The Unicorn's Forest

Beth was tired. After they'd reached where the trail starts, they had a quick lunch, then everyone was given what they were supposed to carry. Which included a sleeping bag as well as their clothing and other items they'd each brought. Then each had some of the food supply for everyone. Which actually weighed a lot more than Beth had expected. Though, other people they encountered occasionally were pleasant and friendly, some had packs like their group did while a small few seemed like they lived nearby, or just hadn't planned on going very far on the trail so didn't have much supplies with them.

Shirley apparently had already decided sleeping arrangements. So, those who were in the same tent would decide who carried the tent. Beth, Charlie, and Shirley were to share a four person tent, Amelia and Hannah were sharing a tent, Lily and Cassie were put together, Ralph and Wes were put together, and Nick, Tim, and Rick were placed together.

One small comfort for Beth was that Shirley had decided to carry their tent herself, which meant she didn't have to deal with that extra weight. However, she did have to help set it up once they reached a campsite that suited them.

In all, Beth was ready to go to sleep even before they started the fire to cook dinner. While she had expected this to be tiring, it was one thing to be aware of it and a completely different thing to be that tired. Especially when she hadn't realized just how tired she would be.

Charlie however, wasn't happy about the sleeping bag she'd been given. They'd been told what to pack and what they didn't need to bring themselves. That Shirley would provide tents and sleeping bags, which meant that Charlie had to deal with a Barbie sleeping bag. For some reason the other sleeping bags of the same size were just solid colors. Beth's was red, Amelia's was pink, and Hannah's was black. Though, while Charlie tried to trade, none of them were willing to take the sleeping bag that Charlie had gotten.

Despite that, with the tent set up, Charlie was currently asleep on her sleeping bag. Maybe because Beth had taken a nap on the trip here, she wasn't tired enough to take a nap herself, but the idea did have its appeal. As it is, she couldn't think of why Ralph, Tim, Hannah, and Amelia were so full of energy. Even Wes looked as tired as Beth felt.

When they'd arrived, Beth had rummaged through her pack while they walked and given Charlie an old worn out friendship bracelet that looked like it was ready to snap its last thread. She'd at one point tried it as a focus, but quickly discarded that idea. However, since she'd used it as a focus for a little bit, it should let her be able to keep track of Charlie's location. Just in case whatever Shirley and her friends were planning required to separate Charlie from them.

Rick and Nick were working on getting a fire going to start cooking dinner. Aside from gathering wood, the rest of them were free to do whatever they wanted. According to Beth's phone, it was around seven, so the sun was still up, but it wouldn't be long before it started getting dark. In a couple hours it would be.

Though, aside from being used as a clock, Beth couldn't realistically use her phone for much else, given there wasn't any service that her phone was picking up, but that wasn't surprising. They weren't really close to a town or city, so it was expected there'd be little to no cell service.

Then there was the problem that she'd have to deal with the battery would only last so long, and she didn't have a charger for it. As she'd left it so she could work with her phone while it lasted and try to figure out how to tell the time without it. She doubted she'd learn how that quickly, but figured it would be better to start now rather than later.

Beth got into the tent that she'd be sharing with Charlie and Shirley, and laid on her sleeping bag as she pulled out one of the reading books she'd brought. She expected it would be a while before dinner was ready and they'd already gathered enough wood for the night, so there wasn't much left to do. Which meant in she didn't find something to do, she'd likely get rather bored.

By the time dinner was ready, Beth had read a couple chapters, not that the chapters were that difficult or long. However, Beth did have to shake Charlie awake. It took so long that Beth was starting to get worried. Then when Charlie's eyes opened, it was clear that she'd been woken from a deep sleep.

"What time is it?" Charlie asked, her voice heavy from sleep.

"Dinner time," Beth replied.

"Wake me when it's ready," Charlie said, turning on her side as she started to go back to sleep.

"Want me to wake you like a fairy tale? I mean, I could see if kissing you would break whatever sleep enchantment you have on you," Beth joked.

Charlie's eyes snapped open and she sat up so fast that Beth couldn't help but laugh, especially with how furiously Charlie was blushing. "You're just too easy," Beth said, clapping a hand on Charlie's shoulder.

