Page 12 of What Comes After

“All the way to the edge, just before we would go out of bounds,” I told her.

“We’ll be so far away,” she said. “Do you think we’ll be able to make it back?”

The two of us ran all the way to the farthest edge of the boundary line. When we got to the spot I’d noticed earlier today, I finally answered. “Yes, we’ll make it back. We always make it home.”

Devyn looked around the area and asked, “Where are we hiding, though?”

I lifted my hand, pointed to the side, and said, “In there.”

The look on her face changed. Devyn seemed to be excited about the hiding spot.

“Nobody is going to find us here,” she said. “We could probably spend the rest of the game here without being found.”

I was nodding my head when I replied, “That’s exactly what I thought, too. Come on.”

As quickly as we could, Devyn and I climbed down into the concrete culvert. We went into one of the three tunnels and sat down.

“How did you find this spot?” Devyn asked.

“I asked my dad about it today when we were coming home from the hardware store,” I explained. “He said it’s called a culvert.”

Devyn looked around the tunnel and out in the big open space in the middle. “What does it do?”

“My dad said it’s meant for water drainage, so everything doesn’t flood.”

My answer made Devyn’s face look worried. “We aren’t going to drown down here, are we?”

I shook my head. “No. Why would I bring you somewhere that wasn’t safe for us?”

“You just said it was for the water to go so everything doesn’t flood.”

“Yeah, but there’s no rain right now, so we don’t have to worry.”

Once she had that explanation, Devyn seemed to relax a little bit. “Okay. So, what are we going to do?”

Now I was confused. “What do you mean?”

“Nobody is going to come looking for us in here, so I’m wondering what we’re going to do. Will we just wait a long time and eventually go back?”

I hadn’t really thought that far ahead.

All I knew was that I’d asked my dad about what this place was and decided it should be a hiding spot I brought Devyn to, because I wanted to impress her. I already knew I was her best friend, but I thought it would be a good idea to give her more reasons to keep me as that. There was no doubt she’d stick around if I could guarantee the best places to hide, so we’d always win the games together.

“I think we should wait everyone out and see how long it takes them. We might be some of the youngest kids playing, but I think, especially when we work together, we’re some of the smartest in the game,” I told her.

“Yeah, I think so, too,” Devyn agreed with me. “So, we’ll just have to sit here and talk about something while we wait.”

I shrugged. “That’s easy. We have tons of stuff to talk about.”

“We see each other all the time, Theo. What is there to talk about that we haven’t already?” she asked.

I thought about it for a few seconds and finally asked, “If you were at the grocery store right now, what would you want to buy?”

Devyn’s whole face changed, and her smile grew really big. “That’s easy. Gummy candy.”

“Gummy candy?”

“Bears, I think. They’re my favorite. And if I could pick the flavor, I want all pineapple ones.”

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