Almost there

That night, nobody got any sleep. Except for the overgrown lima beanie, who was still fast asleep. The rest of the group had spent the night huddling around each other in fear, hoping that whatever was outside the tent would leave, and not take their flashlight with it.

By the time morning finally came, Mock-Strawberry had gathered the courage to check outside the tent. Everything was just how they had left it. The campfire had burned down to smoldering embers, and the flashlight was laying just outside the tent. The lens was cracked and the flashlight was a little dented, but it was still able to turn on. “I’m sorry my faithful companion!” Mock-Strawberry sobbed, hugging the flashlight, “I never should have thrown you at that horrifying creature!” The dust bunny stared at Mock-Strawberry, who was clearly delirious from a lack of sleep. Maybe a nice big breakfast would make everyone feel better. 

The dust bunny went back into the tent, and woke up the sleeping overgrown lima beanie. We need to get food, the dust bunny signaled. The overgrown lima beanie eagerly nodded, and the catterfly softly snorted as it tilted its head towards Mock-Strawberry, as if to say “You guys go, I’ll keep an eye on Mock-Strawberry.” The dust bunny hopped on the overgrown lima beanie’s back and the two set off in search of food. 

Unfortunately, lima beanies are terrible at determining what is actually edible. Lima beanies will eat anything, and they often forget that others don’t do the same. As the overgrown lima beanie began gathering the tastiest looking rocks, the dust bunny set off in the other direction in hopes of finding something that was actually edible.

The dust bunny eventually found some berry bushes, and it began gathering as many berries as it could. Once the bush had been picked clean, the dust bunny set off in search of the overgrown lima beanie, who was probably still trying to eat rocks. A few hours after setting out in search of food, the duo returned to the campsite. Mock-Strawberry and the catterfly were snuggled together in the tent, fast asleep. Their peacefulness was soon interrupted by the overgrown lima beanie bounding inside the tent and dropping a mouthful of slobbery rocks on Mock-Strawberry’s head. Mock-Strawberry yawned, “gee, thanks…” they said, wiping the slobber off their face. They pretended to eat some of the rocks, before insisting they were full and returning the rest to the overgrown lima beanie.

After eating a hearty breakfast of berries (and rocks, in the case of the overgrown lima beanie), the group was ready to continue their journey. Mock-Strawberry began taking down the tent and the dust bunny kicked dirt over the remnants of the campfire. The last thing the group needed was an out of control forest fire. Besides, the dust bunny quite enjoyed digging around in the dirt. The catterfly commandeered the flashlight once again, and once everything was packed up, the group headed deeper into the woods.

“I wonder what that creature we saw last night was?” Mock-Strawberry wondered aloud. “Hopefully we don’t run into it again. Maybe we should pick up the pace, I’d rather not be here any longer than absolutely necessary.” The dust bunny hopped onto the back of the overgrown lima beanie, and the group began walking faster. After a few more hours of brisk walking, Mock-Strawberry suddenly laughed, “You know what? I’m not actually sure why we’re even out here. I don’t know what we’re looking for, I just have this feeling that there’s something important in these woods that we need to find.”

The catterfly whipped its head around and glared at Mock-Strawberry, as if to say “You made us hike all the way out here because of a gut feeling? We’ve gone through all this when you don’t even have a definitive goal?” Mock-Strawberry raised their hands in surrender, “I don’t know how to explain it, but I know there’s something in these woods that I need to do. It’s like instincts or something. I feel like it’s something every arborling knows, like it’s ingrained into our DNA.” The catterfly rolled its eyes, but it continued walking with the group. Clearly it was the only one in the group with any sort of sensibility, who knows what sort of trouble the group would get into if the catterfly wasn’t around to keep them in line? As frustrating as Mock-Strawberry and their assorted pets could be, they were family, and family should always stick together.