Lake Larson

Fireflies represented hope, guidance, and awakening. The bright yellow light elected true love in my life. They illuminate their small ball of lightning, showing their language of emotion, flashing vividly, his patterns blinking with the rhythm of my heart.

Lasting buzz. Lasting buzz. Buzz.

Lasting buzz. Lasting buzz. Everlasting buzz.

The firefly repeatedly bounced off the wood door, trying to escape my apartment. His rear blinked with every bump, buzzing louder with aggressiveness. Ian represented the firefly, and I couldn't let him leave me.

Suddenly, I rushed to my kitchen and dug in my cabinets for a jar. A tiny eight-ounce jar sat behind, caking dust and spider webs. I watched the firefly as I grabbed a washcloth and cleaned the glass as much as possible.

"Ian," I sang his name in a sweet voice and caused the bug to blink in a panic movement. "Get in the jar," I said, rushing to him.

I brushed my hand along the door, guiding the lightning bug into the mason jar. The little firefly flashed in a pattern, settling on the bottom. He hummed, vibrating the glass in my palm. His round eyes watched me and blinked sequentially, buzzing and repeating the lights.

"What are you saying?"

Lasting flash. Lasting flash. Flash.

Lasting flash. Lasting flash. Everlasting flash.

The firefly paused for at least seven seconds and repeated his flashing. I rushed to my laptop, opened the screen, and searched for a Morse code translator. Clicking on the keys, I typed in his pattern.

"Go," I read and looked at the lightning bug.

The firefly buzzed its wings, remaining at the bottom of the glass, flashing its light quickly. I hesitated with the jar before opening the mesh lid. With wide eyes, I watched the bug fly toward my face, landing on my nose. Yellow lights flashing, he vibrated loudly and darted for the door.

I slowly approached the exit, gripping the handle. Beaming bright enough to blind me, I opened the door and entered the ice-chilled stairwell. The firefly zoomed down while I staggered behind, trying to keep up. It slipped through the cracks before I blasted open the door and stumbled into the night.

The Ian firefly circled me as I spun around, watching the snowflakes float in the breeze. His bright light shined on my frozen face before flying into my hair while another bug whirled around us. They both flickered in unison, dancing together.

I smiled at the starry night when they illuminated my outstretched hands, lighting up my heart. Stepping from the brick path, I crunched onto the frozen snow, lightly covering the grass. The bare trees slowly lit up one at a time, while more fireflies glowed in the darkness.

The two lightning bugs joined the rest, swaying high and low, bouncing. Their lights blinked in rhythm and sang to a song of their communication. I reached my palms above my head while they surrounded me, illuminating my soul. They spun around me from head to toe, causing me to twirl, watching them flicker like the stars. The buzzing echoed in my ears while they danced up my body and into my hair, lifting it off my shoulders until their lightning vanished.

I exhaled, stumbling in the darkness, noticing the moon not present in the sky. The bugs buzzed to the ground, leaving me in the gloom. Focusing on the silhouette of the trees, I noticed one firefly in the distance, hovering and waiting for me.

"Ian?" I questioned, and instantly, the rest of the bugs lit up and darted toward the lonely one.

I raced after them, following into the empty campus. Passed my biology building and the library, I ran toward the city of Cheney while the streetlights lit up my way.

Gray clouds poured down thick snowflakes, caking my hair while the fireflies dodged the flakes. I slowed my pace, walking past the bars and crowds of people. The bugs surrounded them, but everyone continued their fun, unphased by the flashing.

Once we exited the crowds, the fireflies raced away between the closed buildings. I sprinted after them, unable to keep up, watching them gain distance. They darted around a corner, out of sight, prompting me to dig deeper with my strides.

Drifting around the corner of the brick building, I slid onto my knees, palming the gravel. The snow floated in the breeze, sprinkling my path with white glitter, leaving a chilly blanket on the earth. My feet destroyed the untouched snow. I couldn't let the fireflies disappear.

"Wait!" I cried, reaching my hands outstretching for their yellow light.

Listening to me, they halted before a wall of trees. The entrance into the pine tree forest without the moon lighting my way. A stiff wind whispered with the eerie crow as I watched the blackbird soar above me.

