Sounds of the cicadas echoed throughout the trees of a forest. And, the daylight was filtered by the leaves, blending with the warm breeze, as we walked through the path between large trees.
I had my backpack on, and I tried to walk carefully to avoid spiky bushes. The other boys walked slowly beside me; they had their bags on as well.
Paikek peered around to find a way to exit. However, every way seemed the same; covered with trees.
I grabbed my phone to call for help, but all I heard was the dial tone because there was no signal.
We kept looking around and up to the trees. Seanyung put his hand up, blocking the sunlight for a moment to see a clear view.
Paikek leaned down to smell the blue flowers on the ground, while the others and I sat on the grass.
His hand slowly approached to a butterfly on one of the blossoms. At first, he hesitated, but instantaneously he grabbed the butterfly by its wing.
I continuously checked my phone to find a signal, but it was no help. I threw my phone to the grass and examined the small telescope which happened to be in the forest where we sat. The telescope wasn't too big, but it looked useful.
All of a sudden, I heard a loud beep in my ears. I looked around to find what made it. However, there was nothing there but my friends.
On the other hand, Seanyung was sitting around the burning campfire. He searched his bag for a few seconds and found a pack of lighters in it. He lighted one of them, creating an instant small red flame, which suddenly disappeared in his hands.
Later, Seanyung started stirring the campfire with a small stick. He dropped the stick when it left a small burning scar on his hand. Hurriedly, he blew onto the spot to ease the pain.
When he noticed me looking at him, he beckoned his hand to each of us, wanting us to go there.
I jumped above the spiky bush to reached to Seanyung. Four of us crossed our legs, lying around the smoking campfire.
Seanyung and I discussed the mysterious stories about the ghost in the Komorebi cafe, while Paikek and Bomyu were laughing at the jokes they made.
Our conversations lasted hours and hours long, forgetting that we never stopped smiling. It was extremely fun for us, spending time around the campfire next to a telescope, while the sunshine strained through the dense trees.
Suddenly, I heard a noise arising from the deep in the woods. Although the other boys didn't notice, I turned my head and looked through the trees to find anything. It kept bothering me, so I continued to gaze.
Bomyu grinned and turned his back to grab his beige coloured backpack. Next, he unzipped the bag, bringing out some colourful magic sticks. He pretended to give the blue one to Paikek, but instead, he gave it to me. Paikek yelped and then took the yellow one from Bomyu. Finally, Bomyu gave the purple one to Seanyung, leaving the orange one to Bomyu.
We were lost, we were bored, so we threw our phones to the grass and stood up. It became already night time, and it was time for us to practice some magic.
Four of us stood in a circle around the campfire and touched the fire with our magical sticks, creating sparkles on them. I lifted it and made circular movements with it creating a ring of fire. We all ran around the fire while playing with the fire on the colourful wands. Paikek wrote star shapes with the fire while Bomyu made hearts with the sparkles of them.
My vision went blurry; all I could see was the circling fires in my friend's hands, and we had so much fun. Seanyung exulted, pumping his fist in the air in delight while the sparks of fire rained on us.
We kept and kept and kept twisting the wands in circles while blaze fell on everywhere. It filled up the sky and more importantly, down the grass.
Suddenly, I heard a beeping in my ears, and I covered my ears not to sense it, but it was still there. Immediate nausea occurred in my mind. As I observed my blurry surrounding, I saw my friends running while the trees were burning. Then, a clear image of Bomyu playing with fire appeared in my eyes, where Paikek and Seayung were standing beside him.
My vision continued to go blurry from time to time. However, I managed to see Bomyu and Paikek throwing their wands towards a tree setting it on flames.
When I blocked my ears with my fingers, my eyesight came back, seeing Seanyung laughing while the fire enraged behind him. The sparks and ashes showered from the air as they kept playing with the fire magic.
All three of my friends seemed like they were unaware that the forest was on fire until the Seayung turned his face to me, looking concerned. Eventually, Bomyu and Paikek widened their eyes as they gazed through the flames.
Seanyung hurriedly ran through the path behind our back, realising that all forest was on fire. Every single tree in the woods was burning down in flames which were reaching to the sky.
Paikek shivered as he gazed upon the giant flames. Beside, Bomyu started to turn his head rapidly to different directions, while the branches of the blazing trees fell next to us.
When I looked closer to Seanyung eyes, there were reflections of the fire raging through the forest. Seanyung looked terrified and regretful when he realised that we were surrounded by the erupting flames.
When the fire reached near my shoes, I jumped backwards, closer to my friends. My hands were shaking, and it became hard to breath. For a moment, I lost hope.
I noticed there was a train rail buried under the grass, and it was going all the way between the burning trees. Two parallel lights appeared on the railway, creating a loud siren sound.
A mighty gale blew from the way that the two lights were coming. Four of us stood on its way while the wind was messing up our hair. As the lights approached us, the wind got more robust, and the lights got incredibly brighter.
I put covered my eyes with my arm since the light was so intense. Bomyu and Seanyung also covered their eyes while Paikek hid behind me.
The siren sound got louder and louder as it got closer to us. However, we continued to stand still on its way.
It looked like a train, but everything around us went blank when it hit us. Blue, red and purple lights were flashing while the sharp wind was still blowing, pushing us back. The flashing lights almost blinded me while I was able to see Seanyung, Bomyu and Paikek trying to move against the gale.
The wind eventually knocked me down. I couldn't move my arms nor my legs. Paikek tried to come towards me, but he continuously got pushed backwards. Therefore he shut his eyes and opened his mouth like he was screaming, but I couldn't hear a thing as the sound of the sirens proceeded to get louder.
On the other hand, Bomyu was behind him, attempting to move against the winds, but he was struggling.
As the sirens got louder, I covered my ears with my hands and tried to scream as loud as I can, but I couldn't.
The red and blue lights continued to flash with the wind, and the alarm sounds. It made me feel the pain like I had never felt before.
Then I noticed Paikek whose fingers were bent in towards his palm tightly; he was holding something in his hands.
He opened his hand, and there was a dead butterfly on his palm, which directly got swept away by the raging wind. The wings of the butterfly fell apart and disappeared in the air.
Seanyung got knocked down by the furious wind together with Paikek, while Bomyu was resisting on his knees. Besides, I put my hands on the ground since my body started aching in pain.
Suddenly, Blue and grey lights flashed even brighter than the red lights, obstructing me to see my friends. Everything in front of my eyes went black, as my eyes got shut by the bright lights.
After hours and hours later, I found myself lying on the railway in the forest. Bomyu and Seanyung were lying on my left side, and Paikek was lying on the other side of the rails, where there were blue flowers.
All of the trees were in ashes, and none was burning anymore. There was a dark fog everywhere and dark clouds in the sky. They were darker than any cloud I saw.
The siren sound wasn't there anymore, but the sound of a thunderstorm was audible.
I hoped it was just an ordinary thunderstorm.
However, it wasn't. Because, after that moment, there remained three stars in the night sky, not four.