Fears 3 - Journeys

Chapter 16 - Bottle

The day was going as planned. We were all having so much fun playing in the oasis for the duration of the entire day. It felt rather calming to finally be able to relax for only a mere moment. The sun was now starting to set, and I saw Jinn packing his stuff up, looking as if he was about to leave.

I swam out of the oasis water to get a coconut. Jinn had climbed the trees and retrieved multiple of them already. I grabbed one and broke it open with a rock. Luckily, most of the water stayed in the coconut so I could hydrate, too. I proceeded to destroy the coconut; I was hungry from playing in the oasis all day.

"Guys, the sun's setting. Perhaps we should get some rest?" Jinn asked with a soft smile.

"Eh, only a little longer, and we'll be there," Pen retorted.

"Alright, whatever you say," Jinn playfully rolled his eyes.

"You see, Tree? Jinn is nice. Why can't you be like that toward me?" Pen asked with his hands on his hips, giving Tree a friendly stare.

"What are you talking about?" I'm very nice," Tree argued.

"That's debatable," Pen smiled.

"I'll have to agree with Pen on this one," Lightning chuckled.

"Traitor..." Tree rolled his eyes in disgust.

I watched the guys argue and banter over random shit when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Remote behind me.

"BOO!"

"You didn't scare me," I crossed my arms and stared at her.

"Dangit. I thought that would surely get you."

I did nothing but chuckle at Remote's playfulness at the moment. I also saw Liy watching from a distance laughing her ass off. Things were good. Life was good.

The sun was fully set, and nightfall washed over us. By now, we all decided it would be a good time to leave and join Jinn at camp. Because the desert was always hotter than an oven, our clothes dried up rather fast despite it being nighttime. Although it was night, it didn't mean the day was any colder. I questioned how that shit was possible, but I knew that it would get me nowhere.

We met Jinn next to his camels. Jinn held a lantern, and he was the only reason we were able to find him since we were all stupid and forgot to bring our bags to the oasis. Lightning was the only one who brought something, but he lacked the intuition to bring something more vital, like a flashlight.

Jinn did a head count and deduced that we were all there. As a result, he unclipped all the camels from their respective places and helped us all mount our camels. By now, we were starting to get the hang of all this camel stuff, and soon, I figured he wouldn't even have to help.

"You guys are getting good at this," Jinn complimented with a smile.

"Thanks," I thanked him with a smile.

I took my flashlight out of my bag and lit the way as we rode back to camp on our camels.

Riding in the night was a different kind of experience. You'd look up and see the plentiful amount of stars. If you were to look closer, you could see the big dipper and many other star constellations. I looked up once in a while, but I couldn't take my eyes off what was in front of me, as I didn't want to bump into the person in front of me.

"Damn, by now, we're camel experts," Pen laughed.

"I'd say you're right, Pen," Jinn agreed.

"Jinn, you're too nice. Just tell him he's wrong and be done with it," Tree said.