Housatonic Valley Regional High School seniors challenged each other to a ruthless battle involving water guns, sneak attacks and frienship-threatening double-crosses called “Senior Splashin.”
The competition pitted seniors against each other in a free-for-all where “assassins” were assigned “targets” that they had to hunt across Region One and try to squirt with water.
The following is a first-person account of the events on the watery battlefield.
Monday, April 27
Senior Splashin starts at five o’clock today. I’m safe on school property but as soon as I leave track practice I’m in danger. At five o’clock today, I will receive a target, and I will need to hunt them down. Living in Kent gives me an advantage, since it’s unlikely that somebody will drive that far, but I still need to watch out.
Friday, May 1
I’m writing from the couch at my friends house–I just watched Chloe get Burke. I was telling him all night to keep his goggles on, but he didn’t listen, and Chloe took her opportunity. My goggles are still on, so for now I’m safe. Cole was the first person out; Hannah got him leaving our track meet on the second day. Some other people as well. After seeing Chloe ruthlessly eliminate Burke, there’s no way I’m taking off my goggles.
Monday, May 4
Seven people were eliminated this week, 35 of us are left. The days are long, and the nights are dangerous. It seems like everybody is hunting, or nobody is. You never know who’s out to get you, so you have to trust your friends if you decide to pair up. Checking your target’s location isn’t always reliable, so intel from others is valuable. Know where they live, where they work, where to hang around, and you might just have a chance to take them out.
I wasn’t able to eliminate my target. They were sneaky, and careful, always wearing goggles, never letting their guard down. But that’s just the first week, and I’ll receive a new target today. There was no penalty for my failure, but I need to get my target this week or I’ll be out.
Sunday, May 8
This weekend was a bloodbath; nine people were eliminated over the course of three days. There was a purge on Friday, where nobody was safe regardless of goggles or targets, which resulted in many fatal splashes. I tried to help my friend get his target on Thursday–while we didn’t succeed, it meant she let her guard down and my friend was able to get her out at the purge the next day. I had a plan to get my target yesterday, but I didn’t even need to since somebody else got him during the purge. Next week, I might not get so lucky.
Tuesday, May 12
I was hiding in the bushes when I heard the car door open. I ran out but my target saw me, and quickly got back inside the car before I could get him. My friend, who’d dropped me off a few houses down came to investigate. After explaining my failure, I thought about a new course of action–my target was trapped in his car, and I’d wait all night if I had to. Just then, I felt a splash of water on my neck.
Startled from my thoughts, I turned my head to see a green plastic water gun, a phone recording, and my best friend of many years behind it. ‘No,’ I said as the sun set behind the mountains. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, but it was too late. I was out, in front of the water gun I had given my friend just weeks earlier. To be betrayed is first to be trusted.
Monday, May 18
Although I’ve been eliminated, the game still plays on. On Saturday, I was the only one of only two who’d been eliminated, so the moderators called a second, surprise purge on Sunday. Two people were eliminated, and a total of eight people moved on to the next round. The track season is over, the baseball season is in full swing, and the game has never been more intense.
Monday, May 25,
As of today, five people remain.
In a terrible twist of fate, my former target Dev, who my friend Abram tried to help me get before splashing me in the back, returned the gesture by getting Abram after the Battle of the Bands.
Another shocking assassination came from a nail appointment turned setup, where Liv viciously eliminated Celeste; she didn’t even offer the dignity of a true water gun, and Celeste’s run ended in the face of a hair spray bottle. The last kill came from Hannah when she splashed down Joey from the trunk of his car, although he bought back into this round.
Justine and Victor Valla in their studio with a painting of Victor’s,”Jonah and the Whale.” Robin Roraback 
A ceramic vase by Kathleen Heidemann.Provided 
Joy Brown’s delightful ceramic sculptures.Provided 
