“Aunt Elisa, can I borrow one of your camp stoves?”

  “Just the small one. Also take one of my fire extinguishers.”

  “Why do you have four?”

  “Emergencies.”

  I was filling a backpack with a few things. Since we're going camping, we needed some basic items. I was worried about space and weight. My aunt, on the other hand, was worried about other things.

  “Do you have your train card?”

  “Yes.”

  “And your phone?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you need some mints?”

  “Why?”

  “Náusea.”

  “I’m gonna be okay”

  “Stress can make you feel sick, you know that.”

  “I’m gonna be back tomorrow, don’t worry.”

  “That's the problem.”

  “I’m okay, even if something bad happens, Aisha and Camilla will be there.”

  “Right…”

  I can understand why my aunt is worried, but she was exaggerating a little.

  “Normally you should worry about me not making a forest fire”

  “Your mom told me it's not your first time camping, I know you can manage just fine.”

  “I see.”

  “But please don't forget the fire extinguisher."

  “I won’t."

  “I know you were up until 03:00 last night, I don't trust your attention span.”

  My backpack was slowly becoming harder to close, so my aunt helped me organize everything so it wouldn't be impossible.

  "You could left behind some stuff."

  "Everyhting is useful."

  "Even the broken compass?"

  "Sometimes it works wells."

  Closing the backpack was too difficult, so we needed to talk about something meanwhile. At first, I had no ideas. But then I thought of something I didn't want to ask, but my curiosity was too much.

  “...So…mom and dad are okay?”

  “Yes, they called me yesterday and asked for you.”

  “Is everything okay there?”

  “They miss you. but they were also happy when I told them that you’re settling well.”

  “That’s good…”

  “You know…we can visit them if you want.”

  “...”

  “That’s what I thought…”

  After finishing with the backpack I picked up my phone and went to the door.

  “See ya tomorrow.”

  “See ya…and, have fun”

  ‘I will.”

  That way, I started walking to the train station. It was the weekend, so we could reach the place a little late. But at the same time, I could be reaching the place too early, so I called Aisha to see when she would arrive.

  “Hello…?”

  “Hello Aisha. You will arrive soon?”

  “I might be a little late, my father was too worried.”

  “Same experience…”

  “Do you need me to bring something?”

  “Just the wood for campfires and something to eat. I have a lighter with me.”

  “Camila has the camping tent, right?”

  “Right.”

  “Okay…”

  “Are you excited?”

  “I don’t know what is the word...”

  “You never know the word.”

  “You’re right in that…”

  “Can you send me Camila’s phone number?”

  “Give me a second…”

  “Okay, see you soon.”

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  Aisha sended me the number some seconds after I hung up the call. I was also curious about Camila's arrival, so I called her immediately.

  “Who's there?”

  “It’s me, Lucia.”

  “I see, Aisha gave you my phone number?”

  “Yes.”

  “I knew it, what do you need?”

  “Are you gonna arrive at the station soon or late?”

  “I’m going right now, and you?”

  “Same.”

  “Then we'll meet there.”

  “Nice.”

  “I have the camp tent, food and three sleeping bags.”

  “Perfect, see ya.”

  With that I knew that I wasn’t going too early, so I tried to move faster (as fast as I can with this heavy backpack). After thirty minutes of walking, I finally arrived at the train station. Somehow, I was the first, so I sat on a bench and started moving my arms to ease the pain caused by my backpack.

  “Now what?...I don’t want to finish my book before getting on the train…”

  If we don't count touching random buttons from my phone, my other way to avoid being bored was singing or humming, so I did that.

  “Twinkle twinkle little star?～”

  That song wasn’t the most interesting, or even the longest, but it was enough to distract me until I heard a familiar voice.

  “Lucia! Hello!”

  The second to arrive was Camila. She was wearing blue jeans and a red jacket that didn’t let me see her shirt. Obviously she was also carrying a backpack with all the important things for camping.

  “Do you need help?”

  “No, I can with this."

  “If you say so.”

  “So, Aisha is coming?”

  “She will arrive a little late.”

  “I brought some cookies, wanna eat some while we wait for her?”

  “Sounds good.”

  Although those were only cinnamon cookies, the flavor was very good. I didn’t see any packaging, and the form of some cookies was irregular, so they were probably homemade.

  "I like this."

  "Thanks, I did what I could in every step."

  "I hope Aisha was here."

  "Don't worry, I brought enough cookies for you to share with Aisha during the trip."

  "Thanks."

  PUM PUM

  “I'm too late…?”

  “Hmm?”

  When I noticed something touching my back I turned around. Somehow, Aisha arrived earlier than I expected. I guess she’s fast.

  “Hi Aisha.”

  “Hi.”

  “With that we’re all here. Unless we have some fourth secret member.”

  “Maybe Camila brought her turtle…”

  “I left him with someone....And again, it’s a tortoise.”

  We ate some cookies before entering the station. The train was supposed to arrive in thirty minutes, so we sat on a metallic bench. It's totally worse than the one from outside, but the other option was sitting on the floor.

  “Hmm…”

  “Aisha?”

  ‘What-”

  A little confused, I picked Aisha’s cheeks and started to stretch them. For some reason doing that was very fun. I probably could do that for an hour, but she asked the most obvious question.

  “What are you doing…?”

  “It’s just, you look excited.”

  “Really…?”

  “Totally…huh?”

  I looked around when I noticed a weird smell. I thought it might be from the station, but when I focused a little, I saw it was coming from Aisha.

  “What is that smell?”

