Deepyasa Gurung
As the six friends, Shataxi, Lacitric, Alugrips, Peda, Nariyan, and Depakayasa, set off on their highly anticipated camping trip they had planned since the eighth grade, they were all buzzing with excitement as they were now in college and it was during their winter vacation.It was also kinda like a group reunion as they all went to separate colleges despite making a pack too go to the same college. Nariyan, being the proud of her car which she got for 20,000 rupees at her “trusty” run down second hand shop,she was determined to show off her skills behind the wheel. Her friends, however, were less than confident in her abilities and had brought along their trusty helmets, knee pads just in case things went away
As they hit the road, Nariyans old car creaked and groaned its way to Kakani, the camping site. Alugrips blasted her favorite tunes on her speaker as the cars speaker produced nothing but static noises, and the girls sang their hearts which gave them flashbacks of their school days as though their voices weren’t angelic they loved singing. But halfway to their destination, Nariyan started hiccuping uncontrollably, causing her to veer wildly across the road. Her friend’s lives flashed before their eyes as they screamed in unison."Take over!" Lacitric shouted, snatching the wheel from Nariyan's shaky hands.
The group finally arrived at the campsite-only to realize that none of them actually knew how to set up a tent. At first, Lacitric was like a guru among these people, but then it unraveled that she had been glamping with her family once and that was ages ago. And after hours of struggling with the erecting of some tents that really looked as if they had been put together by a regiment of drunken apes, they finally fell to the ground, totally exhausted.
Depakayasa tumbleddown trying to use the great outdoors as a washroom. Being winter it became dark quickly but the friends being tired laid down on the patchy grasses. As they were reminiscing of the past,they heard growling near them. Scared it was a wild brown bear which are pretty common to come across in Kakani and recently reading about how brown bears get intimidated by loud noises Alugrips put her speaker in its maximum volume. But too everyone’s relief it was Shataxi's stomach which was growling loudly.
The girls huddled together over a small fire and tried to cook their dinner. Depakayasa managed to burn the instant noodles, Peda accidentally set her own hair on fire-it was just a few strands, but still- and Nariyan managed to trip over her own feet while trying to fetch more firewood. The girls laughed and joked as they chatted about their day's misadventures. They then again started too reminisce about old times, sharing stories of their college days, made fun of each other's ridiculous haircuts back in the day.
As they settled in for the night, they couldn't help but wonder what other disasters awaited them in the dark wilderness. Would they get eaten by bears? But as they drifted off to sleep, surrounded by the sounds of nature and the distant rumble of Shataxi's stomach, they knew that no matter what challenges lay ahead, they would face them together as long as they didn't get lost or eaten by bears.
