𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐏 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍 - camp cretaceous

We're Not Alone

"-Life is hard, so any day that goes somewhat right deserves to be celebrated with a party," he finished with a smirk. Sammy, Yasmina and Brooklynn stared at him, dumbfounded.

"What? It's a great show, okay?" Kenji defended, sitting down with his arms crossed. "The relationship between Esther and her dad is really compelling!"

I turned to the three of them and whispered, "He was there when I caught them watching it."

"Uh, well, in the spirit of Esther Stones, let's...."

"Partay!" Kenji exclaimed, all of us clinking our Camp Cretaceous-themed mugs. We sat around the table, and Kenji pulled out an old recorder. "And ch-ch-ch-check it out!" he said, slamming it down on the table. He pressed play and sat down with a satisfied smile.

"Oh yeah! Feel the beat that I made," Dave's voice suddenly rang out. Some background music started to play, and Dave began to rapping! "Are you ready, ready, ready? Dave special! Music, music, music, music, music, music!" Kenji bopped his head to the beat, and I shook my head.

"You are something," I said with a smile.

"Nope. I'm out," Yaz said, standing up and leaving.

"Kenji, what is this?" Sammy asked, her face scrunched up. Then, while Dave's amusing singing voice continued to play, Kenji replied.

"Dave's demos. Found it in what was left of his bunk and was waiting for the perfect time to show you...." He stopped, beginning to grin. "Hold up. Here's the best part!"

"Music. Dave, Dave Da-Da-Da-Dave. Get that thing out of my face," Roxie's autotuned voice began to say. Then, laughing, we began to dance to the music.

"What are you even doing?"

"Making music, making music. Making music, making art. Order number one, order number two, Davee!"

Darius got up to join Yasmina, both of them talking about something probably to do with Darius' notebook. Yaz then rubbed out what she had drawn and added to it, showing it to Darius, who smiled. He made the perfect hand sign, and they looked through the notebook again. I don't know what it was, and I don't know why, but watching them made me feel strange. I got up and walked over, taking Darius' hand.

"Darius, Yaz! Come on. You're missing out," I exclaimed, softly pulling him towards the others. Yaz smiled but shook her head.

"I think I'll just finish this first," she said. I nodded and brought Darius to Brooklynn, Sammy and Kenji, who was still dancing to the music.

We joined in, and Darius commented, "Uh-huh. So Dave is pretty good!" Sammy then froze, gasping as she walked towards the railings.

"Look at that!"

We all joined her, looking in the direction she was facing, and a beautiful sight met us. There were shooting stars, zooming over the mountains, and we could see the Aurora Borealis- the Northern Lights! Brooklynn smiled at Darius us me, draping her arms over our shoulders, Kenji doing the same to her. We then looked down slightly and saw something unusual. A golden glow cut through the foliage, and smoke rose.

"What is that?" Yasmina asked, squinting her eyes.

"A fire," Brooklynn replied.

Sammy breathed out softly, "A campfire!"

A hopeful smile began to form on Darius' face. "Guys, we're not alone."

~

We ran towards the source of the fire, giggling and cheering joyfully. Before we left, we ensured we had some sort of weapon to protect ourselves in case a dinosaur intervened. It was mostly just long sticks, a single butter knife, a baseball bat and more sticks, but we were armed.