Dedicated to @Tambito_o for the gorgeous cover ❤️ Thanks, Hun.

Chapter |19|

"Are you sure it's here?" Daniel asked for the umpteenth time, annoying me.

"Do you have anything else that goes with it?" I challenged to which he backed down.

The fire show was about to start and I just wanted to see if our clue could be there.

We both say on the top row so that we could see the whole area of the performance.

Silence blanketed us for a few moments as I waited eagerly for the show, my leg shaking in anticipation of finding our next clue.

"By the way," Daniel started, making me look at him. "It's nice to finally, properly meet Skylar."

He smiled at me and it, once again made me feel queasy. I felt a bit ticklish at the stomach. Must be the nerves.

I gave him a shaky grin in return. Why was I feeling different? It was just a smile for God's sake! But no one had actually smiled like that at me, ever. And I'm not just talking about penny.

No one had given me such warmth, even as Skylar. No one except for the only person who I wished was alive.

I ignored the tingly feeling inside me and concentrated on the fire show that had started.

One by one a few ladies dressed in black came with metal rods lit with fire and they danced. My jaw was hanging in awe as I watched the dancers play with fire.

It wasn't until one of the ladies lit fire to one of the cement pots, that I spotted a very familiar envelope.

My eyes lit up and I nearly jumped with excitement. I pointed at the envelope to show it to Daniel.

"Let's go get it!" I whispered and got up. I almost ran down the row to the side of the stage and quickly grabbed the envelope before motioning for Daniel to exit with me.

Once we were both out, I eagerly opened it.

This will be your last clue
And the rest is up to you.

I can bring tears to your eyes;
Resurrect the dead,
Make you smile,
Reverse the time.
I form in an instant,
But last a life time.

What am I?

I froze. The envelope in my hand was burning a hole through things that I'd learnt to kept hidden.

The clue was so similar to what mom had made me memorise that day. Even thinking about it made me want to tear up.

Flashbacks started running through my mind like a movie. The harder I tried to stop them, the clearer they started becoming.

*
"Mom, promise me. Please. Promise me that you'll not leave me," I begged as I clutched her hand that had tubes attached to it.

Tears ran down my face as I considered the thought of living without her.

"I can't promise you anything Skye but the doctors say that there is a chance that I might survive this," she smiled warmly, squeezing my hand in return.

"But I still can't promise anything, honey," she smiled again, this time with a tinge of sadness.

I shook my head, still crying. Even imagining a life without my Mom was painful. She was my best friend. Even dad didn't get me as she did. I couldn't live without her.

The thought was irrational, but I was still willing to do anything to save her. Even if it meant dying in her place.

"Skye, honey, listen to me."

I shook my head vigorously, not meeting her eyes. My cheeks were flushed red, my eyes the colour of blood and my under eyes swollen.

"Skylar Penelope Carter, you will listen to me right now," she scolded. Her voice was weak but it still held the power to make you do things.

On hearing my full name, I reluctantly lifted my head to look at her pale, yet beautiful face.

He eyes held fire that showed her determination. That was something I could proudly say that I had taken after her.

"Now listen. I don't know if I'll be there or not in the future, for you. I don't know whether I'll be able to see my beautiful daughter graduate or not but I need that daughter of mine to be the strongest person in the world," she said and the thought itself made me never want to graduate.

"Even if you won't have me, you will have my memories. My memories will bring me back to life whenever you will need me. If your days go bad, think of me. Think of all the happy times we spent together, and smile," she spoke, softly, yet determined.

"B-But mom, I c-can't-," I stuttered to which she hushed me.

"Always remember this, it's one of the things that will help you remain happy, okay?

A person may live or die,
Tears of sorrow, never cry,

A person can rise from the dead,
When he lives forever in one's head.

Memories that are close to the heart,
Are God's way of creating art.

Formed in an instant, kept life long,
These little things carry happiness all along."
**

My mother was a strong believer of creating memories. She wanted to create as many as possible because according to her, good memories could give life to a person.

I didn't realise the tears had escaped my eyes until I felt a salty taste in my mouth.

My eyes widened and I quickly wiped them off. I looked at Daniel who was looking at me with a tinge of concern.

Well, anybody would be worried if someone just randomly started crying, you know.

I shook my head and smiled at him. Though it was a weak one, I managed to put my lips into a curve.

"I think I know where our treasure might be," I told him and he looked surprised.

He looked at me as if wanting to ask something but thought better of it. I knew he wanted to know why I randomly teared up and I was glad he refrained.

A heavy feeling was weighing me down and I knew it was because I'd reopened something I'd left buried deep; my memories with mom.

She didn't want me to be sad when I remembered her so I composed myself before I could break my promise to her. I'd promised her that I'd be happy and would cherish her if she went away from me.

And that's what I was going to do.

Determined to not let my emotions get the best of me, I started my way towards the place where a person could emboss memories into paper; the photo booth.

I wasn't sure if the clue was interpreted by me in the right way but my gut told me that it was what I was thinking of.

I dodged my way trough the crowd and once I reached the photo booth, I halted, suddenly unsure.

"So, where's the clue?" Daniel asked, curiosity lacing his voice as he looked around.

I shakily lifted my hand, pointing towards the booth. "I-I'm not sure but..."

I trailed off. I looked at Daniel and he shrugged. "It's okay. What's the worse that could happen? We'll not find the clue, thats it."

I stared at him in surprise as he clutched my hand and tugged me along with him to the photo booth.

"A ticket for the booth, please," Daniel requested to the young girl who was practically drooling at Daniel.

An amused smile reluctantly crawled up my face as I noticed her trying to flirt with an oblivious Daniel.

