Happy Birthday
Victoria lay on the bed of her best friend Rosie Sommers, her head propped up lazily on her hand. Her eyes began to glaze over; each article of clothing tossed in the air a blur of color. Rosie couldn’t decide what to pack for their hike the next day. The weather forecast told of mostly clear skies and a gentle breeze, and to Rosie that meant she had a little more freedom to dress cute.
For who? The bears? Victoria mused to herself, a small grin crept onto her face at the preposterous thought of Rosie talking to a bear in the woods.
“Which do you prefer?” Rosie spun on her heel, holding up two dressy tops by the hooks of their hangers, taking turns to lift each item up to be considered in turn.
Before Victoria had a chance to give her opinion, Rosie’s mouth twisted and she spun back around, hanging up both tops. “Nope, neither of these will do.”
Victoria rolled her eyes and giggled, “I don’t know why you’re putting so much effort into a this. Sure, we’ll take pictures together, but we need to dress for comfort for the hike. Please, tell me you’re at least planning on wearing pants to protect your legs.”
The room remained silent for a moment as a slight blush appeared on Rosie’s cheeks. She shuffled over to her backpack and picked up a pair of shorts that were laying on top. Her head held straight to avoid Victoria’s direct gaze, Rosie wordlessly stuffed the shorts into the dresser and then unceremoniously dragged out a pair of navy blue denim pants, which were then draped over the backpack.
Rosie turned back to Victoria with her hands on her hips, “Happy? It’s not your birthday every day, so I want to look nice! Don’t judge.”
Ever the dramatic. Victoria thought to herself while doing her best to keep a stern, yet approving look on her face in a silent response. She actually thought Rosie’s theatrics were endearing, especially since they were never done with malicious intent; rather, they were performed for amusement’s sake. And, it really was sweet that Rosie wanted to look nice for Victoria’s birthday.
“I am happy, yes, and I think your legs will thank you tomorrow, too. As for your top, hmmm, why not just choose that teal one, there on the left? Then you’ll match the shirt I chose, unless you don’t want to be matchy-matchy.” Victoria sat up and rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes, willling her mind to focus in order to give Rosie her complete attention.
Rosie grabbed the teal top off the rack and held it out in front of her, tilting her head side to side as she considered the shirt. Another moment or two later, and she plucked the top off the hanger and placed it on top of the pants she had chosen a few moments before.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning brought a speckle of clouds to the crisp, blue sky, though they were bright white and non-threatening in any way. So far, the forecast held true.
Victoria gulped down the last of her lightly creamed coffee and then stood up, placing her dirty dishes into the sink. Squirting a dollop of soap onto the sponge, she began to clean her dishes. Her mind wandered to the day ahead.
Today was her twentieth birthday, and she couldn’t wait for the hike to begin. Every night for the past month, she’d gradually felt a stronger and stronger pull to enter into the forest. Her heart ached to be surrounded by the dense collection of trees and to hear the occasional birds twittering their calls and responses. Her dreams had become full of the bedtime stories she’d heard as a child; charming princes and beautiful princesses, dragons, and other fanciful fairytale creatures. Though, she quickly brushed off her wild dreams as the mere consequences of reading stories of similar subject matter. She was no stranger to her mind’s creativity.
Her phone rang on the counter beside her. She placed the last dish onto the drying rack and rinsed the soapy suds off her hands. She briskly patted her fingertips on the folded hand towel near her phone and then answered the call.
“Hey, good morning! I was just about to text you. You ready for the big hike?” Victoria asked Rosie as she held the phone to her ear with her shoulder and more thoroughly dried her hands. Once her hands felt sufficiently dried, she hung the little towel over oven’s handle to dry.
Victoria shifted her hold on the phone from her shoulder and held it to her ear with her hand. She listened to Rosie’s voice quicken with excitement with every word she spoke.
A gust of wind heaved against the house. Movement in Victoria’s peripheral vision caught her attention, pulling her eyes away from the small sack she was packing snacks into. Through the kitchen window, Victoria saw tree branches swaying with every gust of wind, though the sky remained relatively cloudless for the time-being.
“..Tori, hello?”
Victoria hastily replied, “Yes, I’m still here.” Victoria quickly replayed their conversation in her mind to give Rosie a proper response. “You were saying you met a cute guy at the coffee shop this morning? Did you happen to give him your number?” Victoria closed up the sack of snacks and stuffed it into her full backpack.
“I did, and he already sent me a text. So, now I’m just waiting an appropriate amount of time before replying. I dont want to appear too eager, you know?”
