With a sudden jolt, I wake to the consciousness. I am panting and gasping for air.
"Ray..." I whisper while panting.
My back is covered in sweat. The sheets appear all wrinkled as I might've grabbed it too tightly when things took place in my dream. No, a nightmare.
Yes.
That day was no less than a nightmare. It was the event that affected my life in various aspects.
It was the day I lost my beloved grandma. She died a natural death. She was old and it was inevitable but it was all too new for a little child who never expected that she might be attacked on the same day.
It's not use thinking about it now. What happened is already done. All I can do now is beware of the hidden knives that can stab me from the back any moment.
I sigh and turn to check the time. The clock shows 7:20. It's still early. But atleast I am not late.
I get out of bed, wash up and get ready in my casual outfit that I prepared yesterday for the college trip.
We are going mountain hiking. It is for an outdoor environmental awareness activity, but it's more like a trip for us. This is the last outdoor activity we'll be setting out on.
I am excited. But more than me, there's someone else who cannot sleep the entire night.
I pick up my phone to find Maddie's messages, or should I say- paragraphs.
The messages were sent around 1'Oclock last night. She was awake re-confirming her outfit, accesories and her hairstyle.
You know, it's a serious matter. She cannot risk it. Not when she is the admin of the '#OOTDshare'. That's a group chat with a bunch of girls who share their outfits on the special occasion. Sometimes it becomes a 'girls to the rescue of girls' type of group too....like- they discuss what shades of lipstick would go with their OOTD and whatnot.
I was the second member of the group after Maddie. She made me join by making that puppy like face.It did not suit her though. I did, anyways.
"Bye, mom! See you tomorrow!" I exclaim when she replies "Bye! Be careful on the journey and take care of your belongings."
I leave the house with the driver who drives me to college everyday.
At the school gate, I find Maddie clicking a selfie of her #hikingfit with a little pout.
Maddie is my oldest and the only true friend in the college. All my highschool friends joined different colleges. But, it's not like I had a big group even then.
It was only 4 of us.
But I am happy right now. She is like a sister to me. Being the only child, I never experienced the perks of having siblings. But she gets me involved in all the fun and drags me along in activities that I don't volunteer for. It's not like I hate it, but it's fun to see her lose her shit but eventually give up on one of her precious magazine collections and lure me with that offer.
A win-win for me. Hehe
We boarded the buses soon.
We were supposed to sit with our tent partners which were originally assigned to us randomly. But seeing that we all couldn't stay with other classmates for the whole trip, we requested Ms.Shuan and she agreed to let us choose our own tent partners after a lot of thinking.
Of course girls are in a different group than boys. Even the buses are separately assigned. I don't really have any guy as a friend but we are all classmates so I do get involved in short convos here or there. I know some of them but I am way more clueless about the others.
"Settle down girls, we are about to leave. Let me call out for everybody once again to make sure no one is left behind" Ms.shuan said. We stored our belongings on upper shelves and smaller bags below our seats and bigger luggage in the storage at the back.
It's a 4 hour way for one side but it passed in a blur because nobody bothered to track out our way and instead decided to enjoy with the hell of a dance and karaoke session on the bus.
We soon reached our destination.
My words got stuck in my mouth when I admired the beauty of the hills and greenery around us. And this is not even the best part! A much beautiful scene awaits us at the mountain where we'll be camping. That's what our teachers told us and I apparently did some research to find it out. It looks wonderful in the pics posted by some tourists but I bet the actual thing is much better than a filtered pic.
Now for the tricky part. The hike.
"Augghhhh! How are we gonna climb up this mountain? Dude, it stretches till infinity...I can't see the the tip" Maddie says, while squinting her eyes.
"It's almost evening, let's get going so we can set up our tents for the night" a teacher instructs all the students.
I carry my only bag which has 2 pairs of clothes fitting the journey style. Comfy and cozy.
"Scarlett....."
"What?"
I turn back and look at Maddie standing with a suitcase handle in her hand. Just the handle.
"Not my fault it came off, this thing is too weak to handle the load of my clothes" she makes a sobbing face and my lips form a line.
I sometimes question my choices. How did I stumble upon a best friend like this?Anyways, too late to go back now.
I sigh. "We have no other choice but to either drag it up or to break our backs doing some wight lifting. Which one?"
"Though the handle is off, I need to keep the rest intact. So, let's go with the lifting" she say, giving an apologetic smile.
I wonder if we both will be able to reach the camp 'intact'.