My Destined Experience

Chapter 22

By Monday every middle school student was up at 5:00 am. We were, of course, extremely excited for our retreat. We arrived at school by 6:30 am. Many chaperones and some students holding cups full of steaming coffee. Everyone was surprisingly animated for it to be so early.

I finally found Ash, Em, and Will among the floodwaters of students. "Hey," I said hugging Em, Ash, and even Will. "Oh!" I said remembering something.

"Did you forget something at home?" Em asked concerned.

"No, no, I just remembered that I had an idea. How about Ash and I and you and Will do a double date? May twenty-sixth, ice cream parlor?"

"That's an amazing idea!" Will exclaimed.

"Yeah, we'll so be there!" Em said. Then a teacher shouted for us to quiet down so they could tell us who we'll be bunking with. Em, and I were in the same cabin and Will and Ash were in the same cabin. The bus ride to the retreat site wasn't atrocious, but it wasn't marvelous either.
It was ok because the whole time we could talk to friends and go on our phones and stuff and we all sang songs for a while. It wasn't great because the buses were old and slow, we traveled at a snail's pace. The seats had many holes in them the stuffing falling out each time a student sat down. Also, the ride was bumpy as hell. After two hours trapped in a slightly more tolerable version of hell on wheels, we arrived at the retreat site.

We unloaded our bags and headed to our cabins, to unpack. Once we unpacked we headed over to the guys side of the cabin site, Em texted Will that we were outside waiting for them. Thirty seconds later they came, dashing out the door with cargo shorts, short sleeve t-shirts, and sneakers. We walked the beach, went out on the docks, went kayaking because it was so hot and the cool water felt good, went on the zip line, and ropes course. By the time we had completed all of the ropes course activities it was late evening.

Em wanted to go to the observation deck so we all went. The deck itself was secluded, it was off a trail behind the mess hall. It overlooked green foliage, it started off with what looked like bushes that had grown to be the height of trees then it actually went into trees. If you looked over to the left you could see the beach, well you could see the water at least. The sun was beginning to set, it was astonishingly beautiful.

"I can see why you wanted to come here, Em. It's so peaceful, and beautiful." I say.

"Why I'd hardly say it's beautiful in comparison to you." Ash whispered in my ear.

"Ash." I say pushing his arm playfully and blushing slightly.

"It's true." He tells me. I took a picture of the sun setting above the water. Something that looked like a ball of flames sinking into the inky depths of the bay. The warmth of its light not to be felt again until morning, when it would rise above the waters and give us hope for another day.

And yet, who is to say that after the sun sinks into the waters that we will ever see it again. One could argue that humans hamartia is that we put our faith in an inanimate object millions of miles away. Another could argue that that's why we've survived for so long because we trust because we have hope. Personally, I have no take on the subject of our demise or exsistance. I think we've lived this long because we've loved, and I think our demise will also be because of love.

Ash came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me, and we gazed at the setting sun. I don't know why, but I turned to him and kissed him. It wasn't planned, it wasn't a cliché, it was just a spur of the moment thing that popped into my head and I wanted to carry the thought out. The kiss wasn't like the one in the photo booth. It felt more like the one we and at Em's Christmas party.