Hiking counter-clockwise around the lagoon

You walk along the edge of the lagoon, and you realize the crowd on the grass has thinned out a bit. You don’t see anyone fucking on the lawn. There are a few groups of three or four Breeders still sitting together on the grass, cuddling or chatting.

You step onto the concrete path, and start on a long walk around the roughly circular lagoon, the lights of the party in the distance on your left. Just how far away is it? The darkness makes judging distance more difficult.

You hear the music more clearly as you walk closer, and you can make out beams of colored light shooting from the party to the sky. The path you’re on disappears into woods, where the trees encroach on the water. There’s a pool of darkness between every light on the path, and when you look into the trees on the side opposite the lagoon you can only see their shadows on the grass. There’s not much brush in this forest; someone must take good care of it.

Everyone in this place is a Breeder, there are no enemies, no true strangers. Nothing to steal, even; your orientation classes explained. Still, you can’t help but feel a little nervous walking alone in the woods, like you would have felt in the outside world as a smaller guy.

You think about the party. You would feel even more alone in a crowd of strangers than you do right now. And you hate to dance, you’ve never been good at it. And those girls want to see you there, so if you don’t go, you’ll disappoint them. What a dilemma. You were so sure this would be the night that changes everything a minute ago, but now that you're alone in the dark you’d take any excuse to go somewhere besides an ear-splitting dance party. As you cross another patch of darkness on the path, you hear something.

What was that? You’re not sure, but it came from the trees. You peer into the darkness, and see nothing. It occurs to you: a way to delay your arrival at the party, if only for a little while. If you walk between those trees, you’d be truly safe from everyone until you came out. You could take as long as you need to calm down, feel confident again, and stride into the party…