The next day I reached a small town called Unionville in New York. The local post office let hikers sleep on their lawn. The local post office let hikers sleep on their lawn. I wasn’t planning on staying but Bearfood and another hiker named Sol showed up and I could use the distraction of company.
We played on the tiny playground there, set up our tents, then walked to the pizza place across the street. When we returned to the park after pizza there were two more tents setup next to ours. I looked around for the hikers they belonged to but there was no one. Down the street there was a gas station and they probably went there to resupply.
I laid out in the sun and tried to relax. I heard people laughing in the distance so I sat up and looked down the road. I saw a bright orange shirt. And a red one. I looked at the packs next to the tents. Fuck. Fuck fuck FUCK. HOW COULD I BE SO STUPID.
WHY DIDN’T I LOOK AT THE PACKS BEFORE?! I knew those packs belonged to Safety Shawn and Beats.
I darted into my tent. God I hope they hadn’t seen me. They probably wouldn’t recognize my tent because I hadn’t used it before around them. Wait, did I? I couldn’t remember. They would know my pack so I pulled my pack inside my tent with me. My hands were trembling. My heart was beating out of my chest. Should I leave? They would see me packing up. If they follow me into the woods it would be over. Should I wait until after they fall asleep? What if they don’t put their tent fly on and the noise wakes them up then they see me at night? Okay calm down, they’re not going to murder you, I told myself. I wasn’t convinced.
I started doing every mental gymnastic maneuver imaginable. What I would do if they saw me? What I would do if they followed me? What I would say if they tried to talk to me? What I would do if they tried to rape me? What I would do if they tried to kill me?
I resolved to stay in my tent and try to sleep and just pray they would be gone in the morning. There would be a chance that if they were, I would catch up to them later but I would cross that bridge when I come to it.
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