• • • • •
The ground crunches beneath our feet, and I’m holding Tickles because he got smart and stopped walking a few yards back. Even though he got us here in the first place.
“How do you know how to get back to our sleeping bags?” asks Seth.
“Polaris.”
“Huh?”
“The North Star.”
“Okay?”
“Polaris is another name for the North Star, which happens to be right above the North Pole. So I found that. If you face it, you’re looking due north. I know we ran north, so we just had to turn and go south.”
“But doesn’t the earth always spin? Aren’t the constellations always changing?”
“Yeah, but the North Star remains fairly fixed. At least up here in Montana. It actually has been known as the Wanderer’s Star because it acts as a sort of compass. It’s almost like an anchor for the northern sky to spin around.”
“An anchor?” Seth laughs.
“What?”
“Even the sky needs an anchor.”
“Now I’m confused.”
“It’s nothing. Just proves a personal theory of mine that everything needs something to ground it.”
I turn and look at him. I still don’t understand what he’s talking about. But I also feel some sort of energy between Seth and me. I can’t explain it other than to say that we just went through what felt like a harrowing experience. There’s a growing history between us, and I like that.
I want to create more history with Seth. Go on more adventures.
“You know a lot about the sky,” he says.
I smile, because I do. I sure do.
* * *
It’s almost morning by the time we reach the sleeping bags, and I’m tired. My head hurts. All I can think about is sleep.
Seth says, “Should we pack so you can get back to Whitehall?”
“Ugh. I guess. Even though I feel so tired.”
We both pack our stuff up in the dark. Tickles on his leash tied to the nearby tree lies down to sleep, and I feel so jealous. But I need to get back home so that I can help look for my dad.
“Ready?” asks Seth.
I’m looking up at the stars as they are ever-so-slowly disappearing into the sky.
“Charlie?”
A week of never ending nights down to two. Then down to not even one. Yet we saw aliens. Right? I believe that I accomplished what I set out to do. Except I’m still here, on Earth, but I think that’s good.
“Earth to Charlie?”
I break my gaze with the stars and look at Seth standing in front of me. I smile and look him in the eyes. “I’m here.”
* * *
As we walk back toward town, we’re relatively quiet. We’re both exhausted and ready for sleep, but that seems like a long way off.
I catch a blinking red light far out in the sky. My head feels like it’s pulsating with the light. It blinks. One. Two. One. Two. Gone.
“There’s the Big Dipper. I can find that,” says Seth, pointing.
I chuckle. “A regular astronomer.”
“Basically I’m a new age Galileo. Isn’t that the astronomer guy?”
“No. Different guy.”
“Oh. Really? Who am I thinking of?”
I can’t hold it in anymore, and bust out a big smile.
“You’re messing with me?” He fakes a shocked and appalled look.
“I would never,” I say in an exaggerated way.
We’ve been walking for a few more seconds when the thought that’s been bothering me for some time, and especially tonight, comes out, “I’m sorry I’ve been a shitty friend.”
“You’re not a shitty friend, Charlie.” It feels like the conversation is over, but then he says, “I am.”
Now I’m shocked and appalled for real. I don’t even know why he’d ever say that. “No, you’re not.”
“No, I am. At first, I only wanted to be your friend because I thought you were super cute. And possibly gay.”
I think about his reasons. “Okay, yeah, you’re a shitty friend.”
Seth laughs, and then says, “But I’m glad we’re real friends now.”
I’m quiet a moment. My thoughts are no clearer on some things, but I do know one thing for sure. “I’m glad we’re real friends too.”
The crack of hazy blue daylight is opening wider by the minute now. The air feels electrified with the coming day.
“Crazy,” says Seth.
“What?”
“It’s another day already. Feels like last night was kind of a dream, doesn’t it?”
I nod. “Feels like that.”
“But a good dream,” says Seth. “One for the books.”
“One for the books,” I repeat.