The Encounter

Chapter 4

Victoria sighed loudly and threw her hands up in surrender as her tent collapsed in on itself for the umteenth time. Charlie was laughing so hard  He was getting red while Lila had been startled. She had been singing softly to herself because of a song that was currently stuck in her head from the drive over. Lila looked over at Charlie with a glare for being interrupted before she could get to the chorus. She had long since added the final touch ups to her tent, as it was now nearing eight at night. She headed over to Victoria to help the helpless mess of a woman with setting up her tent. After all the years they had been camping together, you would believe that Victoria would have gotten the hang of setting up a tent.

    Lila carefully hammered one of the metal rods in the ground and was slowly able to set up Victoria’s tent the right way. Of course Victoria was being the lazy douchebag she always was, so Lila got no help. Victoria smiled her eyes soft making Lila reconsider her smart alec comment about taking lessons. Charlie had finished setting up his tent long before Lila had helped to set up Victoria’s so he was already situated on his back in the grass. Lila flopped down next to him bonelessly and sighed as she looked up at the stars. They were infinite and could be seen clearly since there was no light pollution to speak of in this area. She was finally able to relax after all the stuff they had done that day, though not that much, it still exhausted Lila. This was because of her insomnia leading her to get little to no sleep the night before they came out here to camp.

    “So, how is the college life treating you?” Charlie questioned Lila in a soft voice, afraid to break the peace with a louder tone.

    “It is actually going very well. Did I tell you guys that I finished writing that book for my creative writing class? I might get it published,” Lila mumbled as she yawned while rubbing at her eyes. Charlie nodded and accepted the answer as he tilted his head, eyes searching for Victoria. Lila meanwhile had a soft look in her eyes as she watched the moon.

    “Thinking about how old you are I see,” Victoria teased Lila lightly as she chuckled. Lila on the other hand scowled and stuck her tongue out at Victoria before looking back at the almost black sky around them.
    “We should get firewood before its ten and it gets really dark out here,” Lila suggested as she let laziness keep her rooted to her spot on the ground. Charlie being the sweetheart he was got voluntold for the job of gathering the firewood they would need for smores.

    Victoria settling down by Lila’s head caused her to flinch slightly as she recalled that one time an animal had snuck up on her and attacked her. She still had the scars across her back to prove it. Though Lila felt a frown settling on her face for a different reason. Soon enough she wouldn’t be able to just hang out with her friends whenever she wanted because she would be sucked into the swirling vortex of stress that made up the workforce. She wasn’t even sure what she would do once she had her act together.

    Victoria sensing Lila’s change in mood decided that they would dig a fire pit together, and by together she meant making Lila do all the work. Lila was eager to take any distraction even if it meant digging in the ground. She was the type to need something else to focus on rather than her mind or she would go insane with all the insecurities she found there.

    “So how is Josh doing?” Victoria inquired from her seat by her tent. To Lila the voice was slightly muffled but in actuality it only sounded that way because she was moving. She stopped for a moment and looked at the dark pine trees around them, their branches crawling to the sky like grasping fingers.

    “I don’t know how well I’m able to help him, but the doctors are saying he’s doing much better. I will have to watch and make sure he’s taking his antipsychotics,” Lila explained tone neutral as she focused more on the fire pit again.

    “Sorry for asking,” Victoria announced her voice soft with regret as her body sagged.

“It’s alright you were just curious,” Lila whispered back to Victoria’s abashed statement.

Charlie sauntered his way over to them with a bunch of tree branches and leaves bundled against his chest. He seemed to be fighting against the pile as it tried to topple from his arms.

“Some help would be nice,” He exclaimed with a strangled voice glaring at them as the pile started to topple. Victoria rushed to his aid while Lila finished up the fire pitt before moving to help them. Together the three were able to haul the huge stack of sticks and leaves into the pit that Lila had created. Charlie produced a lighter when they had all moved away, and reached forward to catch the pile on fire. He and Lila then went to their respective tents to grab the items needed for smores while Victoria sat salivating at the thought of the warm gooey treats. Lila had returned to see exactly that while shaking her head. Leave it to Victoria to get excited about chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers.