"Chocolate Fudge Ripple"
Yuki came back to the cabin that morning after what I told her what happened the other day. It was cloudy and rather chilly for a Florida June day. We stood in front of the cabin, trying to figure out what was different about it. The cabin's roof got torn away. Maybe one of the girls got tired of how gritty the roof looked. I had no idea who did that. Neither did Yuki.
"Kendra, are you sure something is off here?" Yuki asked me. "Maybe you were seeing things. I mean...you were dreaming about that rotating table surrounded by our sisters' legs."
"Look, Yuki, I know something is off." I said with a firm tone. "I just can't put my finger on it what it is."
"You do have a sharp mind, Kendra, but you also have a vivid imagination. Maybe your right hemisphere crossed with your left and switched positions."
I crossed my brows at her from that remark. "That sounds stupid."
"Come on, Kens! A woman's brain is more connected than the scientists originally thought. Our brains are like the internet. Maybe yours is a mutated one. Maybe your right and left hemispheres fused during your child development. And because of the fusion, you could be confused which is real and what isn't."
I was aloof with my friend's suggestion. "Well, Yuki, call the Medical Journal if you think I'm a mutant. And maybe they should check your digestive tract to see if your mouth is connected to your esophagus or your large intestine." Oh yeah, I don't put up with people talking shit. I mean what kind of bull was she talking about.
I looked up while I was talking to her and my eyes widened. Yuki apologized to me profusely as I looked at the top of the post. Now I knew why something was off! I got it!
"Yuki, look up there!" I whispered to her after I covered her mouth. Yuki's eyes followed mine and saw what was on top of the post. A small video camera was directly at us. The lens focused on us. Yuki muffled at it before I took my hand off her.
"It's only there to catch the Flasher."
"What if it wasn't the main focus?" I asked her. "Don't you think it's odd that the Flasher isn't caught yet?"
"Now you're scaring me?"
"I should be. Think about it. The Flasher might be making his move sooner or later. With the camp swarming with hormones, he couldn't resist taking more shots of the victims."
"Maybe he's lying low until the people think he gave up."
"He might...or maybe he's taken a step ahead of the security guys and hacked the cameras."
"You know, I believe you're being paranoid."
"Let's test your theory. Walk with me."
Yuki went along with it to prove how wrong I was. Well, we walked around the post looking up at the camera. We wanted to check if it sensed motion. Once we went the whole 360, we stopped walking. The camera didn't move once.
"There now, you see? There is nothing wrong about the camera."
At that time, McKenzie took a stroll with a book on his hand. He looked where we looked and smiled. "Ah, I see you discovered this advanced security camera! Isn't it a beauty? It's called the Argus 360. They say the deity has a hundred eyes. The camera on that post has a 360-degree lens. That means it can see anyone with that thing. Isn't it something?"
As a matter of fact, it was. That gave Yuki a shock while my intuition was right. We put our heads together and figure out what camera was not a three sixty. Of course, there was a camera disguised as an owl. They called this device "Glaukopis". When we got there, we tested the owl camera. When one of us moved. There was no movement. When we both moved, it didn't.
"Now will you admit you have paranoia in your head?" Yuki asked.
Before I answered, the owl turned its head toward the woods. We stared at the direction, questioning what had its attention. We followed the direction and stopped at the opening. There was Mark and his fiancΓ© right there near the sycamore trees. Mark stood on the ground as Heather was on her knees sucking on his hard wood. We turned back to the owl and the eyes stared directly at the couple. That was the pinpoint we bolted.
We didn't know where went. At that point, we didn't care. We needed to tell someone! Then it hit me! "Gary! We need to find Gary! He's a wiz with gadgets like that Glaukopis!"
"But where can we find this Gary? He could be anywhere!"
"I know that!" I remarked in frustration. Suddenly, the answer came in front of us. It was in the form of the warehouse where Eleanor worked. If anyone would know where he was, it would be his loving aunt!
Yuki and I burst into the warehouse and rushed to see Eleanor. We haven't been so desperate to see anyone for so long! We panted as we caught our breaths. The woman put her costumer under the dryer and looked at us. She almost dropped her shift.
"Girls!" She exclaimed, seeing us dehydrated. "Oh, you two do look like you need some tall glass! Grace, be a lamb and give Kendra and Yuki some water, would you?"
"Are Sobes okay, Elle?"
"Give 'em anything you got in the fridge!" Michelle rolled her eyes when her friend went into the staff room. "Geez, I love her, but...no matter! She's good kid. Meanwhile, you guys look like you've seen something fantastic. Whadya see?"
It took me a few moments after drinking a Sobe to reply. "We want to see Gary, your nephew, Eleanor."
Eleanor's eyes widen and the other workers perked their ears. She looked at us as she thought. "Why do you want to see my nephew, girls? Are you having problems with your wifi?"
"Kinda." Yuki rolled her heels as she swayed her body. She was awkward when she answered. She stood still when she took a short breath. "Look, I think there is something wrong with a camera on our porch. We want him to check on it."
"Your camera?" Pearl combed her costumer's hair. "Gee, come to think of it, my cam's been acting strange too. It looked as though it keeps staring at me. It gives me the creeps more than that Flasher did!"
"Yours too?" Raja asked, checking out some of the new nail polish. Oh yes! She and Saisha received jobs and are now working for Eleanor! Raja is now a manipedi girl and Saisha is now a licensed masseuse. "Man, girl! I thought I was crazy when that camera followed me everywhere, I go."
I dropped my bottle hearing the others. The situation was getting worse. Yuki and I turned to one another, our nerves starting to crawl. We had to know where Gary was stat! We haven't a moment to spare! "Eleanor, please! Do you know where Gary is right now??"
Eleanor heard the panic in my cracked voice. "Oh, you're serious! I'll call Gary and ask him."
"Don't bother." Pearl's customer swished her chair around and revealed herself to us. Her legs straightened as she stood. Her lavender waves of hair shone in the light when she put her arm on her hip. I remembered her having a Russian accent. "Come with me, Miss Kendra and friend. I'll take you to him."
"Hey!" Yuki looked at the woman as she walked past us. "What gives?? How do you know Kendra??"
The woman turned around. "My friends told me about her. Word through the grapevine has it your friend is the open minded being. Yes, Kendra, you do have the heart of both the toughest metal and a softest blossom. A living conundrum, young being with so much wisdom which could only be possess by an old soul."
"Do you really want to work my tits?" I asked her. I was rather annoyed with her compliments. Oh yeah, that brought her to the wall with my retort. "I really don't deal with bullshit, especially not now! Just take us to Gary! It's urgent!"
"Fine. You don't have to tell me twice. Come on!"
True to her word, the woman, who we now know as Tricia, took us to Gary's cabin. Now Gary might be a computer expert. That does not mean he had taste with decorum. His taste was warm and cozy with a hint of modern. He has his three laptops on his block desk. He asked us for drinks before he made began to work.
"Let me see..." He said, typing on his unique keyboard. "You assume these cameras are hacked because they followed your movements?"
"It's more than that, Gary." I stated like I was interrogated. "We tested Glaukopis ourselves. It didn't move for us. That was normal. What wasn't normal was when the head turned when it detects a couple in the middle of...coitus."
"Exactly." Yuki nodded. "They didn't move when we first got them."
"Yeah, and it was creepy how the cameras moved the same time they moved. It was a miracle we got out of there." I concluded.
"Where were you when this happened?" Gary asked. "Was this around the signpost? That camera does move during any movement. It has to in case anything suspicious was moving about the camp."
"It didn't take place near the signpost. That's the problem. The camera in question is on our porch, our Glaukopis."
Yuki chimed in. "There is also another camera near the Eta Lambda Phi cabin area. It's different from our camera. Katie, one of the residents, gave me a manual about it. She told me it's important to know our cameras since we frequent there."
Gary took off his glasses and rubbed his bald head. "Is that right?" I nodded. "What model is it?"
"I have the manual right here." Yuki, my guardian angel, kept a manual in her purse in case anything happened. Well, she took a copy on her phone, but it was still good. Gary took a gander of that photo. He frowned. "Well? What do you think?"
"Okay, this is the security model Arachnida C. This model has a total of eight different lenses inside. The lenses only move when there is a movement deemed susceptible. The model itself isn't supposed to move at all! The only way this model could move is..." He stopped typing when he looked at the website of a security company. "Hold on, let me read more of these descriptions of the Arachnida camera."
His eyes were sharp. He stared at the print of each model. He studied the site well. As he studied, we whispered about what he could find. What he did find was more than what we expected. It took him twenty minutes to finish his research. He turned to us and nodded, putting back his glasses.