Once Upon an Alien

One- The Hike pt. 1

Kaylee and I sat together on another, smaller dead tree, her boyfriend Cade not far away on a rock. "When should we stop and make camp?" She asked.

I stopped and pondered for a second, but my thought was interrupted by Garret, who was our friend Bex's fiancé. "We really should stop in the next three to four hours. We need to be able to set up camp before it gets dark," he said. I turned Garret who was standing over Bex, who had made herself comfortable on a large rock. Taking another second to think his suggestion over, I nodded, deciding it was a wise choice.

"We should be able to make it quite a few more miles if we head out now," he said with a firm nod.

I stood up, reaching my hand out to Kaylee to help pull her up. I looked around and did another head count as everyone else began to rise from their resting positions. I furrowed my brow realizing one of us was missing. I named people off in my head. Kaylee. Cade. Bex. Garrett. Lizzy. John. Maddie. Dylan...

"Where's Bastion?" I asked. Everyone looked around confused about the disappearance of our friend.

Suddenly I felt my body cave beneath me as something jumped on my back, causing a loud crash in the dead leaves and sticks. I groaned and Bastion rolled off me.

"Sorry, needed a soft landing," he said as he stood up, brushing a few brown, dead leaves off of his legs. Everyone laughed as I glared at him with deadly daggers.

I pushed myself up, pulling my long brown hair from my pony tail out of my mouth. I groaned a bit as I brushed caked dirt off of my knees and shins before asking, "Everyone ready?" Everyone nodded and agreed as they stood up and got their bags on, still chuckling about Bastion's soft landing.

Trekking for another three hours, the sun was about to start setting and the area would soon be consumed with darkness and eerie shadows of trees.

"Morgan, we should stop here. It's a perfect flat area, and there's a field not too far if we wanna venture out and see the stars when it gets darker," Bex said, her crystal blue eyes looking at me with confidence in her words.

I looked around and visually confirmed what Bex had pointed out. "What does everyone think?" I asked. Everyone looked around as I had, plotting out good spots for tents and nodded before a round of verbal agreements to stop there to make camp for the night.

"Hey Mo... do you have any more candy bars?" Maddie asked me and I gave her a look of confusion.

"Yea, why?" She smiled wide and clapped like an excited child.

"Yes! I ate all mine. I'm still hungry for chocolate. Well, sugar. I haven't had a slurpee in so long!" She said with a whiny tone. I shook my head in amusement before hearing Lizzy speak up.

"Maddie, you ate all my candy bars too. And you had a slurpee before we left," she said glaring at Maddie and Maddie began to laugh hysterically.

"Oh yea, I did, didn't I?" She said, still laughing. Her boyfriend Dylan walked over and swooped her skinny body up into his arms, her long blonde hair hanging down.

"Enough sugar, you can help me put the tent up," he said walking away with her.

After everyone was set up with their tents and sleeping arrangements, we sat around the campfire John had built. Everyone had a blanket or two to sit on, creating a perfect cozy circle of blankets. The sun had already disappeared from sight, leaving the sky a beautiful green and blue haze. There was not a single cloud to be seen, preparing us for an amazing stargazing night.

Our tents were set up in a circle, surrounding everyone and our campfire with a feeling of protection. After a while of conversation and laughter, we all quieted down to listen to the sounds of the night forest. The air was almost completely still, the only sounds being made were from peeper frogs and crickets, causing an almost melodious tune throughout the dense forest.

After the sun had gone completely, taking the light with it, the moon began to appear behind the dark treeline. I looked over to Lizzy noticing she was looking up instead of at everyone else. Following her gaze, I looked up to see a magnificent star display peeking through the black silhouettes of the trees that surrounded us.

"I wanna see the stars in that field we went to last year!," Lizzy said with hope and excitement in her voice.

"Me too!" All the girls along with myself agreed in an almost simultaneous fashion. After giving the boys puppy eyes, they agreed to escort us out there.

The boys grabbed flashlights and we all began to walk towards the field. Everyone automatically began the buddy system, either holding hands or locking elbows. Bastion and I, being the only single ones there, locked elbows as I held the flashlight. We laughed and ran through the woods before breaking the wooded barrier, leaving us in total awe.

The stars were magnificent. There were hundreds upon hundreds of tiny shimmering spots in the sky. Bastion and I stood staring as we heard the rest of the group come out of the forest with gasps and expressions of awe.

As I was staring up at the sky, I saw a tiny green flash. I kept looking, focusing on the area I had seen the green mystery before I saw a couple more. I followed the flashing green dot, I soon realized what the show we were looking at. Looking on across the field, thousands of lightning bugs sparkle across the field for their mating season spectacle.

I nudged Bastion and pointed at the green flickering field, causing him to take his eyes off of the stars above us.The moon was light enough that I could see his face clearly to see he was smiling. Soon his smile changed into a smirk, and I was curious as to what his next move was going to be. He grabbed a hold of my hand and started running across the field.

I ran as fast as I could with him in order to keep up my heart pounding in my chest with excitement. We laughed as we ran all around the field chasing the small green flickering beings, and soon enough we were joined by everyone.

It turned into a game of freeze tag as it had many times during our childhood. The laughter during the game of tag caused my ribs to ache and sweat to trickle down my forehead and neck onto my face and shirt, but that would never stop the memorable fun we were having.

The air was perfect, it was not too hot nor too cold with a slight breeze blowing occasionally across the open area. The night, the friends, the memories. Everything was amazing that night. How would I have ever known that would be the last of the amazing nights with all of my friends?