Watching Sunrise
I draw my sleepy eyes open to see a still dark sky through the roof of my glass igloo. It’s surprising that it wasn’t too cold inside despite the freezing condition and a foot-high layer of snow outside.
I’m usually not an early morning person, but I was awake and had a crazy idea on my mind. I swung my feet off the bed, got out and made my way to the adjacent room where, sleeping peacefully laid my partner-in-crime (or PIC, which is how I shall refer to him for the rest of this story unless otherwise specified). The only person I thought of when I wanted to tale this break off the tiring, yet addictive schedule of being a doctor. He obviously agreed, considering the place, I’d chosen, the season and his love for travelling in general. Also, not to forget, the trip was with me, his best friend.
I got on my knees when I reached his bed and whispered, “Hey! Wake up,” as I ruffled his hair.
He groaned and turned the other way round, snuggling deeper into his blanket. I rolled my eyes as I said to myself, “Sleepy head.”
Now, I had to shake him by his shoulder. He finally opened his eyes and tried to give me a glare, at which he terribly failed terribly, causing me to giggle.
“It’s still dark outside,” he whined as he reached for his phone to check the time. It was 3:25 am. He let out an annoyed groan and said, “it’s 3:25 am! What is it?” as he started rubbing his eyes. Still obviously sleepy.
“I have an idea.” Was all I said. Knowing this incomplete answer would perk his curiosity up.
“What idea?” he asked as he kept one eye closed and cocked an eyebrow at me.
“Well, we are in Saariselkä, Finland. It’s early. The trip would be incomplete if we didn’t witness the Finnish sunrise. Especially, surrounded by snow and trees...” I let my voice trail off as I waved my hand in the air to convey my message.
He was fully awake now, out of bed and darting around the room in order to get dressed. It was funny, coz he couldn’t see the shirt that was dumped on the back of the only chair in the room.
“Do I take this as a yes?” I asked as I tried to stifle a chuckle.
“You’re sneaky. You know I wouldn’t say no to watching sunrise. Or sunset. Anywhere. The fact that it’s here is just a bonus.”
I just got up as I held a smile of triumph on my face and said, “I know you so well.”
“Don’t underestimate how well I know you. I’m your best friend. In case you forgot. I mean, who else would be ready to tolerate you on a vacation to Finland?” he said with a smirk on his face.
“You mean, apart from the entire gang that we hang out with?” I countered. Knowing fully as to what his comeback would be.
“That was the women. And they were dying to come because of me.” (Just as I guessed. As much as I adored him, he adored himself. As evidently seen by his response.)
“Yes. George, Liam and Eden asked to join because they were dying to see you walk around this igloo with no shirt on so they could drool over your abs.” I said, as I smiled to myself despite knowing how this argument would end.
This wasn’t the first time I’d had this conversation with him. Every time, I would give in, purely because I can’t hold in my laughter at the limit of his self-obsession.
I got up and walked over to my room, freshened up and got dressed after which I put on my jacket. Finally, I got out as I put the scarf around my neck to find Mr. Self-obsessed waiting for me in the living room of our igloo. It was 3:50 now. We had around 25-30 minutes until sunrise.
We got out and locked the door behind us. Fortunately, we were booked in a cabin that was close to a slope and quite isolated from the other cabins. Surrounded by a good number of trees, creating a perfect retreat from the regular hectic world we lived in. I started walking a little towards the slope, my feet sinking a little into the snow with every step I took. I little far from there, I realised I couldn’t feel my best friend next to me or hear him behind me.
Just as I turned back to see what the hell was keeping him back; I was hit right in the face with a snowball.
“Ow! What the hell are you doing?!” I asked, wincing at the pain and in obvious annoyance at an idiot of a best friend of mine.
I could hear his laughter as I shook the snow off my face. Just as I was done, I was hit with another one, this time, right to my chest.
This one didn’t hurt as much, thanks to my jacket. I started marching towards my friend, picking up snow along the way as I started hitting him once, twice, thrice, in succession. By the time I got close to him, he was begging for me to stop. Albeit it was between bouts of laughter, and on the ground.
I’d thrown enough snow at him to make him look stupidly funny. This, along with his laughing amidst the wincing was infectious enough to get me laughing.
I knew this was my only time for revenge so I crouched down next to him and started tickling him. Knowing his weakness, he was soon struggling to try and wiggle his way out of the torture but failed.
“Say you’re sorry, and I’ll stop.” I told him, still continuing the tickling.
His reply was broken and interspersed with giggles.