“I hear you. Just be careful not to forget to reply and accidentally wait too long.”
“I won’t, I won’t,” Rosie brushed off Victoria’s warning. “Anywho, I just finished packing my backpack, so I’m going to put on my shoes..”
“Hiking shoes, right?” Victoria interrupted.
“Yes, I’m wearing hiking shoes. Even though they don’t exactly match my nice top.” Rosie sighed in minor disgust at the perceived styling transgression. “Once I put on my shoes I’ll head right on over, so I’ll see you in about half an hour, or less.”
“Sounds good. I’ll be ready when you arrive.” Victoria ended the call and finished getting ready for the day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Victoria heard Rosie’s car pull into the driveway. She slung her bag over her shoulder and grabbed her keys off the key-ring on the wall.
Rosie honked the horn to let Victoria know she had arrived, though it was unnecessary because at that moment, the front door opened and Victoria walked out and locked her front door.
“Happy birthday!” Rosie greeted Victoria once she’d opened the passenger door to get in, her backpack having already been deposited into the trunk.
Victoria grinned widely, her eyes squinted shut and her head tilted to one side. “Thanksss! You ready for the hike? I’m hoping the weather holds up. It would really stink if we had to end the hike early due to a sudden storm.” She clicked her seatbelt into position and leaned against the window to look up at the slowly growing clouds in the sky.
“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” Rosie replied, her tone chipper yet resigned.
The hour and fifteen minute drive to the national park passed quickly as the girls listened to music on Rosie’s new travel themed playlist and chatted about everything and nothing, speckled with hearty giggles every few minutes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An hour after their arrival at the densly wooded national park, the duo had worked quite a ways up the scenic hiking trail. The dirt trail they trekked upon. occasionally thinned out as the battle against the grass and weeds seemed to be lost from time to time. An abundance of dark and light green trees surrounded them on both sides of the trail, providing decent coverage from the scorching rays of the sun. The wind gusts grew in strength the higher up the mountain they went, though they only felt them when the trees grew sparce.
A bead of sweat rolled down Victoria’s back, her breathing heavy, causing her to lose focus on her steps and she stumbled over a rogue stick laying in the middle of the path. She pulled out the map, her steps slowing to a stop. “Okay, if we follow this trail.. here.. out this way, then we’ll reach a cabin campsite where we can stay for the night.” Her finger trailed along the path she wanted to take; Rosie leaning in beside her to get a good look in order to commit the path to memory.
Though the girls went hiking at least once a month, neither one wanted to accidentally be caught in the middle of the forest when the sun was setting. They weren’t quite that experienced, or adventurous. Meticulously planned, daytime hikes were about as adventurous as they cared to be.
Rosie hummed in agreement as she took a sip from her water bottle, then a moment later she noticed the marking for a waterfall on the map that didn’t seem to be too far off their path.
“What do you think about checking out that waterfall before we head to the campsite? It’s not too far off our path, and we still have plenty of daylight.” Rosie waggled her eyebrows in an attempt to entice Victoria into making the excursion.
Victoria bust out laughing at Rosie’s silliness and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I guess we can do that. Lets go!”
About 15 minutes later, the girls began to hear the gurgling of moving water nearby. Victoria and Rosie’s excitement grew. Rosie jumped up and down, nearly shaking with anticipation.
The pair hastened down the path. On one side of the trail, the land began to slope more dramatically, and closer to the trail, than before.
A gust of wind seemed to urge them along in their quest to find the source of the water.
“There! I see it!” Rosie exclaimed and pointed to something she saw through the trees.
Victoria peered through the dense foliage, leaning this way and that. Where is it? I don’t see it.”
She pushed the tree branch in front of her downwards, hoping to be able to see more clearly. She leaned forward, focused.
A strong gust of wind knocked against her and the branch broke under the additional weight.
One second, Victoria was standing on the trail next to Rosie, and the next, she was careening down the slope of the mountain. Her knees crumpled under her uneven weight, scraping against the harsh rocks and twigs littered along the slope’s forest floor. She heard Rosie scream behind her, still up on the trail.
Victoria’s scream died in her throat. She thought the abundance of trees would stop her from going down too far, but the treeline thinned out only a few feet away from the trail. Victoria attempted, though not very well, to curl up into a ball. The onslaught of branches and the rocky ground brought pain throughout her body. With every tumble, another part of her body stung with pain.
Suddenly, the ground wasn’t there anymore. Her extremities flailed wildly, grasping for anything and receiving nothing but air. The wind seemed to taunt her as it blew one last strong gust behind her, before she dropped over the cliff.
