Lucas shook his head. “I don’t really need anything, I think,” he said. The only thing he really thought he would need was a fresh change of clothes, but he actually already had that: a white T-shirt, black basketball shorts, and a pair of boxers. He had brought them into school to use as a change of clothes after his gym class, but he had forgotten to put them in his locker room locker. He supposed it was a good thing he forgot, then. Although, he wondered if he would even change during their leave.

“And I don’t mind,” he added with a chuckle when she brought the subject up. “There wasn’t anything planned for tonight anyway.”

He went outside to help her pack some supplies into the back of his SUV. Afterwards, she lead him up to her room where she grabbed some blankets and a cordless phone charger. He took a gander around the room, and wasn’t too surprised to see that many of its elements were matching with one another, with minimal clutter. He caught sight of a bra and some pairs of thongs, but he didn’t really mind. He was sure just about every teenager leaves their underwear on their bedroom floor. When Alice mentioned that her phone died all the time, Lucas opened his mouth to remind her that he could charge her phone himself, but she then began to talk about his parents.

Lucas shrugged at her question. “I mean, I guess,” he answered with a raised eyebrow. “Like, they don’t want me to get into any trouble. I may have been involved in some problems in the past, but I’ve mostly mellowed out now, I guess.” 

When Alice went to grab some food, Lucas followed what she had said and pulled the blanket from her bed, figuring he’d only need one as it was still pretty warm out this time of year. When he came outside to meet her, he noticed a shiny pair of handcuffs dangling from her grip. Lucas let out a nervous laugh when she said they’d probably have some wild stories to tell, but then she explained that her dad used to be a cop. Oh. That’s not what he had originally thought.

“Sure,” Lucas replied somewhat tentatively to her suggestion. “I’m sure we’ll see something interesting.” He grinned to himself and got into the car after placing the blanket into the backseat. As he climbed into the driver’s seat, Alice inquired if he needed to stop by his house on the way.

“No,” he answered. “Though, we’re gonna have to drive by it anyway. I don’t need anything though.”

With that, he pulled out of her driveway and started off toward his neighborhood, trying to remember the route himself. The two of them talked their usual enthusiastic conversations on the way there, and within about ten minutes, Lucas pulled the car over to the side of the road. To their right was a rather dense forest for a suburban area, filled with all kinds of deciduous trees, a few just barely beginning to change from bright green to more paler shades, yellow, and a few red; between these trees, tall, dark green coniferous trees stood strong and proud.

“Normally, I’d worry about leaving my car here unattended,” Lucas said, looking out Alice’s window at the forest. “But hardly anyone drives by here, let alone walk. I think we’ll be okay. Let’s just move quick because I don’t think it’s legal to be having out own campout in here.”

He hopped out and grabbed as much equipment as he could without having to strain himself and lead the way, trudging forward into the familiar forest he had been into so many times before. After walking for about ten or fifteen minutes and avoiding logs, sticks, and the occasional patch of poison ivy, the two of them were surrounded completely by trees on all sides. There was no sign of a road—or civilization for that matter.

“It’s easy to get disoriented in here,” Lucas said, setting some of his equipment down, but I know the forest pretty well. He straightened back up and pointed behind him toward a grand pine tree with a large trunk. About five feet from the ground, its bark was black and cindered.

“That’s the tree I first tested my powers on,” he explained. “It’ll act as our compass needle. It’s directed toward the road. That’s how I find my way back.”