~Chapter 4~

Five minutes after being outside, the heavy clouds brought rain, which was to be expected since it was a storm. Well, probably two minutes later, the rain turned into a downpour. Another few minutes passed and strong winds pushed the rain everywhere. One second the rain was going east, the next it was going west. The winds were so strong and frigid that not only did I get soaked in a matter of seconds, but they officially turned the ordinary storm into a merciless maelstrom. Of all nights, Zoey had to choose this one? Why? Yeah, apparently I did something bad, but come on! The one night she chose to kick me out and now the only thing that could possibly make it worse was hail. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if a chunk of ice aimed itself at me this moment. This went beyond even Izzy's level.

I was blasted in the face with a mixture of icy wind and extremely heavy rain. Talk about chilled to the bone, I bet even my personalities were freezing! Manitoba probably had forty fedoras on and twenty ropes wrapped around him. Vito was probably no longer shirtless, who knows how many shirts he would've put on by now! Chester was a different story, he would be complaining nonstop by now, I could see him insulting the weather, something about "darn kids polluting the earth" or something like that. Svetlana would continue honing her acrobatic skills even though she had already perfected them, she would probably use this kind of weather to practice balance from the windstorm and tolerance to the cold. Again, at least she was useful in the fact that if needed that badly, she would take charge of my body and bound away to find shelter. I could find shelter too, but not in the way she could. After all, being as she could do all kinds of crazy jumps, somersaults, and leaps, she could climb up a mountain easily and quickly.

I was almost knocked from my no-longer-comfortable pine tree branch by another relentless gust of wind. This time chills were sent down my spine and I had never felt so alert in my life. It was like the storm triggered something in my mind that made me fully wake up and focus. There was no way I could get even a little drowsy in this storm. Another torrent washed over me, this time taking me with it and plucking me from my branch. I landed in a horribly muddy flood. It didn't come as much of a surprise. I hoped I wouldn't get frustrated. Chester would come out and do nothing but stand there shouting out to the sky, which by the way, couldn't be seen past the rain. He wouldn't try to get out of the storm like the rest of my personalities. If only I could find the confessional...

Since I could just barley see the tree I'd fallen out of, I pushed through the strong winds. All the mud and flood waters hindered my attempts to find safety and someplace dry. I could hear the mud make sucking noises as I pulled my feet from it. The water made sure to thoroughly soak my shoes. To top it, the winds didn't favor me. They angrily blew more rain in my face. At first, the rain was extremely uncomfortable, but now it stung every part of my body. I wondered if it was too late to rely on Svetlana's help.

I tried to concentrate on something else, but it was hard. The storm kept me focused on my surroundings. However, I was somehow able to bring up a few thoughts as I pushed myself to find the confessional. My only desire to be in an outhouse was to sleep, camera or not. No confessions from me tonight, even if the audience wanted to hear what I had to say. Well, sorry to disappoint them, but I really didn't have anything to say.

I had trouble of getting lost, but it was a risk I had to take. I managed to successfully bring a memory to the front of my mind. It was a memory, actually, and it gave me an excellent reminder of why I couldn't tell anyone, the exception being Cameron since he figured it out, about my disorder. The memory was deeply related to this subject, and so my past had become a very touchy and delicate field of conversation. Only my uncle knew about it, since my mom and dad died in a car crash involving a drunk driver when I was twelve. Ever since then, I'd been living with my uncle, whose wife had left him, leaving him to raise a son that was a junior in college. I was glad I had an uncle who thought of me as another son. He couldn't replace my parents, but at least he gave me the love of a real father and the understanding of my disorder. He treated me like a normal person despite all my personalities popping up. He reminded me so much of my dad, and I'd come to accept him as a parent rather than an uncle. My cousin was practically my brother, although he had problems tolerating my personalities. But he treated me like a little brother when I was Mike. He looked out for me, playfully teased me about things other than my disorder, and made sure to be there for me when I needed him. I was very lucky to have them. I actually had two other uncles and an aunt, but my aunt was too busy divorcing and getting remarried over and over again, one of my uncles was in jail, and the other uncle was a drug addict who cared more about girls than anyone else.