"It's not that funny," Charlie mumbled a protest.

"It is to me," Beth replied cheerfully.

With that, Beth and Charlie went over to the fire. It was also starting to get dark enough that Beth would have had to put her book down soon anyway, with the light fading around them. What they were having for dinner were hamburgers. While Beth wouldn't have minded these later in the trip, she couldn't deny that uncooked meat might not last that long with the temperatures she had that afternoon.

Though, it did bring to mind to Beth that when they traveled like this, what could they bring to eat that wouldn't get old quickly? Other food they had was canned, though some was dry, like flour, so it would need to be prepared before they could make it into something. Especially since it wasn't like there was a store they'd be able to go to whenever they wanted.

"What's going to be for breakfast?" Ralph asked as he helped himself to a third burger.

"Pancakes," Rick replied. "We got all we need to make the pancakes, but while we'll have syrup, we won't have any butter to go with it."

"Bummer," Wes said. Beth knew Wes like to often drown pancakes in butter. Or at least as far as Beth considered it. He probably had a different idea about it than she did.

"At least your pancakes will be able to breathe before you put the syrup on," Hannah joked.

"I don't put that much on," Wes protested.

"You're right," Ralph replied. "You just put pancakes on your butter."

Wes scowled at Ralph and didn't reply as everyone else had a small laugh.

"Will there be any dessert?" Amelia asked.

"Didn't have room for it, sorry," Shirley replied.

"I was hoping for some cake," Amelia added.

"Amelia, where do you think you'd be able to bake it?" Beth asked. "I mean, you need an over to bake a cake, even if you ignore the refrigerated items that you'd need as well."

"I was still hoping for cake," Amelia defended her statement.

"How about this, runt? Well stop someplace on the way back?" Shirley asked. "We can make sure it'll be a place that has cake."

"I'm good with that," Amelia said cheerfully.

Beth smiled to herself. When Amelia gets a craving for something, especially a dessert, she can be a little persistent about letting everyone know what she wanted until she gets a feeling that she'll be able to get it soon.

"What about marshmallows?" Tim asked.

"We have some, but I wanted to save those for the last night," Nick said. "I mean, why not? It'd give us something to look forward to, aside from the cake, I mean."

While they continued talking, the topic shifted towards ghost stories. Most were the usual variety that were scarier for those who didn't care for ghost stories in general or younger kids. However, Charlie's story ended the night for everyone. It was so bad that it killed the mood for another round of stories, not that Beth blamed Charlie. Beth doubted Charlie had much experience in making her own ghost story.

"Don't worry about it," Beth told Charlie as they made their way to their tent. "I'm sure you'll come up with a better one next time."

Charlie didn't reply. She just nodded, so Beth gave her a brief side hug before they entered the tent and they started getting ready for bed.

_

Charlie was ecstatic. They day was bright and clear, the sun shining on the trail. She couldn't say why she had so much more energy than she typically had when she was on a camping trip.

She also seemed to have more energy than everyone else did. While she wasn't big on shorts, the pair she was wearing helped her move around more easily than she would have if she'd worn a skirt. Not that she'd be happy to admit that to Beth or Amelia. Though, she would admit that she didn't have to worry about her skirt getting blown up by the occasional wind, given it was gusty at times that day.

She also was often ahead of the group, because with the excessive amount of energy she found herself with, she couldn't bring herself to go the pace everyone else was moving with. The few times she'd tried to, she found herself itching to be moving. Almost like going slower was causing the energy in her to build pressure inside her until she just had to move.

She may have questioned why she was so full of energy, but at the moment she was to excited to care. There was so much to see along the trail and experience that she was having a hard time 'sampling' all that she could.

In the afternoon, Shirley had to run to catch up with her to give her some lunch. Even then, Charlie couldn't eat it while sitting down. She needed to keep moving and couldn't bring herself to slow down any amount.

Even as clouds moved in as the afternoon wore on, didn't dissuade her. Charlie was aware that she was by the foot of the mountains, and this was about where they were supposed to decide if they should try climbing one or just start heading back after finding a campsite.

However, it was then that Charlie realized she hadn't seen the rest of the group for a while. That Shirley was the last she'd seen of anyone, when she had been given lunch.

