We walk slowly, because what’s the point in walking fast. We’d see if we were approaching anything. At first I’m silent, but I’m too curious for that to last.

“So Lian, why do you sleep outside?” He gives me an odd look, as though he didn’t realize that he essentially told me that earlier.

“What? Outside?” He asks, and I can see his shoulders start to tense up.

“Earlier. You said you almost didn’t notice a difference, but then you realized there’s no stars here. Why do you sleep outside?” He stops meeting my gaze, and he buries his hands deep in his pockets. “You don’t have to tell me, we just met.” I say. But we both know it isn’t likely for either of us to meet anyone else here. If we’re the only company we’ll ever have, what’s the point in keeping things to ourselves?

“No it’s alright. I sleep outside because it’s too stuffy inside. There’s a lot of us. And it’s really not hard to get outside from… from where I am.” I don’t ask anything else. He’s done talking about that.

“I guess I can see how that makes sense,” I pause, and add something else. “I hate stuffy places too.” His hands are still buried in his pockets, but his shoulders have relaxed a bit.

“I guess a tree could’ve fallen on me or something.” He says, looking up at the sky. I’m really not sure if it is a sky at all, but it’s up.

“I got struck by lightning.” I say, scrunching up my nose. It’s not something I ever thought would happen to me. He snorts softly.

“I didn’t peg you as the outdoorsy type.” He nudges me with his shoulder and I realize he’s a bit taller than me. I wonder if we’re the same age? There’s no way, people die all the time. There’s no way two people the same age just happened to end up near each other when they died and came to… whatever this place is.

“I’m not generally. But my grandma had just died and I was taking a walk in the perfectly safe rain.” I said, doing giant air quotes. “I didn’t hear any thunder or anything so I thought I was okay.” He shakes his head.

“You and your grandma on the same day? You must be the unlikeliest death ever.”

“Well, there’s a reason it’s unlikely, not impossible.” I don’t remember the exact probabilities but… if 100 thousand people die every day, and there’s 7 billion people in the world, what’s the likelihood that 2 of those people are in a family of 7? Unlikeliest death, maybe not. But still pretty darn unlucky.

“Guess so.” He nods.

“Hey Lian? How old are you?” He gives me a surprised look.

“Oh. Yeah, I guess we didn’t mention that. I’m 15.” He says, tugging on his jacket zipper.

“Seriously?” I ask, stopping. “I’m 17. What are the odds that I met someone within 2 years of me, in a place that seemingly never ends?” He shrugs.

“Not sure. But you’re kinda short, aren’t you?” I glare at him.

“No. No I’m not. I’m average sized for a girl.” I’m 5’4. That’s exactly average, so I’m not small.

“Oh. Sorry. Well… well I’m glad I met you.” He’s not looking at me, I can tell from the corner of my eye. He almost seems… nervous?

“I’m glad I met you too. I might’ve gone the other way if I hadn’t.” I say, nudging him with my shoulder. He lets out a little laugh.

“Yeah but… what if we’re going the wrong way?” He asks, stopping suddenly.

“Well, all roads lead to somewhere. We’re just hoping that somewhere comes by quicker this way.”

“I guess so.” he says.

We walk for a long time, we walk until we need a break. We take breaks, we talk about things. He needs a break more often than me, but he’s been here longer than me. Eventually we can’t talk through yawning. We decide to sleep for the night, and in the absence of a bed, or a pillow, or anything, we use our jackets as pillows and blankets and lay by the side of the road. It feels safer than sleeping directly on the road, but it’s comforting to have it nearby.

I suppose we can just keep walking forever. Even if what the road leads to is years of walking away, we don’t need food or anything. Hope is fleeting, and the possibility of it seems to diminish with every step. Sometimes we’ll realize we’re walking up a hill, and hope that when we reach the crest we can see something. But we never do.

There’s nothing to do but keep walking.