, and Mia had all grown up going to Kelly Cabins and knew Ms. Kelly. She was incredibly kind and well-loved in the little community that supported her and her little family of three. No one really knew her eldest daughter since she never went up to the camp, her younger daughter Meabh came up a whole lot though, but what was spread by gossip and other communities was that she did not take her mother’s death lightly. Some even said that her daughter would take revenge on whoever took her life away and make whoever did it feel how her daughter did. Then again, gossip dies, news turns old, and people forget. Not all of them though. Some people hold grudges until the day they die.
Some couples were excited to show their partners around the site and scenery, one couple in particular wasn't so excited. “Once we get there, you will stay with me until nightfall. If you want to stay in the cabins during the night that’s fine, but I will never stay in those disgusting things. I will not allow you to sleep in here at any point during the weekend if you do decide the cabins are your calling, I don’t need the gross musk in my caravan.” Roger Knight wasn’t the most fond of places that seemed below him, like simple wooden cabins in these gorgeous woods, that's why he brought the eyesore of a caravan that he owned. Siobhan Serpent was quite fond of the woods, there was a wooded area near her house when she was a child. A ton of memories flooded her mind when she got that first smell of the evergreen trees and the gorgeous look of stripes on birch trees. '
Siobhan and Roger were together for a long while, neither of them seemed to be happy, but Roger was a little too fond of control to let her go so easily. The woman had tried to let him go gently but every failed attempt added another bruise to her skin. She knew that after the first couple of times that Roger hurt her that she was in the deep end, and the blonde was drowning. Drowning in the expectations that Roger had for her and the overwhelming weight of the rest of the staff not being too fond of her cold shoulder and dating preference. Siobhan didn’t want to be this way, a corrupt system of people hating on other people for things that don’t hurt anyone is what made her this way.
As they were pulling into the camp site’s parking lot, Siobhan thought she heard a whisper, “Get him out.” She just got out of the van and moved her head to where she thought she heard the whisper, near the lake. Roger came to stand beside her to see what she was looking at. “Did you hear that?” Siobhan asked Roger. “What? The rustling of the leaves? The waves of the lake? The sound of the loons-" "No!” Siobhan interrupted, “Listen. There’s a whisper near the lake.” They both stood for a moment, listening to the sounds of the forest. “Get him out.” Siobhan stood a little straighter, the whisper seemed louder the more she focused on it. “There! There was no doubt that it was from over there.” Siobhan pointed towards the shore and Roger just stood there thinking the woman was crazy. “There’s no whispers, Siobhan.” He placed his hand on her shoulder, the blonde shuddered, but not because it was cold. Roger went back inside to try to set up whatever he can for the weekend, Siobhan decided to go down to the lake to try and figure out what seemed to be calling her. Siobhan and Roger were the first to show up and the others would be coming relatively soon, a little walk around of the site wouldn’t hurt, would it?
🩸
About an hour later, almost everyone else showed up, Charlotte, Carly, Autumn, Marjorie, Reece, Winter, Mia, and Sorcha. Char and Mia drove Carly up since no one trusts her enough to not mess up the directions. Carly is still intimidated by Mia, Char tries her best to make sure the girl is comfortable with the redhead. Aut and Marjorie decided to do a girls road trip up to the camp. The idea was Marjorie’s but Autumn seemed to be on board, as long as Marjorie isn’t in control of the music, Aut is quite fond of her eardrums and knows how Marjorie is when her music comes on. Reece and Winter did their own bromance road trip, no one was surprised when the two married couples came with their partners siblings.
Everyone seemed to notice that there was something off with Siobhan, no one was comfortable with Roger being there, but with his side piece, there was no comfort at all in any room they stepped into. Siobhan however, seemed not to be her usual cold and reserved self, she still seemed cold, but she was always looking over her shoulder then looking at Roger in confusion. “What do you think is on Siobhan’s mind?” Char asked Mia in a hushed voice. It was the early afternoon, a few hours after everyone arrived and put their things in their cabins. Everyone was in a living room type of cabin, Sorcha was playing Mia’s guitar since she wanted to show off an Irish song or two her mum taught her from her teen years. “She doesn’t seem tense because of Roger for once, still tense about him but not as much as usual. Do you reckon that something happened before everyone came here?” Little did she know, Mia could not be any closer to the truth.
“I’ll be right back.” Siobhan whispered to Roger. “And where might you be going? You know how I feel with you sneaking off.” The man grabbed her arm after she got up from the couch and pulled her back down. Siobhan was used to this empty threat, the most that the man would do is give her a bruise because of how tight he squeezes her arm. “It’s none of your business, and it’s not sneaking off if you know that I won’t go far.” Siobhan snapped back at him. It’s not that she won’t go far, she could go as far as the other side of the world, it’s that she can’t. No matter how far she thinks she can go, she knows that he could catch up to her any second. Siobhan never liked any chasing games as a kid when she was the one being chased, she now fully understands why, she needs to know that she’s safe no matter what. Siobhan rips her arm out of Rogers grip, everyone seemed to be so infatuated with Sorcha's playing that they didn’t see the interaction between her and the older man. All except two, the two who didn’t think anyone was listening, but ears are everywhere.
