The sun rose; today was the day. Confusion spread across my face. Could I hear Willow’s voice? Bursting with excitement, I stormed down the stairs. Willow was there, her very excited face looking at me.  

"Hello, Jade, dad’s waiting in the car. Oh I can’t wait! We’re going to have so much fun.” She was jumping with happiness, and her hair covered her face. “Jade, stop looking at me like that. Hurry up, get your bags, and let's go.” I shook away my thoughts and quickly went to get my bag. 

Willow’s car beamed in the sunlight; it felt like magic. "Hello, Jade, the journey won’t be too long. I’m sure Willow can keep you entertained,” Ava (Willow’s mum) said. Willow said I looked horrified, but I wasn’t. This was just a bit different; I was only with my friends. My parents weren’t going to be anywhere near me. I was just a bit nervous, that’s all. 

A fairly tall man with hazel eyes told us to sign a paper. This was just as it said in the letter. Then a rather large lady came to escort us to our tent. Normally a camp site wouldn’t be such a high-class place as it is now. It was all a bit strange; something was going on.

There were only three families that came here, including us. Why was it so empty? I froze.This all seemed so wrong. “Jade, are you okay? You’ve been acting weird ever since I’ve picked you up.” Willow said, waving her hands in front of my face. After twenty seconds or so, I shuddered myself off and replied, “Yeah, sorry. It just feels a bit strange. Who knew camping sites were this luxurious?”

Willow looked at me, her face showing that she agreed, “You’re right, Jade, it does seem a bit weird. Let’s just make the most of it.” I nodded, holding her hand so I could feel safer.

The tents were like a real home, but I kind of wished that I wasn’t there. Willow’s dad hadn’t talked since the ride, not even to the maid. He kept looking at one of the other families, which made me very concerned. Did they know each other? All these questions hurt my head, but there was no way to stop it. 

It was only ten in the morning, and I wanted the day to end already. We had a late breakfast, and nobody spoke. The breakfast calmed me down a bit; all the food was so nice. Until I saw an almond cake, which brought back memories. Once Willow told me, ‘Bitter almonds are those that naturally contain a toxin that your body breaks down into cyanide — a compound that can cause poisoning and even death.’

I could see that Willow noticed it too as her hands quivered, and her eyes widened. Luckily, nobody seemed to want to eat it, but all looked disgusted by it. “Willow, there’s an activity centre in the corner. Why don’t you show, Jade?” Ava announced, stroking Willow’s hair. We both nodded and led ourselves outside. 

“You did realise that there was an almond cake,” Willow whispered in my ear.

I beamed, “Of course I did, but it doesn’t have to be toxic. It could just be a normal cake, nobody has died-.”

“Because nobody ate it yet, Jade.” Willow interrupted, cutting through my sentence. 

Ava called us back, and we both slowly ran to her. The cake still sat there, and the knife was very clean. Then Willow caught sight of a little boy running up to the cake, and screamed, “Noo, wait!” It was chaotic; one adult from the second family came running up, pulling the cake away from the boy. Did she know that the cake might be poisonous?

Willow straightened her back and stared at the adult. “Why did you move the cake?”

The adult (apparently called Sophia Mc’cloud) turned around and said, “Me? Oh, I read a lot of books. That’s all.” She hadn’t told us everything she knew; I was sure of that.

Everything appeared to be back to normal, with the exception of Willow's father Maxwell's menacing gaze on Sophie. I had a feeling that they knew each other, and a secret was being kept.