Fireworks

16

I wander towards the way I came for a bit. After a few minutes, I start to get a little bit nervous when I still don't hear any voices or music coming from where I thought the tent was, but I just keep going. I have a fairly solid sense of direction. I'm pretty sure I could survive in an apocalypse. I just need to think.

So if the sun was behind me while I was running, and the sun sets in the West, then that means that I need to go West. I also know that moss grows on trees towards the North side of trees in the Northern Hemisphere, so that should give me some sense of direction, right?

I look around at the tree trunks near me but find no moss. This is Arizona, after all. I sigh in resignation and am just about to follow the sun like the idiot I am, when in the far distance I hear, "Marco!"

I frown, straining my ears and not moving to see if I'll hear it again or if it was just my imagination. Oh gosh, what if I'm already starting to hallucinate. It's only been like ten minutes.

"Hello?" I call out into the woods in as loud a voice as I can muster.

It's silent for another second before I hear the voice, "-hear that? Hadlee?"

I smile a little, I think that's Isa.

"Hello? I'm over here!" I say, waving my arms around like an idiot because we clearly can't see each other, but it makes me feel better nonetheless.

"Hadlee!" Isa's unmistakable voice calls, and I grin.

"Yes! It's me, keep yelling so I can follow your voice!" I call back towards where I think I hear her voice coming from.

"I told you she'd hear me!" I can hear her say, and I slowly start walking towards where I think hear her. "You were all like, 'Isa, shut up and listen, we'll hear her if we get close'. Quiet my ass, I knew I could find her-"

"Will you shut up?" comes Arlo's low drone.

I'm close enough now to where Isa probably doesn't have to yell for me to be able to hear her, but it helps I guess. I walk a bit faster, and soon I'm able to see her bright yellow tank top and Arlo's tee shirt.

"Hadlee!" Isa grins and rams herself into me, enveloping me in a big hug. I awkwardly pat her back and laugh.

"It was only like five minutes, don't worry." I try to reassure her.

"Puta, I thought you were halfway across the state with how fast you were running. I thought it'd take us a lot longer to find you," she says, pulling away.

Arlo watches us stoically, arms crossed. "I climbed a tree," I explain somewhat sheepishly though not with a large amount of shame.

"Nice." she high-fives me and we both laugh.

"Arlight, family reunion's over, can we go back now?" Arlo says, gesturing towards the direction they were coming from.

"Oh shut it, fuckface. I know you were worried too." Isa says, slapping Arlo's shoulder.

He glares at her but doesn't say anything, and Isa passes the time quickly by telling us about how one time her brother ran over a Peccary on the highway.

When we break through the trees and into the field, the sun beats down on me relentlessly again, and I immediately miss the shade of the branches. Everyone else is back to work again, I guess Arlo and Isa were sent as the search party.

We trek our way across the field and over to where Harriet and Mom are in the living room, a cigarette dangling from Mom's lip. Once Harriet spots us she launches up and pulls me into a hug. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know that Peccaries were that fast, I had no clue it would chase you guys like that. In all honesty, I thought it was dying-"

I laugh and say, "Harriet, it's fine. I really don't mind."

She pulls away and looks me up and down like she's looking for damage and finally lets me go. "Okay, good. Now back to work."

And so I pick up my price gun and go back to my box of Roman Candles.