July 14th, 1990
All of Serena's loved ones were standing around her as she blew out the thirteen candles of her birthday cake. She heard everyone clapping and cheering as she smiled absently to herself. This was perfect, it was even better than she had imagined.
Serena had been looking forward to her thirteenth birthday for a while now, as she was told that she would be having newfound freedoms when she turned thirteen, such as being able to go out with her friends to the mall and rink more often; being able to use the desktop her dad bought a few months back and having a bigger allowance!
It wasn't those things she was most looking forward to though. That night, Serena's parents allowed her and her two best friends, Keisha and Mahnoor, to sleep out in the backyard, like a mini camping experience. Although Serena wanted to camp a little outside of the town so that they could feel as if they were on a real adventure, her parents wouldn't allow her to go alone. So she had settled for this alternate instead.
Nevertheless, she, Keisha and Mahnoor were still really excited and the three of them have been planning every little detail of it for weeks.
As Serena cut the simple chocolate cake in front of her parents and two best friends, she wondered how she was so lucky to feel so loved by all these wonderful people. That is what made her day so special she felt, as she was surrounded by all her loved ones.
"Earth to Serena!" Her mum called at her, and Serena suddenly looked up, clearly frightened by her.
"Mum you scared me!" she exclaimed, and everyone howled with laughter.
"What's going on in that head of yours, my dear? We've been calling your name for a while now."
"I'm so sorry, I guess I got lost in my world again."
"Classic Serena, always somewhere else." Mahnoor remarks.
Serena sliced the rest of her cake evenly and distributed the slices amongst her family and friends. They all ate in silence before Keisha shouted: "To our favourite daydreamer, Serena!"
"To Serena!" everyone else called out.
*****
"Are we sure that we don't want a tent?" Mahnoor asked in a doubtful voice, a little of her Pakistani accent coming through.
"Yes, we're sleeping without a tent. Final." Serena answered decidedly. It was Mahnoor's idea in the first place to sleep without a tent so that they would be able to look up at the stars, but Serena saw she was having second doubts now.
She glanced at her and saw she was uneasy. She went to her side and assured her "Everything will be just fine, don't worry." Mahnoor nodded her head slowly, however, she still looked unsure about the idea. Serena squeezed her tanned hand, not wanting Mahnoor to be upset. Mahnoor appreciated her gesture.
The slender, short figure of Serena's mum appeared in the doorway, her platinum blonde long hair tied back in a loose bun. Hauling in multiple bags, sweat was evident on her face as she said "All right, I've brought your sleeping bags, extra blankets in case you get cold, marshmallows and biscuits from inside. Looks like you're already to go girls!"
"Mrs Moore you didn't need to bring all these bags out for us, we could have helped you!"
"It's quite all right Mahnoor, I wanted to help after Serena didn't let me help me plan any of it!"
"Mum! What did we discuss!" Serena shouted, feeling embarrassed by her mother's interest.
"I'm sorry darling, I just wanted to help. It's just...I can't believe my baby girl is growing up so fast." Her grey eyes were threatening to spill tears, and she went over to hug Serena. She accepted the hug reluctantly, and her face was a crimson shade of red. They let go off each other, and Keisha towering shadow appeared. Her wavy, short jet black hair was frizzy from the humid air outside.
"All right, I'm finally done."
"What about your hair? You aren't gonna leave it like that, are you?"
"Can't do much about it now, although I must tell you I tried my best."
Serena and Mahnoor both laughed at this, they knew how messy Keisha's hair can get in this kind of weather.
"All right girls, I'll leave you to set up by yourselves. If you need any help, you can always just give us a shout."
"We will Mrs Moore. Thank you so much, again!"
"No problem Keisha!" Serena's mum leaves the girls in the small backyard but pretty backyard.
The girls start setting up their sleeping spaces on the mowed grass, doing so silently as they think about their night ahead, each looking forward to spending the night with their best friends.
Once they were done, they all stood up and looked over what they had set up. Serena's pink sleeping bag was in the middle of the row, with a pastel green oil lamp next to it. Serena had decorated this earlier with stickers of flowers and hearts and her drawings, as she wished for it to look dazzling. Serena enjoyed art, and she enjoyed decorating anything, but drawing and painting were her passions. She hoped to become an artist one day.
To the right was Mahnoor's dark blue sleeping bag, which was pretty obviously a cheaply bought one. Mahnoor had never been camping with her family as they didn't enjoy going outdoors. Hence why she was reluctant sleeping outdoors. Next to her sleeping bag was a copy of 'Pride and Prejudice', the book she was currently reading. Serena and Keisha had insisted many times that she didn't bring a book, however, she couldn't resist. She loved reading and writing (and academics in general, like the rest of her family), and she hoped to become an author someday.
To the left was Keisha's grey sleeping bag, with her bulky bag as a pillow. Keisha was known to be the forgetful one, and she had forgotten to bring a pillow this time, and Serena refused to give her any of hers as she believes Keisha needs to learn to be more organized. Next to her was her basketball, as she hoped Serena and Mahnoor would agree to at least play catch with her. They both refused though, several times. Keisha was also known for being the 'sporty' one out of the three of them, enjoying every sport, especially basketball. She hoped to play professionally one day, but she knew that would be unlikely considering the time their living in.
