Doom Or Destiny

Tricky trek

Ved's POV :

Arnav was already awake and was in shower when I walked inside the room. So I decided to get ready with my black track pants and white T-shirt and I finished packing my backpack with necessary things. Even Arnav was ready by then but the great Yash was still busy sleeping. So without thinking too much, I splashed a glass of water on him and my act filled with love and respect made him angry but still managed to wake him up.
"You don't have to thank me Yash, just get ready like a good boy and get down within next 15 minutes. I need to talk to the agency people. So better be there on time, else you are staying here on your own"
I warned him and walked downstairs with Arnav. Once I finished talking about today's plans, almost everyone gathered near the bus and as expected Yash was the last one to join.

Once we boarded the bus, we were instructed about the activities in detail. We were 15 students in total, so we would be divided into 3 teams of 5 each. Our task was to collect the puzzle pieces on our way to hill top and complete the puzzle as early as possible. Each team had their own set of puzzle and separate paths to follow. The team who manages to finish it first will win this activity.

Everyone was excited about the activity and soon teams were formed according to lots picked by us. I and Jaanvi ended up being in the same team. Other than Arnav, our team had Swathi and Shiv both from second year classes. Soon we were near the foot of the hill. Breakfast was served on spot and everyone finished eating and got ready for the trek.

Jaanvi's POV :

Since we were having a trek, I put on my blue track pants with a pastel blue tee with my spare shoes and grabbed my blue jacket. I packed my backpack with all the necessary things. Ash and Nishta along with Swathi too got ready with their track pants and tees along with their backpacks. We sorted our room and packed our luggage bags since we were leaving the homestay today.

Clock showed 8.45AM once we were done with breakfast and we started our trekking journey at 9 sharp. We had to collect 15 pieces of the puzzle and arrange it accordingly. We started climbing the hill according to our map. We acquired first 7 pieces as we covered half of the path. Next ones were the trickier part. Some pieces were hanging on the tree branches, some in between the rocks, some inside bushes, finding them wasn't as easy as we guessed when we began our trek.

Our stamina kept on decreasing as the scorching sun went up. We collected 14 pieces till now and we reached the hill top. We were worried if we missed any piece on the way or not. But when we glanced towards our left and right, others had 14 pieces as well. So the last piece was actually missing in everyone's case.

Our instructor asked us to assemble in a place and each team was given a box with a lock and a piece of paper. We had to open the lock and get our last piece. The paper contained 6 digits which had to be arranged in a particular order to open the lock.
Everyone heaved a long sigh as we heard the new twist. But the spirit to win overpowered the tiredness and everyone got busy trying to open the lock.

Ved's POV :

Instead of panicking we decided to stay calm and tried some permutations for arranging numbers. But none worked. Jaanvi took the paper and checked the numbers again and again. Our numbers were 1,6,7,2,0,5. She asked me to handover her the box and she started arranging the numbers. The order of arrangement according to her was 051276 and the lock opened within the next second. I was surprised but we didn't have much time in hand, so we hurried to arrange the puzzle pieces. As soon as the pieces were spread, me and Shiv managed to identify it and we finished our puzzle before others and managed to win.

We high fived each other to celebrate the moment. Everyone in the team thanked her for the win and she claimed it as team's win rather than her individual effort. But I was still curious how she managed to open the lock. She guessed my question in mind and answered me,
"Its St Theresa's foundation Day. 5th December 1976. As soon as I saw the numbers I guessed its related to our college, so I tried my luck with it and we succeed "
and flashed me her smile. I'm highly impressed with her skills and I appreciated her smart work. She mumbled a thank you and joined her friends.