We awoke the next morning, right there on the grass, just outside our tents. The morning dew seeped through our clothes. We all groaned. I for one had a massive headache. Not sure if that was the case with the others.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Maybe we all sleep walked." Jason suggested.
"Don't be ridiculous..." Sam retorted. "Did anyone think to bring the asprin?"
"In the truck in the glove box," said Mack, holding his head too, getting up to get the medicine.
I got to my feet and I stretched. "Does anyone remember what happened last night?"
"I remember going to bed." Sam replied. "But then..."
He paused.
"But then, there were these strange lights in the sky, and then animals." Jason finished.
"Yeah," Sam looked over at Jason interestingly. "But that's impossible, right?"
"Could've been a dream." I added.
"But then how do you explain waking up outside our tent?" Jason curiously asked.
"Dude, I don't know," I replied. "Can we eat breakfast? I'm starving!"
"I second that!" Jason raised his hand. Getting off his butt and heading over to the stove.
"Dye, Jason!" Sam yelled. "We can't ignore this. We have to figure out what happened."
"Oh, come on Sammy." I say back. "None of us can remember what happened. It's early, we all have headaches and the bottomless pit over there is hungry."
"That would be me," Jason said from over at the stove.
"I say, If it's important then we'll find out."
I could see Sam still trying to make sense of it all. He makes this weird look like he's doing advanced algebra in his head or something. His eyes start to do this thing where it looks like he's seeing numbers in front of him. He starts murmuring to himself like he's going through theories and trying to hypothesize his findings. It's almost otherworldly if you ask me, but that's Sam.
"Okay, what about this?" he comes out and says. "What if it was a dream?"
"I literally just said that!"
"What, we all had the same dream?" Jason asked, lighting the stove.
"Exactly!" Sam replied. "There have been instances in which people do share the same dream!"
"That's ridiculous, Sammy. Who wants to be in a dream with you?" I laughed with a bit of snarkiness. I heard Jason follow up with a giggle.
"You remember the lights, and the animals, right?"
"Sure, but like you said that was impossible."
"Which leaves only one possible answer."
"That we all held hands in a dream." Jason yelled over his shoulder. "We got it, Sammy."
"Guys, I'm being serious."
"We know." Jason and I said almost immediately.
"You guys okay?" Asked Mack, finally returning from the truck. "Here you go, Sammy." he tossed the bottle of pills over to him.
"Thanks," Sam untwisted the cap and poured two pills into his hand. He threw them in his mouth and swallowed them whole.
"We're fine." I say to Mack. "But Sam has an interesting theory about what happened last night."
"What do you mean?" The sizzling of bacon started. "What happened last night?"
"Remember? The lights in the sky? The animals?" Sam questioned.
Mack raised his eyebrows and looked at all three of us. For a second, I was on edge to hear his answer.
"I don't know what any of you are talking about."
I saw Sam's face drop almost instantly. "What do you mean you don't know what we're talking about? I called you an idiot for thinking they were the Northern Lights."
'Yeah, no. Doesn't ring a bell."
"BOOM!" I say to Sam. "Hole in your theory, bro!"
Mack walked over to Jason and started with helping to make breakfast.
"Why is this important to you, Sammy?" I asked as I approached him.
"I'm a man of science," he replied.
"More like Nerd Boy of science, but continue." he rolled his eyes at me.
"It just doesn't make any sense. I remember, you remember, and I'm pretty sure Jason remembers."
"Hang on, you just said you're a man of science. How is it scientific that we shared the same dream?"
"Because that's the only logical explanation."
"Okay, but what if we didn't dream it and it actually happened. How does science explain that?"
Sam scrunched his eyebrows. I don't know how I did it, but I totally stumped him. He did his weird calculating thing again and I patted him on his back. "Just something to think about."
"Breakfast is up!" shouted Mack
"Finally! Come on Sam."
We unfolded our picnic bench and took our seats. Jason came over with the bacon, eggs and toast and we all took our fill. We all saw Jason take a handful of bacon and slap it on his plate.
"Dude, come on," said Mack.
"I need my energy."
"You have like seven strips of bacon there."
"Fine," he held out his plate and allowed us to take the extra food.
We started eating when Sam, still in his calculation trance, finally spoke.
"So, Mack, what did you dream about?"
