One night in Manhattan

Goodnight

"is it me, or has J been gone for a minute?" Zac asked Fatima concerned.

She shrugged. "maybe he had to take a dump."

"outside? That's nasty." Just as Zac was about to go searching for Jordan he came running into the campsite with news. "what's up why you running?" Zac asked

Jordan stopped running and caught his breath a bit before speaking. He held up his phone and showed Zac and the rest of the group a picture. "look what I found. Its right up there a little past the bush!" he said pointing in the direction he just came from.

"Lemme see." Each person said claiming their time with the phone. On the screen, there was a picture of a chained-up fence with warning signs and keep-out signs posted. The grass was high up and almost covered the metal fence. Had it not been for the flashlight on his phone accidentally reflecting off it, Jordan would have never discovered it himself. Being the curious man he was, Jordan told them how naturally he had to go explore it and from what he could see, it was creepy as shit. He described a small rundown cabin covered in brush and vines and there was a small light peeking out. He told them that he swore he heard sounds in the distance. With every detail that Jordan gave, Zac was two steps closer to packing his things and leaving. Although slightly shaken by the news with the rest of the group, Trevor decided to ease everyone's fears. "y'all I'm sure that's just a ranger's cabin."

"Yea, you're probably right." Lilian chimed in. "There's usually a few of them scattered around the state parks."

"why don't y'all just go back up and see?" Fatima suggested to the men in the group.

"Ill take their word for it." Said Jamar immediately.

Zac still looked unsure. He didn't want to appear scared, but he knew there was a reason black people didn't go to the woods. "Yo, Trevor. You sure bro?"

"Yea, we good."

"I mean there's like two more campsites with people on it closer to there so if there is a killer out there, we got a headstart!" Jordan announced matter of fact manner that kind of stunned everyone.They all looked at him blankly. Even Trevor and Lilian, who camped more frequently than anyone else in the group gave him a side eye. "Listen, you can't put nothing past white people." He looked at Lilian. "Sorry, not sorry. you know its true." Jamar chimed in. "yea, Yall just be doing anything."

Lilian laughed. "don't put that on me! I'm Hispanic!" she said shocking everyone. "Mi madre es mexicana y mi padre es mexicano nacido en Florida." She announced in perfect Spanish. Everyone eventually laughed the encounter off and went about regularly scheduled programming. While around the fire pit, Zac was warm in his hoodie and sweatpants but as soon as the fire began burning out, he was shivering cold while everyone else was warm and toasty in their puffer jackets. "T, I'm bout to go to bed. It's cold as shit out here." he said thinking about cozying up in his sleeping bag. Zac was being crabby because he was cold. He thought a hoodie was enough for the woods in the winter and was upset that he didn't heed the warnings from Fatima about dressing warm for the nights.

"Boy go in the tent and look in the black duffel. There's a jacket in there for you." Fatima said smiling at him while shaking her head at the shivering man in front of her.