“But, I’m…”
“Not”
“Sorry”
I tickled more just as he finished his statement, as I said, “What? That didn’t sound like an apology to me.”
“Okay. Okay.”
But, I didn’t stop.
“I’m sorry.” he said, finally giving in.
Keeping my word, I ceased the tickling immediately and got up.
He took a few seconds to recover after which I helped him up and we walked over to a spot from where we would see the sunrise easily. The sky had started to get lighter now as we took a seat on the snow. I checked the time to see it was 4:07am.
We were sitting in silence, enjoying each other’s company and waiting for our special guest, the Sun to come up when we heard something faint in the background. Both of us turned our heads at the same time to find a cute little mountain hare staring right at us, standing not far from where we were seated. This was our third day here so this wasn’t the first one we’d seen, but it sure was the cutest. Just a few seconds later, it turned and hopped away from us. My PIC turned to look at me and we both started laughing. And lord only knows what we were laughing about.
As our laughter died out, we started talking about random nothings and absolutely everything-s. If it makes any sense whatsoever. The conversation between us went smooth and easy as always. We both went silent as the sky turned into a beautiful shade of orange and pink. The clouds, looking like smoke in a sky that resembled flames. Just as the sun started rising, it cast warm light over everything that came in its path. Turns out, PIC and myself were among them. I turned to my right and saw my best friend’s face, half illuminated by the sunlight, while the remaining half of it was covered in the shadow, cast by a tree located not too far from us. Much like his real self, showing a bright side to people, always keeping a smiling face in front of others while he kept all his worries hidden from the world, trapped inside his own heart and head. I was glad I could be someone he could bare his soul to and not be judged for anything he said or did. I had my opinions about how he dealt with things but I never once judged him for any of the decisions he made.
Suddenly overcome with emotion, I gave PIC a tight side-hug as I turned back to face the sun after which I rested my head on his shoulder. Soon after, I felt his head rest on mine as we continued to watch the sun rise to its full might.
Neither of us said anything nor did we move an inch as we marvelled everything around us. Capturing everything we could with our eyes, memorising every detail around us and etching it permanently into our memory, not wanting the moment to end.
The moment did end when we heard a sound coming diagonally from our left. We both turned our heads to see it was a reindeer standing at a certain distance from us, watching us. Weirdly enough, the sounds still didn’t stop and soon, another one emerged from the same direction and stood next to the one that was already there. Neither of us moved. Too transfixed at the sight in front of us, too afraid that even one slight movement would scare the two magnificent creatures away.
Seconds, or minutes, I don’t know how long later, the two reindeers turned and ran away in the same direction while PIC and myself still sat in silence. Neither of us knowing what to say. Probably too happy to say anything. But we already knew how elated the other was, so there was no need to say anything at all.
I don’t know how long passed before I said, “I think we should make our way back. I’m in dire need of coffee.” bursting our bubble of silence.
“Yeah. Let’s go.” He replied and just as I was about to get up, I was met in the face with a handful of snow and PIC’s palm. Way to kill the serene environment that surrounded us merely seconds ago, I thought to myself as I heard him laugh like he’s just seen someone walk into a wall of glass without realising it.
I wasn’t one to back down from a challenge, so I gathered as much snow as I could in the palm of my left hand and smeared it onto his face and was about to do the same with my right hand. Just as my hand was about to reach his face, he caught hold of my wrist and shook all the snow from his face and gave me a devilish grin. I responded with a grin of my own as I threw snow at him using my free left hand, taking him by surprise, the look on his face causing me to laugh. He let go of my wrist and I took this chance to get off my feet and started running towards our cabin. It was hard to keep the lead considering PIC was an athlete and I wasn’t. it was harder considering the snowballs that hit my back as I tried to run. I heard him get closer behind me and before he could do anything, I stopped, turned and said, “Okay! I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
(Let me tell you, I didn’t mean it. But I was a good liar so, it worked.)
“Good.” Was all he said with a smirk on his face which confused me.
It took me a while to realise that I made a huge mistake by stopping but it was too late by then and I was greeted by another ball of snow, right in the face.
“You need to speed up your reflexes dear bestie!” He said, victory oozing from every syllable he pronounced.
Annoyed at myself, I replied saying. “I’m usually fast. You’re the one that is slowing me down!”
“That’s what she said.”
I glared at him in response, mortified and unsure of what to say.
I must’ve looked like a joke with wide eyes, messy hair and a face covered in snow as PIC laughed louder than ever. Probably waking the entire resort as I jabbed him in the arm and said “Dufus,” but ended up joining him in his infectious guffaw.