The three of them all supported each other's aspirations, and they all admired each other's skills. They all had a long way to go they knew, but they kept each other's hopes alive.
Both Serena and Keisha turned towards Mahnoor, and they both saw her taking off her hijab, which she rarely did. She had started wearing it a year back and although she was a bit self-conscious at first as she was scared that people would think differently of her because she was the only one wearing it, she got used to it. No one had made comments to her face however both of her friends heard people making offside comments now and then about her wearing a hijab. They were both triggered by this at first, but they learnt that is how people will behave.
"Mahnoor, are you sure you feel comfortable taking off your hijab in front of my dad?" asked Serena, who was a bit worried for her friend not thinking this through.
"It's fine. I asked my mom before I left the house. She said this would be a one-off though." Mahnoor mumbled, with a pin in her mouth as she unravelled her hijab. She seemed relieved once she had finally taken it off. Her dark brown, waist-length hair fell loose, after being tied in a messy bun for a long time. Serena and Keisha stared at Mahnoor while she tied her hair back up, as she was not allowed to leave her hair open.
"All right, I'm gonna head off to change, you guys can start setting up the campfire while I'm gone."
"Okay, see you in a bit." Mahnoor went inside the house, while Serena and Keisha started to gather the logs that her mum had brought outside graciously. The girls chatted away, expressing how excited they were for their night. Mahnoor came back out, in a red full sleeve nightgown that reached her feet. Keisha went in next and called Mr Moore out to help them get the fire going. Mahnoor went inside with her to avoid contact with Mr Moore without her hijab on.
Mr Moore approached Serena with a match in his hand, and as he lit it he told Serena "I can't believe you're thirteen today. My only daughter is growing up, and she will leave us before we know it."
"Hey, I'm still here for a little while longer." They both giggled before Mr Moore set a log ablaze. The flame caught on from one log to another, and soon it became an orange glowing light in the pitch dark. The raging light started spitting, and both Serena and Mr Moore had to move considerably back before they deemed themselves safe. The warmth of the raging light was hotter than the night air, even though it was summer. It would make a good use as a heater during the freezing winter months, where usually the families of the dainty Bayland would sit frozen in their homes, due to the massively dropped temperatures outside. It also makes good use as a cooker, which is what the girls were planning to do with the flame.
"Well Serena, that's a mighty fire right there." Mr Moore pointed out, and Serena nodded and smiled. They stared at it for a little while longer, before Mr Moore took his leave. "I'll be going now, Serena. If you need anything else, just shout and I'll be right over."
"Thank you so much dad, I appreciate it."
"No problem, kiddo." Mr Moore pulled her into a tight embrace before leaving her outside alone. Serena didn't have to wait much longer though before Keisha came outside screaming "who's ready to get this party started!"
"ME!" Serena and Mahnoor both screamed before they all fell laughing, all of them thrilled to finally start the night they have anticipated for so long.
*****
The three friends were staring up at the star-filled, indigo night sky in silence, each of them lost in their worlds after a tiring number of hours they had spent talking, giggling and chasing each other.
It was thirty minutes away from midnight, and the three girls were finally starting to tire down, as their eyes started dropping and several yawns started to stifle out of each of them one by one as they stayed in silence, as they all knew they wouldn't be awake for very long now.
First, it was Keisha who drifted off into her slumber, exhausted after her longest day, after waking up at seven to start basketball practise with her dad.
Next was Mahnoor who slowly fell asleep, worn out after their night of activities. With her book in hand, she turned away from Serena, who was still wide awake even after her weary day. She thought about how she was lucky her day had gone even better than she had imagined, her family and friends had made the day special for her, and she was grateful for that.
However, there was a part of her that still wasn't satisfied for an odd reason, a heartstring was tugging her, trying to signify something to her, but she couldn't catch what it was. She stood up and tried pacing around on the green mown grass and thought about what it could mean, but that still didn't work for her. This odd feeling was keeping her awake, and her patience was running low now. She didn't want this strange sensation to start gnawing her up during the night as well, so she may as well fulfil it now.
Serena slipped into her sleeping bag once more after a few minutes of pacing, finally giving up on trying to figure out what her heartfelt. As her eyes dropped little by little, she nearly fell asleep.
All of a sudden, a piercing white light fell on top of her and blinded her sight. As she rubbed her eyes, Serena stood up, alarmed by the appearance of the unusual light. When she opened them once more, the light blinded her again, and she felt as if she was some sort of criminal that had been found by the police. She tried to stare off into the distance, to see where this light was coming from. There was no luck, however, but she could tell it was coming from far away.
Serena was tempted to follow this light; she thought maybe her mind would be at ease if she at least knew what the mysterious light was. Although she knew the many dangers that lay ahead, she still picked up her green oil lamp and started to walk towards the source of the light at a quick pace. She made sure to put one hand in front of her face to protect her eyes, hoping it would help somewhat. Serena also hoped that this would be a quick 'walk' and it would finally put her mind at ease.
What she didn't know was it would lead her into a great deal of trouble ahead of her.
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Word Count - 2289
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