Dear Diary,

I am struggling to write to you today as my hands are ridiculously sore: I have blisters upon blisters and I am exhausted!

I thought my luck had ran out when I was arrested, but it turns out things were just getting worse!  Camp Green Lake  is nothing but miles and miles of dust, dirt and literally nothing else! How did I end up in this desolate place? I should of chosen prison over this vast wasteland. In fairness, it said it was a Camp! This is nothing like any camp I’ve heard of. Where is the Lake? Where is all the green? From all I see there is no protection from the sun! I thought to myself,  “This is the curse of my dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-Grandfather”, and couldn’t help but smile to myself at the family joke. The Judge said it was a Camp! They said it would be better than jail… Clearly not.

 

My “friends” at home told me, or rather showed off to me, every summer when they went to camp and I was just left at home. I don’t  know what they were so happy about ! This Camp is terrible! They said last summer, at camp, ” I got to swim in a lake all  day” the only swimming I was doing was in my own sweat. My “friends” were roasting marshmellows, but here at Camp Green Lake I’m clearly the marshmellow. The camp, if you could call it that, was just a handful of tents in the middle of nowhere…  There wasn’t even fences. Surely, people could just escape? As I looked across the arid desert, I realised why they had no need for electric fences, Guard towers or iron bars… The desert was the prison. You could leave whenever you want, but you will die of thirst and hunger.

 

There I was thinking the camp was lifeless, until  I finally saw another person! Coming towards me was a group of boys my age, wearing orange jumpsuits. I began to panic. Should I act tough? or just try to make friends. Is it even worth telling people I’m innocent? I bet everyone did that. The boy at the front, was so covered in dirt he looked like a shadow. His eyes looked completely blank and he just stared at me. Later I found out his name was Zero. Everyone called him that, because there was nothing going on inside his head. A bit rude I thought, but even the counsellors called him it!  I smelt the next boy, before I could even see him! He reeks! Even though he smells like a stink bomb, the others seem to follow him like a leader. He was pretty scary and a lot bigger than me and the other boys. Apparently he’s called Armpit!… Who even would want to be called Armpit?! I couldn’t help but wonder what crime he had committed. Fighting? Breaking and entering? Stealing?  Maybe he stole deodorant I chuckled to myself! After a while I was introduced to my other camp mates, they were called : Magnet, Zig Zag, Squid and X-ray. Apparently, I was getting the old space of a boy called “Barf-Bag”- I couldn’t  help but think what terrible nickname they would give me…

 

That night, as I lay in my sick smelling cot, I couldn’t help but think about home. This first day had felt like a lifetime, but I knew it was just the start … How long before I can go home?  Could my family come and visit? Did they know the truth about Camp Green Lake Right?  Right now, they will all be crying there eyes out. To be honest, I also felt like sobbing into my pillow, but I held back the tears. If the others saw me crying, they would think i’m a wimp! They might even give me the nickname “big baby”. Anyways, I need to sleep now. tomorrow I will be digging my first hole… Great.