Chapter Text
John arrived in the upper parking lot closest to his building just in time to see Daniel showing off what seemed to be a rather expensive-looking second-hand cooler to Taylor and Andrew, who had a few collapsible chairs hooked over their shoulders and some rolled up blankets or sleeping bags tucked under their arms. They looked like they were headed for a weekend down the Cape. All they were missing was an umbrella and copious amounts of sunscreen—and a car. It was certainly an incongruous tableau to stumble across late on a chilly Friday night.
“Look at this fancy-ass thing! It’s got wheels and everything. I told you you could find anything you wanted at that thrift shop.”
Taylor sighed. “OK, I can admit it’s pretty cool.”
“Cooler than the other coolers, eh? Eh?”
“Yes, you dork,” she said, then turned to Andrew. “Now you’re sure you’re not just taking us on a wild goose chase?”
“Trust me, you’re gonna love this place.”
“Whoa, whoa, where are you guys headed with all that stuff at this time of night?”
“Hey, Professor. Andrew found this cool place out in the woods and we’re gonna go hang out there and get away from everything for a while. We got everything we need—seats, blankets, a bunch of drinks and snacks loaded up in the cooler.”
“Plenty of weed, judging by the smell.”
“Of course.”
“We were actually just about to drop by your office to see if you wanted to join us.”
John was taken aback, surprised by how much it meant to him to hear that they thought of including him. Before Little Hope, it seemed like most of his students only saw him as an impediment on the way to a few easy credits.
“What exactly is it that you’re getting away from? The semester just started. You can’t be burnt out already,” John said, catching some movement out of the corner of his eye; Angela wandered out from between two rows of cars and Daniel waved her over.
“You’re kidding, right?” Taylor said. “We have more to want to get away from than anybody.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look,” Taylor said, dropping her voice, “if we have to live with the knowledge that we exist in some weird kind of… alternate universe or altered plane of existence or whatever the fuck it is, I, for one, would like to be able to chill out with the only other people in the entire world who know the truth about it. Like it or not, that’s the five of us.”
“You’re gonna go hang out alone in the woods to talk about what happened to us?”
“Heck yeah, we are. I can’t talk about any of that shit with anyone else, they’d think I lost my mind.”
“I thought we were all working from an unspoken agreement never to mention any of it.”
“In public, sure. We can’t just ignore it forever, though. That can’t be healthy.”
“That’s probably true.”
“Then you get it. Good.”
Andrew hefted his folding chair further onto his shoulder. “Guys, we should probably get there so we have time to set up before it gets too cold. And this stuff is getting heavy.”
“Right. That’s all the more reason to get going. Sooner rather than later.”
“What about you, Professor? You coming?” Andrew asked.
“Yeah, I purposely brought enough for everyone,” Daniel said, patting his coat pocket. “I’m sure you could use a little help relaxing, too.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Come on, man, lighten up,” Taylor said. “Weed’s been legal here for half a decade, you gotta get over the stigma.”
“It’s not stigma that makes it a bad idea to get high with my students.”
“You mean to tell me back when you drank, you never had a beer off-campus with anyone to celebrate the end of a semester or anything?”
“I really don’t see how that’s the same thing.”
“That’s because of the stigma!”
“Stigma isn’t the only problem. Andrew and Daniel aren’t even twenty-one.”
“Who are you, the weed police? Live a little.”
“Yeah, come on, John. Take that stick out of your ass for five minutes and live a little,” Angela said.
“You’re going, too?”
“Of course I am. I keep forgetting to renew my medical card, I’m not turning down free weed.”
“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Daniel said, giving Angela a high-five and passing her the joint the others had quite obviously already partaken in before John ran into them.
Angela took a hit and offered it to John, who waved her off.
“If you’re going to end up tagging along just to play chaperone, maybe you should stay behind,” she said.
The group waited expectantly while John considered his options. As much as it pained him to admit it, Taylor was right. There weren’t many people in his life, day to day, and the ones who were certainly wouldn’t be receptive to listening to everything that had happened to him in Little Hope. He hadn’t had any opportunities to vent, and keeping it all bottled up inside was truly starting to wear on him.
