The lyrics to American Pie streamed out of the radio, mingling with the joined voices of Alfred and Matthew, Alfred's younger cousin. They were actually pretty good, Gilbert would say, though he couldn't be sure if they measured up to American standards or the snob sitting next to him in the car. And on any other occasion, Gilbert would join in with the singing, despite English being his second language. While he wouldn't admit he wasn't confident in all aspects of the language, he would definitely pretend he was, for better or worse. But he was sitting in Alfred's red Nissan Pathfinder next to the one guy he secretly, not-so-secretly, despised.

Maybe despised was too soft a word. He had a bigger vocabulary, he could color it a bit. The guy sitting next to him was the sort of thorn in people's sides that didn't cause massive bleeding. No, it made the wound fester, become infected. It turned the surrounding skin the yellow-green color of disease. It would bubble up, expand, until it just couldn't take it anymore and explode upon prodding in a great display of slimy yellow-white pus. Yes, that's what this guy was like. And the worst part of all? He spoke German.

Gilbert had always thought it would be fun to have secret conversations with someone in a foreign country. Sure, he had done so several times with Ludwig, but this time he had friends who couldn't speak German. He really wanted to see them get frustrated and listen closely for any mention of their names. Heavens knew he had been on the receiving end before. But Ludwig wasn't overly fond of the game and there was no way he could even start up a conversation with this guy. He just sat there, his obnoxiously pretty face tightened up to the point where one might guess he was either incredibly constipated or very much pissed off at one person in particular.

That person was probably Gilbert.

"Hey, hold up," Mattie said, holding up a hand. In his other, his cell phone was buzzing. Alfred lowered the music while Mattie tucked some of his blonde hair behind an ear and took the call. It could only mean it was one of the other passengers. How on Earth did Gilbert draw the short end when it came to seating arrangements? Sure, Alfred was cool, but he was driving. There was nobody to talk to.

The scenery outside was whirling by fast, other than the far off things like huge, rounded mountaintops that looked weirdly like hills the closer they got to them. Gilbert had heard somewhere that the Rocky Mountains were like the Alps, but no, no they weren't. They were much softer and surprisingly less rocky than he would have thought. They did pass by some pretty pink-red rock walls, though, and that was something. It reminded him of the rocks that made up the Garden of the Gods. The air was very dry, though, and, being the beginning of October, would sweep up a chilly wind every now and then. Apparently fall did not last as long a time and they were right at the start of it.

"They want to pull over and get something to eat," Mattie said, moving the phone away from his mouth. "They saw an IHOP half an hour ago and now they're craving breakfast foods, apparently."

Alfred nodded. "Tell them that if we don't see another one or something similar in the next ten minutes, we'll pull over for whatever comes along," he said.

When Mattie had hung up, the music was turned back up and Gilbert kept his eyes open for food places. Most of it was mountain walls, though, with tiny little gas station stops spaced far along the way. The great expanse of blue above them let the sun bear down without interruption, save for when they would dip down into a mountain's shadow. Then something streaked past.

"Whoa, did you see that?" Gilbert said and pressed his face up against the glass.

"Can you not shout?" the annoying sack of crap next to him muttered.

"Dude," Al said. "Roll down the window. Fingerprints on windows is about the same as dog slobber. I just cleaned it and I usually don't. I'd like it to last."

Gilbert ignored him. "But did you see that?" he pressed on.

"The carved bears?" Mattie asked, looking back at him with a smile. "Yeah, you see them a lot around here, along with other things. But the bears are more famous, I guess."

Gilbert immediately wanted one. What he'd do with it, he wasn't sure. Could he have it shipped to Germany? He was only an exchange student, so he was only there for a year, but he could put it in his dorm room until the time came. Those things were huge, though. It looked like a bear carved straight out of a log and about his height, maybe taller. He couldn't be sure. But he had seen them around Manitou Springs before, standing beside front doors and welcoming guests. That was definitely on his 'to buy' list. He tucked the thought away and hoped he would remember.

