○ fred finch's terrible idea leads to terrible results. ◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜ / caryn stepped forward and took over for her bumbling cohort. "we're going to be making human pyramids," she said flatly. what a horrible idea. this could only go poorly. / it was as if some great beast had suddenly awoken in a fit of rage, so great was the immediate uproar caryn's announcement caused. the air fizzed with excitement and activity. voices clamored to be heard as a few people sighed, a few people groaned, and the majority chattered on and on with their friends about this amazing task at hand. "QUIET, PLEASE!" caryn bellowed, and all at once the camp fell silent. "that's better," she said. "line up from shortest to tallest!" and the air sparked to life again as people pushed and fought for a place in the line, calling out, "no, i'm taller!" and "actually, i think you two might need to switch!" and "go back to back, i want to see who's *really* taller..." and all sorts of words that blended and folded together into a noise so loud one could scarcely hear oneself think over the din. slowly the line formed, and avior found himself towards the end of the line, destiny two places to his left and arin somewhere near the middle. little jaspal downes was at the very end, and a boy from primus way down at the other end. caryn set about doing what she did best: ordering people around. she sent people in every direction, bringing about the end of the line that for one moment had been so beautifully straight. avior found himself mourning its loss. "go to that group," caryn said to him, pointing toward where a few people from assorted cabins stood, looking utterly dumbfounded. at last, caryn directed jaspal downes to a group, and then stepped back to confer with fred finch for a moment, who then carefully eyed each group and gave a nod. "all right, since i'm not the former cheerleader here, i'm going to hand this over to finch now," caryn announced. she stepped back and stood with her hands planted on her hips. "okay, then!" fred finch looked slightly nervous. "how many people are in each group... ah, eight in each? right then, these are going to be smaller pyramids at first, let's have the tallest four in each group on the bottom! get on your hands and knees, folks!" a girl from octavo standing beside avior giggled as she knelt. "that's suggestive," she said, tucking a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear like destiny always did. fred finch surveyed each group, and slowly his face split into a grin. "now, then! next tallest three get on top of them! hands and knees!" that would be avior and two other people he didn't associate with. the octavo girl giggled again and did not offer any guidance on how to properly form the pyramid, seemingly content where she was. avior put a tentative hand upon the back of the boy on the ground in front of him, and when nothing exploded, he allowed himself to relax slightly. this was a terrible idea, but it had potential to work out. "we don't have all day, you guys," the octavo girl grumbled. "just climb on, all of you," and so avior did. it was a weird sensation, being entirely at the mercy of the people below him. if they all decided to collapse to the ground, he would be powerless to stop them, and therefore would fall as well. that was a scary thought. he doubted anything would be collapsing today, though, at least not in his group. why was everyone at xiphoid so strong? it was bizarre. "final person! you know what to do!" fred finch called out, now beaming widely. "i'm benjamin," the ten-year-old boy who was the final piece to the pyramid said. "don't drop me," "wouldn't dream of it, benny," avior said as the boy clumsily made his way to the top. "you did it, campers!" fred finch said giddily. "wonderful work, everyone! you can come out of the pyramids now!" the moment each pyramid was dismantled, fred finch called out, "merge with the group next to yours!" this was ambitious! a sixteen-person human pyramid? "now, then, i'm going to help each individual pyramid assemble itself, okay? so stay put until i get to you!" fred finch said. he approached the group nearest to him, calling directions and waving his arms. slowly, a bottom layer was formed, then a second one, then a third and finally a fourth layer of people inched its way into being, heavily assisted by fred finch. fred finch stepped back a moment to admire his work, and from somewhere in the forest, a great crashing sound, perhaps maybe a branch or even a tree falling, rang out and momentarily fred finch whirled to face the source of the noise, and that was when it happened.
the pyramid undid itself at once, and in a flail of limbs and falling bodies it came tumbling to the ground and a hush fell over the camp except for the one girl from octavo who yelled "oh, s[][][]!" and clapped a hand over her mouth and fred finch was yelling as well and running to the pyramid's wreckage with caryn right behind him and a large amount of concerned people hovering nearby. so distracted he was by the commotion caused by the epic disaster at hand, avior had forgotten: arin had been on that pyramid, near the top. the moment he realized this, he took off running across the grass, pushing his way through the crowd of worried individuals to where some of the people who had been in the pyramid were getting to their feet, and more still on the ground— avior could not tell who was injured and who was not. "go on, then, help someone out!" caryn shouted at the onlookers, and avior spotted arin, who was holding aer hand in a way that was not at all reassuring. "are you okay?" avior asked, then immediately wished he had asked something else. arin was definitely not okay. shoot. shoot shoot shoot. what was supposed to happen now? arin took an unsteady breath and shrugged. "i dunno," ae said, voice wavering. fred finch knelt before a girl from secundo, who spat something into the dirt. avior felt dizzy when he realized what it was. a tooth. somebody's tooth had gotten knocked out. what did fred finch expect to happen? this was probably the worst idea anyone had ever had in the history of xiphoid camp. human pyramids? really? ⋘◦⋙ This was a disaster. "This is not my fault," Fred Finch said into the phone for what felt like the hundredth time. "I think I understand enough about the situation to draw my own conclusion," the man on the other end snapped. "Someone broke their hand? A girl got a *tooth* knocked out? Finch, what in the blazes?" "I'm sorry," Fred mumbled. He was sorry. This had been a colossal mistake. "Don't apologize to me. Apologize to your campers. Finch, I'm going to be honest with you. The Guild is starting to have their doubts about your camp. There has been talk of shutting it down entirely. Children cannot continue to get hurt under your care, do you understand? It's only Xiphoid that has this problem. Do better. Goodbye, Finch," "Good—" Fred stopped midway through the word. The man had already hung up. He sighed and fell into the squeaky chair at his desk. He needed to try harder. Stricter security, firmer enforcement of rules and harsher punishments for those who broke them. He had to keep Xiphoid, and the only way to do that was to keep the children safe. This camp was everything to him. He would not allow it to be ruined. ⋘◦⋙ This had been one of the worst days James had had in a while. The human pyramids were horrible, and his skin had yet to cease the crawling and jumping sensation, and he still felt like he was going to vomit his guts out. He had pleaded exhaustion from the day's wild events and gone to bed early, but now lay awake while everyone else slept and his mind raced, red-hot with a thousand thoughts and spiraling out of control. Why was he doing this? Why did he act as though other people hadn't been affected in much worse ways by the day's events? He had it better than a whole lot of people, and it was embarrassing that he still had to lie there in the dark feeling sorry for himself because he couldn't handle something as benign and everyday as physical contact. The pyramid debacle had everyone badly shaken, not just the people directly involved. The camp directors had spent hours making phone calls and wearing out their floorboards, seven people had gone to spend the night at the infirmary, and one of them was avior, who had gone to see his friend and, Bradley later reported, fallen asleep in a chair beside his friend's bed. He hadn't had the heart to wake him. So it likely wasn't just James who was still awake. That was both comforting and irritating. He had a theory that was was more unity to be found in suffering than in pleasantry. That was backwards, wasn't it?
