Trip to the Moon

Summer break was coming to the unwanted end, way too quickly. Days became shorter, temperature dropped down a couple degrees, and the feeling of autumn weather was in the air. Students were spending more time at home organizing their schedules, buying new things and getting ready emotionally for the coming school year.

Tracy was upset with summer scudding too fast and she didn’t want it to end. The idea of having a small celebration in Mississippi forests, away from home with friends, came to her mind when she remembered how long she hadn't seen her best friend; Michelle’s parents sent her to summer camp almost for a month and Tracy missed her terribly. After doing some thinking, she collected the number on her rotary phone and called Michelle:

“Hi Michelle! Long time no see. This is Tracy.”

“Tracy?! You can’t imagine how much I missed you! I am sorry I didn’t call you after I came back from the camp - I was extremely busy but I am glad you called. Any news? How is it going with Robert?”

“Oh I miss you too! It is fine, I guessed that you would be, after all school is coming…” she said sorrowfully. “Hmm… News? What do you think about going camping for a couple of days in the forest? You know, with tents, camp fire, boys… It will be fun! Oh and with Robert everything is great, I can’t complain.”

“That is a great idea! Actually I need to go out more and the forest is wonderful! Nature would be so refreshing before going to that stinky school… By the way, can I invite Jason? He has a car and will be more than happy to drive and of course be with us. Just us and our boyfriends. That is perfect Tracy, you are a genius!!!”

“Thank you. I will call Robert and you call Jason. Also don’t forget to ask your parents. Call you back in thirty minutes.”

“Great”, said Michelle and hung up the phone.

Tracy immediately called Robert and updated him with their plans. He agreed as soon as she stopped talking without any hesitation. After minutes of chatting she ran downstairs and explained everything with all details to her mother. After a long negotiation she agreed and added:

“Tracy don’t do anything stupid without thinking about it, I trust you and I hope you will appreciate and understand my concerns.”

“Yes mom, you know you can trust me”, she answered with a sure voice and ran back to the second floor, glowing with happiness, calling back Michelle, as promised.

“So, what did your parents and Jason say?”

“They said yes! I am so happy, Tracy! How about you?”

“Same here! But my mom told me that I cannot do anything stupid. What can I possibly do…? I am already seventeen and never had my first cigarette or anything else of that kind, not that I want to... It's just there is nothing that she should be worried about… -Tracy questioned her mother's concern. "How does tomorrow sound? We could be back by Sunday and probably spend some more time together before school starts. What do you think?”

“I think that is a great idea, it would be convenient, because I promised I will go to church with my family, so I don’t want to miss it again and after, we could hang out… Oh, and can we leave by 11 in the morning? Because Jason will be free only after, his boss asked him to come to work for a couple of hours in the morning and fix some kind of part in the customer's vehicle. Is that ok with you?”

“That is perfectly fine with me, I wanted to suggest at the same time anyways, have to have my beauty sleep.” -giggling a little, Tracy was extremely relieved with Michelle's suggestion, because all she wanted was to sleep in at least for an hour before heading out.

“Then deal. At 11 in the morning we are leaving. Wow, I am so excited for tomorrow! I will go to pack my stuff. Oh I almost forgot… Do you have a tent?”

“Yes I have two, just in case, I will take them both and one of them is quite big, so we will have room for everyone. And don’t forget to take a sleeping bag.”

“Yes, of course. My mom just cooked chicken wings so I’ll take that, I think it would be enough for one day and we can warm it up on the campfire. I have disposable dishes for that, too.”

“Amazing idea. I will take snacks and drinks. Are you coming with Jason to my place after you meet him?”

“Yes I will come with him. Wait with Robert outside. See you tomorrow, bye!”

“See you!”

In the morning she packed her things and food and went outside to wait for her friends. They arrived as promised at eleven, helped to place things to the trunk, and they all seated themselves in the car.

“So Tracy, did you think about a specific place already or should we choose a place randomly?” Jason asked.

“Yes, I considered it. Look, do you remember that camping place where we went for our field trip last year? Teacher mentioned that people don’t come there often because there is no road to drive right up to the camp spot. We can leave the car close to it but we will still have to walk about 15 minutes.”

“Well I think that it is a good idea and we will most likely be alone with no other people around. What do you think guys?”

“That works for us too”, Michelle and Robert said in chorus.

“Ok, I think I remember the path, so let’s drive!”

Jason started the car and turned on the radio. Journey was already enjoyable with some girly talks and full of laughs. In a couple of hours they were already there, adoring nature, girls setting up tents, and boys figuring out campfire.

