| He began up the slope, slowly finding his footholds, bracing himself, agile, and confident. Melissa followed suit, and stayed close behind him. They reached the top, where Sarah was waiting, when Michael heard the thunder. He glanced up. In all the excitement, he hadn’t notice the clouds moving in, like waves of soldiers sneaking around a city to lay siege. A chill crept through his body, leaving goose bumps on his skin. The sky looked like deja vu, and left again that cold, slimy knot in the base of his stomach. He shuddered, and clambered up to the crest of the hill where a slightly less treacherous part of the trail awaited. He pulled Sarah and Melissa up the rocks. And once again his mind wandered. The rocks gave way, and Michael lunged down as Cindy tumbled over backwards. She began sliding down the hill, on her back, head first. Michael decided in a split second to do a brave thing. He stood up and jumped. He flew over Cindy, landed on vertical soft gravel, and slide onto a boulder. He regained his footing, turned around, and caught Cindy. He picked her up and dusted her off. “ Are you alright?” he asked her. She replied with a breathless “yes” and then uttered a sincere “thanks, you’re my hero” in his ear. He finished dusting her off, and then asked if she wanted to continue. “Are you kidding? You think a little fall like that will scare me off.” And she spun around and began back up. Michael fell in line behind her, giving her a soft push where she needed it. Crack!!! Michael jerked up, and the color drained out his face as lighting flashed nearby, on the opposite side of the mountain. Thunder boomed directly after. It was close. He turned around to discover that Sarah and Melissa’s hair was standing up. It was unbelievable. The clouds had completely encompassed the sky, and they looked like waves at sea, black and threatening, churning, looking for a victim, waves churning......in a storm. As he stared up at the dispiriting and sinister opaque reflective landscape, the famous cold needles of his nightmares prickled his face again. Rain. The nightmare is becoming real. All around him the sky rumbled with fury, and malice. He felt like prey that escaped from the lion into the thicket, and had thought it safe to finally come out, only to discover the lion still hunted. His steps became quicker, and more alert, like a deer ready to bolt. They` reached a spot known as Heartbreak Ridge, for it looks like the summit, until you discover that the trail is still about another 500m over the most coarse terrain. It is a very open place, well above the trees. It features a clear view of the summit, and the vertical slope off to the side. It is very narrow, and dangerous. Especially when wet. The rain picked up. Michael and Melissa began to clamber quickly over boulders, with Sarah tagging close behind. The sky growled an angry shout and closed in. Michael could feel its demonic eyes crawling across his back, their wicked intent about to spring. He began to move faster, at a near run. “Michael, slow down!!!” He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. All about him the monster that had scarred his heart had returned, deciding to complete its hideous work. He quickened his pace further, his goal up ahead. 400m to go. The rain thickened to the point of drenching. It beat his face, and his eyes. Ahead, he could see the leaders that had raced up the mountain, making their way towards him. Among them was Kenneth Crawford. “Hey, Michael, man, we are coming from the top. It is Hell up there. You gotta turn back, now, there is no way your gonna make it. You’ll get fried.” Kenneth warned. “No way,” Michael shouted, “I turned back last time, I ain’t gonna let it beat me again!!” “Michael, NO!!!” Michael raced past them. Melissa and Sarah had stopped, heading the warning. They didn’t dare go after him, so they hid themselves among some boulders to wait it out till he returned. If he returned. Michael struggled over the slippery rocks, the jaws of the cliff snapping ever closer. His heart was beating. But not from fear of the storm. “Cindy, we can’t make it!!” It was nearly impossible to be heard over the din of the storm. The clouds had descended until they gave Michael an unsettling feeling of claustrophobia. The raging lighting was slithering across the sky like spider webs and descending on Michael and his group like fingers, probing for a unfortunate person. Crackling all around, causing the girls hair to stand straight up. Michael was just about to turn them around from Heartbreak Ridge when the hail came. Pellets the size of golf balls rained down on them. Slamming into their backs, and their heads. Cindy was nailed right between the eyes. She let out a drowned gasp, and fell. Right next to the cliffs edge. Michael found himself in a life or death choice. He could remain where he was and seek shelter, hoping Cindy made it out. Or he could risk his own life and follow his heart in an attempt to rescue her. The hail began thrashing him, leaving welts on his neck, even through his thick hood. The others had found shelter, wedging themselves into rocks, and taking refuge beneath trees. The fury beat harder. “Dear God, I Don’t Want To Die Here” Michael silently prayed. The wind picked up, pushing him. Mist draped itself across the mountainside, erasing visibility down to a minimum. Michael could see Cindy’s huddled shape writhing in the mist. Fear and love battled within his heart. He chose. Michael raced over a boulder, hurdling himself onto a rock edge that angled away into the brisk drop that paralleled his path. His foot slipped, and flew forward, and he smacked against a nearby rocked, banging his head on the edge of a crevasse, and spinning him sideways. He reached out and caught himself. He gripped hard onto a wet stone border, his fingers pressing down until they turned white. They slipped a little. He strained, his breath leeching out between his clenched teeth. His feet were off the edge of the cliff, staring down into the monstrous drop below. His other hand frantically groped for another hand hold. His fingers slipped further. He grabbed about more hurriedly. Time ticked away with every rain drop. His fingers were growing tired. His hand flopped in desperate haste. Nothing was to be found. No, you won’t beat me again. He struggled with every ounce of his body. He had nothing left. He felt himself beginning to slip away, his mind, in exhaustion, began to disconnect from his body. And his life flashed once more. He leapt forward, the hail beating his face. Cindy let out a blood curdling cry. Michael fought forward, over the terrain, trying to reach her. He couldn’t hear a thing above the howl of the storm. The wind continued to beat him, threatening to throw him off should he attempt to rescue her. He stumbles over a rock, his foot giving out below him. He flips forward, smashing his face into a nearby stone outcrop. He is numb from the cold, but as he opens his eyes, he sees blood on his coat. He wipes his face, and dashes forward, willing to not go back on his choice. He reaches her. As he grabs her arm, the rancor assaults him again, and Michael turns, and faces the blinding madness, and shouts, “Try as you might to kill us, Friendship never dies!!!”, and with a mighty lunge worthy of Samson, he pulls Cindy away from the cliff and onto her feet. The storm roars as its prize is lost. Michael takes her to a rock below. Lightning flashes and a bush nearby is struck. The sparks fly, and shower the survivors. Michael pulls his body over Cindy, to shield her from the hail beating down. Lightning crackles. Thunder rolls. The storm reigns. Michael felt the feeling go out of his hand. The roar of the storm had increased, but he hardly noticed. The raindrops had turned to hail, but he barely realized it. The lightning overhead cracked about him, but he never even flinched. In his ears he heard music. Amazing Grace is resounding through his mind. He has lost all feeling. The storm won. He took a deep breath, and let go. continue |