"Well, if you have to know," said Mack, "I took Ashley Washington to prom."
"Wait, third period biology Ashley Washington?" asked Jason, snapping a piece of bacon into his mouth.
"Nope, Ashley Washington the Victoria Secret model."
"Ah," Jason snapped another piece. "My dude has taste."
Sam was clearly disappointed with Mack's response. He sat quietly while the rest of us had our fill and discussed the rest of our summer break. Sam chimed in every now and again but it wasn't enough to convince us that he wasn't disappointed. He was hell bent on trying to prove his theory but he wasn't sure how. When our plates were cleaned, Mack took them all and left the table.
"So much for the dream sharing thing, huh, Sammy?" I say with cynicism.
"He's lying." Sam replied swiftly. There was no inflection in his voice. No annoyed tone. Not even any eye contact with me. Clearly my words warranted some kind of insult, at least I thought so. "He has to be."
"Or you just want to be right." I say back. "Not everything is a science experiment."
"Bros, if I may interject here." Jason spoke. "Whether he's lying or not, it really doesn't matter." Somehow he still had a strip of bacon. Must've swiped it as he was cooking it. Anything to get his hands on food. "Mack has a lot on his plate. He's been training all summer just so he could impress the scouts and get scholarship money for college."
"So, what? What happened to us doesn't matter because he says so?" Sam was obviously offended.
"Dude, you're here," Jason said with his hand up high. "I'm gonna need you here." he lowered it.
"What are you saying?" I ask.
"I"m saying that if this did happen, it's probably something Mack doesn't want to get into because he's focused on school, this upcoming season, and trying to get a scholarship."
"That makes sense. Look at that Sammy, maybe your theory is right after all. We're all dream sharers now. So prissy and glittery holding hands and skipping through a prairie under a rainbow."
"Shut up, Dye." finally, the response I'd expect from him. "Well, whatever the case may be," said Sam, "I'll figure this out."
"We know," said Jason, getting up from the table, leaving Sam and I alone.
"Do you really think all of this is necessary?" I ask Sam.
"I want to know what it is we saw last night. Dream or not, I just...I just gotta know."
"Why?"
"I'm curious. You know that."
"No, you're a nerd. I know that." he glared at me. "Some things can't be explained, Sammy. If I were you, I'd just leave it at that."
"Please, you couldn't be me even if you tried."
I grinned, getting up from the bench.
"Hey!" Yelled Mack, who had started breaking down his tent. "Come on you two. We gotta get going soon," he said as he wrestled with the tent.
"YES SIR!" I salute him.
I get inside our tent and begin packing up my belongings and rolling up my sleeping bag. Sam enters not too long afterwards and begins doing the same. We toss our bags out and we exit. Sam pulls out the spikes holding the tent down and we begin collapsing it. Jason was busy cleaning up the stove, skillets and pans that he used to cook with, while Mack finished packing up their tent.
While Sam and I folded the tent, I felt strange for a second.
A weird breeze passed just behind me and I felt it graze the back of my neck. I turned around sharply to see what it was but nothing was there.
"Hey, Dye, come on." said Sam. When he looked at me his eyes became curious "What is it?"
I turned to face him. "Um, nothing. Just, I think my shirt is still wet."
"Well change it," his curious stare went away.
I couldn't tell him what actually happened. Feeding Sam's curiosity isn't a great idea, as you just found out. He'll become obsessive really quick and I have to share a room with him. I would rather not have him going into another rant about his theories and thoughts. No matter how many times I tell him I don't care, he still manages to find a way to keep on going.
"Well," said Mack, "Are we ready to go?"
I nod, gathering my things and heading over towards the pick up. Sam and Jason were already there while Mack wasn't too far behind me.
We all got into the truck and Mack started up the engine. He put the vehicle in drive and began to drive away. I couldn't help but look back at the campsite. Whatever happened to us last night, would we ever learn the truth?
What was I saying?
For a second I almost felt like I was preparing a theory just like Sam would. I looked over at him and he was buried in a book. He caught me looking at him. "Can I help you with something?" He adjusted his glasses and examined me as though I was about to spill the beans on what happened to me just now. I'm pretty sure Sam knew that I was lying. Just like how he knew Mack was lying, but I figured, I'd let his curiosity suffer a bit more.