Anytime, dude.
A bittersweet knot lodged in my throat. I miss you, Mo.
No answer.
“Rodel? You sure you’re all right?”
My eyes flew open.
Jack was watching me across the small space that separated our beds.
I nodded and wiped the stray tear that had escaped. “Just having a moment.”
He didn’t take his eyes off my face, and I was strangely comfortable with that, with him seeing the part of me that no one else got to see. He was so achingly familiar with loss that sharing it with him didn’t feel foreign. There was an acceptance, an understanding, that lifted me and held me steady in his gaze. Perhaps he found the same in me because his face turned soft—the shape of his lips relaxed, the bottom one falling slightly open.
The clang of something outside the tent shook us out of the moment.
“I think they just brought the hot water,” he said. “You want to take that shower now?”
“That would be nice.”
But neither of us moved. We lay there for a few beats, while the water turned cold outside, wisps of steam rising in the chilly morning. We had found a pocket of quiet, where all the ghosts in our minds had gone to sleep, and we were the only two people awake.
Then Jack blinked, and the moment drifted away. I watched as he brought the buckets in and carried them to the bathroom. I went first, making sure I left enough hot water for him. Then again, maybe not. There was a hell of a lot more of him to cover.
I stepped out of the tent while he showered. A hazy sun was just peeking over the horizon. Wisps of pink clouds were saying goodbye to a pearlescent moon. The watchmen were gone so I figured it was safe to walk around in the daytime. The camp was perched on the rim of the crater, with sweeping views of the landscape below. Keeping a respectful distance from the edge, I peered over and saw patchwork colors in the grassy plains. As I watched, they changed and moved. Then I realized they were herds of wildebeests and zebras, grazing on the floor of the caldera. They were barely discernible from this height, like blocks of little marching ants.
It was a beautiful, surreal sight. I crept closer, but thick clouds that were sweeping down from the rim and covering the crater obscured my view. The air was noticeably colder, and there was a fine drizzle on my face. I zipped up Jack’s hoodie and headed back to the tent.
I didn’t get too far. Everything had turned thick and gray. The mist rolled around me in smoky swirls, giving me a tiny peek before shrouding it again. I walked one way, saw something, and started walking in that direction instead. After a few minutes, I was completely lost, completely disoriented. I didn’t know if I was walking toward the crater or away from it.
“Hello? Can anyone hear me?” My hair clung dankly to my head as I held my hands out, trying to steer my way out of the heavy, silver labyrinth.
Something shifted in front of me.
“Jack? Is that you? Anyone there?” I turned to follow the movement.
A gigantic, dark figure rose ahead of me. It had the ghostly outline of a person but with arms and legs elongated way beyond proportion. Its head was sheathed in a shimmering ring, like a hazy, rainbow halo. I blinked, pretty sure I was imagining the unnerving apparition, but it stood there, as real and chilling as the droplets of water clinging to my skin. I took a step back, and it moved with me.
Motherfucker.
I turned and sprinted blindly, stumbling over the uneven ground. I thought I heard my name, and then the fall of heavy footsteps behind me. I picked up my pace, high on the fumes of adrenaline, but it was no use. A strong grip clamped around my wrist and spun me around.
“What the hell, Rodel? Didn’t you hear me? Why are you running?”
“Jack!” I let out a soft gasp. “Thank God. That thing.” I looked over his shoulder, my chest heaving. “Did you see?” I broke away from him, searching for it.
“Listen to me.” He pulled me back with such force that I crashed into him. “Stop moving. You hear me? Stop. Fucking. Moving.”
The urgency in his voice shackled my floundering footsteps.
“You were this close to the edge.” He left an inch between his thumb and forefinger. “This close. What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” He was furious, his face a glowering mask of rage.
“Listen to me!” I yanked my hand away, my heart still black with fright. “I saw something. A ghost. A dark figure. I don’t know what it was, but it was following me.”
Jack ran his hand through his hair. It was damp from the mist. Or maybe his shower. His hair was darker when wet, the ends curled up to an almost decent length.
“Was it big?” he asked. “Long arms, long legs?”
“Yes.”
“Rainbow colors around the silhouette?”
“Around its head. Yes.”
He let out a deep breath. “Rodel?”
“What?”
“Don’t go wandering off without me, okay?” He started walking away from me. He seemed to know exactly where he was going.
“Wait.” I wasn’t about to lose sight of him. “Are you going to tell me what it was?”
“We’ll talk inside.”
I followed him into the dining room and waited until we were seated.
“How did you do that?” I asked, after the waiter brought our food.
“Do what?”
“Find me. And then find the dining room in the mist.”
“When you spend a lot of time in the wild with no markers, no buildings, no road signs, you learn to keep track up here.” He tapped his temple. “How many paces, which way. As far as you’re concerned, I just followed your voice and footsteps. It’s not hard once you know what you’re tracking. I just didn’t expect you to start running toward the cliff.”