Destiny (1)

“Fay? Fay! Wake up!”

“What’s wrong with her?”

“I don’t know!”

I took an involuntary step back to avoid Thalia’s hand, which was about to wack me.

“Guys! I’m fine.”

Something thumped onto the floor. It was a very thick book, titled “the Scripts”.

“You got it?” Ash sounded incredulous, which was definitely insulting.

“Uh, yes, I got it.”

“Why are you being sarcastic?”

“I wasn’t!”

“Um, yes you were!”

“Okay, I was sarcastic because-”

Thalia interrupted our arguing by waving her hands in front of our faces.

“People, I just heard the woman behind us call an ambulance, and the police!”

Ash gave me another freezing glare (ugh, this guy was winding me up now, but I guess I was just overwhelmed, and Ash was exhausted), then turned to Thalia.

“We’d better get going then. And you can explain what exactly happened later,” he directed at me, his voice like ice.

We trudged along in the darkness, since the trees had blotted out the light, and my feet were starting to ache.

“Are you sure you remember where your hideout was, Tal?” I moaned. Ash glared at me, as if to say, I’m the only one who can use that nickname!

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Thalia grinned. We’d been walking for over six miles, which doesn’t sound like far, but it is when you're stuck with a hyperactive eight-year-old and an irate teenage boy.

“So…” Ash said, attempting to make small talk, but still sounding slightly aggressive. He hung back to talk to me, and let Thalia skip ahead. “Will you explain what happened?”

I shrugged. “I’m not really sure myself. I pulled this invisible handle-”

“Invisible handle?” he interjected sceptically. I glowered at him to silence.

“Yes. An invisible handle. And it took me to like, a weird land, with this guy who wouldn’t tell me who he was, but he said we were inside my mind. There was a riddle, and the answer was a code which I had to write out in vines.”

As I told him all this, I realised how stupid it sounded. Well, if he didn’t believe me, he could just go away. But he just sighed.

“You met your Destin?”

“My what?”

“You don’t know what a Destin is?” Was he smirking at me?

“No. Until today, I was a normal fourteen-year-old girl. Then you messed it up!”

“Normal?” Ash scoffed. I crossed my arms angrily.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, do you think every fourteen-year-old girl gets kicked to the curb each day?”

I growled silently and anger simmered inside me.

“Ugh. Oh, just tell me what a Destin is!”

He raised his eyebrows.

“They control your destiny. They make sure it goes the way that they want it to. It’s also a city in Florida, but that isn’t relevant,”

“So is it a good or a bad thing that I saw mine?”

“It depends on whether your fate is good or bad.”

I was still sceptical. Your destiny should be up to you, not anyone else and certainly not some random dude inside your brain.

“Thalia! How far?” I yelled up ahead. The little girl had ran almost out of our sights, and I quickly strode to see her again.

“Wait up Fay!” Ash called to me, sounding annoyed.

“Don’t worry. We’re there!”

Aching and tired, my fingers were complaining almost audibly. I could practically hear my bones creaking with each stroke of the wood against wood. One final movement, trying to create a fire, and I dropped my bark.

“Okay, that’s it. My fingers are going to fall off if I keep this up. Please can we just-” I stopped abruptly when I saw Thalia yawning.

“What?” She inquired sheepishly.

“Why don’t you go to bed?” Ash suggested hopefully. I eyed him suspiciously. I suspected that he had an ulterior motive, prior to getting Thalia to have a good night’s sleep.

What time even was it? My watch was dead, so I couldn’t look, but the sun had sunk below the horizon a while ago, and a faint glow was illuminating our camp, though not enough which was why I was attempting to create a fire. Thalia had been looking for edible plants at the edge of the tent, and Ash had been waiting for the fire to start so that we could read the book.

“Oh, but-”

“Come on, Tal,”

She humphed loudly, but tossed the plants she had found at us and wandered into the four-person tent.

Okay, so apparently, when Thalia was looking in the woods one day, she found this tent. She came back, but it didn’t move for two weeks, and no one was ever there. She moved in, and covered it with bark and leaves to disguise it. It became her secret hideout.

Anyway, Ash and I were left alone, which I was not comfortable with. I still had a bone to pick with him after our argument earlier.

Suddenly, he collapsed onto a log, which was supposed to be a substitute seat. A very uncomfortable one.

“Let me help you with that.”

I looked down, and with surprise I realised that I was still grasping the wood tightly.

Ash pulled flint and steel out of his pocket and some kindling. He started a fire with no problem while I stared at him, vacillating between confusion, annoyance and amazement.

“You had that in your pocket?”

He nodded. “I’m always equipped for survival,”

“And you just let me struggle!?”

He glanced down, embarrassed. “I kind of forgot I had it, and when I remembered, I knew you would be mad. I didn’t want to stage another argument in front of Thalia.”

I got up slowly, and walked over to sit with him.

“Look, can we talk?” He mumbled.

I froze. “Sure.”