The Past: Found Her

Living your entire life in this deserted mountain with no one around would do that to you. People even fear coming here. I wonder why?

As far as I know, this has been the most serene place I have ever encountered. Ok, I guess. I will let Asher decide for now and can slowly make him comfortable enough to interact with others.

"I can't go out. It is way past midnight, and the moonlight is at its peak. This cave is the only thing that protects me from the moonlight to reach here."

His voice laced with a slight hint of fear. But he was stoic enough to let me know that he stated his decision. But I wondered about what Asher said.

Did he have some allergies from the eclipse? Hmm...That's the only explanation I could think of.

As the shouting of my beloved friends grew louder enough to crack open my skull.

"Hey, I gotta go, ok. I will come again to meet you, or you can come for me too. See you later."

I was about to go out, but soon Asher came forward, reached out for my hands, and put few bluish-black berries and some weird-shaped medallion on my palm and said,

" Here, eat these berries. I picked it up from the forest. And take this pendant with you. You'll be able to find me with this, and I can find you too. "

I grabbed his parting gift. I didn't have time to ask him about the locket thingy. So saying my goodbye, I turned around, reached for the invisible door from which I would exit from the cave, and as soon as I felt the water streaming, I ran outside.

I looked back while I was on my way to my friends and saw that he was standing still. Asher didn't follow me. I guess he made his decision. I would respect it, but I would miss him all the same.

He just stood there looking at me. No one would know, but I knew. His eyes were so prominent that I could recognize him anywhere. Even though I had just heard his voice, felt his touch, and gazed at his marvelous red eyes, I could find him any place I went. I felt like we connected by an invisible thread.

Gradually Asher was out of my sight. I swan across the lake. When I reached its bank and climbed out of the water, I saw lights flashing in the far distance that grew closer to me cautiously. I walked to one of the light sources, contemplating whether it was the right conclusion for me to leave Asher behind. But I couldn't do anything about it. He decided to make. Though I would visit him regularly and gingerly make him come out to the real world. I smiled at the thought.

"Aahhh.Why would you flash the light on my face, idiot?"

After a few moments, I opened my eyes to look at Zen, standing tall and proud while me, on the ground. Idiot!! "Serves you right, Pikachu. You destroyed my sleep." He says with an annoying grin.

Zen would always call me Pikachu to irritate me and say that I looked like Pikachu. I was glaring at him while he was looking at me with a mocking gaze, sticking out his tongue at me. The audacity!!!.

A throat cleared, and I snapped my gaze to see Luke beside him. Upon seeing him, my mind started replaying the scenes where Luke broke up with me, and all the grief and sadness I buried somewhere in my heart came running back to my mind that was completely blank a few moments ago when I was inside the cave.

While all these thoughts were playing inside my head, Luke, having found me, shouted,

"FOUND HER. SHE'S OVER HERE."

I could hear heavy footsteps running towards where we stood. I looked at Luke's angry eyes and whimpered and unconsciously backed away from him. Why was he here? Didn't he break up with me and make out with Ember just moments ago, and now he thought of me. Very funny!

I looked around to see Eve and Gia with their panic mode on, and Ryder was the same as always with the poker face. Ember was nowhere. Maybe she was sleeping in her tent.

"Where were you, Maira? I went crazy when I didn't find you in your tent after you phoned me. And what the hell are you doing here all wet. An hour ago, you were burning up with a fever, and now here you are having the swim of your life and plucking berries, Seriously….. " he said disgustingly, looking at those berries.

Each one kept blabbing on and on with their accusations while I stayed on the ground cross-legged and comfortable, staring at them with an amused face. I loved each of them to the core of my heart. I was smiling like a child when Luke started yelling at me furiously.

"Do you have any idea how worried we all were for you? How long we've been searching for you out here. For God's sake, this is a mountain, a jungle, and rumored to be a dangerous one at that. We have to risk our lives, in the middle of the night, to look for you. And look at you. Swimming, mindlessly. You are a stupid little brat that doesn't care about anyone. You are even selfish to bring yourself out here in the water when you have a fever without informing anyone. Do you think of us as your slaves coming to rescue you all the damn time?"

Meanwhile, others came near us, clearly noticing Luke's temper tantrums at me. Luke was always so calm and poised. He never did shout at me, or in that matter at anyone since I have known him. He would tackle each problem, whether it was mental or emotional, with so ease that we thought he was not capable of anger and frustration.

Now, why was he behaving like that accusing me of being selfish and a brat? Was he that worried about me that he was losing his temper? Or was it something else? He just broke up with me. He wanted nothing to do with me, and here he was bawling out. Or maybe I disturbed his sleep.

"I was frantically searching for you, blaming myself that maybe you did something terrible because I broke up with you, but you're out here without any concern as to how worried everyone is…." he continued.

He kept condemning me and looking so bitterly at me that I couldn't take it anymore. I broke down in tears. Everyone was shocked to hear that Luke broke up with me. Hell, even I was dumbfounded too.

The twins collected themselves and rushed to me. Gia wrapped her arms around me and turned me to her. Eve was also by my side, stroking my arms gently, reassuring me of his presence.

"Dude, clearly she's upset. I think you should leave her alone for now. As if breaking up with her wasn't enough, now you're yelling at her. Ryder! Zen! Could you take him out of here? or Lord knows what I will do to him. " Everette said strongly, while Georgia tightened her arms around me, trying to calm me down while I was crying hysterically.

"C'mon, let's get out of here. She's just desperately trying to get everyone's sympathy." Luke said harshly and walked away.

Zen and Ryder looked at me as if asking for my permission. I nodded my head, signaling them to go ahead. Zen went away, but Ryder lingered his gaze on me for a few seconds and then turned to follow Zen.

I was pulled out of Gia's embrace and brought to my feet. Eve grasped my hands in his and pat dried the tear stains on my cheeks. And he said,

"Come on\, Maira\, you know better than to shed tears for an as***le like him. He doesn't deserve your love. It was a good thing that you got to know his character before anything happened. Now\, Shush. Let's get out of here. Ok? "

He started pulling me in the direction of the campsite. All of a sudden, I remembered Asher. I stopped abruptly and turned towards the cascading falls, and searched for my red-eyed creature. 'My' where was this coming from?

Damn!

I shook my head and looked towards the cave. I couldn't see him. Maybe he went inside. I sighed and looked ahead. The twins looked at me as if I had turned crazy.

I went ahead of the twins with so many thoughts in my head. So many things have happened since we arrived here. Luke broke up with me, cheated on me. I broke down. Then I ran miles away from the campsite and crossed paths with Asher.

I cracked a smile at the thought of Asher, but somehow I was not that devastated by the fact that my 2-year relationship with Luke came to an end. I was sad. Yes. But I was not heartbroken. I felt as if I lost a friend or something. Though I was bothered by witnessing Luke cheating on me with Ember.

I felt bad for Ryder. He was a good guy. I have known him since we were in the first year of high school. Though we may not be that close, he always made sure to protect me when I was in trouble. He would accompany me whenever the twins were not around. He always had his signature look on his face that would scare the hell out of anyone. But he was nothing like that. He was affectionate, agreeable, and charming in his way. I treasured his friendship.

Ryder would be devastated if he knew about Ember and Luke. I know I won't be able to face him if I hide the truth from him. I didn't know what I should even say to him. Whether to tell him the truth or to stay silent. I think first I will confront Luke and Ember and then tell Ryder if they don't. Yeah, it's the right thing to do.

"Woah! Is she dead-walking or what? The water must have just torn her hearing senses away. " Zen pronounced his observation.

I looked around and saw everyone staring at me oddly. It registered in my brain that we were already halfway to the campsite. I sighed, closed my eyes to gather my thoughts, and said,

"Sorry, guys, For all the trouble you all had to go through because of me. I didn't mean for it to happen. I was just too upset to stay here, so I went for a walk."

Just as Luke opened his mouth to cross me, a smack from Ryder on the back of his head stopped him. He glared at Ryder, and then at me, and huffed and went ahead. I glared at the ground, suddenly not finding the courage to meet anyone's scolding eyes.

A pair of footsteps came near me, and I looked up. Ryder was standing in front of me with his arms crossed. I felt intimidated.

"You know, you shouldn't stroll around alone in a jungle that has dangerous monsters around. Good thing, you have me to protect you."

Ryder said mockingly, but I could see that he meant well.

Gia replied, "As if!! Maira did you know when we were searching for you, Ryder didn't even leave Zen's side. One scary cat with an idiot." I snickered.

Eve joined in. "You should have seen his face, Maira. His usual stoic face had replaced with the fear that we thought he would faint any second now. "

Ryder's face was red with embarrassment.

"Shut up, guys. He might not be that bad. Right, Ray? you weren't afraid, were you? " I asked Ryder innocently while trying to stop the smile that threatened to come out.

Ever since I started hanging out with Ryder, I called him Ray. I felt like Ryder was too long for me to pronounce. Ryder had no problem with it, so why not?

"You guys are.. the-the worst friends that I have encountered. D.. do whatever you want. I am going ahead." He stuttered and went ahead.

I and the twins' laughed at his antics. " You shouldn't have made fun of him that much. He was flustered. " the voice belonged to Ember.