Soon enough they pulled over at a cluster of gas stations and fast food joints. There was hardly ever a place Gilbert had not seen a McDonalds, so he was surprised when they didn't park at that one. Instead, they parked in front of Wendy's and waited for the others to join them. Antonio and Francis clambered out a two-seater truck, which was the reason Gilbert had not been driving with them. He was Antonio's roommate, he should have gotten dibs on that seat, not forced to sit next to Mr. Gloomy McStick-Up-His-Ass. And then Ludwig pulled up next to them in a borrowed Jeep. Technically Ludwig had a driver's license from Germany and everyone had been kind of iffy about whether or not he could legally drive in the States, but they all agreed that so long as he drove under the speed limit, they wouldn't get caught. And of course, they told Ludwig none of this.

Out of that car, along with Gilbert's brother, were the girls: Elizabeta and Feliciana with her older sister, Lavina. Gilbert knew why Ludwig had been chosen to drive the girls, but he still didn't find it fair. Anything was better than the iceberg who was still standing next to him for some reason. Elizabeta had pulled her thick brown hair into a ponytail and Gilbert guessed the other girls would soon do the same. While it was technically fall, it was still really warm. It was one of the reasons they had decided to do this, to go camping.

Alfred had the perfect car for it, as did Antonio's cousin - the person who lent Tony the truck. Almost everyone was an exchange student. Their school seemed to like cramming all the foreign kids in the same part of the dorms, because that was how most of them met.

"So we went from breakfast food to Wendy's?" Francis asked, his blue eyes scrunching up as he stared at the building. Cars buzzed past on the highway close by.

Alfred shrugged. "I didn't want to keep going and maybe not find any more food places," he said. "I thought everyone was hungry and you can never go wrong with a good old fashioned burger and fries."

"Very true," Lizzie said, grinning. "C'mon, let's eat!"

The shift from the hot parking lot to the air conditioned building was sudden and sent goosebumps up and down Gilbert's arms. Tony got stuck holding open the door, though he didn't seem to mind. Lavina did end up scowling and muttering something about being able to hold open her own door, to which her sister flicked her arm for. This only made the scowl deepen and the blush darken. Gilbert didn't get it.

Once they had their food, it settled down a bit.

"We're almost there," Alfred announced. As the only true blue American of the group, along with the only native person to Colorado, he was in charge, the leader of the pack, whatever anyone wanted to call it. He dunked a french fry in ketchup. "Probably another half hour on the road."

"But we still have to walk to the actual campsite," Lizzie said.

Al nodded as he chewed. His glasses caught the light.

"That should take us the rest of the afternoon," Mattie said.

Before they all climbed back into their respective cars, Gilbert pulled Frankie aside and asked if they could switch so that he could ride with Tony and let Frankie deal with the silent block of human whose company he had to suffer through.

"Why?" Frankie asked.

"Because he pisses me off," Gilbert muttered, glancing around to make sure nobody would hear them. Roderich, the guy in question, was one of Lizzie's friends and stuck by her like fly to tape. At that moment, he was talking to her near the entrance as they waited for a few of the others to use the bathrooms. That was another thing that pissed him off - she had a boyfriend, this guy named Sadiq, and this Roderich guy was hanging on to her. Lizzie was a good friend of Gilbert's and he didn't like to see this guy sliming his way into her good book.

Francis looked almost amused. Gilbert recognized that face. It was one of the many reasons they were friends. "I don't know," he said. "I rather like hanging out with Tony."

Gilbert frowned. "Dude, no, please," he said.

"Sorry," Francis said with a shrug. "Can't change the seating arrangement now."

And that's how Gilbert ended up back in Alfred's car, sitting next to the ever silent Roderich Edelstein, directing dark thoughts towards one of this best friends. Fuck Francis and fuck his stupid French accent. He still didn't understand how it all worked out. If Roderich and Lizzie were such good friends, why couldn't they fucking carpool together? It wouldn't make him dislike him less, but wow, it would have done wonders for his mood.

Soon enough, they were parked and getting out of the cars anyways. The small parking lot was just dirt and rocks with a trail head near the rough wooden fence. The forest didn't look too thick, not like some of the forests Gilbert had seen in Germany, but they felt familiar and he liked that. They pulled out their camping equipment, strapped it to their backs, made sure everything was secure, and then locked up the cars.

"Sweet," Alfred said, once they had formed some sort of circle. "Is everybody good to go?"

"Let's do this!" Gilbert shouted.

"Yeah!" Lizzie also shouted and shot a fist in the air.

Some of the others nodded and they all walked towards the trail head. Gilbert almost giggled to himself - Roderich seemed to be having a hard time with his pack with the way he was already slightly hunched over. A part of him, a very, very small part of him, was mentally smacking himself in the face because he really shouldn't get a kick out of another person's misfortune.

"I can't wait to make smores," Feliciana said in an almost wistful tone. "I don't think I've had one before. Have I had one before, Lavina?"

"No," the other girl replied in a voice that sounded like it had sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Her eyebrows were drawn together in what Gilbert was beginning to guess was a permanent frown.

This didn't bother her sister, though, as Feliciana bounded up to where Ludwig and Lizzie were walking. Lavina's head shot up, eyes wide in what he guessed was panic, but when she noticed that Gilbert was watching, she went back to scowling.

"Hey, hey, have you had smores before?" she asked.

"Yup!" Lizzie replied with a smile.

Ludwig sort of nodded, but the tips of his ears were red. Gilbert knew what that meant. The grin that spread on Gilbert's face was less than friendly and he was about to call his brother out on it, but then Tony nudged Gilbert and jerked his head to the rear of their party. Roderich was trailing behind them.

"You should tell him to pick up the pace," Tony said.

"Why me?" Gilbert shot back. He didn't see why it was his job to inform the guy. "You noticed him first, why don't you do it?"

Tony shrugged and looked ahead. "He seems kind of shy and since you guys were in the same car, I thought he'd appreciate being approached by someone he kind of knows instead of a stranger like me."

Gilbert's face twisted up in disgust at Antonio's thoughtfulness. He gave a short groan and rolled his eyes. "Fine, but next time you do it," he replied and stopped walking. Tony smiled at him - he had a really good smile, a smile one couldn't ignore and not feel good about their day. Fuck Antonio, too, and fuck his good meaning nature.

Roderich looked up and, when his eyes met Gilbert's, dropped his gaze back to the ground. He did seem to walk a little faster, though.

"Hey, you're going to have to pick it up a little if we're going to make it to the campsite in this century," Gilbert said.

"I'm doing as best I can," Roderich said. Gilbert could tell he was already slightly short of breath.

"Yeah, well, your so called best isn't good enough," Gilbert replied. "We barely even started. If you knew you couldn't keep up, why did you even bother coming along?"

"I don't have to explain to you," Roderich said and tried brushing past him. But he was too slow and just wound up walking next to him. So he could keep up, technically - for a short while, anyways.

Gilbert frowned. "Whatever, just don't slow us down," he said.

They walked in silence up until they caught up with their group. And it wasn't because Roderich had miraculously grown robot legs that were fast as the average human. They were crowded around a large plaque in the middle of a small clearing.

"What's going on?" Gilbert asked. Not for the first time was he glad he had a naturally loud voice.

Alfred and Matthew looked up.

"There are a bunch of routes," Alfred said. "They all lead to the campsite, but we were trying to figure out which one to take when we realized something that you would definitely agree constitutes as awesome."

Gilbert raised his eyebrows.

"We're gonna split up into groups!" Alfred said as if revealing a prize on a game show. "This way we get to explore each one, take pictures and stuff, and meet in the same spot! We've all got maps, so it'll work out!"

"The only problem was that not everyone here is used to camping or hiking," Mattie said. "But we thought we could pair those who weren't with those who are. Which we just did."

This time Gilbert frowned. "You already did? Then who am I paired with?" he asked. He didn't like decisions being made for him. And he had a bad feeling about this.

"Well, since you two weren't here, we figured you could be a team," Mattie replied, looking to his cousin for reassurance. Gilbert felt like his energy went flooding down through his body to settle at his feet. This could not be happening.

"Yeah!" Al said, grinning wide. "So I'm going with Tony, Mattie's going with Frankie, Liz'll be going with Feliciana over here, and Ludwig goes with Lavina!"

Gilbert had a lot of things going on through his head. One of them was the overwhelming pity he had for his brother for being paired with Lavina. Another was the overwhelming pity he had for himself. He wasn't sure what he deserved to be paired with this block of ice disguised at a person. Really, he got good grades, he maintained a clean room - where had he gone wrong?

"I suggest a small change, though," Gilbert said and he could really kick his own ass for what he was about to suggest. "I think Feliciana should go with Ludwig and Lavina go with Lizzie." He was willing to sacrifice his own sanity for the sake of his brother's. Roderich couldn't be that bad. Not as bad as Lavina, anyways, with her weirdly moody behavior and dark attitude. Plus, Ludwig's ears had gone red when talking with Feliciana. He knew what was up.

"Sure!" Feliciana said and skipped over to Ludwig, whose entire face was steadily changing color.

Alfred nodded, though he looked slightly suspicious, and then clapped his hands. "Okay teams!" he shouted and began pointing out the paths and who would take which route. Matthew went around making sure everyone had a map and pointed out where the campsite they were heading for was located.

After everyone else had gone, with their voices slowly fading into the regular sounds of nature and silence, Gilbert plopped down on a rock.

"What are you doing?" Roderich asked. His glasses slid down his face and he pushed them back up.

"Taking a break, you need it," he replied. "Do you have a water bottle with you?"

"Of course I do," Roderich said, scowling.

Gilbert lifted his hands, like in defense. "Hey, you never know with some people."

"And I'm just one of those people," Roderich stated, giving him a look.

"Yeah, you are," Gilbert said. The heat was not helping his mood. He just wanted to get back in those trees, amongst the shade and smell of pine needles. "Now either sit your ass down and drink some water or I'll make you. And trust me, there is nothing fun about a face full of sweat and water in a place full of bugs." Actually, he wasn't sure what kind of bugs there would be. Colorado was so dry, even the worms looked weird.

Roderich finally took a seat under a tree and pulled out a silver water bottle. Gilbert hoped he had brought more than just that. There was a stream near the campsite, but first they had to get there.

When they finally set off, they were following a thin, one person path. Gilbert breathed in, already in love with the ponderosa trees that grew there. They let off a scent that reminded him vaguely of vanilla, which had been what led Alfred to recognizing and telling him about the trees.

"You're lucky to have me on your team," Gilbert announced. "I'm pretty good at this."

Roderich made a weird noise through his nose and -was he laughing at him?

"I'm serious!" Gilbert said, frowning at the back of Roderich's head. He broke a twig off from one of the branches and threw it at him. It almost went down the back of his shirt, which inspired Gilbert to break off some pine needles and to wait until the time was right.

"I'm sure you were," Roderich replied, though his tone was still heavy with his amusement.

Gilbert huffed a bit but let it fall into silence. He had, after all, suffered an entire car ride that way. Another half hour or so wouldn't kill him. Probably. There was a little radio in his pack, but it was covered by so much junk, he wasn't sure if it was worth the trouble of finding.

Not even ten minutes later and Roderich was asking for another break.

"You really aren't cut out for this, are you?" Gilbert asked.

Roderich glared at him. "Why should it matter if I'm 'cut out' for this?" he asked. "I am here to have fun."

Gilbert snorted, though he did sort of have a point, he guessed. "How much fun can it be if you're so out of shape?" he responded.

"Because my friends are here," Roderich snapped. "What's it to you? Let's just go."

"Sure thing," Gilbert said, rolling his eyes. He stood up and dusted off his pants. "It's not like I was the one who needed to breathe. Hey, aren't you from Austria or something? Shouldn't you be used to the thin air?"

"Not all of Austria is made of mountains," Roderich muttered. He was gripping the map tight in his hands, the paper crinkling something awful. "Now, I think this is the path here," he said and motioned toward what seemed to be patches of dirt strung together between the pine needles and grass.

"You think or you know?" Gilbert asked.

Roderich shot him a look to which Gilbert just grinned at.

Being October, Gilbert wouldn't be surprised if the pine needles had covered part of the path, especially if it wasn't such a well known one. If that were the case, however, there would have been trail markers or something. Maybe they were the ones who were supposed to do that. Regardless, he hadn't seen any and it was starting to get worrisome. After another ten minutes or so of not seeing a trail marker, during a Roderich break, Gilbert snatched up the map and studied it.

"So where are we on here?" he asked. When he didn't receive an answer, he looked up to see Roderich staring into the trees, his eyebrows sunk down. Then his bottom lip disappeared between his teeth. "Roderich," Gilbert said, slow and even. "Where are we on the map?" He got up and went to sit beside him. "Point. Now."

Roderich sighed and peered down at the crinkled paper. "I believe we are here," he said and pointed to a spot on the outlined path. "Or here." He moved his finger a little further along the route.

"You think?" Gilbert said. "Or you know?"

Roderich shrugged and looked down at the dirt. "I've never done it before!" he burst out.

"Then why did you take the map?" Gilbert asked, voice sharp. Oh god. He really hoped this wasn't happening.

"Because it was given to me!" Roderich replied in the same panicked tone. "I thought how hard is it to use a map? I've used them before back home, on road trips, so how hard could it be?"

Gilbert stared at him. He wanted the other man to feel all the anger being sent his way. Like his eyes could send out heat waves or something. Hate waves, rather. "Did you use a compass?" Gilbert asked, even though he knew the answer.

Roderich promptly buried his face in his hands.

"Are you fucking for real?!" Gilbert shouted and stood up. "What the fuck were you thinking? That we could just hope we were going in the right direction? Even when you're on a road trip, you look at road signs, right? To make sure you're going the right way? Why the fuck would you think you didn't have to use a compass?"

"I'm sorry, okay?" Roderich shot back at him, standing up as well.

Gilbert let out a dry laugh. "Sorry? Sorry's not gonna cut it! We are probably lost in a goddamn forest because of your shit-for-a-brain."

Roderich made a move like he wanted to run at Gilbert, smack him maybe, an involuntary jerk of his body.

"Do it," Gilbert provoked. "Fucking do it."

Roderich matched his gaze for a few moments before melting down into something that cooled Gilbert's temper. He crumpled back down and put his face in his hands for a second time.

"Oh god," Roderich mumbled into his palms. "Oh god. Can you fix this?"

As the adrenaline left his body, Gilbert also let out a sigh. The lightheadedness that came with it prompted him to get out his water bottle. "Yeah, maybe," he said. "Maybe if we can figure out the direction and what sort of path we were following, we can back track or head in the direction we think the path is. And if that doesn't work..." He didn't really want to think about it.

Roderich nodded.

After careful consideration, a compass in one hand and the map in the other, Gilbert set off with Roderich following behind him. He should have been leader from the get-go, what had he even been thinking? Trusting that this weird, seemingly complicated guy to guide them through the forest? This was definitely one of his more stupid decisions.

"This is the last time you get the map," Gilbert muttered. They were heading in a north-westerly direction and, if Gilbert's fervent prayers were answered, towards the original campsite. There were other ones marked out on the map, but even if they stumbled across the wrong one, they'd be able to find their way back to a street or the parking lot.

Roderich just sighed.

"No, I'm serious, your map privileges have been revoked," Gilbert said. "Permanently. In fact, we better leave the decision making to me."

"I've apologized, I don't know what more you want me to say," Roderich replied.

"How about admitting I am superior to you in every way?" Gilbert said, feeling the smirk snake onto his face. He really was only saying it to be a butt.

"Right," Roderich mumbled.

"Name one thing you're better at than I am," Gilbert said, looking at the other man over his shoulder.

"Playing a musical instrument," Roderich said right off the bat. "Baking a multi-level cake, baking in general, sewing, hemming -"

"I said one!" Gilbert interrupted. "And jeez, what are you, a housewife? Do you clean, too?"

"Even if I were, there is nothing wrong with that or my hobbies," Roderich replied, his tone stiff enough to make Gilbert glance back at him. The other man's mouth was drawn tight, his eyebrows stuck in a semi-permanent frown. It made Gilbert feel the stress of it all. "And I try to stay neat."

"Uh huh."

As things fell back into silence, Gilbert tried to imagine what kind of instrument the guy played. He really doubted it was something loud and brass, like trumpets. Something that probably did not require much lung-work, either, considering Roderich was still huffing and puffing despite their constant breaks. No, he looked more like he would use something delicate, something pretty sounding. Like a harp or a violin. Something with strings, probably.

And as for sewing, it wasn't difficult to see that either. Roderich's small hands working over a piece of fabric, guiding it under the needle of a sewing machine. Gilbert could picture what his dorm room might look like, after a project - full of sketches and patterns, recipe books and aprons. He'd have to ask when they got back, maybe, to see what it really looked like and compare.

Suddenly Roderich grabbed Gilbert's shoulder, making them both stop.

"Has it gotten darker since we started?" Roderich asked, looking around with obvious panic in his eyes.

It was subtle, very subtle, and he wasn't sure how he had even noticed, but Gilbert checked his watch to be sure. "Yeah, probably," Gilbert said. "It's getting close to when the sun sets around here, with the mountains and all."

