- Flying solo sucks. But you gotta know how.

  - When you're with someone long enough, you forget how to move alone. That’s dangerous.

  - If your partner goes out for snacks, maybe a heads-up would be nice. Communication saves lives. And blood pressure.

  - [Jules’ Edit]: You were napping. I didn’t want to wake you. You get grumpy.

  ---

  I woke up to silence.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Not the peaceful kind. The “uh-oh” kind. The one where the back of your neck goes cold before you even open your eyes.

  Jules was gone.

  No note. No whisper. No trace.

  I checked our supply stash—still there. Her pack was missing, but that was it. I waited a while. Paced. Talked to myself. Wrote a few choice curse words in the margins of this journal.

  Then she came back.

  She had a granola bar in her mouth and a water bottle in her hand like nothing had happened.

  “Where were you?” I asked.

  She blinked. “Out. You were sleeping. Didn’t wanna interrupt.”

  “You left without saying anything.”

  “I came back, didn’t I?”

  I didn’t know what to say to that. I wanted to be mad. But she looked so smug chewing that granola bar, like she’d just solved world hunger with oats and raisins.

  I let it go.

  Sort of.

  I added a new section to my notes that night: “If your partner vanishes without warning, assume the worst, hope for snacks.”

  I laughed writing it down.

  But I also packed my bag a little tighter.

  Just in case.