Summer Milestone

Stand By Me

Chapter 30

~JOSH~

When the storm eventually passes, Zack and I are finally able to leave that little den and continue our "journey" back to the campsite. Though to be honest, we've gone so far into the woods that finding our way back seems impossible at this point. I'm however not all that concerned, even though I probably should be, knowing that we can't survive out here in the woods forever. But I feel like once we do find our way back to the others, I'm going to miss this alone time I have with Zack. After all, this is the last thing we'll be able to do together before the end of the summer. And then after that comes college and we may never see each other again. Unless of course, we don't ever find our way back and just die out here.

"Ya know, if we do find our way outta here, I think I'm actually gonna miss this," I tell him, putting my arm around him as we walk.

"Miss what?" He never really was the brightest bulb.

"This! You and me together as we wander the woods like we're the only two people left in the world. We'll never have this again," I explain.

"I guess we won't, will we?" He says, looking glum. "Damn, I wish this summer didn't have to end!"

I exhale deeply, "Me too."

"I'm going to miss you," he adds as he puts his hands along my shoulders and rubs them for no particular reason other than to show his affection for me.

"We should just like, run away together. Run away from all our responsibilities and just live freely, ya know? Fuck college, fuck New Jersey, fuck everyone who isn't us! It'll just be me and you, man!"

He snickers, "Where would we go?"

"We could go anywhere! We could go to Oregon! We could go to Washington! Could even go to fucking Canada for all I care!" I probably sound a little too enthusiastic for such a fantasy.

"That sounds nice, man. But what the hell would we even do there?"

"I don't fuckin' know... drink, get high, party, live! We could do anything!"

"I wish," he mutters with his signature little lopsided smile.

"Yeah, me too." It's always more fun dreaming over a joyous fantasy than facing the bitter reality.

Eventually, we reach the forest's end and come upon an open field of tall weeds and flowers of varying sorts, much like a meadow. For a few hours, the two of us just hang out and mess around like we used to when we were just a couple of 8-year-olds, taking turns tossing a frisbee we found on the way here, back and forth to each other. After that, we wrestle on the ground for a bit, and given the current wilderness setting, I feel like I'm a wild animal attacking its prey. I'm on top of him, playfully beating the shit out of him while he struggles to defend himself, somewhat like a wild bear as it mauls a sheep to death.

Zack and I were always wild animals in some sort of capacity. We'd do the wildest shit when we were younger like party till daybreak, egg houses and vandalize shit on Halloween, skinny dip with the rich kids, or smoke weed in a hotel bathroom right before we vandalize that too by getting water all over the damned place. It sucks that those days are now over. But even so, the two of us will always be wild animals, no matter how old we get. I mean, here we are, at the edge of 19, still acting like stupid children.

By sunset, the two of us are worn out and not to mention starving. We have a bit of food and water from the backpack Zack brought with him, but I don't know how long it'll last us. So far, we've been out here for a little over eighteen hours and our supply of food will likely only last us two more days. Our water supply is now less than half but that I'm not too concerned about, seeing as there are plenty of streams nearby and we have the resources to boil it if we need to. At the moment, food is the only thing I'm worried about as I'm not really looking forward to hunting down and eating wildlife. But if we don't find our way back or the others don't find us then I guess our options are limited. That's too bad because I'm actually really enjoying being out here.