Author's note: This story is an experiment. It is based on "Much Ado About Nothing" but you don't need to see that play to understand this story.
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Ben was wondering what he was going to do with his afternoon off. He was a summer camp leader at camp P- Lake. It was a good job for the summer for a college guy like him and he was getting nearer and nearer to getting a date with one of the women leaders. Her name was Alice and she was so pretty that Ben almost didn't think she was real at first. He had thought that she should be on the cover of magazines, not roughing it at a summer camp. But she had said she wanted to be a teacher when she finished college so she thought this would be a good job for that.
Wednesday afternoon was Ben's off time. He could have gotten into his car and left for the town that was down the road but he'd done that last week and discovered that it wasn't such a good idea. The town really didn't have anything and it took so much time to get there. So this week he was just going to chill and catch up on his reading. He had a pretty interesting book about a fictitious first mission to Mars. A lot of those old Mars books were becoming popular recently. Now that the actual first human mission to Mars had been completed without anything going wrong it was interesting to go back and look at all the things people used to be worried about.
He was in the recreation room in the main administration building since trying to spend free time in one of the bunk houses or any of the other facilities was a good way for the kids to come and rope you into doing something with them. Ben usually didn't mind but when he had to be on the clock almost all the time, he had really started to look forward to just getting some alone time. It was more stressful than he'd thought to be responsible for the wellbeing of others.
But besides the kids, there was another very big reason he wanted to avoid the bunk houses. His sister. Beatrice had also gotten a job here and that bitch was deliberately going out of her way to make life hell for Ben. You wouldn't think it to look at her. You probably wouldn't think it even if you met her and got to know her a bit. But Beatrice had an evil side. She didn't show it to everyone. Usually she was just so nice all the time.
A lot of siblings might go through a stage where they fight but they eventually grow out of it. Not these two. Ben was eager to tell anyone who would listen that of course it was all completely Beatrice's fault. She was the nasty one, not him. He was kind and reasonable to everyone. But women being women, they always took his sister's side. And Beatrice being as beautiful as she was made other guys want to run to her defense. But they didn't know her like Ben knew her. They didn't know that the devil was in that girl. They didn't know about all the shit she'd pulled on Ben over the years.
Ben was in a dark room reclining on one of the sofas when he heard some people walk past the door to the rec room but they didn't go in.
"I should just fire both of them. I can't put up with this." That was the head of the camp, Mrs. Peters, talking.
"Don't do that. You don't know what the whole story is." That sounded like Mrs. Claudia.
"Then someone better explain it to me fast because I can't have those two yelling at each other and slamming doors everyday. They're scaring the children and we're going to have parents complaining."
Oh, shit. Ben then realized that they were talking about him and Beatrice. He was overhearing the boss talking about wanting to fire him. His fucking sister was now going to cost him a job. If he did get fired it would be the second time she'd done that. He remained still and tried not to make a sound.
The old man, Mr. Leonard, who was sort of the second in command there then said something. "This camp isn't just a place to make money. It is supposed to be a place of healing and those two need it."
"Why? Explain it to me like I'm a two year old."
"There are certain things I know. The girl, she pretends to hate but she loves her brother."
"Well, then, if she wants to keep her job she needs to stop pretending."
"That would be a bad idea." said Claudia.
"Why? Is she not supposed to love her brother? I don't care if they hold hands and prance around together in their free time. I want the arguing to stop."
"What she means to say is, the girl doesn't just love her brother. She's in love with her brother."
Ben was shocked. He froze in place as he heard that news. From the sounds of things Mrs. Peters was shocked as well. The conversation didn't continue for a few seconds.
"That can't possibly be true."
"It's true." said Mrs. Claudia.
"Beyond reason, she loves him with something akin to a raging fire." said Mr. Leonard.
"And you knew about this?"
"Yes, ma'am." said Mrs. Claudia.
"Maybe she's just faking to get attention."
"No, ma'am." said Mrs. Claudia.
"Faking? No one could ever fake the passion I see in her." said Mr. Leonard.
"Passion?" questioned Mrs. Peters. "Like what?"
The older man began to speak but Ben could not hear and so he inched his way closer to the door and almost fell off the sofa. A part of his mind was thinking that maybe they were trying to trick him but old Leonard, so long good friends with Ben's father would never play a trick on him as cruel as this would be.
"And you see the way he looks at his sister." Mrs. Claudia said a little softer as Ben heard someone pass them in the hall.
"Well, if that's really what's going on then those two need to sit down and talk it through like adults instead of having shouting matches." said Mrs. Peters.
"No. She says she can never tell him." said Mr. Leonard. "But not telling him torments her."
"Her hate is a mask." said Mrs. Claudia. "She wants him at a distance because she could not bear it if he knew."
"I can bring by the words she tried to write to him. Then you'll see with your own eyes. She writes a love letter to him every night and even I have to admit I feel sorry for the girl. If only she were to direct her feelings at another target."
"And those are the mild ones." said Mrs. Claudia. "Some of what she writes is so lurid that I can't even repeat it. She reads it to herself over and over again and then she tears it into a million pieces. She paces back and forth around her bed railing against herself for feeling the way she does. Then she falls down on her knees. She weeps. Then she prays, pleads even, with God to take her feelings for her brother away."
"There are times when, I have to say it, I'm scared that girl might do something to hurt herself if this keeps up."
"If all of that is true, and I'm going to check you understand ... but if all that is true then it is best we get Conner in on this. We need to have a sit down with her, and the brother so we can work this out."
"And what would talking accomplish?" ask Claudia. "We'd just push her over the edge."
"Look, I like her." said Mrs. Peters. "I like her a lot. She's good with the kids but I have to stop the yelling."
"She's a smart girl." said Claudia. "Maybe we can just sit down with her and let her know that we know and maybe with our support we can help her through this without getting a whole bunch of other people involved. She'd be mortified."
"True." said the administrator. "It isn't like her brother can return her feelings. He's a good guy and I like him too but our main concern as of now is getting her in order. Once she's taken care of, then we can pull him to the side and tell him to lay off his sister."
"I don't think we should ever tell him. Not as long as she thinks she feels this way. Let's get her some counseling."
"I fear the poor girl will wear her heart out pining after her brother of all people." said Leonard.
"Counseling is a good idea for her." Mrs. Peters said. "Let's get that started but first I want to talk to the girls that might have seen her acting this way. We need to make sure they keep quiet."
The group moved away from the rec room and Ben was left there feeling dazed. His sister was in love with him. She was secretly in love with him. That was why she was so angry every time he was around her. That was why ... Holy Shit!!!