Charlie started to turn to head back the way she'd came, so she could know where they were and they could see she was alright. Even then, she still found herself bubbling over with energy and excitement.

The clouds that rolled in overhead were dark gray, but given how late in the day it was, they were starting to get even darker, until just before they'd gone black as the sun set above them, they released the rain they'd been holding in.

Charlie found herself soaked to the bone in seconds. She had a hard time seeing the trail, but kept moving forward, determined to find the rest of the group. Despite how the rain was coming down so hard that it stung where it hit any part of exposed skin, and even through her shirt.

The weight of her pack was slowing her down, in addition to having trouble keeping her balance because of the wind and force of the rain. Regardless, she tried her best to keep pushing forward until she got knocked down when she felt herself listing to one side at the same time the wind pushed hard in the same direction.

As she landed, she couldn't help but cry out in pain, as her arm hit the ground, taking all the weight of her body and the pack she was carrying. If she hadn't landed on the side of her arm, she worried that it might have gotten seriously injured.

"Charlie!"

Charlie heard her name being called in the distance as she started to pick herself back up.

"Over here!" she called back, hoping that whoever was calling her could hear her through the rain and wind.

At first nothing happened and she was starting to doubt that they had heard her when Shirley came into view. Charlie was so happy that she found someone in their group, that she hugged her without a thought, just happy to not be alone in the pouring rain.

"Where's everyone else?" Charlie asked.

"I don't know, I haven't seen them since I left to get you your lunch," came the reply. "But come with me, I got the tent set up with a lantern lit inside. We should get you out of those wet clothes and dried."

Charlie nodded. That made sense to her. She was aware how even in the summer, if someone got wet and didn't get dry, they could still start to experience hypothermia.

Charlie wasn't sure how long it took them to get to where Shirley had put up her tent, but eventually they did and Charlie collapsed for a minute on the floor of the tent as Shirley closed the door of the tent. When Charlie was able to get her strength back, she removed her pack and opened it to see what dry clothes she had.

She was appalled to see that her pack had been soaked through. Apparently she'd either neglected to close the zipper enough or it had been caught on something so it would open and water had gone through to soak every piece of clothing she'd brought with her. Just how long had she been in the rain? Why she hadn't caught it before was obvious. She had been too focused on her surroundings to have picked up on it.

As she looked at it, she could feel that she was starting to shake with being cold, so she knew that she'd need to at least remove what she was wearing before much longer, or she could be in serious trouble.

However, she wasn't alone in the tent and that was part of the problem she had at the moment. Shirley had started hanging rope up in the tent, clearly to hang their clothing on, which she was already taking her shirt off to drape over the line.

"You should start stripping so you won't start to freeze in those wet clothes," Shirley said as she removed her shirt in one motion.

"Ummm," Charlie could only say as she turned away.

Shirley sighed. "Look, I know you don't like changing in front of others, but we don't have a choice here. It's either change into some of your dry clothes now or start to freeze. I don't know about you, but I'd rather face the embarrassment of Nick seeing me naked than I would freezing to death."

Charlie sighed. If only it was that simple. "All my clothes are soaked through," she said quietly, unable to raise her volume any higher.

"What'd you say?" Shirley asked, stepping closer to her.

"I said that all my clothes are soaked," Charlie repeated, tears coming to her eyes as the situation coupled with the exhaustion she was just now starting to feel threatened to overwhelm her.

"How about this then?" Shirley asked. "I'll hang all your clothes here and you take what you can off so you won't be so cold and we can look at what we can do from there, okay?"

Charlie nodded, part of her having trouble thinking straight. Though, first she started hanging a few pieces of clothing up from her pack before Shirley stopped her and insisted she hang up the clothing she was wearing first.

Too tired and wet to argue, Charlie began by lifting up her shirt before peeling it off of her. Before dropping her shorts on the ground, where they landed with a wet sound. Charlie tried stepping out of them before remembering she still had to take her shoes off. Which normally didn't take any time at all, but with wet laces and cold fingers, it took a few minutes. Then as she pulled her feet out of her shoes and shorts, she peeled off her socks before turning to Shirley.

What she saw made her freeze inside, not sure what to do.