I paused before the tree line, inhaling the courage to continue while the lightning bugs spread out on the surrounding trees. A lonely firefly buzzed above my nose, blinking in the rhythm of Morse code.

"Go," I whispered, stepping into the trees and gripping the branches.

I moved the thick limbs out of my path, ducking under branches. The bugs flew from tree to tree and guided my way. Crunching on the pine needles and snow, I kept my face up, watching them illuminate a bright yellow path.

They buzzed loudly, vibrating my heart and brightening their lights before darting away faster than I could maneuver through the woods. I jumped a log, feeling my ankle twist, but I couldn't let the moon bugs vanish. Ducking under a branch, I crawled over the wet mud of melted snow. My eyes stayed on my guidance to love, watching them not wait.

"Slow down!" I yelled, pulling myself up with mud on my pants.

I ran in the darkness, tunneling in with branches and snow, the night of terrors. The last bug in view, barely able to see, I outstretched my fingers. My leg hit a branch, tumbling me to the ground. I slammed my face into the mire, eating mud. Out of breath, I coughed with blurry vision, broken. I closed my eyes and relaxed.

A single buzz near my ear had me looking up. The lonely firefly circled my head before flying a close distance, and thousands of lightning bugs lit up before dissolving into a hazy image of a younger Samantha and Emily.

I sat up to my knees, watching the gold dust from the fireflies turn into the body of Ian passed out. The shadow people argued with one another as Emily dropped Ian's feet and Samantha held him under the armpits.

"He's so heavy," Emily said with her hand on her hip. "Why did you make the coven circle so far away?"

Samantha set Ian on the ground. "Maya had set the circle a year ago," she said, putting her hair into a ponytail. "Plus, we didn't want random people discovering it."

Emily rolled her eyes. "True." She eyed Ian as he exhaled, groaning. "How much of the coffee did he drink?"

"Enough," Samantha replied, and grabbed Ian under the armpits and prompted him up.

I dug my nails in the dirt, watching Samantha back her way toward me, dragging Ian. Emily picked up his legs as they neared me. I lifted my arm, waiting for Samantha to bump into me, but she walked through me with gold and pale blue dust raining onto me.

They carried Ian through the dark woods, deep into the shadows of evil. I scrambled to a stance, following them. Ian glowed like fireflies, while the witches had a dull gray light to them. The crow above sang as their appearance became real and less shadowy.

I pulled at a pine branch, seeing the circle ahead, the opening in the thick forest with enormous boulders. They barely carried Ian to the edge when Emily dropped his feet and snapped her fingers.

In the center of the clearing within the thick forest, a circle of table lamps illuminated the immense rocks, creating an eerie and sorcery atmosphere. A bed covered in purplish-blue flowers and rosemary stood exactly in the middle. I crept to the edge of the ring, lifting the cord of a lamp, seeing they were shining brightly without being plugged in.

Samantha dragged Ian through the mud and plopped his body into the flower bed. She adjusted him to the center, huffing at Emily, who watched.

"Did you put the relic in the room?" Emily asked, popping her gum.

"Yes," Samantha replied. "And I see you grabbed the right flowers." Her attitude glanced at Emily. "Last time, nothing happened, and that was your fault."

"Yes, I got the monkshood this time and even added rosemary." Emily glared at her. "It was your fault just as much as mine last time."

"This better work." Samantha spread the blue flowers over his body.

"He drank the spell from the coffee and the relic picture of Ian left in the room," Emily said, crossing her arms. "We just need to say the spell correctly. Where did you put his heartbeat?"

"In the bag." Samantha laughed. "And we shall see if this one has a heart to break it." She glared at Ian. "I hope he's stuck in our spell forever. His father will feel the same way we do."

Emily's laughter echoed around the silent forest, causing Samantha to mimic her laugh, shaking the pine trees and boulders. Each lamp flickered while static bolts of light sparked to each other. A crack shocked my hand as I jumped more into the circle, lost in the vivid past, playing out for me.

Emily skipped to the side of the bed, pulled out an old book, and set it on the bed. She licked her fingers while flipping through the pages and stopped mid-book. Samantha yanked the witch's heirloom from Emily, flipping back. Ian moved his head, eyes flickering open before closing again.

"Where am I?" he asked, forcing the witches to glance at him in a panic.

