The summer had already been boiling hot, but that day was particularly sweltering. I remember driving the rusted over Jeep filled to the brim with all the necessities for camping. The sun shone like a flashlight on the windows forcing me to put my sunglasses on. As Taylor Swift sang her country tunes and strummed on her guitar, I turned into the parking lot of the Yosemite camping grounds. The temperature had to be over 100º. There didn’t seem to be that many cars parked there which made sense since the day was so hot. As I waited, hoping to see her car soon, I took in the view of the gorgeous mountains that seemed to touch the clouds. 

Julie’s familiar red Jeep Wrangler came around the corner and parked right next to mine. We always got together during the summer and did things that we had never done before. Camping was on my bucket list and also on Julie’s. I remember the weeks and even months beforehand that we spent preparing for this trip. The weekends were practically filled with stores to visit.

“You made it! I wasn’t sure if you would catch that last right turn there,” she said.

“I thought I had the wrong spot for a minute because I didn’t see your car. I’m surprised you didn’t get here before me. Where were you?” I said.

“Last minute shopping,” she said. I knew Julie too well for that. I could practically describe what she would look like in 20 years. Her familiar brown curls that fell to her shoulders, her brown eyes that sparkled in the sun, her perfect 5’8 height, and of course her pierced ears that I did myself when we were kids. What I’m trying to say is I know Julie so well. She has never done last minute anything. We started preparing for this trip right after we finished the last one which was July of last year. A sudden fear started brewing in the back of my mind that wouldn’t simmer down. What was Julie actually doing that made her ten minutes late? I know why should I be suspicious of ten minutes, but I left almost twenty minutes after her just to make sure that when I got there, I would see her car and know I was in the right spot.

“Oh,” I replied. The look on her face made my skin crawl. That smirk that she gave to people only when something bad was going to happen. I pushed it away just thinking that she was trying to scare me, but I should have known better than that.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” she said. Her face brightened with her glittering smile that could melt Hollywood. I wasn’t sure what to do. Jump back into the car and say I wasn’t feeling well? Or start unpacking our luggage? I went with option two only because I had been looking forward to this trip for such a long time and wasn’t prepared to let one comment and smirk ruin the whole thing. As we drove to the camping grounds, I turned up the music even louder hoping that it would drown out the thoughts swirling in my mind. We reached the grounds and started unpacking.

I opened up the tangerine orange tent and put the parts together. After Julie had finished putting her tent together, she said she was tired and was going to take a nap. It was almost 4:45 now and I was famished. I opened up the cooler and grabbed an ice cold water. I looked in my backpack and found a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that was more jelly than peanut butter, which was unfortunate because now the jelly was all over the bag. As I was eating, I noticed the sun was being blocked by a group of clouds making the temperature drop so I decided to start getting the necessary items to make a fire. As I was hunting for stones and sticks, I heard the most peculiar howl in the now dark forest. It seemed to be a cry of agony, but I was so astonished by the noise that  my mind went blankWhen I had enough materials for the fire, I returned to our campsite. Julie had awoken from her nap and was starving. I pulled out a water and a sandwich for her which she scarfed down quickly. I set up the stones in a circle careful to not leave any space between them. I pulled the sticks together to form a pyramid like shape that would make the fire go higher and last longer. Now that it was all set up, I found the matches in Julie’s backpack and started to light the match when I heard a piercing scream. I dropped the match as quickly as I could feeling its heat singe my finger. As I turned the other way I saw Julie frozen with fright looking at me.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“DD-on-n’t-tt loookk n-ow-w, bu-u-t-t thheerree’sss aa bb-ee-eaa-arr bee-hhi-in-ndd yyyoouu!” she quavered.
“Oh, Julie. You almost scared me. You made me drop a match for that.” She was still looking quite pale so I turned around and saw a bear cub looking at our camp and starting for our food bag. As I slowly walked over to Julie, who looked like she was on the verge of tears, I remembered the match I dropped. Before I went looking for the match, something caught my eye in the forest near by. A burst of color was striping down the forest moving quickly. I was about to ask Julie what it was when it clicked in my mind. The match. Yosemite was on fire!

