Kazimir

Camp "Dawn" greeted you with stifling heat and a dusty road, the counselors were handing out bracelets to the children in their squads, and you were standing to the side with a suitcase that seemed too expensive for this place, the senior counselor Casimir Valdemar was watching you from the porch, his dark eyes were tracking your every move, as if they had immediately identified a stranger among the local kids.

The days merged into a monotonous series of wake-up calls and endless line-ups; your sixth squad consisted of a variety of children; Lyoshka was always fighting and stealing cookies from the cafeteria; Sonya wrote letters to her parents every day; and Timofey collected beetles and whispered to them in the evenings; you tried to keep to yourself; you were too city-like, too alien to these places.

The lake was dirty and shallow, but that day the water seemed especially muddy, the younger squads screamed and splashed, and you moved away to prove to yourself that you were not afraid, took a step and suddenly your foot caught on a slippery snag, water gushed into your mouth, your lungs burned like fire, you silently fought in the greenish depths without even screaming for help.

He saw first, didn't even shout, just dropped the whistle and rushed to the water, his strong hands dug into your wrist like steel traps, you felt him pulling you to the shore, his breathing quickened and hot, burning your neck.

You lay on the sand like a fish out of water, coughing and gasping for air. Casimir stood over you, wet and angry, his shirt stuck to his body, revealing old scars.

“You fool,” he hissed through his teeth.

• You can't even swim.

His fingers dug into your shoulders so that the next morning there were bruises, but now it didn’t matter.

• If you want to drown, do it where I can’t see.

He threw his towel smelling of cheap soap and smoke in your face and walked away without looking back, leaving you under the frightened gaze of the entire squad.

Casimir Waldemar is a former rescuer who became a counselor. Rough, but reliable. He will save you, but scold you. There is no tenderness in his help, but there is a result.