"We need to hurry," Samantha said, tapping the book. "This is the spell."

Emily rushed toward my direction, jumping through me, and stepped outside the ring. Dull dust sprinkled from her while her smoke-like body formed to normal again. Samantha hurried after her as I dodged out of the way.

Ian's exhale filled the air as I carefully navigated the rosemary-covered ground, crunching beneath my shoes with every step. I brushed my hand on the bed, watching the gold smoke fog around my fingers. Tiny beams of light sparkled over Ian, blinking to a new rhythm from before.

Flash. Lasting flash. Flash. Flash.

Lasting flash. Lasting flash. Everlasting flash.

Flash. Flash. Flash. Lasting flash.

Flash.

I reached for Ian's face, brushing my fingers on his cheeks, watching the gold lights float to his lips. The tension in his jaw clenched as my touch elicited a powerful reaction.

"Hurry, Emily," Samantha said behind me, stepping into my spot. "We have to do this now!" she yelled.

I shivered out of her, watching Emily walk back into the circle with a red robe on, matching Samantha's. She pulled a mason jar from her pocket with a firefly buzzing frantically inside and set it on the bed beside Ian.

Samantha opened the jar, sprinkling black powder, causing it to fly to Ian and land above his heart, blinking as his heartbeat. "The heartbeat of the rake," she said. "Freeze him in time."

Emily joined her. "The heartbeat of the rake. Freeze him in time."

While Ian slowly lifted from the bed, the wind rushed, creating a swirling sensation around him. "The heartbeat of the rake. Freeze him in time."

Snow drifted with the wind, sending my hair flying while the witches repeated themselves. Leaves and pine needles scrapped my face while Ian rose higher in the sky as the firefly beamed bright enough to light up the area.

"The heartbeat of a rake! Freeze him in time!"

Ian's chest lifted higher while his arms dangled and legs bent at the knees. The flickering lamps created a haunting atmosphere, and then, one by one, the bulbs shattered, sending shards of glass flying. I stumbled back, knocking my head into a boulder.

"The heartbeat of the rake! Freeze him in time!"

The purple flowers blew in a circle, tunneling in Ian with beams of light from his firefly striking through. I leaned against the boulder, brushing my hair away from my face as the wind blew it around.

"Ian!" I yelled, standing.

"The heartbeat of the rake! Freeze him in time!"

"Ian!" I cried, sprinting toward the bed.

"The heartbeat of the rake! Freeze him in time!"

Thousands of fireflies snapped at Ian like a lightning bolt as everything became pitch black, sending him falling. The witches exploded to ash while the bed and lamps dissolved into the ground. Everything vanished as he slammed into the frozen hard ground.

I slid to the earth full of purple flowers, tumbling into his hard body. "Ian," I cried as a tear escaped. "Ian, please wake up."

With my arms securely wrapped around his torso, I quickly laid my head on his chest. Silence filled my ears with no heartbeat. A slow tear slid down my cheek, landing on his shirt.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "Please come back to me." I closed my eyes, tightening my grip around him.

In the silence, the woods took us in the darkness. My sobs echoed around like a tunnel of trees surrounded us.

"I love you." My tears soaked his shirt.

A buzz filled my ear, and I opened my eyes to a firefly circling above us. I lifted my head from Ian, exhaling with relief. The lightning bug blinked like a heartbeat before landing on Ian's chest and dissolving into sparkling gold ash, melting into his heart. The light beamed at me before fading away.

With a smile, I laid my ear on his chest, listening. No heartbeat caught in my soul for a split second before a steady rhythm picked up. Ian's hand brushed my hair as our eyes met, and his hazels gazed into mine. I sat up as his hand trailed to my cheek. I felt a tingling sensation, and I couldn't help but relax into his touch.

"I love you," he whispered before I collided with him, hugging him tight, causing him to cough into a laugh.

He gripped my shoulders, yanking me slightly away to connect his lips with mine. Ian's soft kiss lit my heart with warmth. I relaxed into his body before pulling away. A tiny light cracked from Ian's chest as a firefly fluttered from him, hovering to brighten our faces. I placed my head on Ian's beating torso, relaxing.

The lightning bug drifted slowly away into the dark silhouette of the pine trees.

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