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Playing with the soft fabric of her blanket, Adaine watched the fire burning, her mind miles away.
“Hey,”
Adaine was gently shook from her reverie as Fig flopped down beside her with a toothy grin which she returned with a halfhearted smile before turning back to the flickering flames licking along the side of a log in the centre of the firepit.
“Hi,”
For a while they sat in silence, Adaine’s attention flicking between the dancing lights of the fire and the softer, calmer swirls of Fig’s hot breath which came out in small clouds against the brisk night air.
“You doing ok?” Asked Fig, nudging Adaine with her shoulder.
Shrugging, Adaine let out a dry laugh.
“No,”
“You want to talk about it?”
“Just… thinking…”
“‘Bout what?”
“Stuff,”
“What stuff?”
“...Stupid… sad stuff,”
“Hmm,” Fig nodded, thoughtfully, gazing into the fire for a moment before speaking again.
“What ‘stupid sad stuff’?”
Adaine snorted, knocking her shoulder against Fig’s with a roll of her eyes.
“You’re insufferable, you know that?”
Despite the words Adaine couldn’t help but allow a small smile to appear on her face at her friend’s attempt to cheer her up, which grew into a full, toothy, grin as Fig exaggeratedly hurled herself off the log onto the cold ground; as if she’d been hit by a giant’s warhammer rather than a friendly nudge; the rest of the clearing briefly looked up to see what happened before returning to their conversations.
“Clearly I’m just a bit sufferable,” Fig beamed up from the ground, “seeing as you suffer me,”
“Alright then, you’re just annoying,”
“Ouch, you assault me, throwing me from my seat, casting me out from the warmth of the fire, into the unforgiving dark of the forest, then you insult my fragile sensibilities? All for the crime of caring about my dear friend? Oh cruel fate! What have I done to deserve this harsh turn of- Ow! Hey!”
Fig was cut off when a discarded piece of bark was thrown against her temple by magic, Adaine stifling a guffaw and straightening her face into a stoic mask.
“Fate’s sick of your whinging,”
“...fine…” Fig smiled before throwing the bark back at Adaine and missing, “well I’ve been severely injured twice in the space of a minute, at least help me up?” She lifted an arm out to Adaine who rolled her eyes again and dragged the couchant girl up onto the log once more.
“So,” Fig said, slapping the dirt from her clothes absently, “what’s up?”
“I don’t know…”
“You know, I probably have a concussion from that terrible fall, I won’t remember anything you tell me,”
Shaking her head in amusement, Adaine sighed.
“You know this? Like this ?” she gestured around to the bonfire and the rest of the Bad Kids plus associates.
“Yeah?”
“Do you know where this whole tradition comes from?”
“It’s cold, fire is hot, let’s be near fire?”
“N- well… yeah actually… but, like, the folklore behind Bonfire night?”
“No, I don’t think so?”
“It’s supposed to be the night when the worlds of the dead and living are closest together, when we can almost reach out and touch those that we’ve lost because they’re there,” Adaine gazed out, unseeing, into the fire, watching the flames licking along the dry logs, “ right there, always looking out for us still on this side, their spirits guarding, protecting us.”
She fell silent, and could sense Fig’s gaze on her, could feel the welcome heat from her body.
“But if I reach out… hold out my hand through the fire into the otherside… there’s no one there. No one is watching over me. I lost my family and I don’t even get that stupid superstition to make me feel bad; because there isn’t some mystical barrier keeping us apart, they weren’t dragged away. They left. Left me. And even if they died they wouldn’t give enough of a crap to even check on me let alone be some guardian spirit.”
Adaine closed her eyes, focusing on the sharp coolness of the air against her cheeks, shivering subconsciously.
“I’m alone.”
For a while Fig was silent, the only sounds were the crackling of the fire, the faint wind in the trees and the other conversations going on around the fire.
“You’re right,” Fig said at last, Adaine turned to look at her in confusion.
“It was stupid,”
Something about the casual, offhanded explanation was indescribably hilarious and she found herself laughing uncontrollably, collapsing against Fig as she giggled madly, uncaring of how the others looked across the fire to her.
“I’m serious!” Fig laughed,
“Like, you’re- Jeez Adaine!” cutting herself off, Fig shreiked, pulling away from Adaine as their hands brushed, before grabbing Adaine’s hands in hers, then cupping her cheeks and staring at her in horror as Adaine blushed deeply.
“You’re freezing ! What are you made of, ice?”
This sent Adaine into another fit of laughs as Fig pulled off her blanket, winding it around both of them as she wrapped Adaine in an embrace, rubbing their hands together.
“Ok, so now that you might not die of hypothermia, my point is; you’re not alone Adaine. You might not have any creepy afterlife guardians but… you’ve got us, you’ve got me! And we’re way better than some dead family members, in fact if your parents’ ghosts did show up, I’d kill them again so they wouldn’t be of any use anyhow.”
Adaine laughed and noticed for the first time that she’d started crying, taking a steadying breath, she let herself relax back against Fig, her head resting on her shoulder, the devilish heat a welcome comfort.
“And yeah, they left you, know why? Cause they’re morons! You’re amazing! Maybe they wouldn’t have the sense to look after you from beyond the grave but so many people would!”
“Would you?”
“Hell yeah! You think you can get rid of me that easy? Nuh uh! I’m haunting you until you die as well!”
“I’m sure you’d have better things to do in the afterlife than annoy me constantly,”
“Doubt it,”
“Well what do you do now?”
“Annoy you constantly,”
Adaine laughed and flicked Fig’s knee before turning to face her, as much as she was able, with a soft smile.
“I’m glad… that I’ve got you,”
“Always,” Responded Fig with a cocky grin, pressing a soft kiss to Adaine’s forehead.
Adaine felt a lot warmer, not just from the shared body heat.