"Are we going to, to keep going?" Roderich asked. His blue eyes looked so big behind his glasses, Gilbert couldn't help but feel a pang of pity. Not to mention he was still clutching at Gilbert's sleeve.

"Okay, I'm making the executive decision to set up camp here," he said and stamped one of his legs, for good measure. Then something else dawned on him and it must have shown on his face because Roderich's expression dropped.

"What?" he asked.

"I just remembered that I was going to share a tent with Ludwig," Gilbert said. Fuck. This could not be happening. "And he's got it."

Roderich looked simultaneously relieved and surprised. Apparently he had been expecting something worse, though what that was, Gilbert couldn't even begin to fathom. "We'll just use mine, then," he said with a little shrug. "I'm assuming you have your sleeping bag and such?"

Gilbert nodded but his mind was still stuck on sharing a tent. Fuuuuck. "Yours is probably a one person tent, though. We can't both fit."

"It might be tight, but not impossible," he replied and pulled off his pack. "Neither of us are very tall."

Gilbert sighed and pulled off his as well. Together, they set up Roderich's spiffy new silver tent between two large trees where the ground was relatively flat. It really wasn't the biggest, but it would do, he supposed. After this, Gilbert went around, gathering up sticks and anything else that looked burnable while Roderich followed his instructions on digging out and preparing a campfire.

"I've got matches," Roderich said when the sticks clattered into the hole he had dug.

"I've got something better," Gilbert replied and pulled out his lighter with a grin. It was a shiny little Zippo lighter with a dark eagle carved into the side. He held it up to one of the sticks until it caught fire and dropped it in.

"You smoke?" Roderich asked, as if the idea surprised him.

"Yeah, a bit," Gilbert replied, but did not explain further.

Roderich stared at the growing flame, the light catching his glasses and moving across the reflection. The darkness around them was soon to come, like it swept up, over everything, though it couldn't extinguish the flames. The wood popped and curled black and a glowing red.

Gilbert dragged his pack closer to him and dug around a bit, breaking Roderich's concentration. They had been planning on fishing and eating that during the trip, but they hadn't gone in unprepared - fishing wasn't always a guaranteed thing. So he pulled out two peanut butter sandwiches and handed one to Roderich, who mumbled a thanks and began peeling off the saran wrap with his thin fingers.

"What happens if we can't find our way back?" Roderich asked, his voice smaller than usual.

Gilbert swallowed his bite before speaking. "Well," he said, trying to think of a way to phrase it so it didn't sound as bad. "Then we stay put. If we stay in one place, it's easier for the others to find us. We can't be that far from them, though."

Roderich nodded, staring into the fire once again. They discussed the next day's plan for a bit, how they would continue walking for a couple hours and if they hadn't found anything, they would set up camp again and make a more serious plan. Crickets and the flutter of wings made up their background noise, which didn't bother Gilbert any. The same couldn't be said about Roderich, though, and it wasn't until they had crawled in the tent and curled up in their respective sleeping bags did he voice his concerns.

"There aren't any bears around here, right?" he asked.

"Just go to sleep," Gilbert groaned.

Roderich went quiet for all but a few seconds. "Because I'm not sure what to do if we encounter one."

"Sleep."

Gilbert could hear Roderich shuffle about from the rustle of his sleeping bag. "I'm serious, Gilbert," he said and his voice came from a little higher. He had pushed himself up.

"I heard Colorado has bears and mountain lions and coyotes, so really, we're fucked all the way around," Gilbert grumbled. He couldn't help but want to tease the guy. "Now go to sleep or I'm kicking you out to deal with them yourself."

Roderich settled back down and Gilbert thought that he could finally catch some shut eye when he said, "Do you know what to do when-"

Gilbert swung his food out and Roderich let out a shout.

"Don't worry about it," Gilbert mumbled into his small camping pillow. He reached out and felt around until he found Roderich's head. He gave his hair a rough ruffle. "Most animals don't approach humans. Especially not this close to regular camping grounds. So relax, go to sleep, and don't think about it. The most you have to worry about is a squirrel making off with your food."

"Okay," Roderich said. There was a pause and Gilbert thought they were both going to get some rest. "Goodnight."

"Yeah, g'night, now for fuck's sake, sleep."

And finally there was silence.