I DON'T KNOW YOU

30.) old friends

    "Yep. We finished packing up the remains of the camp. But mind if I ask where we're going?" Evan asked, motioning towards a bag slung over his shoulder.

    "A place that I told myself if I ever went back to it, it'd be too soon. Turns out, I did speak too soon," I bitterly laughed, "it's the only place I can think of that makes sense. The arrow points directly towards it, and this stuff just matches it all."

     "Sounds fun," Evan raised an eyebrow in skepticism as I laughed before he inquired, "but besides that, are you okay?"

     "I feel great. Why do you ask?" I questioned back, swinging my own bag over my shoulder that contained the tent and the map.

    "Because earlier we all saw that you were upset, Funneh. You were crying, but we never got the chance to ask you. And when you rounded us all up, you looked like you were so sad but somehow you were extremely energetic," he explained.

    "One, it's called adrenaline. And two, I'm fine now. It's just, some stuff just gets to me at times," I elaborated, "but don't worry, I calmed down. Besides, I've got to keep hoping, right?"

    He smiled and nodded, "That's the spirit. But hey, if you need any of us, we'll be here."

   "Thanks, Evan. Now, come on. Like Draco said, the quicker we rescue them, the faster this can all be over and back to normal. Or, uh, as normal it can get," I said.

    We both hurried over towards the others, who were gathered around in a circle. Faintly, I heard Draco explaining his plans for his funeral as Alec and Aly laughed.

   "Please do not tell me you're planning what flower arrangements you want at your funeral," I laughed as we approached them.

    "Of course not! That'd be absolutely ridiculous!" Draco shook his head and crossed his arms, "who do you think I am?"

"He was planning what food he would want to be served right after," Alec chuckled as Draco shrugged.

"What? Just because I'll be dead doesn't mean I don't want a fancy funeral," Draco joked, "but besides the fancy-shmancy funeral, you all ready to go?"

They all nodded and we started off, hiking away down the makeshift clearing. Our footsteps crunched with every little step we took, the leaves and sticks snapping and crumpling underneath us. The soil beneath us was coarse and rugged, unearthed from the weeks prior and the storms. This area had been fortunate to only be hit by storms, but it was much farther away than the town and the neighborhoods. Those were gone, destroyed or flooded.

The wind blew sharply, not cold enough to freeze but certainly not enough to be outshone by the sun. I squinted every time my hair slapped my face, shaking my head and pushing the stands out of the way. Aly ended up tying hers in a low ponytail, though it only held back majority of her raven-colored hair.

"Is it bad that I'm hungry?" Kyran inquired, rubbing the back of his neck as he walked alongside us.

"Nope. I am too. We only ate once yesterday," Alec replied, sighing, "but I doubt we can eat now."

"Why not? I'm starving," Aly whined, twirling a strand of her hair around her index finger in pure boredom.

"I wish. But without the pearl, we can't. You guys have yours, so if you want, you can grab some food from somewhere. But we can't make anymore without Lunar and we're losing daylight," I sighed.