The Fire Inside

9. Maria's Side of the Story

Jimin woke up to the sound of birds singing. She weakly opened her eyes, but failed when the glaring sun hit them. She squinted and tried to make sense of her surroundings. She was clearly leaned up against a tree, and if that wasn't enough, she had the blanket she had used the night before draped around the front of her body. It covered her neck down and whoever did that clearly expected her to stay in that position longer than she was planning to. She finally adjusted her eyes to the light and saw a crystal lake in front of her. She sighed in complete confusion. Everytime Jimin lost consciousness, she kept waking up in a completely different location. The sudden changes was making her head hurt again. Not really painful though. Just a dull throbbing pain nagging the back of her head. She untangled herself from the mess of the blankets and looked around. When she saw that no one was there, she decided to look around for any of her group. She hoped they hadn't ditched her, because if they did, she had no one left. She carefully removed the blanket, folded it, and put it in her bag, which was conveniently placed next to her.

"Julien?" She called out.

"Heiwa? Varun? Maria?"

Jimin walked around calling everyone's name multiple times. When she still got no response, she decided to sit next to the lake. It was pretty—unlike her. Jimin looked at her dirtied reflection. Suddenly, a fish jumped out at her making her yelp. She scrambled back, but when she realized what had happened, she let out a chuckle. She went back to the lake and looked across to see two deer grazing. She waved to them. They looked back and nodded to which Jimin was genuinely impressed. She got up and expected the deer to flee, but instead they took a few steps forward. Jimin was about to take a step before she heard the voice.

"Don't move. Don't even try to go near them."

"And why should I listen to you exactly?"

"Certain things need to happen at a specific time. You can't rush fate."

Jimin grumbled at the voice. It wasn't like she wanted to listen, but at this point it was better safe than sorry. She sat back down beside the lake and ran her hand across the surface, creating ripples among the crystalline reflection. She started to close her eyes again. Against her will, Jimin dozed off once again.

"Shh! You'll wake her up!"

"But she's so cute!"

"Aish! You guys are so annoying! Stop fighting for once!"

"We don't fight.We argue."

"Maria?" Jimin croaked.

She opened her eyes to see Maria watching her. She looked behind Maria to see a grumpy Varun and a concerned Heiwa. That's when she realized she was sleeping in Julien's lap.

"The lake! Did you guys see the lake?" Jimin was awake now.

"Uh, no. There wasn't any lake," Julien said, slightly concerned.

"Oh, probably a dream..." Jimin said.

"Ok! So we need to get going, and on the way, I'll tell you guys my side of the story! The story of the Three Musketeers!" Maria said loudly making everyone flinch.

"Oh my god! One more time you raise your voice I'm actually gonna take your head!" Varun threatened.

"Yeah, and I'll scar your pretty face. Wouldn't want that would you?"

Varun glared at Maria as she batted her eyelids at the shorter boy. He pulled out his nunchucks and she notched an arrow. Before they could do anything, Heiwa smacked both of them on the back of their head.

"Both of you! Stop acting like fools! And I was planning on asking Maria to tell the story on the way because we don't know how long we'll be walking. I'd rather not be bored like last time."