A/N:

okay, so, first off, WOW

I have not been on this site in forever and, in a spur-of-the-moment kinda dealio, have decided to try again at my old story; Seriously.

I have been depressed/suicidal/self harming for a while now, and I think that's why I quit the story in the first place. That's not an excuse at all for not writing however! And I really need the practice! Besides, I remember that I really, REALLY loved working on this story! somehow. I know I had a million notes for this, but those were either consumed by the garbage in a fit of 'im never writing again' on my part, or just lost. But I still sorta-half-kinda remember the plot!

However, I have noticed that my writing skills have improved from what they were when this story was written! Which is great! That makes me so so so happy!

So, being able to kinda-sorta remember the plot of this story, I've decided to pick it up again! I will rewrite most of the chapters that have already been published and they will, hopefully, be mostly the same! Or not, we'll just see! If I keep having new ideas then who knows!

A lot has changed in the – around a year I think – I've not been on here writing, so I really do hope you won't be disappointed in how the story comes along for it's second round!

The title will be remaining the same, I think; maybe 'Seriously, again', as a new title, but feel free to read the first version if you're into spoilers or looking at bad beginnings! I hope you can all forgive me for giving up on this in the first place!

Fire

I'm out of breath, I'm confused, and I don't know where I am.

Stumbling, holding my backpack to myself, I work my way up a trash covered hill, slipping on soda cans and narrowly avoiding a shard of glass to my eye. The grass is slippery under my feet, my throat is parched, the hill smells like urine and I swear to god I was just on a beach-side camping site not the middle of the woods in fall-like weather.

Reaching the top of the hill is a victory. A victory that leaves me more confused as I stare around at another hill, going down, towards a city, brightly lit and shining. Its like a lens flare effect. I stumble forward, blind, lifting a hand to cover my face.

There's a sound, like the worlds largest goose. Flinching, I turn, and a car, the 'metal goose', barrels at me. I barely have time to scream before I'm jumping out of the way and rolling down the hill towards the city, my pack slapping me in the chin, my teeth closing on my tongue. I eventually come to a stop in a wet bush, a soda can, dislodged from the hillside from my tumble, falls down onto my head before bouncing away with a metal crash. I can taste a bit of blood in my mouth.

I don't know where I am, so it's hard to tell a story, but I'm pretty sure it started with a fire.

…

You kinda thought at first that the idea of camping was a dumb idea. Well, no, you love the idea of camping. Nice fire, marshmallows, lake to swim in. Actual camping? No, ew. Bugs and sweat and burnt faces from hotdog incidents ( that in no way involved me I can assure you most confidently ), and gross family members being, well, gross. And mean. And nasty.

But I went, because Sasha was coming along, and because mom was letting me bring the internet router. Heck. Yes.

The first few days were easy enough. Run around outside in the morning and mess around with sticks and rocks, go swimming, and then in the afternoon rush to our little camper and plug into our blogs.

But then on the second day mom decided that 'blogging is not an acceptable campsite activity!'.

So, of course, Sasha and I went out, and got into trouble.

…

"Sash... Sash no!"

"What!? I'll be fiiiiiiine."

"Sasha you are going to die!"

I watched as my friend giggled, grinning at me, and hopped to another rock, slipped, and then regained her balance. "Ffffffffffffffffine, Casey. Fine. Look at how fine I am. People look at me, they go; dang. She fine."

"I said that last week you butt-turd now get off of that!"

Sasha giggled, and crouched, starting to poke at the mucky water she stood over. We'd happened upon a swamp not too far from our camp, though off the path of course. As soon as Sasha had heard the frogs shed been running. I had to follow, in case she got into trouble. Sasha had, before I could do anything, lept to a smooth rock, and then another, and now crouched, small lantern clipped to her pants as she poked at frogs. Leaning forward enough that I was worried she would fall in and drown.

I paced at the shore, looking around at the forest and trees as the sky started to darken. I looked back to her. "Sasha you're going to fall in and I'm going to have to watch you drown."

"Get it on video then."

"SASHA!"

Yelping, she looked over at me, and then stuck out her tongue. "Caaaaaalm down, Cas, it's probably not even that deep!"

"Will you be saying that when you die!?"

"Yes. Probably."

Groaning, I wiped at my face, bumping my glasses around before sitting down and watching as she hopped over to a log. I threw a clump of dirt at her. It missed, skipped on the water, and then floated in front of her. Sasha giggled at me, sticking out her tongue, and I watched as the dirt clump sank, absorbing the swampy water. A frog poked its head out and croaked at Sasha before hiding.

I had to smile a bit, but it soon faded as Sasha sat length-wise on the log, and unclasped her lantern.

"Sasha."

"Casey."

"Sasha what are you doing."

"Iiiiii'm gonna drop this in the waaaaaaaaaaaater."

