Between Then & Now || Currently Editing for Wattys 2022

25.

I've seen a lot of crazy shit in my life–on this trip, even. But a crazy pack of cliff jumpers in the middle of the woods doesn't even nearly compare to what comes into view as we step into the clearing. Leaves and sticks crunch under foot as the glowing fungi casts a dim green light over everything. I look up and the sky is a dark, navy blue beyond the trees. More stars than I had ever seen in my life dance billions of miles away. When I look back over at Jo and Dante as they come into the clearing after me, I back further into the small circle of open area, watching as both of them begin to smile at the sight they find. I giggle and spin around, letting the green glow shower my skin. Coating it. Cleansing it. "It's like in a movie."

Jordan laughs, beer bottle still in his right hand as he steps over a fallen log into the clearing. Callista and Jonnie follow close after him. "No spirits, though. Just around halloween." He looks around, eyes sparkling in the green glow of the mushrooms. "Still sick, though."

The others follow through, and I suddenly remember that I still have a camera on me even without my backpack and whip out my phone, backing away from the glowing scene a bit to get a clear shot. I take a sweep over the glowing trees and ground and then pull the camera up to get a smooth shot with both the ground and the sparkling, clear sky above.

As I pull my phone down, a voice comes from behind me, right over my shoulder. "Making a documentary or something?"

Startled, I step away and turn around, finding Dante standing in the place that had been right behind me. I smile, blushing a bit, and nod. "Something like that. Not sure what it's about, though."

His eyes study mine. "I think that's probably how all the best ones start." He pauses and then continues. "I mean, the point of a documentary is to uncover something, right? Maybe you're just uncovering it yourself first."

My eyes trace his face, noting a beauty mark on his chin. I look back at him and smile. He's only a few inches away and my voice catches in my throat. Finally, I swallow the lump and respond. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

Suddenly, there's a whispered chanting coming from behind me, and I jump, thinking that, maybe, the spirits had actually come out tonight to play. But, as the chanting grows louder, I realize it's just Jordan and Jo, and then even Jonnie joining in.

"Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss."

"Shut up," Dante mutters. Red floods into his cheeks as he steps next to me, and he glances at me out of the corner of his eye, then quickly away. I smirk. Finally, somebody got him. "You guys are middle schoolers."

"It was a moment." Jo raises an eyebrow, smiling over at me as she takes a drink of her lemonade. She winks, and it's my turn to look down, embarrassed.

Callista mutters something, and, when I look up, Jo rolls her eyes. But she looks over at Dante, and out of the corner of my vision, he shakes his head and she sighs, shoulders dropping.

I chuckle. It's kind of entertaining.

Jonnie examines something over on the edge of the clearing, and Jordan's resorted to studying the fungi up close. As seems to be her thing, Jo crouches down, sitting on the forest floor and then laying down. She stares up at the sky, skin tinted neon green from the glow of the mushrooms. After a second, I walk over and join her.

At first, the ground is uncomfortable. Leaves from the forest floor get stuck in my hair, and probably some dirt, and I immediately want to sit back up. But, then, I just let it go. Just let it go. Because I can shower and clean up and the sky is so, so pretty.

There's some noise as Dante joins us, laying down on my other side. We just stare upwards in silence. I try to connect the stars into constellations, but there's no luck. How did the Greeks even manage to make three stars out to be a rabbit?

"Did you know that some of these stars might not even exist anymore?"

Jo's voice comes from beside me, and I look over at her, startled. She continues to stare upward, and I turn my head back. "Yeah. I was just thinking about that the other night."

"Wait, what?" Dante asks. "I'm literally looking at them, what do you mean?"

"Because of the speed of light. Like how long it takes the stars' light to get to us. If they're far enough away, they could be completely dead. But their light is still traveling here because of how far away they are and how long it takes their light to get here." Jonnie suddenly comes into vision from above us, looking down at us, and I blink. Was that the first thing he had said this entire time?

"God, Jonnie, you're such a nerd." Jo laughs, and I giggle, too.

"How did you know that, Jonnie?" Dante mutters.

For a few seconds, Jonnie's just silent again, then he lays down next to Jo and, after he's situated, he says, "I, um, I decided to study Physics. At UWV." Another pause. "It's cool."

Everyone's just silent for a moment, and I blink. Somehow, I had forgotten that all of these people are my age and probably also went to school.

"Wait, what year are you?" I sit up a bit, looking over Jo at Jonnie.

"He's a fetus," Jo giggles, still looking above.

Jonnie rolls his eyes. "I'm just a sophomore. But I'm a year older than everyone else, because of the gap year I had to take to work and help my dad after my mom died and we lost the house." The little boy from the gas station flies across my vision, and I blink. What should I say? I'm sorry for your loss? It's too late for that. But it feels like I should respond, show some empathy, just acknowledge how hard that must have-

"Alright, I'm bored. And cold. And tired," Callista whines from somewhere beyond our feet, and I can hear Dante sigh. It sounds like it's almost out of relief, though.

"Alright." He sits up and then pushes himself to a standing position, again. As he holds out a hand and helps me up, he winks. "That's my cue."

I look over at Jonnie, and I study his face, finally noticing the wrinkles on his forehead, the bags under his eyes. Finally, his quiet demeanor makes sense. How many times had he had to go hungry? Slept somewhere he just didn't feel comfortable? How hard had it been for him to even get into college? He studies his shoes, and, before I turn around to follow Dante and the others, he looks up. And I smile at him, because I don't have to say anything at all. He nods, and I swear I see a smile of his own creep across his face before we turn to follow the others.