Bruises- Shane Madej

12. Team Building

-hey i know i said i was gonna post at 10 pm MDT, but it's independence day and i wanna watch people blow things up and also the moon is gonna do some weird shit tonight so i'm getting this up now-

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The drive up to the mountains was very beautiful.

When they arrived, the group headed inside the cabin and to their rooms. Maddie was sharing a room with a girl who'd introduced herself as Devlin. She was a managing producer.

After everyone was all settled in, the guy running the event had everyone meet in the living room of the cabin.

"Welcome, everybody! Some of you might know me from around the office; I'm Kaden Johnson, and I work on public relations for Buzzfeed Unsolved.

"We're looking to hire a few more people to work on the show. Some of the people who already work on it are here, and this retreat is just kind of a fun way to introduce people to each other."

Kaden gave them a basic rundown of the 3 day retreat. There would be campfires, movie nights, a hike, and many other activities. Maddie felt like she was at summer camp again.

Lunch was served outside in a grove of trees with lots of picnic tables. Maddie and Devlin sat by Shane and Ryan, joking and goofing off the whole time.

After lunch, the group played ultimate frisbee in a field by the cabin. It was lots of fun, even though Maddie got multiple bruises.

Later that night, as they were heading down to the campfire, Shane pointed these bruises out.

"How'd you get those?"

"Well, since I have a blood disorder, I bruise pretty easily."

Maddie and Shane sat on a log by the campfire. It was a little small so they were pretty close together.

For some reason, she felt a swooping sensation in her stomach every time she brushed arms with him.

Shane roasted a few marshmallows for the two of them; Maddie lacked the patience and skill required to roast a good marshmallow and almost always ended up setting them on fire or dropping them into the coals.

After a while, people started heading to bed. Before she knew it, Maddie was alone at the campfire with her two best friends.

Ryan got up. "I'm gonna head to bed. Make sure you guys put out the fire."

"G'night, Ryan," Maddie said, pulling her sweatshirt tighter around her.

"Night!" Shane called out, rolling his eyes as Ryan winked at him.

Maddie sighed and looked up. "Man, isn't it amazing how large the universe is?"

"Mhm," Shane said, turning his eyes towards the thousands of stars in the clear night sky.

"Like, we're so tiny compared to the entirety of space; Nothing really matters because in a couple hundred years, nobody's gonna know we were even here. It's so cool."

"I think that thought scares most people, Mads."

She laughed. "No, I mean, it can be scary, but I just find it pretty comforting. You know? All my problems and mistakes are so tiny and minimal in the grand scheme of things."

"Maddie, I didn't think I'd ever take you to be a nihilist," Shane chuckled.

She rolled her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, I always thought you were more of an optimist."

"I guess I am, I just keep myself existentially grounded. I still love finding the simple things in life that make me happy."