Into the Light

123

"You sure you don't wanna be in this together?" She giggled, then played along. "Hmm, I don't know. I mean, on one hand, you're kinda cute, BUT I don't really want to be on the losing team." My mouth fell open. "AH!" I exclaimed. "RUDE! I never lose." Katrina burst out laughing. "Okaaay," she said, in a funny voice. "Shut it," I replied. "No one asked you." This just made them laugh harder, and myself right along with them. We were enjoying ourselves. Just being young and carefree. It had been a while since we had felt carefree. Even with impending doom lingering over our heads, like a heavy black storm cloud, we managed to just put it aside. What good would it do to let it ruin our last day? If this was our last day, I mean. I didn't want to die, obviously, but the acceptance was coming in strong. There was no way out of this, and the chance of us dying was pretty big. Even with the help of an extremely old, powerful coven of witches. So, even though I still felt the stress and worry about the situation, I pushed it down and focused on my friends. My love. My best friends. If it was going to be my last day, this was how I wanted to spend it. Kat hit the water with a huge splash and dragged Sam down with her. Anna, who was sitting on my shoulders, started to giggle. "That's game!" I yelled, holding onto Anna's bare legs that were hanging over my shoulders. "We win!" "Woohooo!" Anna yelled, throwing her arms up. She leaned too much to the left and started to slip. I tried to hold on to her, but the water made her skin a little slippery. "OH!" she exclaimed, grabbing hold of my hair and tightening her legs around me. It was no use though. She started to fall and I was going down with her. I took a big gulp of air into my mouth, just before the water closed over my head. I let go of Anna and came up out of the water, releasing that breath. I wiped the water from my eyes and heard Sam and Kat laughing. "That's what you get for bragging and laughing at us!" Katrina exclaimed. I looked over and saw Anna sputtering water from her mouth, as she smoothed her wet hair back from her face. The water darkened her raven locks, so that they looked black as night in the sunlight. "We still won!" she yelled, with a smile that almost stopped my heart. Yeah, this was definitely how I wanted to spend my last day. We made our way back to the blanket and sat down to rest and eat. "What kind of snacks did we get?" Kat asked. Sam opened the cooler and pulled out some waters, grapes, crackers, and some Lunchables. "Lunchables?" Kat asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise. Sam laughed and shrugged. "Why not? Want one?" "Hell yes!" she exclaimed, and took the tray from his hands. He passed them around and then set up the rest of the food on the blanket. "You got more than I thought," I said, eyeing the spread on the blanket. It was full of different fruits, nuts, crackers, and even cheese. There was a small bowl of trail mix sitting in the middle, along with a bottle of cheap wine. "It's all I could find," he replied, shrugging when I gave him a look. He set out a stack of paper plates and red solo cups next to the food. "Dig in," he said, holding his hands out. We all piles our plates high with the food, starving now that the game of Chicken was over. For a few minutes, we were silent except for the sounds of chewing. "But why is this so good?" Kat moaned, around the food in her mouth. "Mmmhmm," Anna agreed, nodding her head. Her cheeks were puffed out with the amount of food that she was chewing on. I couldn't help but laugh at them both. "You guys know that no one is trying to steal the food, right?" I asked, shaking my head at them. Honestly, it was really good and I was starving, but not to the point of stuffing my face. "Mine ya bifsness" Kat replied, with muffled words. Sam glanced at me and laughed. We exchanged a smile and nodded. He was feeling the same thing that I was. Peace. We accepted whatever it was that we had to do, and were focused on today. But then, I was reminded that Ash still hadn't called me back. I narrowed my eyes and dug my phone out of my discarded jeans that were lying on the edge of the blanket. Six missed calls from Ash in the last three hours. Shit. I stood upa nd looked around my friends. "I'll be right back. Gotta make a call," I replied, avoiding Anna's gaze. I held Sam's for a second longer, hoping that he understood and wouldn't let the anyone come after me. He gave me a slight nod, then started digging in the bags that he had brought. "Anyone down for a game of cards?" he asked, holding up the deck that he had bought. I made my way down the beach, until I came to a small secluded ridge. This would work. I tapped my phone to call Ash back and listening to the tinny ring that sounded in my ear. My nerves were starting up again, making me feel nauseated. I hated that my anxiety made me physically sick. "Colby, my man! I've been trying to call you. Is everything okay?" he answered. "Yeah man," I replied, trying to swallow the ball of nerves that had made it's way to my throat. "I'm at the beach, so I didn't hear my phone. What's up?" "Well, I was just calling you back with the information that you wanted. You ready?" I nodded, even though he couldn't see me. "Yeah, I'm good. Let's hear it," I replied. "Okay, it's really not that big of deal. Nothing hard. Basically, you just stand there, with Sam, connected. You focus on your friendship. Think all the way back, and go over everything that you can remember. Every fight, every makeup, every accomplishment, every important moment that you can remember, even if it's just a feeling. You focus on all of that and imagine that you're pushing it towards Her. That bond will overcome her power because it is more powerful."