Signal Lost in the Wilderness

My phone died at exactly 3:47 PM, somewhere between the padel court and the mess hall. Of course it did. Summer camp, week one, and already my iPhone - my lifeline to civilization, my escape hatch - had gone dark. I'd forgotten my charging cable back in the cabin, which meant social suicide. How was I supposed to survive three weeks without TikTok, without checking if anyone liked my stories, without doomscrolling until 2 AM?

"You okay?" Maya asked. She was from Seattle, had perfect hair, and had already formed a clique with three other girls on day one.

"Yeah," I lied. "Just... battery's dead."

"Bummer," she said, already turning away.

That night, as I swallowed the vitamin gummy Mom had packed in my duffel - she was obsessed with me getting enough Vitamin D, as if sunlight wasn't literally everywhere - I overheard something in the counselor's lodge. A black bear had been spotted near the girls' cabins. A literal bear. At home, my biggest worry was whether Connor from math class thought I was weird. Here, I had to worry about actual predators.

The next morning at padel, I missed every shot. My racket felt foreign, my coordination shot. Coach Mike kept saying "relax your grip," but all I could think about was how exposed we were. No fences. No doors. Just wilderness and a court and a bunch of teenagers pretending we knew what we were doing.

"You're overthinking it," someone said behind me. It was Leo, the quiet guy from cabin 4.

"Yeah, well, my phone's dead and there's apparently a bear roaming around, so..."

Leo laughed, actually laughed. "The bear was just hungry. It wandered off hours ago. And you know what's funny?" He pulled a charging cable from his pocket. "I have an iPhone too."

He held out the cable. An actual olive branch.

"You want to charge it during rest hour?" he asked. "My cabin has outlets by the window."

Something shifted in my chest. Maybe it was the vitamins finally kicking in. Maybe it was just that someone saw me - really saw me - and didn't turn away.

"I'd like that," I said.

My phone charged to 47% that afternoon. But I didn't check it once. Some signals were stronger than WiFi anyway.