Alone
Something was wrong, he knew that much. Maybe it was the cold, dark night, or the fact that he couldn't see beyond a few yards, or perhaps it was the surrounding forest area that resembled a horror movie.
"Eh? This doesn't look familiar at all. I think we're lost."
Well of course they were lost. They were on top of a mountain, with no way of knowing how far, or in which direction, the hotel was. In addition to that, there was no cell phone service anywhere. Then there were the others. They had probably found the damned thing by now and were fast asleep in their beds. He sighed and stopped the car, making sure to leave the heat on. He drew his cell phone from his pocket, but found that there was no reception on the mountain. Such a surprise. He swore.
He would never go on a winter retreat with Daisuke and Riku again. Especially if it was in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, which is exactly where he was.
There was a gasp from beside him. "Oh, look!" So he did.
Millions of tiny lights looked back at him, twinkling in the dark. To try and describe the feeling of loneliness that struck him would be very hard, if not impossible. Beyond the stars were planets, and beyond that were more solar systems and more planets and more stars. Still there were more parts to the galaxy. How many legs did their galaxy have? Six? Eight? And scientists hadn't even reached the end of this one yet. Then there was more than one galaxy as well! Hundreds, thousands of galaxies with different legs and different systems and many different stars and planets, all billions of miles away. Hell, the stars that he saw now could be dead, the light it shed 100,000 light years ago just now reaching earth. And there he sat, a measly, simply human being, in the middle of all that.
"Aren't they beautiful?"
He had to look away and sigh, feeling a bit sick. His partner glanced at him.
"Are you alright? What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Satoshi Hiwatari started the car back up and decided to turn around. He didn't want to chance going down the opposite side of the mountain. He wasn't sure his car could take that kind of incline. "I saw a gas station back at the bottom of the mountain. Maybe we can stop there and figure out what to do."
"Eh?" This shocked his friend. "You mean there's civilization out here?"
He could understand why she was so surprised. The entire "town" consisted of a creek, a bank at the very beginning of the border, a gas station, two bars, a convenient store, an elementary school, and a park. Other than that, there were houses and trailer homes. It was absolutely the smallest town he had ever seen. Everyone probably knew everyone else, and they all kind of lived in walking distance of everything. Even if they were feeling lazy, they could always drive their pick-up truck. The fact that, when they had first driven into the town at sunset, they saw two teenagers getting busted for drugs at one of the bars. That was well over two hours ago, when they sort of had an idea where they were...
A small hand fell upon his, and he looked into her innocent brown eyes. She was always so concerned about him. "I mean it. Are you alright?"
Satoshi nodded, concentrating on the road before him. "Just tired, Harada-san."
"No, that's not it." Risa scowled. She was always perceptive, that one. "But I'm guessing you don't want to talk about it." Satoshi nodded again, and she sat back, still holding his hand. "Well, fine... just remember that I'm always here for you, ok?"
He blinked, all of his previous thoughts seeming silly and overly dramatic. He really was foolish sometimes.
"Yes, I know... thank you."