Thirteen Summers

sixteen

J O S E P H I N E

I watched as it fluttered, the way it tiptoed on an old leaf before it carried itself to a fresher one. Its merry green was tinted ever so slightly with a yellow that was much like gold, the type of yellow that made it seem like it glowed from within.

A Praying Mantis.

"Josephine, you're falling behind again." Cameron called out to me, he had stopped just a few feet ahead of me, as he had been doing every time he found me crouched down in front of an insect, with my magnifying glass in its face.

We were on a hike.

It wasn't too far from where we were staying for the summer but we drove here, as we'd be too tired to make the walk back.

Still, we were surrounded by about four or five strange men I had never seen before.

I asked Roman who they were.

Hikers, he told me but I wasn't convinced.

I had been on more than one or two hikes and from my experience, men dressed in all black clothes, in hot weather, who didn't interact with any of us nor each other, didn't seem very much like hikers.

Clearly, Roman had realised the same when he saw the doubt on my face, to which he gave in and told me they were here to guard us.

When asked why, he told me it was because the trail wasn't safe and it was easy to get lost.

I didn't ask about why we couldn't just call out to park rangers.

Don't get me wrong, I loved asking questions but I didn't like to ask too many questions.

Mom hated that.

Sometimes I wouldn't always realise but if I did, I made sure to put an immediate stop to it.

"Coming!" I replied, still staring at the Praying Mantis.

I looked back at Cameron, who still stood there, and gave him a reassuring smile.

Reluctantly, he started walking away, slowly however.

Madison was actually the one falling behind, she stopped and took photos at certain times or would take a moment to rest. She was a little behind me, the only reason why Cameron actually moved on from me.

I held out my pointer finger, my tongue stuck out slightly in concentration as I focused on the Praying Mantis. After a little waiting, it carried itself onto my finger, I smiled as it danced the length of it.

It was kind of like a sugar snap pea.

I would name him, or her — I stopped and lifted my finger up, looking up at its body. I would name him Snappy.

I slipped it in my pocket, just in time for Madison to shake my shoulder, urging me to move forward.

We hurried to catch up with the rest of our siblings.

"God, when will it end?" Nick groaned, shaking his empty water bottle before hunching over, his hands resting on his knees. "This is torture. God, what did I do to deserve this? Tell me, please Lord?"

"I told you to bring a hat, idiot." Kai laughed, patting his own branded cream bucket hat then walking past.

I had to agree with Kai. Whereas it was just hot with a lovely, cool breeze when we had left that morning, now it was sweltering out.

Not bringing a hat wasn't a very wise decision.

We all wore hats that shielded us from the sun, my brothers with their bucket and boonie hats, I had packed my own which I loved — until I saw Madison's stylish floppy straw hat, I decided then I'd wanted one too.