Hilltop – Night of the Reunion
The fire crackled, soft and low, casting lazy shadows across their faces. The night was quiet. Too quiet.
Alice was tuning her old guitar. Aria had her eyes on the stars. Alfred was poking the fire with a stick like he was expecting it to fight back.
Joshua sat a little apart, glasses slid down his nose, fingers twitching around a half-burned notebook.
He hadn't spoken in a while.
Not like him.
Alfred noticed first. "Yo, genius. What's up?"
Joshua blinked. "Huh? Oh. Nothing. Just thinking."
"That's dangerous," Alice said without looking up.
Aria turned slightly. "What kind of thinking?"
Joshua leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees.
"Do you ever feel like… we're just one version of us?"
They blinked.
"Like…" he hesitated. "What if there's another hill. Another fire. But in that world, we're not here. We didn't make it. Or we're someone else entirely."
Alfred chuckled. "Okay, nerd levels rising."