After a few more attempts of trying to gain his attention, I decided to intervene before the girl could embarrass herself any further.

"Hey, it would be really cool if you just gave him the ticket," I smiled at the girl whose eyes widened at me.

She squinted her eyes at me as if trying to remember if she knew me. He eyes slowly widened again and her jaw slowly hung in what seemed to be...awe?

"Are you Skylar?" She asked, her attempts to flirt forgotten.

I was taken aback. My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Y-Yeah," I answered.

Her eyes lit up in admiration and excitement as she rummaged for something in her drawer.

"Can you please give me your autograph?"

Now, I was truly flabbergasted. She wanted my autograph?

"You want my autograph?" I asked, trying to convince myself that I'd heard wrong. I mean, why would anyone even want my signatures?

I admit that I was pretty popular back in my town and a few other places because of my track record. I was the only one to get a gold medal in eighteen consecutive races. In total, I had 27 medals that I'd earned in just a span of two years.

But it was still hard to believe that people would recognise me so casually.

"Yes. You're truly an inspiration to me and my sister and we'd like to become like you, one day," she gushed and I was still frozen in shock and confusion.

"Like me?"

"Yeah. We have seen you race. You're a legend, here. We are both trying out for our school's track team and you're our inspiration."

She thrusted a crumpled paper and a pen towards me and I reluctantly took it from her.

"Alright, what's your and your sister's name?" I asked to which she squealed.

"My name is Gracie and my sister is Sophia," she replied and watched eagerly as I scribbled up a message.

Dear Gracie and Sophia,
Never stop chasing your dreams.
Love, Skylar

She squealed a thank you before giving us a ticket for the photo booth.

I was still trying to digest what had happened when I walked into the photo booth with Daniel.

I snapped out of the surprise that wasn't wearing off and tried to concentrate on the task at hand. 

Clue. We had to find the clue.

I ran my eyes along the small booth that had a camera in the front. I examined the right space closely but to no avail.

Dejected, I turned to Daniel, who was looking too, but without any success.

"I guess I was wrong then," I spoke and made a move to get out when the person outside stopped me.

She was a girl in her twenties with black hair and specs perched upon her nose. "Sorry. You need to take photos. Otherwise I'm not allowed to let you go," she said and lightly pushed me back.

What kind of a compulsion was it?

"What happened?" Daniel asked, looking at me.

"Uh- we need to take photos. Otherwise we can not go out," I spoke awkwardly.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise and shrugged after a moment. "Okay."

My head snapped up in surprise. He gave me a funny look and I ducked my head in embarrassment.

He sat down on the small bench and motioned for me to join him. I quietly turned around and stood beside him, awkwardly.

"You're head isn't coming in the camera frame," Daniel's voice echoed and I looked up to see that it was true.

"But there isn't enough space on the bench for me to sit," I said, pointing towards the bench that was taken up mostly by Daniel.

"Are you guys ready? There will be four consecutive shots," a voice startled me from behind and I looked up to see the same girl who had stopped me.

"I-" I started but she interrupted me.

"Great!" She said and gave me a slight push.

He slight push made me stumble, making my eyes widen as I anticipated my fall.

Just in time, a hand caught on to my wrist and pulled me towards a hard body while a distant click sounded in the background.

I ended up landing on Daniel's lap with one of my hand clutching his shoulder, tightly and the other one in his hand.

One of his arms was wrapped around my waist, preventing me to fall further down while his other hand held my hand.

We stared at each other wide-eyed and a flash went off in front of us. Both our heads snapped towards the light as another one went off.

It barely took a moment for us to realise what was happening and I quickly put my other hand on Daniel's other shoulder, trying to push myself up when his gaze caught mine.

His stormy grey eyes stared at my blue ones with an emotion other than the usual indifference, which lured me in with curiosity.

My heart started beating faster and I didn't even know why. Our faces were so close and the funny part was that neither of us was trying to create distance in between.

That's when another flash went off, breaking whatever that was between us.

Realisation came upon me and I quickly got up and exited the booth with my partner right in tow.

The same black-haired girl grinned at us. I was still trying to take in whatever that had happened in the last fifteen minutes, from the autograph to the... I didn't even know what to call it.

But whatever it was, it gave me a strange fuzzy feeling inside. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't like it a little.

"Thank you for coming. You can take your photos from the box there," she gestured to a red wooden box that was kept in the corner.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling it, I quickly marched towards the box and put my hand in it to grab the photos.

I really wanted to see how they turned out. In other words, how embarrassing they were.

I felt something cubical touch my fingers and I tried to grab it. Once I did, I pulled it out and to my surprise, stuck along with two strips of photos was a golden-brown box that read: Treasure.

Excitement bubbled inside me as I momentarily forgot the previous incident and turned to Daniel, giddily. "Look! We found one of the treasures!"

Daniel looked surprised but a small smile graced his lips as he urged me to open it.

I carefully removed the pictures from the side and opened the box. Daniel came closer and watched the box open curiously.

I nearly squealed like a child on Christmas when I found what was in the treasure.

*****
Okay. So I know how I said that I won't update?

Well, my fingers type on their own sometimes. Anyways, this was also written some time earlier, hence why I could update.

I always write a chapter in parts which is why sometimes I update faster.

So, how was it? Who likes the small moment between Daniel and Skye?

Who wants more of it?

Anyways, what the treasure box contains and how the pictures turned out will be revealed in the next chapter :)

Next update: Against The Odds and then Maven :)

Anyways, guess who is getting rid of the finals in a few days?
ME!!

Yay!

Vote and Comment! Love you all❤️