"Hang it higher.... Yes..no..no ....a little to the right...yes.. perfect!" Today was the day!!!!

15months ago...

Mia Jhonson was busy watching Mr.Queen her favorite K-drama. Too busy enough to ignore her ongoing online class. Yes...so close...go ....get him, queen! She was suddenly attentive to the ongoing silence in the so-called class. She held her breath and checked again if she was still on mute and her video was off. Then she heard her name called out. "Mia, could you please help out the new girl in our class? She just moved into the house next door." "Sure, Ms.Anderson! I can take care of it" Mia chipped in her consent. Mia was popular yet a loner. But it all changed when she started to help out the new girl Sia. Sia was new into the college that too in mid-semester. Mia and Sia soon hit off; going to each other's company and finding comfort from their own secrets.

5 months ago.....

Mia woke up to the sound of sirens. She looked outside to see paramedics rushing in and out of Sia's home. She rushed outside to see her parents talking with chief paramedic in the background while Sia was carried into an ambulance in a stretcher. She ran to her side to find Sia unconscious. She couldn't understand what was going on only to overhear "ya, that's sad. Her body just had a relapse" Sia has cancer, a tumor that started to grow onto her lungs from her thyroid. She was teased and bullied for having an oxygen cylinder which was connected to a breathing tube to help her breath better; the tank provided her lungs twice the oxygen a normal person needs per 2 seconds. She was pulled out of schools and colleges yet being smart and having cancer perks helped her to get into a good college and the pandemic helped to a great extent. Mia was the only one who treated her normally even with her tubes and awkward personality. 7 months ago Sia started to bleed from her nose and ears and she couldn't breathe with the fluid filling her lungs. She couldn't scream but thanks to her experienced parents, they called in the emergency squad to do their work. But it got worsen 5 months ago..... Mia waited outside the hospital wards, praying that the risky procedure would work for her friend. It was a 50/50 chance Sia's parents were willing to undertake. After 5 long hours, Sia was stated stable and the surgery to be a success. "You know what? The last time I saw fireflies was when I was 6 years or so. We went to a hill-station and spend a night out-doors. The next morning I was rushed into a hospital since my parents couldn't find me breathing. They removed a few gallons of liquid from my lungs. Since then I was prohibited from going to hill stations or out doors at night. If i could wish for one thing it would be to spend a night out doors under the stars in the presence of fireflies!"

Present-day...

Sia was lead into a made-up camp in the basement to celebrate her survival of cancer with sky projector instead of real night sky and stars and fairy lights instead of fireflies! Mia was busy arranging the stuff to welcome her fighter friend along with her classmates. A big reunion of friendship in the midst of the pandemic. The night passed by joyfully with Mia grinning at Sia being her awkward self from a far. She knew that even if she couldn't give Sia her fireflies she could still substitute them with fairy lights. Thus their friendship bloomed as the years passed by or so they promised that night..!