Group Camping Trip: Intruder

Once the night had fully set in, everyone got a bit sleepy.

 

“I brought s’mores stuff, if anyone wants one?” Yellowtail offered. Neo yawned and shook her head.

 

“I think we’re fine for now. Maybe tomorrow night.” Jade suggested, slinging her arm around Neo’s shoulder.

 

Viper and Smokey had calmed down from their laughing fits, and were looking very tired.

 

“Yeah, I’ve got a headache from laughing.” Smokey said, placing his hand on his head. Everyone sat in silence for a moment longer, until Jade said something.

 

“Maybe we should head to bed, it’s getting pretty late.”

 

Everyone looked at each other, all mentally asking themselves the same question; who gets to sleep where?

 

“...I call the main RV bed!” Viper leapt up from her spot and ran towards the RV, Smokey following closely behind her, yelling “Hey, not fair! We didn’t even do rock, paper, scissors!”

 

Jade chuckled. “Well, better leave them to sort that out for themselves, Yellowtail, where do you want to sleep?”

 

Yellowtail thought for a moment, then spoke.

 

“I guess I could take the table bed in the RV, if Smokey and Viper are willing to share a bed with each other; the RV only has two, since it was one of the cheaper ones at the rental place.” He said.

 

“Then that leaves Neo and I with the tent. It’s plenty big for two people, so we should be alright. Right Neo?” Jade smiled at Neo, who nodded slightly.

 

“Then that settles it, we’ll wake up in the morning and do some more fun things together then. Night guys!” Yellowtail shouted over his shoulder as he headed for the RV. Once he was inside, Neo and Jade went into the tent and began setting up their things.

 

“So, you enjoying yourself?” Jade asked Neo, who was struggling with getting her sleeping bag out of her backpack.

 

“Yeah, I am actually. It’s fun to just not have to worry about much and be able to spend time with friends.” Neo responded. Jade had finished getting her sleeping bag and stuff out of her own bag, and had moved over to help Neo with hers. The two could faintly hear the siblings fighting inside the RV. The back window was open in the vehicle, making it hard not to hear it.

 

Jade laughed to herself about it, quickly checking to make sure she had closed the zipper on the tent’s entrance, then climbing into her sleeping bag and zipping it up as well.

 

Neo, instead of getting into her own sleeping bag, merely sat on top of it and stared out the mesh window near the top of the tent, thinking.

 

“Neo? You not tired anymore?” Jade asked.

 

Neo glanced over at Jade, seeming to snap out of her thoughts.

 

“Hmm? Oh, it’s not that, I’m just... “

 

She trailed off, not knowing how to describe what she was feeling. Anxious? Overly-tired? Sad? None of the words that crossed her mind seemed to be fitting for this feeling.

 

“Contemplative?”

 

Neo shrugged at Jade’s suggestion.

 

“I guess so.”

 

Jade unzipped her sleeping bag and crawled over to where Neo sat, intertwining her tail with her partner’s. They merely sat in silence for a moment, listening to the sounds of the nightlife and each other’s subtle breathing. Neo noticed a flicker outside. Just momentarily, then it was gone. Curiously, she got up and crouched, unzipping the tent and stepping outside.

 

“Neo? Where’re you going?” Jade followed, tripping slightly over the part of the tent that stuck up under the entrance. Neo had already made it across the clearing and over to the edge of the forest, and was now surrounded by fireflies.

 

Jade got slowly closer, entranced by how gentle Neo looked in such a situation. The soft glow of the fireflies illuminated her features so nicely, Jade thought. Made her look almost… unreal. The way she allowed the little glowing insects to land on her without trying to chase them away was… something Jade felt like she’d never seen in Neo before. It was almost like… a strange compassion Neo had never revealed before.

 

Jade let out a breathy laugh, not an intense one, but a gentle one. Neo smiled, not taking her eyes off of the group of little bugs fluttering around her.

 

After a few more moments, all but one firefly had dissipated. There it sat, perched on the bridge of Neo’s beak, cleaning itself. It continued to flicker lightly. Neo blew out a breath, directing it upwards with her beak, lifting the little bug into the air and watching it buzz away, following the path of its friends that had already departed. Neo watched it go.

 

Jade finally approached Neo closely, taking her place beside her partner and placing an arm around her shoulders. She pressed her head to Neo’s, closing her eyes and just listening to Neo’s heartbeat. It was faster than Jade’s own, even in such a laid-back situation.

 

The two eventually made their way back to the tent, heading inside and zipping up the entrance to keep unwanted pests out. Once the two had finally settled in for the night, Neo for once found sleep.

 

“Neo, hey, wake up!”

 

Neo awoke suddenly to Jade shaking her, whispering frantically. Neo rubbed her eyes.

 

“... What?” Her voice was gravely and low from sleep.

 

Jade didn’t respond, merely held a finger up to her beak in a motion to keep quiet, then pointing to the shadow making its way around the tent.

 

Neo instantly sat upright, eyes wide. What was outside, and why was it so big?

 

After a few suspenseful moments, the shadow refused to disappear. It sounded like whatever it was was eating… something.

 

“I’m going to see what it is.” Neo ignored Jade gripping her shoulder hard, trying to make her sit back down. Neo didn’t intend to confront whatever it was, just wanted to look out the tent screen and get an idea of what they were dealing with.

 

Upon adjusting her eyes to the moonlight outside, Neo could see that it was a bear, hunched over near the now-embers campfire, gnawing on one of the fish skewers they’d discarded earlier.

 

“It’s a bear, it’s eating the bad fish from dinner.” Neo turned to Jade to deliver the information.

 

“As if that’s good news, how do we get rid of it?” Jade hissed.

 

Neo shrugged, unfazed.

 

“I guess we just wait it out, once it’s done eating it’ll probably leave us alone.”

 

Jade seemed no less tense at that statement.

 

After waiting a little while longer, the bear decided it was satisfied and moved on. Once Neo could no longer hear the crunching of branches and leaves beneath its paws as it trundled away through the forest, she let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.

 

Unzipping the tent cautiously, Neo proceeded outside, Jade staying firmly in the tent. Looking around, there seemed to be no sign of the bear anymore, as well as a blatant lack of old fish on the ground. It had eaten its fill it seemed.

 

Neo did a quick lap around the campsite, making sure there was nothing else left out or that could cause problems for the rest of the night. Once she deemed it safe, she went back into the tent, assured Jade that it would be fine, and went to sleep.