It seemed that the moment had frozen in time. My mind was racing a thousand thoughts a second. What would I tell Julie? She has put blood and sweat into this trip. When I was out of my daze, I realized Julie was pulling on my shirt and saying words into my ear.

“We need to go. We need to go now before that bear kills us!” she said.

“The bear isn’t the only problem,” I said and pointed to the forest. The fire was spreading quickly and was posing as a threat to our survival. A look of terror appeared on her face and she became frozen with fear.

“Julie.” I said, but she couldn’t hear me. “JULIE!” I screamed and pulled her hands from her face. That seemed to get her attention. “Do you need a pep talk or is that fact that we could either be eaten by a bear or barbecued alive enough to get you running?” I asked. She replied with a nod. “Alright then.” I said

She and I carefully walked around the bear letting it eat our food. As I stepped past the cooler, I grabbed a water for myself and a water for Julie. We then sprinted in the only path the fire hadn’t touched. When we reached a steep hill that neither of us recognized, we both paused and looked at each other, but could feel the heat from the spreading flames so we didn’t delay another second. We dashed off down the hill tripping and falling to the bottom. When I looked up, I felt something missing from my hand and remembered the water bottles. I could only find one that was directly underneath my foot, but the other one was missing in the overgrown surroundings around me. We had definitely gone off the path. The uncontrollable fire was growing closer and closer to us. As I jumped up, I grabbed Julie, hearing and feeling a crack in her arm as I did so.

“Owwww!” she cried.

“Julie I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I said.

“I think you pulled it out of its socket,” she said. Now we had, on top of the certain death from the wildfire, another problem. I was no doctor and there certainly wasn’t one around, so I gently took Julie’s hand and said, “We have to go.” 

Somehow we got to another clearing untouched by the unpredictable fire and took a rest. Julie’s arm had gotten worse and it seemed as though her pain was spreading. Not just her arm hurt anymore, but her head, stomach, hand, and leg hurt.

“I can’t do it anymore,” she said. Unfortunately this made me feel relieved. Was Julie giving in to the unstoppable perpetrator that was the wildfire? Would this mean I would be able to run from the flames without Julie holding us back? All of a sudden, a slideshow of images appeared in my mind. The first one I recognized as my kindergarten picture. I was hugging Julie who had the biggest smile on her face. We looked so happy. The next one was her sixth birthday when we dressed up as princesses. Julie and I had stuffed the cake in our faces and smiled for a picture. The guilt of leaving Julie behind had taken over my body. I was appalled at the thoughts I was having of leaving my oldest and most trusted friend behind to be lost in the unrelenting flames. Julie was looking at me with her sparkling eyes that I could tell were full of fear and resignation.

She and I could both feel the intensity of the heat coming closer. I could only stare at Julie wondering what I should do.

“Go,” she said.

My mind went blank. The memories that I had with Julie were all gone. I briefly thought about the pain I would feel after she was gone, but remembered I might not leave the camp grounds alive. I ran up to her and gave her a long hug that I wanted to last forever, but the fire was coming closer and closer. I wanted to tell her I would miss her and I will always remember you, but only the sound of my crying came out.  I gave her my water bottle and was about to run off when I remembered I still had one question to ask her.

“What were you doing that made you ten minutes late getting here?”

“You just know me too well,” she said. “If you must know, I was getting your present for your birthday.”

“But it’s not for another month,” I replied.

“The early bird gets the worm,” she said.

All of a sudden, I heard the familiar ring tone of my cell phone. I reached into my pocket to grab it, and realized I was lying comfortably in my bed. My cell phone was on the bureau across my bedroom. For a moment I was thoroughly confused. How did I get out of the fire? Where was Julie? Then I realized it was all a dream. I ran for the phone and saw Julie’s name on the caller ID. I lifted the phone to my ear, and before I could say a word, Julie blurted out, “Hey, sleepy head. Just wanted to let you know I’m going to be about ten minutes late. See you there!”

I ran outside to my rusty old Jeep and searched through the many bags until I found the matches I had packed. “Better to leave these home,” I thought. Two hours later, I was entering the Yosemite camping grounds. I looked around and saw that it was green and lush. I took a breath and clean, fresh air filled my lungs. This was going to be a great weekend with my best friend Julie.