Chapter Text
John mentally screamed and sighed. He pulled out his phone from his back pocket and unlocked it. Rejoice! One single bar of signal! John contained his excitement and called Craig. He could probably help John out more than the others, as John has absolutely no idea where he is, just somewhere in a forest.
“Hello?” Craig answered the phone and yawned.
“Hey, buddy, can you help me out?”
“With what?” Craig muttered. There was rustling on the other line.
“I’m going camping and I may be sort of lost?”
Craig sighed and chuckled. “Of course you are. Hang on, let me track you.”
John hummed and let Craig do his thing. “Alright, found you. Where do you want to go?”
“The foothills,” John said.
Craig was silent. “Can’t you just look for a large mountain ?”
John rolled his eyes. “Kind of hard to when you can’t see the mountain because the trees are too fucking tall.”
Craig grunted. “Turn.”
John turned clockwise until Craig told him to stop when he turned about sixty degrees. “Just walk.”
John shrugged and walked forward back into the forest.
“Anyway, how’s the Wish going?” Craig asked. His tone changed. It’s more somber than before.
John thought for a moment for the right word to describe the progress. “Decent?”
Craig hummed. “Just… Don’t get too attached, alright?”
“I know how to fulfill my Wishes.”
“I know, it’s just that you’re taking more time with this Wish than your previous ones, I’m just worried.”
“I appreciate you caring, but I’ll be fine,” John said and hung up the call. John really appreciated Craig caring so much, but it was slightly annoying. Craig had always blamed himself for being the one to make John an Unconventional Agent, but John didn’t blame him. If only Craig stopped blaming himself.
John finally made his way back to the campground, only mildly panicked. “Welcome back!” Anthony was the first one that spotted him.
“Yep! Totally didn’t get lost.” John said, speed walking to the table that had a large hunk of ham on it.
Bryce carved out a slice and placed it on a slice of bread, piled on some eggs and handed the sandwich to John. “How was it?”
“Slightly worrying, but still pretty.”
“Needed some outside help to get back?” Bryce chuckled.
John nodded, taking a bite of the sandwich. “Craig helped, but he seemed really tired.”
“Craig really needs to get laid, he’s too stressed. You think he’s with Tyler yet?”
“Well Assignors need to look after three to ten Agents,” John muttered. He stopped to think. “Probably not, Craig’s too shy and Tyler’s too much of a dudebro to make the first move.”
Bryce snickered. “Yeah.”
There was a moment of silence and John spoke up. “You ever miss it? Being an Agent?”
Bryce glanced over at John and stopped organizing things on the table. “Sometimes. It was fun, but I’m happy here, with Ryan and everyone else. You should take some time to relax.”
“Aren’t we technically relaxing right now?”
Bryce shrugged. “Depends on what you do.” He gestured over to Smitty, lying down on some grass, covered by the shade of some large oaks.
John took the hint and walked over to Smitty after quickly chomping down on his sandwich.
“This spot taken?” John asked.
Smitty opened his eyes. “Yeah, it’s taken by Casper, the Friendly Fuckboy,” Smitty joked.
“Would Casper mind if I sat on him?” John laughed.
“He’s a fuckboy, so probably not. Lie down.”
John did as Smitty said and stared up into the leaves, with rays of sunlight peeking through. ‘Now’s the time .’ “Have you ever heard of the concept of Wishes?” John asked, turning over to look at Smitty.
“What do you mean?”
John looked back up and sighed, his heart pounded in his chest. “Like Wishing on shooting stars, and those Wishes actually come true, someone comes down from space to grant those Wishes,” John paraphrased.
Smitty thought for a bit. “Yeah, actually. My mom told me about that when I was about fifteen. Didn’t believe her though. Do you?” Smitty asked.
John thought through his answer carefully. “Yeah.”
“What did you Wish for?”
“I Wished for a house, for me and my family,” John lied. On the Omiah, every family built their own house and it would be passed down from generation to generation unless someone in the family decided to build another, then so on and so forth.
“Did you get a house?” Smitty asked.
John hummed. “Yeah. Someone came down from space and got us a house.”
Smitty seemed surprised. “What did he look like?”
“A normal human, nice, tall, buff, and British.” John had basically described Craig, but it’s not like Smitty would know.
“Really?” Smitty asked. He didn’t sound skeptical, just surprised.
John hummed and closed his eyes.
“I actually did Wish for something. Never came true though,” Smitty said quietly.
John already knew what it was but asked anyway. “What was it?”
“Happiness. Freedom.”
That was a lie, but in a way, it wasn’t. Death could be peaceful and free from the burden of life.
“I hope you get your wish,” John forced out.
Silence fell over the two as it was getting darker. Smitty shifted on the patch of grass and stretched, popping his back before turning to his side to look at John. “You ever been depressed?” Smitty asked.
John turned to Smitty, shaking his head.
Smitty took a deep breath. “I have been. It's the worse feeling ever, like you're stuck underwater and you can't breathe, looking at everyone that's happy and filled with purpose, and you're just there . It's worse when your mind starts wandering, then you sink deeper and deeper. Some don't come back up to the surface.”
John didn't say anything and listened to Smitty.
“It’s draining. Exhausting. The second you start thinking is the second you start sinking deeper, while your thoughts plague your mind, but you want to think. But when you do, you feel, but you don’t want to feel so you think and it just continues until you want to stop thinking and feeling altogether.” Smitty stopped and took a breath. “By some ass chance miracle, you can be saved, but sometimes you can’t. Some have gone too deep and can’t breathe, they can’t see, so they just let go. Your mind is supposed to be your friend, but what do you do when your mind betrays you?” Smitty looked over to John. “You understand?”
John was speechless, but he nodded. If this is what Smitty’s going through, then John would make damn sure that he would save Smitty, even if it meant drowning himself to bring Smitty up.
Night fell. John and Smitty got up off the grass and headed back to the main group, where the guys had already set everything up. Scotty took a place in the center of the circle of tents and started a small fire. John sat down next to Scotty and threw a small twig into the fire. “How you doing?” He asked.
Scotty shrugged. “Fine.”
“Fine?”
“Fine as in I’m perfectly content with existence, but I wouldn’t mind if the sun exploded right now,” Scotty said.
John chuckled. “Same.”
All the sudden a bag of marshmallows came out of a tent and smacked Scotty in the face. David burst out the tent in a large hoodie and blue sweats. “It’s s’more time, fuckers!”
John glanced over at Scotty who rolled his eyes.
“He’s always like this,” Scotty whispered, opening the bag. Ryan jogged over with some barbeque forks and handed one to everyone along with some chocolate and graham crackers. He put the extras into a pot on the ground.
“Prepare for spooks,” Anthony came up behind Ryan and patted him on the head.
Ryan sat down and grunted. “Your stories are shit.”
Anthony feigned offense. “You’re shit!”
Ryan just stared at Anthony. “Kay.”
Everyone laughed.
John sat through three horrible horror stories before he couldn’t handle the cringe and excused himself. He’s full of burgers and s’mores and decided to call it a night. John crawled into the tent that he shared with Smitty (because he didn’t have one and Bryce and Ryan were sharing one.) Crickets and other insects were chirping, drowning out the sound of the guys. John lied down on the sleeping bag and closed his eyes, listening to the faint sounds of the crackling fire, leaves rustling against the wind. In a few minutes, John fell asleep.
After John had excused himself from the group and slipped into their tent, Smitty looked up at the sky, drowning out all the surrounding sounds. The stars were clearly visible and it was beautiful. There was another shooting star. This time, Smitty really did Wish for happiness and freedom.