My friends sometimes made fun of my personalities, especially Chester. Everyone else who found out about it, usually from overhearing my friends, quickly spread the word to the entire school. Ever since I was little, that was how my life was. Chester was apparently so hilarious that people would intentionally try to bring him out. They did everything they could, from laughing at me to writing embarrassing notes to me on the bathroom window to literally beating me up. Since the beating me up part seemed to be the most effective method of making me turn into a grumpy old man, that was what I was put through almost daily. I tried to keep calm, but when people were kicking you and punching you all the time, it wasn't exactly easy. None of them understood...none of them cared. We had to move several times because someone discovered my secret, and when that happened, the cycle would start all over again. So I signed up for this reality TV show in hopes of getting people to recognizing me as a star competitor instead of someone worthy of pure torture and humiliation. Maybe if they changed their point of view, we wouldn't have the incredible financial burden of having to constantly move. In fact, we kept having to pay so much that we couldn't afford to live in a house anymore, so we had to settle for an apartment. We were fine with an apartment, but we still had to keep moving. Every year or two, we changed our address. Sometimes there was a six-month time frame. I kept having to change schools. My cousin was always sending letters to the wrong address, so we had to mail him the new one. He was in college, and hardly had time to memorize all this.

I bumped into something and snapped back to reality, now fully aware of my surroundings. Sadly, I didn't bump into the confessional, but into the other team's cabin. It would be considered betrayal to my team if I asked to sleep in there...right? Whatever, even if it was interpreted as betrayal, drastic times called for drastic measures, and if this was a drastic time, I didn't know what was.

I rapped on the door, my body shivering and half frozen. The door didn't open. I tried again, this time banging on it. Hopefully my sound hadn't been drowned out by the storm. Lightning flashed in the clouds above me, followed immediately by roaring thunder. Surely that would wake someone up. I tried knocking again, even harder this time. My hair kept flying around my face, even though it was heavily weighted with rainwater. Finally I felt the door open. I couldn't see ten inches in front of me, but I could make out a human form. I didn't know who it was, but I hoped they would stick around long enough for me to find out. If they would just allow me in that cabin for a few seconds, it would be the highlight of my day.

"Can I come in?" I yelled.

There was definitely a verbal response, but I had no clue what they were saying. The storm pulled the sound away from me.

"What?" I yelled.

Another incomprehensible reply.

"WHAT?" I screamed.

The figure reached an arm out and yanked me inside. I was hit with a warmth that made me smile. I sighed in relief. "Thank you."

I heard the door closed and the pounding wind was block, as well as the sharp rain. I tilted my head back, panting from my efforts to find a safe spot to spend the night. There had been elimination ceremonies, so there had to be at least one or two empty beds. When I looked to see who had let me in, I saw Jo. Everyone else in the cabin was up, grunting and groaning, sounding a lot like Chester. It was instantly made clear that I had become a disturbance. And in Camp Wawanakwa, losing sleep was like shaving half a year off your life.

"What idiot goes out in a storm this bad?" Scott spat.

"Sorry for waking you guys up. I was trying to get out of the weather, and you were the only thing I could see," I replied.

Jo groaned. She was equally unhappy about losing sleep. "Can't you go bug your own team?"

I hesitated to tell them about what happened with my team, but if I wanted to have a chance of spending the night here, I had to tell them. "Zoey kicked me out and I got caught in this storm."

Per usual, Scott never missed a chance to jump back into the conversation. "And Zoey kicked you out because...?"

I shook my head and moved a tuft of black hair out of my eyes. "I don't know, she's mad at me."

"For...?"

I shrugged. "I have no idea, she won't talk to me. I swear, I wouldn't be out in this kind of weather if I could stay in my team's cabin. I was hoping I could sleep here tonight, at least for one night, that's all."

Jo and Scott exchanged looks, as if communicating telepathically. Lightning and Brick groggily yawned and laid down, obviously not caring whether I stayed or not. They pulled the covers over their heads and made themselves comfortable as they shifted around in their beds. Jo and Scott remained silent for what felt like a hundred eternities. I was quietly praying they would allow me to spend just one night here. It wasn't like I was trying to gather their secrets or weaknesses, and I had the drenched and freezing body as proof of that. Plus, how was I supposed to find out anything if they were all asleep?

Finally, they came to an agreement with each other.

"I guess," Scott grumbled.

Jo hastily added, "But only for tonight."

I held up my pinkie finger as a promise that I would leave first thing in the morning. Little did I know what tomorrow would bring...