The day passed unbelievably quickly with lots of entertainment, activities and stories, talking about school and planning other parties. Everyone had a wonderful time together, even though Saturday was a little bit cold at night but fire and blankets helped them out.

It was time to leave and Tracy became extremely upset again, she didn’t want to leave, didn’t want to say goodbye to friends and to summer… Unfortunately, she and others had to leave, there was only one week left until school starts and this fact didn’t please anyone.

Belongings were already packed and they were ready to leave but Jason couldn’t start his car. He tried over and over again but nothing happened. When he checked the engine he found a problem inside and went immediately to tell others.

“So guys, I think we have a problem here. My car will not start, I found out what is wrong with it and to fix it I will need a couple of days. What do you think about continuing the party?” said cheerfully.

“Are you kidding me!? What about our parents, what will they say? There is no phones around. My parents will kill me if I don't come back on time and they aren't aware of our exact location!” Michelle was screaming like it was the end of the world.

“Ok calm down, I am sure they will understand and it is not our fault…” Tracy added with a peaceful voice, but inside she was excited about staying longer.

“But what about food? We only took enough for one day, we basically don’t have anything to eat.” -Robert asked with concern in his voice.

“Look around Robert. Where are we? In a forest. And what can you find here? Shhh, don’t tell… Where do you think berries and mushrooms grow, huh?” said Jason, with quite obvious sarcasm.

“Sorry, you are right… That was a silly question.”

“Me and Michelle could gather forest goods and cook it for supper. Okay, Tracy?”

“Of course, I still remember which mushrooms and berries are edible from survival class last year.”

“So let’s go now, it should take at least two hours depending on which forest area we are around. I hope it's not far.”

It took about an hour to find forest goods. Tracy started to recognize edible mushrooms and berries and gather them in a bag as much as she could find.

Michelle went a little bit further and found decent looking mushrooms in a small group next to the three and saw a squirrel eating it so she wondered: “Well if animals are eating them that means it is edible…” as she snatched the entire cluster.

When the girls came back the campfire was already set up and ready for cooking.

“Ok so let’s cook some mushrooms! I found really good ones, see..?” Michelle said proudly.

“Hmm… Not bad, they look tasty”, said the boys.

Mushrooms were crackling on a pan and spreading a delicious smell all around the camp. Teenager’s bellies began to growl so as soon as it was cooked they started to eat like they were animals. Their hunger won.

After about half an hour something was wrong. Everyone started to feel nauseated and dizzy. Michelle began to giggle which after a couple of seconds grew into a tumultuous laugh.

Robert was looking around in amazement, then said:

“Wow I think Earth is spinning, guys just look around, trees are quivering, it is so weird, and they are pink and yellow. Everything looks so beautiful…”

No one paid attention to what he was saying, everyone was busy with their own mirages.

Jason couldn’t understand anything that was happening and he began to roll on the ground and scream.

Tracy felt good and wonderful, everything was beautiful and mottled everywhere where she looked. But suddenly she glanced in the depths of the forest and saw a small flashing circle swirling up and down. Curiosity lifted her and she hastened straight in the woods.

She was chasing that flashing circle for about ten minutes not realizing that she was very close to a scarp. She didn’t see it…

Finally Tracy caught the flashing light and when she opened her palms there was a small glowing fairy. Neither girl nor fairy felt afraid.

Fairy’s tiny lips opened and whispered smooth but magical sounding words:

“Hello Tracy, do you want to fly to the moon?”

“But I don’t know how to fly...”

“Oh yes, you do. Just try.”

Tracy jumped in the air but didn’t come back down on the ground. She was flying.

“Tracy… Come closer to me, I will lead you to the moon.”

Tracy felt a warm wind touching her body. Her hand was stretched out, trying to reach the green moon. Closer and closer. She knew that something was wrong, she knew the moon was not supposed to be green but she still was curious and charmed by its sight. Finally, her palm touched the cold but rough moon and everything turned black.

About fifteen minutes passed and Tracy woke up lying on the ground surrounded by purple liquid. She was drawing circles and hearts in it and said:

“What a wonderful dream…” and closed her eyes never to open them again.

Thank you for taking time to read my short story; if you enjoyed reading "Trip to the Moon", follow the link to check out my other work: https://shopping-feedback.today/fiction/midnight-stroll-ix371l0e9a%3C/a%3E

I sincerely appreciate any support and welcome my reader's thoughts & suggestions. I hope I left an impression however big or small - see you in the next story! :)