bad their final year. They’d fought a couple of times but for the most part, things had been fine. Then out of the blue Fiona announced her family was moving upstate. Nate spent time with her anyway, thinking they were going to stay together long-distance. She also assumed they’d be leaving at the end of summer, except her dad had a change in plans and now they were leaving a week before school was back.
And Fiona was supposed to have gone camping with them that weekend.
Instead of making arrangements for them to keep in touch, Fiona decided to dump Nate, stating numerous reasons why them staying together was dumb and doomed to fail. She’d not even really sounded all that heartbroken, and now Nate felt like a total idiot for even liking her in the first place.
Agreeing to go camping with Rachel and Joel was based on the assumption Fiona would be coming too so he wouldn’t be a third wheel. Rachel refused to let him change his mind about it, arguing he may as well come along instead of moping around in his room for the rest of the summer. It was sweet of her to consider him, however Nate was now regretting caving in.
The campsite was a half mile in from the empty gravel parking lot. There was a designated path, well-worn by previous travellers. The chance of getting lost was impossible.
Nate didn’t have a lot with him. Rachel had overpacked and it fell on Joel to carry what she couldn’t. She went ahead with Joel close behind her. Soon sick of walking, Nate fell further still behind. His distractions were plentiful enough and the distance was growing.
A whistling went past his ears that Nate mistook for a bug. It happened again, his head snapping to one side. In his periphery, there was a brief flash of white light.
‘Move it, Nate!’ Rachel hollered.
Nate trudged on a moment, muttering to himself. He was gaining on Rachel and Joel when suddenly he couldn’t see them at all. The light filled his vision, pulling back for him to see a cluster of white spheres, varied in size like bubbles. They were orbiting around each other, dancing in his face before they shot off to the right of him and disappeared. Nate was dazzled, left blinking and confused, Rachel shouting at him all the while.
‘Did you not see that?’ he yelled at her. ‘That flash of white light?’
‘Are you nuts?’ Rachel was annoyed she was having to come back. ‘I didn’t see anything.’
‘Me neither,’ Joel admitted.
Nate didn’t continue the argument.
Not many people chose camping over going to the beach for their last week of summer, which meant the campsite was empty. Nate and Joel went about setting up the tents and Rachel went to pick through the undergrowth for wood for a fire. There was a stone fire pit they had to use, besides that, there weren’t many other rules for the site. The lake was another mile north but Nate doubted they would go check it out.
He wasn’t even sure what they’d be doing the whole time. He pictured Joel and Rachel going off on their own, negating any reason for Nate to show up. He couldn’t even borrow his mom’s car to go out there himself, it would’ve left him with an easy means of escape if he got bored or sick of Rachel’s nonsense.
Joel was being decent about Nate’s mood. On the other hand, Nate didn’t want Joel’s pity, still it was preferable to Rachel’s catty comments. The night brought more bugs and they kept their arms covered; it was cold enough to wear sweaters and jeans. They sat around talking mostly about school. Nate was already disgruntled and tired.
‘She’s not particularly bright,’ Rachel said of one of her classmates. She was twirling a long stick with a marshmallow on the end at the fire, looking disinterested in actually eating it. ‘You have to wonder what gets people into colleges now.’
‘Money,’ Nate said bluntly. ‘Lots of money.’
Rachel crinkled her nose. ‘Elitist scum think they can buy their way through life.’
‘They can,’ Joel said with a shrug. ‘And they do. It’s just how things are.’ He got up and moved towards the other tent. ‘I’m done. Don’t stick a fork in me, just take my word for it.’
Rachel was about to join him, instead hesitating and looking over the fire at Nate. ‘It sucks Fiona left,’ she said. ‘I know you liked her but she wasn’t the type to commit to something as serious as a long-distance relationship. You must’ve known that. Cut your losses.’
‘Already have,’ Nate muttered.
He stayed by the fire, thinking about the white light. The flames in front of him didn’t move the same way. They made a jagged, erratic motion, licking up at the air almost futilely. The little white spheres had been fluid and quick.
Rachel’s giggling inside the other tent broke his concentration, and Nate had to hope they weren’t going to get any louder that night.
When it was safe to leave the fire to die down, Nate moved to get into the empty tent the same moment another flicker of white lights went past his eyes. It carried the whispered voice of a girl with it, but he couldn’t decipher what was said to him. He traced the sound to the south, where the woods were now completely blacked out.
Rachel had brought a heavy torch that could last for hours. Nate took it from beside the other tent, turning it on and directing the beam into the trees. The circle of torchlight illuminated the woods for about twenty feet in and no more. The beam didn’t diminish the glow of the white lights ahead of him. He heard the voice again, compelled to follow in spite of the things in the dark that could easily hurt him.
Nate turned off the torch and left it by the edge of the campsite. The lights were constant now and he tracked them, carefully. The strange lack of fear in him was what kept him moving. The air grew colder and his mouth was dry, but he wasn’t able to turn and go back. His wonderment brought him to where the lights had settled in the midst of another clearing. He was coaxed towards them when they flickered around his face again.
A louder, more metallic voice came from the lights suddenly. He only heard a few syllables. About to respond, Nate watched one of the spheres dart into his mouth. His throat was warmed as if he’d drunk something hot and sweet. The sphere then dashed out again to return to the cluster.
‘My…s Violet…’ said the lights. ‘…m lost…’
‘You’re lost,’ he said stupidly.
‘Let m… ry again.’
Another sphere went into his mouth and straight back out again.
‘Will you help me?’ the lights quickly asked.
‘What should I do?’
‘Don’t move.’
The spheres broke apart to encircle him. Nate thought he felt fingertips on his face and neck. Hot air brushed his skin and he was dizzy suddenly. The light was embracing him.
‘Stay.’
Exhaustion struck him and Nate thought nothing of lying down on the ground. The grass and dirt under him felt soft, like a mattress filled with feathers. The lights stayed around him to warm him, making a translucent blanket over his whole body. Nate hadn’t felt this content since he was little, curled up in the pillow fort he’d built in the den.
‘Stay…’ the lights said again.