Soulmates

25

"Okay...stay calm." I whispered as Ki looked at me with fear in her eyes. "Don't go out there, V. Just stay in the tent." She said as I reached for the little window opening. "I'm just gonna look." I said then slowly unzipped it.

It was really dark outside but I could see the silhouette of something large going towards the guys tent. "Shit." I hissed then grabbed the flashlight. "Hide." I whispered to Ki as her eyes widened. "What are you gonna do?" She asked shakily.

"I have to see what it is." I said as she backed into the corner of the tent, by Kat's head. I let out a breath then flipped the light on to reveal a pretty big mountain lion, scratching at the guys tent.

When I shined the light on it, it growled and looked towards me. "Fuck." I whispered then stood up. "Violet, what are you doing?!" Ki whispered with tears streaming down her cheeks. "Shh." I said then quickly unzipped the tent.

I stood up in the opening and just looked at it as it stared me down. I kept my eyes on it, making myself seem intimidating, but my heart was beating out of my chest.

"Hand me another flashlight." I mumbled to Ki and held my hand back, keeping direct eye contact with the mountain lion. She opened her mouth to protest but closed it immediately as the cat took a slow step towards me.

"Now." I demanded and held my hand out again. Ki handed me another flashlight as the mountain lion took another step.

"Please watch over me." I whispered to myself then started beating the two flashlights together, making as loud of a noise as possible. "HEY! GET OUT OF HERE!" I screamed as loud as I could, causing the mountain lion to flinch.

"That's right! Get out!" I yelled as Kat stirred in her sleep. "What's going on?" She mumbled but Ki shushed her. "Go!" I screamed as the mountain lion stopped.

It stared me down for a second as I clenched my jaw and tried to make myself seem bigger. I knew if I looked away for even a second, it was going to attack me.

"Nobody move." I said loudly enough for the guys to hear me in case they were awake.

I stared down the cat for another minute or so before it finally backed away. I didn't move from my spot or let my guard down for at least 15 minutes, since I couldn't really see where it went.

"Alright. It's gone." I said then let out the breath I was holding. I heard the guys tent open as Kat and Ki both stood up.

"That was badass, V." Ki said as Sam, Colby, and Justin all came rushing over. "Are you okay?" Colby asked as he pulled me into his arms. "Yeah, I'm fine." I said and hugged him back, feeling my body tremble from the adrenaline.

"You're shaking." He said and scratched my back. "Yeah." I said simply then pulled back and turned to everyone. "Are you guys okay?" I asked as Sam breathed a laugh. "You're asking if we're okay?" He asked as I nodded.

"Yeah, that was scary for everyone." I said as Ki hugged me. "I'm so glad you're okay." She said as I breathed a laugh.

"I hate to say it but I'm glad we took that class otherwise we would have been fucked." I said then gave everyone hugs.

"Will you guys sleep in our tent?" Kat asked as Colby pulled me into him once again. "Yeah, I don't know if I'll be sleeping though." Sam said as they all filed into the open tent.

Colby didn't move though, he just held me tightly and rested his cheek on my head. "Are you okay?" I asked with a small laugh as he kissed my head.

"I just can't believe you did that." He mumbled as I looked up at him. "What do you mean?" I asked as he chuckled. "You literally almost fought a wild animal. What even was it?" He asked as I shrugged.

"It was a mountain lion that was trying to get into your tent. I couldn't just let it do that." I said as he sighed and brushed my hair from my face.

"I couldn't just let it possibly take another person away from me." I whispered, suddenly feeling very vulnerable. "I'm not going anywhere, V." He said then placed a gentle kiss on my forehead.

"B-but what if something happens. I can't lose another person." I whispered and looked up at him as my eyes filled with tears. "Shhh...nothing's gonna happen. You're okay." He said and held me tighter.

I knew the adrenaline was just wearing off, leaving me tired and vulnerable. I really was scared though. I wasn't scared of the mountain lion or any other animal.

I was scared of losing someone again.

"Will you lay with me?" I asked and pulled away after a couple minutes. "Of course I will." He said then led the way to the tent.

It wasn't the biggest tent, but we all managed to fit. Colby held me tightly to his chest as I listened to his heartbeat. It brought me comfort knowing that I could hear it for myself and that I could feel his chest moving as he breathed.

I never ended up falling back asleep so I looked out the little window that was in the tent, watching the sun start to rise.

I wanted to get out and watch it from the clearing but I didn't want to leave the tent. "V, are you awake?" Sam asked quietly. "Yeah." I said with a nod.

"Wanna go collect some wood to make a fire so we can eat breakfast?" He asked as I nodded. Colby's as still fast asleep so I slowly slipped out of his embrace so I could get out of the tent.

I could feel every bone in my body crack as I stood up straight. "What are we having for breakfast?" I asked Sam as he stood up next to me. "Colby and I brought these weird camping meal things that we wanted to try. If they're gross though we have cereal and other snacks." He said as I nodded.

"Are you doing okay? What happened last night was pretty crazy." Sam said as I shrugged. "I just did what we were taught to do." I said with a laugh. "Right, but you actually had the balls to do it." He said as we started to gather wood.

"Were you guys awake?" I asked as he nodded. "I woke up to a low growl then woke Colby and Justin up. We didn't know what to do so we just stayed as quiet as possible, hoping it would just go away." He explained.

"Before we could even think of taking the next step though we heard you yelling at it." He said as I laughed. "I'm glad I didn't wake you guys up. Poor Kat was horrified." I said with a laugh.

"To be fair she would have been terrified either way." He said as I nodded. "That's true." I said then sighed as I looked around.

"Thanks for coming with us." Sam said after a few minutes of silence. "Thanks for letting me come. Besides the mountain lion, this has been pretty fun so far." I said as we made our way to the campsite.

"Yeah, I'm pretty pumped for today." Sam said with a big grin. "It's gonna be pretty fun." I said and smiled at him as we got back to the campsite.

Everyone was up by now and they were watching footage from Justin's camera. "What are you watching?" Sam asked as we dropped the wood on the ground.

"Justin recorded last night. You can't see anything but you can hear it all." Colby said. "Violet, you're a badass." Justin said as I shrugged. "Hardly but thank you." I said then sat down next to Ki.

"You're so humble." Ki said with a laugh as I shook my head. "I just didn't want anyone to get hurt. That's not being a badass, it's just being human." I said as she shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. You're still a badass though." She said as Colby started lighting the fire.

I didn't like that they were praising me so much. I understood to a sense why they would be but at the end of the day we all went to the same class and we all knew exactly what to do.

I didn't do anything special.

We ended up eating those camping meals the guys got. They weren't the best but they were fun to make which would make the video more interesting.

We all got ready then met back at the fire pit. "Are you guys ready to adventure?" Sam asked as we all gathered around. "Yeah!" We all cheered as we grabbed our backpacks.

"Let's do this then." Colby said with a grin then led the way down the trail.