A Conscious Uncoupling

Tom and his co-conspirators made it through one last wall of evergreen and into a clearing. Out of breath, all three scanned the night sky before setting their sights on a majestic lighthouse, far in the distance.

Drip drip drip. The soft, steady sound rustled the pine needles that carpeted the ground. The group turned quickly to see Brogan, an ice cream sandwich melting rapidly in her hands. "What?" She replied to their questioning gaze. "I needed to bring snacks! And they were melting!"

Recognizing the incipient catastrophe the group regretted their decision to rely on Brogan. Brogan has always been a bit flighty, but surely she understood the importance of food for the week. As the hum of the bus faded into the distance their new reality began to set in.

With no food to survive, everyone split up into groups of two to assess the area. Julie and Peter were paired up and asked to explore the area immediately to their East; an awkward duo given their recent breakup.

Peter asked Julie where she wanted to start, to which Julie responded, "why don't you START by telling what TINA has that I don't???" Given the precarious situation they found themselves in, Peter responded, "I'm happy to, just as soon as we find some water."

'water...wooof....a WHISKEY would make this easier!', Peter thought. This was one of those days he wished he had listened to his mother and studied to be an orthodontist. Looking into someone's mouth has gotta be better than staring death in the face. Peter then turned to Julie.

"Welp, I guess this is it.", Peter said solemnly to Julie. He wanted to tell her the whole truth - all of it...but death came quicker than he imagined. As the abyss engulfed his consciousness, he slowly started to let go of it all. Then a bright light appeared in the distance...

and Peter surrendered to it. Julie rolled her eyes. What a day. On top of all the other headaches now Peter just...dies? Before telling her what the hell was really going on? Classic Peter. Ugh. She dumped him unceremoniously off of her lap, and pulled out her phone.

"No matter what else may be wrong with the world," she said quietly, her voice hoarse and husky with grief, "at least I have this mobile interface. This beautiful, beautiful mobile interface. For now that will have to be enough."

She put her phone on the table, face down. As much as she wanted that to be enough, she knew deep down that it wasn't. It would never be enough.

Magnum had her heart and always would.