Blanket of Stars

We were all tired, hungry and grumpy.

We didn't want to be here.

We didn't want to go on this compulsory school camping trip.

And where were all these insects coming from?!

"...fuck, no signal!" One voice groaned out. In the darkness, it was hard to tell who was speaking. Our phones were slowly dimming.

After a few minutes of shuffling, we stopped in a forest clearing.

"...where are we?" Someone said finally.

"...hell if I know." A second voice said.

"Whaaaaat? I want to eat! Don't screw with me, man!" Then, a third.

"You're not the only one who's hungry okay???" And just like that, everyone began to shout, desperately staring at their phone screens in the hope that their smartphones could help them.

"Screw this shit-"

"School-"

"...go home!"

"I'-"

"LOOK!!!" A voice called up above the others.

Like a pinnacle of stone, an outstretched arm pointed sharply at the sky, catching all of our eyes as it contrasted black against blue with the background of the night sky.

A soft gasp rose up among the trees.

"So many..."

"So many stars..."

"It's so beautiful."

One by one, we looked away from our phones, the reflected light from their screens slowly winked out from our eyes as we gazed at the stars, the real stars, not the artificial ones that we held so tightly in our hands.

Away from all the buildings in the city, all we could see were those bright, twinkling lights that danced in front of our eyes. They seemed to expand and fill up our entire field of vision.

"Hey..." The first voice said softly, but we all heard it anyway. "This camp is actually pretty awesome, huh?"

We didn't answer. As we continued gazing at the stars that we would never see once we went back to the city, our phones quietly switched themselves off.