  “My dad bought me some repellent. I didn't know if it worked or if it smelled too strong, so I put some on my wrist.”

  “Do you know what is even made off?”

  “My dad told me that I shouldn’t ask that.”

  “...I think I’m okay in the ignorance.”

  “Hehe.”

  Camila laughed a little at our interaction. I don't know what she's thinking, and I probably don't want to know it either.

  “You say Aisha is excited, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “How can you notice it?”

  “Her expression."

  “Really?”

  “Yes.”

  “...She looks like always.”

  “That’s not true, look.”

  I pointed to Aisha’s face, trying to show Camila where the excitement was, but she didn’t understand it.

  “It's just her face.”

  “No, when Aisha is excited you can notice it.”

  “How can you notice that?”

  “Is the same expression she has when I paint her nails.”

  “Amazing…”

  “Why are you surprised?”

  Luckily for Camila, the train arrived, so we entered. For the hour it was a emptier than in the morning, so choosing seats wasn’t difficult.

  “This seems like a good place.”

  “Lucia, I'll sit in another seat.”

  “Why?”

  “I prefer to sit alone in transport.”

  ‘I see.”

  Some people have strange habits, so I didn't press her for more details. Meanwhile, Aisha sat in an empty spot a little far from the door and with a clean window. She has a good eye for these things.

  “Finally, a good seat.”

  “The place is too far…?”

  “Apparently it’s a two hours trip."

  “I see…”

  Unfortunately, we’re on the first station, and our goal was one of the last ones, so my estimate was optimistic.

  “Your dad retained you too much?”

  “He was shocked when I told him that I would camp this far…”

  “You've never camped before, have you?”

  “Never, this is my first time…”

  “It's really fun. Cooking outside, exploring the nature, running away because you found a snake, even when it's not a poisonous one.”

  “Sounds like you have a lot of experience…”

  “My family loves camping, specially my dad.”

  “Lusia’s parents…Sounds like too much energy…”

  “At least say that for yourself.”

  CLANC CLANC CLANC

  I got excited when the train started to move. The initial speed wasn’t impressive, but when the distance increased, it was at least as fast as a car.

  “It's slower than I thought…”

  “What was your mental image?”

  “I watched some train videos last night, they were going really fast.”

  “Those were bullet train videos?”

  “Some of them…”

  “That explains it.”

  I couldn't tell if that was understanding or disappointment, maybe both.

  “The trip will be long, so I’m gonna read during this time.”

  “Okay…”

  “If you need something, tell me.”

  My phone wasn’t the best for entertaining during long travels, so I picked a book from my backpack and started reading while Aisha was staring at the window and Camila entertained with her phone.

  “(A silent travel, I can manage with that.)”

  I actually read some pages before so I wasn’t starting from the beginning. Instead, I was reading a part where the protagonist took his toys to the school and they start to draw a microscopical draw while the kid was trying to not be discovered. My favorite character was the indian toy that was really confused about being far from his home, or in general from his own time.

  “(I need one of those tiny pencils…)”

  It was very easy to empathize with him because of the fear he felt. I can completely understand what it feels like to be afraid of your surroundings. I can't even imagine what it must be like when you're smaller than literally everything.

  “(It would be great to have a living toy...except maybe for dinosaurs and people with guns...)”

  The reading continued for a while, but in a moment I looked up to take a peek of the outside. What I wasn’t waiting to see was Aisha looking at the window sitting on her knees.

  “...”

  “(What is she doing?)”

  Due to her position she was using two seats. Thankfully, our zone was still empty so she wasn’t bothering anyone. Still, she was probably violating some rules.

  “(I should say something…)”

  “...”

  Although telling Aisha she was doing something wrong would've been easy, I preferred to simply look at her. My reasons? She looked kind of cute that way.

  The way she was seated, the way she put her hands on the window. For some reason it was like watching a puppy. If she had a tail, it probably would be wiggling.

  “(The ones who died by loneliness were the bunnies or the dogs?)”

  Ignoring my weird thoughts. I guess Aisha is surprised by the places she can see in a train. Buses and trains follow different routes, so it's not weird that some places that you can see on a train trip cannot be seen on a highway.

  “Hmm…”

  I looked at my side and noticed that Camila was also looking. I used that and tried to make some signs with my hands. She understood what I wanted, and without questioning, she took a picture of Aisha.

  “(I’ll ask her for that photo later.)”

  The observation continued until I finally decided to try talking to her. If she answers me I can find out what interests her, if she remains silent, I can continue observing her.

  “What are you watching?”

  “Cows…”

  Right now we’re in a rural area, so these kinds of animals weren't weird. Looking at them was like watching some kind of documentary, but with a poorly positioned camera.

  “What if we take some pictures?”

  “I can do it with my phone, but…”

  “My phone can take pictures…It's really hard but it can.”

  “If you have problems I’ll let you use my phone.”

  Although the window was ruining our pictures a little, our results were at least decent. I only got a few pictures before the storage was full (also it was very complicated), but Aisha did more and even let me use her phone for the things I liked.

  If someone wonders why I didn’t take Aisha's picture by myself. I wanted it to have good quality. Also, a picture from behind would look better.

  “I think I just saw a zebra…”

  “Probably it was a dirty horse.”

  “Right…”

  “If you can find an actual zebra, I’ll give you nail polish.”

  “...I accept the challenge.”

  That way, our trip felt shorter than we expected. The station was really far away, but we had so much fun that we thought it was just some meters away. Time definitely passes faster when you’re enjoying it.