“Fuck it,” John said finally, and took the joint from Angela.
“That a boy!” she said; she clapped him on the back when he choked a little on the smoke.
The group set off together, following Andrew as he led them down an overgrown path, deeper and deeper into the woods that surrounded the school. Eventually the narrow path widened and opened up into a clearing. Off to one side was some kind of handmade shelter, which looked relatively well-maintained for something in the middle of nowhere that didn’t appear to belong to anyone. In the center of the clearing was a fire pit, circled by some large rocks and pieces of log arranged as makeshift seating.
“Damn. Look at all this,” Daniel said. “How’d you find this place? It’s great.”
“I dunno. I like to walk.”
“Is anybody gonna mind us using it?”
“Doubt it. Looks pretty abandoned.”
“Well, we’re all here like you wanted. What’s the first thing on the agenda for this little shindig in the woods?”
“You say that like I had some kind of activity list drawn up,” Taylor said. “I don’t know, I figured we would just go with the flow once we were out here. I just kind of pictured that scene in The Breakfast Club, where they’re all smoking and bonding, learning about each other’s lives. Even if they wouldn’t be friends on Monday morning, at least they had those few hours together, when they understood each other.”
“If it’s all the same to you, I’m not gonna dance around to eighties music with you guys,” Angela said.
“That’s too bad,” John said. “I’d pay good money to see that.”
Daniel shook his head. “I’ll get a fire started.”
When John made to follow him, Angela grabbed him by the elbow. “Maybe sit this one out, boy scout,” she said. “I’m sure he can handle it without you and I doubt any of us need a three hour lecture on building a merit-badge worthy fire pit.”
John relented and instead helped Andrew unfold the collapsible chairs and fold up the blankets to cushion the makeshift seats around the fire pit.
“Who wants drinks?” Taylor asked. “We’ve got Coke, Dr. Pepper, Orange Crush, some of that gross unsweetened iced tea Angela likes so much…”
“Hey, it’s not my fault your taste buds have been trained since birth to crave massive quantities of high fructose corn syrup at all hours of the day.”
“No alcohol?” John asked.
“No. We didn’t think it’d be fair to you if you agreed to tag along.”
“Thank you. That was… considerate of you.”
“No problem.”
“All right, now that that’s all taken care of,” Daniel said, brushing his hands off on his chinos, “how about a little game of Truth or Dare to loosen things up?”
John already began to shake his head before Daniel even finished his sentence. “Oh, no—”
“Don’t even start,” Angela said, cutting him off.
He held up his hands in mock surrender. “Fine. Whatever.”
“If you’re worried, how about you go first, Professor? You can set the tone.”
“Shit,” John said, caught once again without a good argument.
Angela chuckled to herself. “One of these days, you’ll learn to keep your mouth shut.”
Once the group settled in around the growing fire and cracked open their respective beverages and snacks, Taylor turned her attention to John. “Truth or dare?” she asked.
It didn’t take John long to make his decision. “Truth.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Angela said, under her breath.
“Hey, do you think you could ease up a little on all the cracks about me being a coward after everything we went through?”
“Fine.”
“Thanks.” John turned back to Taylor. “Do your worst,” he said.
“Do you have parents?”
John frowned. “What?”
“We’re trying to figure out how this whole thing works. I know for sure I remember my dad, being a little kid, growing up… Andrew’s not so sure,” Taylor said. “I’m wondering if we believe we have families and pasts and shit because we really experienced all that, or if we just… blinked into existence one day and we only believe we’ve lived our whole lives up until now because that’s how our minds decided to fill in the blanks. You know, kind of like the dreams in Inception—how you never remember the beginning, you’re just already there and never think about how you got there.”
“Do you do anything other than make movie references?”
“Hey, I’m just trying to make sense out of something completely batshit crazy, what the fuck else do you want me to do?”
“You gotta admit it—this stuff would be trippy even if we weren’t high,” Andrew said. “There’s not much else to go on other than movies and books… maybe a few religions.”
“Sorry. You’re right. I’ve just been on edge a lot, lately; I guess I do need to chill out as much as the rest of you. I’ll answer your question seriously.”