Away
Down the sidewalk, over the bridge, critters were leaping courageously across the trees, the birds lined up in the distance. Squirrels and rabbits taunting us, daring everyone to come closer before darting off into the sunset. The beetles just lurked by, ready to fly and pounce to scare a nearby girl, who stubbornly spent the days here hiding away from all things creepy and crawly. No way out, inevitable. Rarely has a group like ours ever been so close. The lights are on as we make our ways back, the night, and our clock finally starting. Tick. The time was going by rapidly, achingly fast, the minutes aged. Tick. The fire roared in the distance in its pit, just starting, almost tantalizing. Tick. Our small accumulation of seniors, prepared to say goodbye to this experience forever, morosely lined up, bundled up, and prepped to take on any temperature, betting that a hurricane couldn't topple us over.
Showing the fear and excitement for the year in our body language, the entire area just loomed with how we felt. It seemed like the world was ending, and the feeling turned the lights a little dimmer, the heartbeats a little faster, the bugs seemed to disappear in the silence, nothing was there to beat us. The way everyone felt, the way everyone moved, it was all in sync. Out of the normality, we took our place.
When everyone was finally there, the darkness filled with only the fire lighting up the forest's darkness, the six of us sat hip to hip on giant stumps we'd pushed together. We try to stay together for a little longer before our dramatic time comes to a close; sharing blankets, snacks, tea, and laughter, stories are passed along in the darkness. Some tears are held back that can be heard in the voice of the speaker, the sniffles of best friends as the annotations of love and admiration are received; everyone quiet so cracks and rustles from critters in the distance can be heard. This goes on for a long time, everyone refusing to go back to the creaky old bunk beds that we get every year, not knowing that this would be the last time ever.
Everything about our tiny group should have caused the earth to shatter in our brains, to believe that we are not good enough, but the courage and the work, side by side, helped show a strong group with an even stronger leadership than ever before. We were the leadership that everyone needed, and banded together we were the hypothetical superheroes in tight spandex neon suits, masterfully disguised as pumped up teenagers who just happen to be the section leaders, lights to shine through the darkness. This is the glue that held our lives here together, hand in hand, able to believe we could leave this sticky, cold, dragging weather behind in our marching dust.