"Why?"

Sasha giggled and I stood, frowning at her and putting my hands on my hips. "I wanna see how deep it is! It's probably not even that baaaaaaaaaad."

"Sasha you're going to lose your lantern."

Sasha snorted, holding it over the water. "And the frogs shall gain a space ship."

I made a face. "Sasha this is going to end up like the Simpsons movie, you know that right? You're going to put that in the water, and then you will kill everything in it with electricity!"

"Cas, 'cmon, I've only got ONE battery in it anyway! Besides, I always wanted to try frog legs!" And with that, she dropped it into the water with a huge grin.

There was a splash, a plop, and then it sank below the water, leaving Sasha with a wet lap, and no lantern. Sasha stuck her hand in after it, and I watched her fish around for it before a disappointed look over came her face and she took her hand out of the water. I simply put my hands on my hips and raised an eyebrow.

"Sasha."

"No, don't say it."

"You're a bloody idiot."

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh, let's just go eat hotdogs n' watch Invader Zim."

I giggled, smiling, and Sasha started to hop back to the shore. "Eeeexxcceellleeennttttt." I drew out, and Sasha giggled, reaching the shore and poking me before starting to run back to camp. I followed, giggling excitedly.

Later, when I eventually figured everything out, I would I really wish she'd fished the lantern out of the water.

...

The world was on fire and screaming when I woke up. I think the screaming was coming from Sasha as she shook me. I have never claimed to be a light sleeper and this just proved that I was not in my opinion.

Sasha was yelling something about a fire. I was still wondering driftingly at what was going on, but as soon as I heard, fire, I was sitting up, eyes wide. "What!?"

"HURRY!" Sasha snapped, grabbing my arm and pulling me out of my sleeping bag, shoving my bag into my arms before pushing me towards the door of the camper. Couldn't say Sasha didn't have her priorities straight. Belongings and then our lives. Love her.

Stumbling out of the camper, a wave of heat hit me and my back straightened, eyes widening as I looked around. The trees were rapidly starting to burn, and I could see my cousins running towards the lake. I stared, and then jumped as Sasha fell next to me, tripping over her own feet.

I spaced out. Not my body, just my head. My head was full of buzzing but my body reached down, grabbing Sasha and starting to drag her along towards the lake, stumbling but never letting go of her arm.

I could see my mom waving us over, hear her shouting to hurry. But, also, I could see the fallen tree, blocking our path. Flames slowly licked at it, and I jerked Sasha's arm, dragging her down the path we'd been on only hours before. I could only assume this all started from a campfire. The hotdogs maybe. It wasn't important at the moment.

Flames roared as I dragged Sasha along. We were both panting and hurrying as heat chased at our backs and our feet pounded on dirt and rocks. My breath wasn't coming to me easily, and my eyes burned in the smoke, no wonder I didn't see the rock.

It trapped my ankle between itself and the ground and I tumbled, letting go of Sasha at the last minute. My head hit something hard and I couldn't open my eyes for a few seconds. It hurt, it hurt it hurt it hurt, oh god.

"Casey! Casey get up!"

My eyes open and I started to stumble up to my feet. The fire we'd been escaping had caught up to us, had snaked around to the path in front of us. I couldn't believe Sasha hadn't left me. Hadn't run to safety.

Grasping her arm, I pulled myself up, and she suddenly started leading me off of the path. My vision was blurry and my head pounded but I followed her, panting, hoping she knew what she was doing.

I noticed a few seconds before she pushed me where we were, the swamp. We stopped at the edge, I hesitated, and she shoved me in, jumping in after.

I spluttered, choking, and grabbed her arm as we moved as quickly as we could towards the center of the water, feet sticking in mud. Sasha cried out and stopped moving forward suddenly, and I tugged at her arm, freeing her of whatever had gotten, I assumed, her foot, only to yelp as I was dragged under as well. It felt like there were hands on my feet.

Sasha dragged me back up for a second, our packs acting as life jackets, but then she was tugged down as well, head bobbing and water clinginging to her glasses.

"Sasha!"

I was gasping and pulling her up, but it was getting hard to breath, regardless of if we were above water or not.

I think I held onto her arm until I passed out, or blacked out, or was knocked out or whatever it was that happened. But I don't remember.

…

My head still hurt from the rock, and the fall, but I got up anyway, looking around. I'd try to flag a car, but, well, I knew how well that had gone before.

I swallowed, squinting in the dark. "Sasha? Sasha?" I don't understand why I'd call for her now. If she were anywhere she'd be on the other side of the hill. Stupid.

No response. Feeling even more confused, I turned and started for the city, frowning. Maybe I was dead. That was a possibility. Crappy afterlife in that case. Dirty too.

I just needed to find Sasha.

whhhhhhELP i hope this all works out!