On the other side of the door, there was a dark storage space. The sun's light dribbled in from the doorway, allowing Luan to see inside. It was a large room but it felt crowded because shelves overflowing with camp paraphernalia towered up the walls and there was even a pile of stuff in the middle of the room. Luan could see fishing rods, boxes, hammocks, files, and what felt like hundreds of other things. There seemed to be some order to the chaos, but Luan still wasn't sure where to start looking. Probably not through the door on the other side of the room, though. Needing to start somewhere, Luan just chose the shelves immediately to his left.

The clutter wasn't yielding any food, but Luan did grab one of the hammocks thinking it would at least make a nicer bed than the ground. About halfway around the room, there were six tall filing cabinets. They were mostly filled with paperwork, receipts, contracts, and wavers. Luan was surprised the park never threw out old papers. This worked in his favor as he was able to find an old map from 10 years ago. Surely a lot of the camp had changed in that time, so Luan kept looking through various files. However, he didn't get very far before he heard footsteps.

His heightened hearing picked up faint thuds that were slowly coming closer to the storage room. As fast as he could, Luan crouched down and shoved his body between to boxes on one of the lowest shelves. Breathing as slowly as possible, he quieted himself. If not for his breathing and wary eyes, Luan could have been a well-made statue with the forced stillness. The fear blossoming and wrapping tightly around his chest was probably the cause. His mind rushed to possibilities of bein found. They would drag him back to the facility where he would be forced into tight security. Maybe they would even ban him from seeing other patients as a punishment.

Luan was only able to push his racing dark thoughts to the back of his mind when the person opened the door. Whoever came into the room wasn't visible to Luan in his low vantage point. Nevertheless, Luan could tell they were moving around near the door they just entered from. Luan's guess they were going to just leave was dashed when the person finally found the lightswitch some walking sticks had fallen in front of. It next sounded like the person picked up a box, but they put it right back down and started mumbling.

"Why is she so insistent that all the doors are closed when she can't even remember too. Some park ranger you are, Mom." Despite stiffening impossibly further as he was passed, Luan managed to maintain his tenuous level of calm knowing the voice's owner wasn't suspecting his existence. The voice was on the smoother side and the feet that passed him were clad in worn hiking boots. After closing the outside door, the person picked the other box up, turned off the lights, and left with the other door swinging shut behind him. Luan was left in the pitch black darkness.

Once Luan was finally sure the person wasn't coming back, he clumsily squeezed himself back out of his hiding place. Rubbing his sore muscles, he grabbed the map and hammock and carefully made his way back out of the room. He made sure to shut the door behind himself. Hopefully, no one would notice the things he knocked over on his way out of the dark. Still starving, Luian decided to next hed to the camping grounds on the map to see if he could steal some food.

~✩~

Over the next two weeks, Luan settled into a lifestyle he rather liked. He had learned that his sense of direction was a lot better than he had thought. It might have been because he had a map, but Luan suspected it was actually because the facility's hallways formed a labyrinth of identical walls. This allowed him to maneuver successfully off the paths where he wouldn't be easily spotted. When off the paths, the only people he came across where the rangers, but Luan had been lucky enough not to be spotted by them yet.

On his second day, Luan had decided on a large tree close enough to a cliff that he got a breathtaking view. He secured his hammock halfway up the tree on two sturdy branches. When he slept, he always wondered if he'd fall out, but figured he wouldn't make it far enough to get hurt with all the branches under him. The campers were wasteful as soon as one of their things ripped or they dropped their food onto the ground. Luan would just wash the dirt or ashes off before it ate it. His best finds were a tarp that somehow got ripped in half and a backpack with broken zippers. The tarp pieces got tied above his hammock in hopes to protect him from future rainfalls. Food and anything small he found went into the backpack. Over the two weeks, Luan attained quite a good stash of snacks and half-eaten fruits. Because Luan didn't want animals stealing his food, he often carried it around with him. Sometimes he felt bad for stealing because he knew it was wrong, but when he shivered from the cold at night, he placated himself with the thought of him needing it more.

On his fifteenth day at Hazel Pine National Park, Luan woke to birds chirping and the sun already risen. He clambered his way out of his hammock and down the tree with his backpack. The first stop he made was a lesser-used outhouse. Next, Luan continued back into the woods. There was a series of streams he could follow until he found his way to a small pond. According to the map, there was a lake at the camp, but Luan was sure people would be using it for fishing and boating activities. 

