Aurora 2021 Mag

Ally Groves

should head back or not. I was hungry; they were hungry too. We kept going. The rumble of our stomachs were drowned out by the sound of singing and feet hitting pavement. Maybe if we kept going we’d run into that village and find a market and we could get some food. she wore it for the young marine whose far, far away Dusk was setting over us and we were in the woods building forts. I had a circle outlined in stones I declared was mine. Daniel tried to wage war on me by throwing even bigger stones. He hulled one up and launched it, yelling NATO. Lucas decided he was my ally and threw one at his dirt- drawn circle yelling NATO 2. I threw NATO 3 and 4 at both of them. I told them that I didn’t need allies when I had big rocks. We dug in the dirt for what felt like hours; it was jammed under our nails, clung to the sweat beading our skin. Around NATO 12.5 Chris declared it time to move on. So we did. Lucas and Mason were in the front of our troupe, but they started to scream, flinging their arms around themselves. Wasps. They took off, Daniel after them and Chris the other way. I stood still and watched as they swatted their skin, falling over the branches trying to get away, smearing dirt all over their clothes. I yelled at them. I said to stop. I told them to stop running away, that running away makes the wasps sting them, that running away makes them look guilty.

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