Dany flicked on the flashlight and swung its yellow beam against the dense forest as he stomped around the perimeter of the tent in his hiking boots, their untied laces dancing merrily against his naked legs. “C’est rien! There’s nothing out here, just you and me. It was probably some friendly forest animal like a ferocious blood-sucking rabbit.”

“Shut up.” Brad called from inside the tent.

Noticing an overgrown hiking path, Dany swung his light down its length, but the beam only penetrated for about twenty feet before being hungrily swallowed by the darkness. Tilting the light up into the trees, he saw thick moss hanging heavily from their twisted branches. “Overactive imagination, that’s what he has.”

Dany flicked the flashlight off and set it down on the broken-twig and dead-leaf woven carpet of the forest floor. Pulling the front of his boxers down, he leaned one hand against the trunk of an ancient tree and took a piss. Steam rose from his stream in the cool night air as he laughed at the hysteria of his boyfriend. From the shadows, a pale hand reached out and hovered just over Dany’s shoulder. It followed down the curve of his back and gently felt the fabric of his shirt between its fingers.

“C’est froid.” Dany shivered as he pulled up the front of his boxers and reached down to pick up the flashlight.

Snap!

Dany wheeled around at the sound of the twig snap but found nothing. He reached down, searching for the flashlight, but hit dirt. Feeling around with both hands, he was rewarded with fistfuls of leaves and twigs. Frustrated he stood, brushing his hands off on the corner of his flannel shirt, and marched back to the tent.

“Very funny, Bradley! You got me,” Dany admitted as he kicked off his boots and dove back under the sleeping bag, shivering. “Where’d you stash the flashlight?”

“What?”

“Ha ha, very funny.”

Brad turned to his boyfriend with a solemn face. “Dany, I’ve been right here.”

“Uh-huh. D’accord,” Dany huffed as he pulled more than his fair share of the sleeping bag over his shoulder and turned his back to Brad. “Well you can tell me all about your little trick in the morning.”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.…” Brad pleaded as he grabbed hold of Dany’s shoulder.

“Enough. You wake me up in the middle of the night—”

“I was scared!”

“Joke’s over. I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.”

As the boys clenched their eyes into a fitful sleep, a beam of light slashed through the dark woods like a saber, flicking on and off again and again, disappearing and then reappearing twenty feet from where it had turned off, jumping at random… too quick to be natural.