Ghost of the Abyss

Chapter 2 - Meeting Sandy Irvine

It was a dream. It had to be a dream. I studied climbing Mt. Everest most of my life, and his image was ingrained in my mind, so much that whenever I thought of Everest, which was all the time, I thought of Mallory and Irvine, but mostly Irvine. And I saw him for real. At least, I thought I did. He was smiling like in the pictures I had seen of him, showing his white teeth...

My body jolted and my eyes popped open to see a masked face above me, one of the team. Disoriented, I blinked a few times. This wasn't Craig. It was probably Adam since he was the other man closest to me. I muttered his name.

"You're awake, thank God!" he exclaimed as I looked around and saw the others around me and Adam. "You've been scaring us an awful lot in the past couple of hours."

"What happened?" I asked weakly. "Did I pass out?"

"Yeah. You gasped, your body went frigid, and then you fainted. You've been our for maybe a minute."

He sat me up, and I heard the wind howling around us, and the snow I was sitting in suddenly felt very cold on my rear. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Oh man, that's embarrassing. I'm normally pretty tough."

Some of the guys chuckled, but then I suddenly saw Craig in my line of sight, blocking the sun. "Do you feel well enough to walk? I suggest you lean on someone. Once we get to camp, you're resting and we're taking your blood pressure."

I nodded at that, knowing my body felt weak and that I needed an examination by Craig, the official leader and doctor of the group. "Okay. Sorry guys, I just..." Sandy Irvine's image appeared in my mind again and I shook it away. That was the very first time that I was scared enough to pass out. "Nevermind. Help me up."

Adam and Craig did so, and I leaned into Adam. He put my arm around his shoulder. "You sure you can do this?"

"Do I have any other choice, other than to fall down the mountain? Just don't fall. I would fall with you."

I imagined an amused smirk cross his lips under his oxygen mask. "I won't, I promise."

On we all went, and my body remained just as weak. The others were kind and walked slower as to stay with Adam and me. I felt guilt sink into my gut. "Adam, sorry about this. I'm making you the slow poke."

"Hey, don't worry about it, alright?" He became silent, then in a low tone near my left hear, "You saw him again, didn't you?"

I pursed my lips under my mask, not wanting to reveal the answer. Adam hinted at not believing me earlier. I should say something, though. Adam was a good friend. "Yes. He was maybe ten feet away from the both of us back there. I saw him when I looked up, and next thing I knew, I was laying in the snow and looking up at your mask and glasses."

Again, silence. That was the hint before that he didn't believe me.

"You think I'm nuts, don't you? I know you're thinking it."

He let out a breath through his mask. "This mountain and this altitude can do crazy things to a person. I'm just sorry that you were scared enough to faint. I don't think I've ever been that scared before."

"It isn't fun, let me tell you."

We trudged on down the mountain, and I eventually could see our camp--Camp VI. Mt. Everest had a total of six camps on it, or bases, where the climbers could rest and/or acclimatize. The acclimatization process was just a way in which one's body could get used to being up this high. Our plan at the moment was to rest for about an hour, gather our gear, and head down to Camp V to rest for a bit, and then head down to the North Col. Our bodies had long since been acclimatized since we already made it to the summit.