“So good to be here,” Erin observed, without a trace of sarcasm. “Could do this every day, all day.”
“Wouldn’t you get bored?” Lynn asked. “I mean, I want to figure out something that makes me happy.”
The others gave her strange looks in response, as usually occurred whenever Lynn invoked realities in the midst of a carefree party. Erin found such moments annoying, noticing that Lynn was bringing them out with greater frequency as of late.
“Don’t get me wrong, I won’t leave nights like this out of the equation,” Lynn added, having recognized the sudden hesitation in the others.
Lynn laughed as the others relaxed. Erin refrained from expressing her personal irritation with Lynn, as there were other aggravations to express.
“Getting nagged to death, working for nothing, or wasting time at school… those are the options life offers, if you want to get real about it,” Erin said. She rested her chin in the cup of her right hand, propped up and braced by her arm, looking as if she were deeply contemplating the matter.
“World isn’t changing anytime soon… So, after some careful… thought… I’ll settle for the herb. It’s a lot easier on the stress levels,” she then added, replacing the mock seriousness of her expression for a wide grin.
Accepting the remnant left from Razor, she took a deep inhalation of it, held it inside her lungs, and then slowly exhaled. She could feel her anxieties ebbing already.
“Got that right, ‘bout that part, ‘bout after some thought… I mean. That is… cuz after the herb, there is no thought,” Uli said, stammering through his words and barely making any sense. He guffawed in laughter, and the other three laughed heartily with him.
For the moment, none of the four had a care in the world. Erin was freed, and did not have to worry about school, work, or any other type of mundane activity. It was almost too good to be true.
The thoughts of that consuming liberation were embedded in the forefront of her mind as she excused herself from the group to attend to a call of nature. She fumbled about in her backpack for a flashlight. She clicked it on and a strong beam emerged. She was glad that she had just replaced all of the batteries.
Walking slowly to keep her balance, as she was feeling a little lightheaded, Erin made her way over to the far edge of the campsite. She carefully navigated the brush just beyond it until she deemed herself to be ensconced in full privacy.
Glancing around, she noticed some cool tendrils of vapor crossing over her. The silvery mist outlined the beam of her flashlight.
Looking about, her heart gave a flutter as she observed a significant amount of mist rolling swiftly in towards her. The light of the moon through the trees cast an eerie glow on the advancing fog, giving it a ghost-like aspect as it flowed through the depths of the dark foliage.
The strange phenomenon fully captured her attention, taking her mind instantly off of the task that she had left the campsite for. It was a few moments before she came out of her momentary stupor, and hurriedly finished her intended business.
Her nerves had started to rattle inside, for she had never seen a fog moving with such a fluid rapidity. Pulling her shorts and underpants back up, and taking a moment to compose herself, she hastened back to the campsite and implored Lynn to come back with her to see the eerie fog.
At first Lynn was reluctant to the overture by Erin, as she had gotten into a very relaxed, sleepy mood, seated close and comfortable by the warmth of the campfire. At Erin’s very insistent urging, Lynn finally pushed herself up to where she could get her feet beneath her, and stood up.
She walked over to where Erin stood at the edge of the camp, with a look of mild irritation. Lynn’s expression changed to one of curiosity as she noticed the utterly serious countenance upon her friend’s face.
“What’s going on?” Lynn asked her.
“You have to see it,” Erin replied emphatically. “Just beyond here, not far at all.”
Erin headed back into the woods, gesturing for Lynn to follow her. Her flashlight led the way, the beam soon being outlined again by the fog that it increasingly struggled to push through. She did not have to direct Lynn’s attention to the rising density of the fog, as Lynn noticed it clearly enough upon their arrival.
“Wow! I wonder where all that is coming from. Up on a hill too? Shouldn’t fog lay low in valleys and such? Think that it will come in to cover the camp?” Lynn inquired with evident amazement at the aggressive behavior of the mist.
“Probably so,” Erin replied, sharing the incredulity voiced by her friend. “Looks like it’s coming in pretty quickly. Never seen fog behave like this.”
“Yes, it is coming in quick, and no, I haven’t seen anything like it. We should probably make sure that the others can find their way back to the camp, or there is a chance that they will get lost in this.” Lynn remarked, looking down at the growing slivers of the vapor starting to envelop her own body.
Just a few feet beyond them, the density of the mist had formed into the beginnings of an impenetrable wall of fog. The full beam of the flashlight could not pierce the opaque mass at all.
Even more disturbing, the wall of fog seemed to creep closer with each passing second, swallowing the feeble attempts of the flashlight to cut through its relentless advance.
Within just moments, Erin could see that they would be fully surrounded.
LEE
Lee Chen attended diligently to his duties, enduring yet another exhausting day of managing the restaurant that bore his name.
He had arrived even earlier than usual that particular Saturday, to work on a valve problem in one of the restrooms after getting only four hours of sleep. Lee did not think much about how little sleep he had gotten, as it rarely reached even six hours on normal days.
The early morning maintenance was soon followed by a full afternoon and evening of almost constant activity; Clearing and cleaning tables, bringing out orders, cooking, passing out coupons, driving deliveries, taking orders, making schedule adjustments for employees, and all of the usual trials and travails of a restaurant owner-operator.
While never doing poorly, in terms of customer traffic, the restaurant’s business had never seemed to grow enough to a point where he could hire the amount of help that was truly needed. Even with as much pressure as he constantly felt, he still could not ask the three employees in his hire to do any more than they were. They currently went above and beyond the call of duty on a regular basis. Lee was very grateful for their extra resilience, as quality workers were becoming something of a scarcity in his observation.
The pressures of what needed to be done, in contrast to the resources available to him, resulted in Lee’s own efforts being stretched beyond the limits. Neither customer nor employee could often tell the full extent of the strain, for Lee held neither bitterness nor frustration within him.
His regular, friendly countenance, and stalwart perseverance on the most frenzied of days, was what had won him a core of regular customers and loyal employees. Though he did not take credit for it, it undoubtedly elevated the performance of his small, but earnest, staff.
When closing time finally did arrive, the most prominent desire in Lee’s mind was simply rest. He looked very much forward to the following day, as the restaurant closed early on Sundays. He was eager to indulge in a few hours of blissful recreation, even if it was only to have Ryan over to drink sodas and watch movies.
Calling up a little extra resolve, he attended to the closing duties with Ryan and two members of his regular staff. They stacked the chairs on the tables and set about mopping up the floors. They cleaned the kitchen, including the woks, dishes, and the rest of his array of equipment.