When he arrived, Luan splashed around in the water and tried to catch a fish. He had always had a lot of fun because he had never gotten to play in any water larger than a bath before. Not only did his fun reward him with a fish, but it also served to get some of the dirt out of his clothes. Once he caught the fish, Luan got out of the water and took off most of his clothes to dry as the fish passed away. Luan didn't like to kill the fish even if he needed the protein, so he thanked it before eating it. Earlier, Luan had learned he could handle the fish raw even if he didn't appreciate the uncooked flavor. Without a knife, a lot of the meat was wasted as Luan had to carefully avoid the bones. Hopefully, he could find some matched and a knife of some sort soon as they both would be extremely useful. He could even try wood carving like he saw a father teach their teenager! After eating, Luan tried his best to make a flower crown as he waited for his clothes to dry. Many failed attempts later, Luan gave up and redressed. For the rest of the day, he wandered around in the woods or watched the campers go about their own days.

When the sun was setting, Luan went around all the campsites to look for food leftovers and whatever else he could find. Three sites later and Luan had scored a bag of marshmallows, chips, and some burned hotdog. Some large, mud-covered, and holey shoes were found in a trashcan. They were nowhere near Luan's size, but he knew they would be better than his terribly ripped socks. Happy with his gains, Luan moved on to his favorite place to be. The rangers' nightly bonfire next to their house. It was far enough from the campers they could stay up late talking without getting complaints from sleeping campers. Luan hadn't learned about it until hiss fifth day, but he had come back every night after to listen to them. Discovering their nightly ritual for the first time, Luan was captivated by the stories the hodgepodge family of friends told about their days. It reminded him enough of Kaipo and Kane to send a bittersweet feeling to his heart despite never feeling as close to them as the rangers were to each other. The best part was that Luan could pretend he was part of their group and could always rely on that fantasy as the rangers wouldn't leave as the campers did. Luan settled into the boughs of the tree closest to the fire to listen.

He had learned a lot about the rangers over the past nights. Evan (he) and Mary (she) were a couple in their mid-twenties who were looking to adopt a child soon. Luan wasn't sure why they were adopting but thought it might have something to do with lead ranger's influence. They had come to the camp because they loved the outdoors more than their stifling city life. Evan was in charge of general camp upkeep with Mary helping him when needed. Mary taught classes, but Luan hadn't found out where in time to watch one yet. Evan had dusky skin either dark brown or black with black hair. Mary practically shone next to him in her pale skin and light auburn-haired glory. Evan was muscularly built and although Mary had a slimmer build, she also had more than enough muscles for her job. 

Shelly was the lead ranger and appeared to be either in her forties or fifties. She was full of energy even though her job mostly entailed loads of paperwork especially since their desk person retired the year before. She truly loved nature and Luan had seen her exploring off the paths when she had the time. No grey hair had invaded her blond streaked brown hair and she had a rosier complexion than Mary. Besides some laugh lines, she still looked young. She had adopted her son, Aster. Aster was 19 and taking a gap year to decide if he wanted to go to college or stay a ranger. His job was to man the welcome lodge and shop and was therefore the person Luan encountered in the storage room. Besides the brown color in his hair, Aster didn't look at all like his mom. Of course, it wasn't a surprise because he was adopted. He was on the taller side and was completely covered in freckles. However, his freckles weren't as obvious with his skin tone the shade of milk with a bit chocolate mixed in.

The group started by sharing about their days. Evan complained about having to fix a badly clogged toilet that no one had thought to inform a ranger of in the three days it had been out of use. On a happier note, Mary said a lot of young families participated in her outdoor art class that afternoon. Luan wished he had gotten to watch it. Shelly didn't do anything interesting and said her paperwork left her back feeling sore. Aster's day went well and he enjoyed talking to a newlywed couple at the camp as part of their honeymoon. Soon, they moved onto funny stories from their past. Luan's eyes sparkled hearing how Shelly had fainted at the sight of blood when Aster broke his wrist after falling out of a tree. Aster mercilessly teased his mother about it and she returned with how he went climbing the same tree again the next day and fell again. Clearly the cast did nothing to teach him a lesson, but at least he didn't break any more bones. As the topics moved on, Luan rested his head against the tree and basked in the rangers' presence. The campfire was eventually put out and the rangers went to bed. Luan decided to follow suit and headed back to his base. 

Luan looked out at the sky studded with stars and once again smiled. He might be on the hungry side, cold, and a bit lonely, but he managed to get through another day happy on his own. All in all, Luan rather enjoyed the life he had built for himself. His lips remained curled as the wind gently rocked Luan to sleep.