Insomniac

Finding One

Charlie was never an early riser. So, hiking through the dense highlands was defiantly not on her 6 a.m. to do list. "Bear, seriously I am not as athletic as you think." She huffed hoisting herself further with a tree branch. 

The guide just laughed ahead of her. It was only their second day out in the wild and so far things were going good. She was hungry, there was no lie there. But it would only be for a few days, so she could clearly hold out for that long. 

"We get to the top of this mountain tonight and we can make camp. The way down should be pretty easy. Spend that night in the basin then get to the evac. early in the morning." 

"You sure you haven't been here before?"

"This is all just a guess." 

Shaking her head, she joined his side. "That's reassuring." 

Together, they hiked higher and higher. The elevation difference was definitely noticeable. "You know?" She huffed climbing over a large fallen log. "It is a good thing that this is edited, because I have a feeling, half of my vocabulary is not going to be approved of." 

"Dirty mouthed American's."

Rolling her eyes they began climbing up a large mud hill. "Speaking of dirty, this reminds me of home!" 

"You play in the mud a lot as a kid?" 

"Oh please." She chuckled. "I lived in the mud." 

The day carried out tiredly. They didn't stop much, their goal of the mountain top was a tight squeeze. However, as the sun began to set, they found themselves staring over the island proudly. "Well, there goes my exercise for the year." She hissed before laying down on the ground. 

"We can make camp here, this time I'll handle the shelter you get the fire. We should have enough food left over from last night to get us through." 

"Key word." She sat up looking around them for the best area of a fire. "Should."  

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The night was pretty silent for the most part. The dim crackling of the fire ahead was pretty much thy only thing making any sound. That is, until, Bear tried to start a conversation. "So Charlie." Both locked eyes. "What is it like, you know being you. Then coming out here?"

Swallowing down her food, she nodded. "Well, being me is you know, its me? I'm not sure. In my eyes, I'm another person trying to live their life. Nothing special, nothing more. But from changing to the actual wild from a set? That is definitely something that I've noticed the most. I think that it is going to help me lots. especially for the walking dead, my character specializing in the wild and survival." 

"Well maybe if you need a few tips, you could come out and do this a little more often." 

She smiled and looked back to the fire. "I would actually probably enjoy that a lot. But we need to go to different places all the time. I love seeing new things." 

"Well there is definitely a lot to see. Will you be doing it alone?"

Charlie just shrugged. "I'm sure for some of it I will be, but I hope not for the rest of my life. Ever since I was a kid being alone was a habit for me, but finding someone who doesn't make you feel like that is a big blessing."

"Oh, so you have found a special someone?" He asked excitedly. 

"What, are you some type of talk show now bear?" They both smiled and their laughter died down. "My love life is something that I usually try to keep hidden from the public. That way I'm not used to be famous, if things don't work rumors don't start, and if people want to go against it, there is nowhere they can go with it." 

Adjusting slightly, bear nodded. "That's a good thing Charlie. Not many people are like that these days." 

She nodded one last time and looked towards her now dirty boots. "Yeah well, lucky for me, I managed to find one." 

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Thomas tuned in himself watching alone in his room. Today the group was going about their own things. As weird as it sounded, without Charlie, there seemed to be such a gaping hole in the group. Sure there was always one when someone was gone, but this one just felt bigger to him. 

Just hearing her talk about her love life made his heart putter. Hopefully she was talking about him, she had to be. Charlie wasn't the type of person to just hit it and quit it, that he knew for sure. So the kiss, it had to have meant something. 

Suddenly, there was a knock on his door. He stared at it in confusion for a short second. "Who is it?"

The response was quick. "It's Dylan, let me in." 

Rising to his feet he made his way to the door and pulled it open. On the other side, a befuddled looking Dylan stared right at him. "You okay?" Thomas asked. 

There was a short silence between the two. Then, biting his lip, Dylan shook his head no. "It's Kaya." He hissed. Immediately Thomas's mind started racing. Was his friend hurt? Was she missing? did he need her?

"What happened?" Thomas let Dylan in. 

As soon as the guy was inside though, he stature fell and he looked like he broke. "Dylan?" Thomas asked putting a hand on his shoulder. 

Finally, with a sigh, Dylan looked to his friend. "She got a boyfriend."