Maze

10

Thursday.

"Guys, guess what I found!" Edward's scream rang across the park as he finally emerged from the bushes and headed towards us.

Even on such a hot day, he still had the energy to go out into the sun and wander around, while the rest of us were all slumped in the gazebo with sweat soaking our clothes. Well, this was Edward we were talking about; he was so active no matter what.

"Ugh, what is it this time?" Aly groaned as she fanned her face. "Gosh, we're all dying here and you're still..."

Chuckling, he showed something stuck between his fingers, and she quickly paused on her words. It was a pretty huge black bug with weird horns sticking out of its head, and it was swinging its tiny legs. If I remember, Daddy used to find a few of them in the backyard, but they were never this big, and they never had horns.

"EWW!!!"

Aly immediately yelled on top of her lungs, making all of us jump to our feet. With face as white as a paper, she stepped back and hopped right behind me, clenching on my shirt. "You idiot, why the heck do you have that thing?!" shouted my best friend. "GET IT AWAY, GET IT AWAY FROM ME!!!"

"Chill, it's just a stag beetle," said Edward. "It's not gonna bite you."

"Doesn't make it any better!! All bugs are so creepy and disgusting!!" She exclaimed, her voice was a little shaky as she gripped hard on my shoulders. "Why do they have to exist?! They should have gone extinct!"

"Wow, would you look at that? Ms. Not-So-Tough is so scared of a harmless beetle." Seb folded his arms and smirked—an expression I often did not see in him, but it successfully poked Aly in the nerves.

"Anything else you wanna say, scaredy-cat?!" She cried out, stomping towards him.

"Yeah well, I'm not a mirror."

While Raphael burst out laughing at Aly and Seb's yet another fight, Edward focused on Lynn and me, completely ignoring them as if it had become a routine—not that he was wrong though. He held the bug so that it couldn't escape and let us observe them.

Now that it was closer to my sight, its black body was glossy underneath the sunlight, making it seem so beautiful for being a bug.

"This one's so big though!" Lynn said, slowly getting closer to the bug. "Probably the largest one I've seen!"

"Right?! I'm so lucky I caught one!" He beamed.

I found myself lifting both of my hands up to the insect, as it was struggling for a place to latch on. It was fast enough to grab upon my palm, and it finally stopped kicking around.

"You wanna hold it?" Edward asked.

"Y-Yeah..."

When he let go of the giant beetle, I could feel its weight. It walked slowly through my palm, turning around and moving along my arm, probably exploring the new spot he was in. Its hairy legs tickled against my skin. I smiled at the bug, whose tiny eyes looked like they were staring at me, and pet it.

Edward blinked as he stared at me."You're seriously so cool with bugs... it's awesome," he commented—which made me feel weird inside—before he shot a mischievous look at Aly, who had stepped further from me. "Can't say the same for your bodyguard."

"Shut up," she snapped. "I'm not scared!"

"Mhm, yes, of course, of course." He nodded.

I only smiled while the others resumed with their laughter. I remembered when a grasshopper hopped into her bag, she flung it off without hesitation, shrieking and stomping her feet all over her. I immediately pulled the green insect away and placed it somewhere safe before she could crush it. After that, Seb would never stop using that time against her.

They really would never get along.

The next thing I knew, the beetle Edward had caught opened up its wings and leaped out of my arm. Before I had the chance to grab it back, it had flown beyond my reach. My heart sank as it disappeared into the leaves of the trees. And he had got through so much trouble catching it!

"S-Sorry, I let it go," I mumbled.

"Nah, not a big deal!" Edward denied, waving the back of his hand. "It's not like it's anything important. I was just gonna show it to you guys and then I'll put it back."

With a deep breath, I looked back at the spot where the beetle once was. Meanwhile, Aly was sighing heavily as she relaxed, so perhaps, releasing it to was a good thing.

"Don't worry about it! I can get them again." He plopped beside me and fixed his beanie. "It's rare to find the big ones here though. They usually live up there in the mountains, and they even have much bigger ones!" He exclaimed. "I'll catch one for you."

"Oh, um..." My tummy flipped with might as I twirled with my fingers. "I-It's okay, you really don't have to, but thanks..."

"But I want to, and it's a promise!" he said, breaking into his typical large grin that warmed me up with comfort. 

***

He ended up fulfilling that promise.

As I flipped open the album I had stored in my drawer, I took a field trip down the memory lane.

All the past photos came with their own flashbacks; the most prominent one being Edward and I during a group picnic in the mountains. The size of our hands paled in comparison to a brown stag beetle we—no, just he—managed to swoop down with his net. As we held our heads up high with satisfaction, Raphael and Adelynn's jaws dropped open in the background.

What a good time... I'll never forget how excited I was. 

I rested my head against my arms, gazing particularly at the other pictures of the bubbly blond boy. One iconic thing about him was that he had always posed with peace signs regardless of any situations, followed by him exposing his white sets of teeth. Well, it made a lot of sense since I knew the context; he had brought peace to our minds and couldn't even contain his own happiness, spreading it to other people.

I winced at the thought. It might be cringeworthy, but I was not wrong.

Now, that jolliness of his had never seen the light of the day again, but... his current self should be fine. Obviously, I would be lying if I claimed I didn't want to bring his childhood persona back. However, that could only happen once hell froze over, so that idea should be out of the picture. 

Never force and rush, just go as normally... even if he doesn't talk too much.

I turned towards my lunch box, packed with loaves of bread for Edward. Mom conveniently baked some cheese bread for Dad's restaurant yesterday, so I managed to take some leftovers with me. Hopefully he likes them. Mom really tried her absolute best, after all.

When a yawn roared out of me, I immediately shut the album, pushing it away and closing my droopy eyes. The sun had not even showed up and I should still be within the comfort of my duvet, but here I was, wide awake.

Guess I'll take a short nap.