Siobhan goes into the washroom and locks the door, it wasn’t the prettiest of washrooms, 3 stalls on the right side of the room, and 2 sinks with a large mirror on the left. Yellow tinted light poured from the ceiling, 3 soap bottles lined the sink and a paper towel dispenser with the uncomfortable brown paper on the farthest wall, but none of this mattered at the moment. The woman felt the room spinning and her knees collapsing to the floor, her breathing becoming rugged and her chest starting to tighten. “Oh come on Siobhan, you’re stronger than this, than your emotions.” The voice was back, familiar and unwelcome, it felt like it was right in front of her, Siobhan closed her eyes tightly as she felt tears start to sting. She grabbed handfuls of her hair to try to get the headache to cool down. “Get out of my head, you aren’t real.” The blonde wasn’t religious in any way shape or form, but in this one instance she prayed to whoever would listen to get this voice away.
“Siobhan!” The voice shouted and made the woman snap her head up in the direction of the shout, still breathing rapidly. Instead of it just being a voice, it was an apparition of a woman, a woman that was a little too familiar to Siobhan. Realization flooded the blonde when she saw who had been tormenting her thoughts ever since she got to the site. “Mum?” None of this felt real. Siobhan steered clear of this camp site because of the way her mother, Ms. Kelly, mysteriously died. Her mother wasn’t married to her father until after the camp site was founded so it stayed her maiden name, naming a camp site ‘Serpent Cabins’ was something that the blonde’s mother knew wasn’t going to get her customers to come again. When Siobhan found out about where the staff were going, she outright refused, but with Roger being Roger it took 20 minutes, a threat, and a scratch on her upper arm to get her in the caravan. “I thought you were dead? What the hell is this, some sick prank?” Siobhan started to get angry, she knew people could be cruel, but pulling a stunt like this was absolutely insane. “No, no prank sweetheart, it’s me. I’m still dead but I’m here to help you.” The blonde felt her legs were strong enough to get her back up off of the washroom floor so she could face the ghost of her mother, at least she thought it was a ghost. “What kind of help are you talking about?” The apparition smirked at the question. “I’m here to help you get rid of the people who don’t care about you.”
Siobhan pressed her back against the wall trying to stabilize herself and not go on the floor again. “What do you mean by ‘get rid of’?” “Oh sweetheart, you never were the sharpest tool in the shed.” Siobhan sighs and crosses her arms after hearing that, that definitely had to be her mom, always comparing her to her little successful sister, Meabh. It wasn’t the blonde’s fault that Meabh had her son, Jarvis, at a young age, that was Meabh's own doing, if anything Siobhan was the one who never wanted kids. She wasn’t too fond of them, considering her job it’s ironic that she hasn’t left yet. Plus with her taste of who she’d actually like to date wouldn’t allow her to have kids anyway, but Siobhan was okay with that. “I’m here,” The apparition continued, Siobhan didn’t realize she was zoned out until her mom started speaking again, “So that you can get rid of everyone in this site.” Yup, the blonde heard her mother correctly, “You want me to kill a couple of people?” Her mother shook her head, “I want everyone gone.”
Siobhan felt the room spinning again and her knees buckling, “Now now sweetheart. You and I both know that these people aren’t fond of you in the slightest.” Siobhan nodded at that, she knew people had stronger and weaker opinions about her that she didn’t know about. “But with my help, you can get rid of their stupid opinions for good and not have to worry about them anymore. Doesn’t that sound peaceful?” Peace, the blonde hasn’t had a moment of peace ever since she started seeing Roger. “Peace sounds nice.” The apparition nods approvingly at this response. Siobhan took a deep breath and stood up straight, “Who do I start with?” “Good, remember the whispers from the lake? Get him out?” Siobhan remembers quite well, she’s had things that happened to her audibly in which she couldn’t explain before, but only in minor circumstances, nothing like fully strung sentences. The blonde nods, “We’ll start with the man with the ugly caravan in my gorgeous camp site.”
🩸
It had been nearly 15 minutes with Siobhan being gone, some people were a little worried, but one in particular was not having any of it. “That’s it, I’m going to get her and bring her back here.” Roger stood up abruptly and started walking towards the washroom where Siobhan had been for the past while. “Father, she’s probably fine.” Autumn called out to her father, knowing that saying something like that could get him to snap. “No one asked you, Autumn.” The man shouted back at his daughter. Aut had been a subject to this treatment for so long that it doesn’t feel like it hurts her anymore, but it still makes her flinch. Winter noticed and put a hand on top of hers, in which she gladly accepted. Just as Roger approached the washroom door, the click of the lock and the squeak of the hinges was heard among the whole floor. Roger’s fist was raised since he was going to pound on the door, but from Siobhan’s angle it looked like he was about to hit her again.
The woman shrunk away, waiting for the impact like she had so many times before, but it never came. Instead, the cold hand of the man came in contact with her arm again, “What took you so long?” Roger spat at her, the blonde knew this tone well, it signified that he wasn’t going to play nice the next time that they were alone in any given space. “You’ll find out soon enough.” Roger didn’t like the cold threat that the blonde threw at him, but he can’t do anything in front of his staff members to put her in her place, all he can do is sit in the cabin that was way below his status until nightfall. Then Roger and everyone else will know what happens to people who mess with the wrong family.