Episode 1

A Horror Story

It’s a dark and windy evening. The four friends are sitting in the living room of the old villa. There is rattling and squeaking everywhere, the shutters are flapping against the wall. The only light in the room comes from some candles which throw large shadows across the room. Max wants to read his new horror story to his friends, it’s the one he has been working on for the last few days. This is his first horror story.

Suddenly a clap of thunder is heard. Natalya shrieks. “Oh, my God! I won’t sleep tonight; first a horror story and now a thunderstorm, oh, I hate it!” Natalya doesn’t really like horror stories and is rather afraid of ghosts and creepy things. “But come on, what can happen as long as I am here? I will protect you!” Paolo never misses any opportunity to show his manly superiority. “Do be quiet, you don’t understand,” Natalya retorts, putting the hood of her jacket over her head and withdrawing to a darker corner.
Max starts reading. 

This is Natalya’s chance. What she never seems to manage during the lively camp days, she will try to do now: following a recipe downloaded from the internet she is mixing herself a tincture against her spots. “This is the perfect mixture, your spots will disappear overnight and never come back,” they promised on the internet site . On the way to the villa she had picked the last of the herbs she needs, and now she’ll grind them and put them into the mixture. She opens the glass jar.

“Whoooaaah!”

Thelma is screaming, being carried away by Max’s story. Natalya, who has not heard a word of Max’s story, jumps with fright  and the jar  falls from her hands. It hits the floor with a loud bump and rolls across the room. “What was that?” Heroically, Paolo jumps to his feet and follows the noise. In the dark, he touches something green and slimy. “Eeeeeh! What’s that?”  Natalya covers her face in her hands. The others gather around the thing on the floor. “It’s a jam jar, and there is something slimy and green and awful in it,” Max states matter-of-factly. “Is this yours?” Thelma asks Natalya, the first to guess what this might be about. The boys look at each other bewildered. “Are you trying to poison someone? Maybe some supervisor? But hopefully not us?” Paolo asks interested. Natalya stays quiet for a while, her mind racing. What can she say? Will they really understand, especially the boys? But these are her friends, she owes them an explanation, because what would she do without them in the camp?

“It’s… from the internet…” she stammers, “a recipe… against spots… you know,” she is sobbing now. Thelma puts her arm around her shoulders. “And you thought this would help?” she asks. “They say so,” Natalya is regaining her voice. “Do you know what it’s like to go around with spots all the time? It’s so awful!” She sounds desperate now. “When I get these bouts I don’t want to go out of the house any more and I really hate myself.”

“Of course, I do understand,” Paolo says quietly after a short silence. “My grandma tried all her old recipes on me. Awful stuff – onion and garlic and all kinds of soap and so on, but they were bullshit. In the end, I found out that putting tooth paste on them works rather well. It seems to disinfect or something.” Natalya looks at him, because he seems so much less cool and much more grown-up than usual. “But for some years it was really bad.” He shrugs.

Max, who has been quiet up to now, is asking, a bit embarrassed: “Is it really so difficult to get rid of them ? I thought maybe you just squeeze them, and then they heal and that is that?” Thelma shakes her head. “I have them as well sometimes,” she says, “and they are not that easy to deal with. I went to see a doctor in the end, and his cream helped. But, Natalya, don’t try this poisonous stuff, please. You don’t know what will happen. Maybe you’ll get red spots everywhere, I  had that once.” Natalya looks horrified and stamps the jar with her foot, catapulting it under an old bookshelf. “Okay, okay. Thanks, guys,” she says, still a bit embarrassed. “Why don’t we get on with the real horror story?”

On the way home, Max and Natalya walk together. After a period of silence, Max takes heart and says: “The boys really like you, Natalya, and nobody has ever said  a word about your spots. I don’t think anybody cares.” Natalya starts smiling shyly. “And you know what, if you want to,” Max hesitates a little, “I mean, I can create a story. What do you think if together we write a real “horror story” about acne and being young? I would really like to do that, and maybe we can do it together…?” Natalya smiles more broadly now and she takes Max’s arm . “Yes, why not, that’s a good idea. And I have some horrors to tell!” They walk back to the camp in an understanding.silence.