CRUEL FATE

Crystal clear memory

"I woke up too early today. I barely slept last night. All this anticipation is killing me, man." I sighed into my cell and took another bite of my chocolate. I was on call with Ryan, my best and only friend in the entire world.
"Bethy, you need to calm down, and relax. I know you afraid of heights and I know how much you hate exercise." I could almost see the smirk on his face even though we were on call. He was supposed to try to calm me down not tease me. I suddenly wanted to slap him. But he continued, "But you love nature. And that cliff is just the perfect spot to clear your mind about the article you submitted. You've been obsessing over it since the last three weeks."  He was right. I have been constantly thinking about that article. I would be really lucky if they published it.
"You know what? I think you're right. But I still have a bad feeling about this, Ryan. Like something is about to go wrong. Like something horrible."
"Bethy, everything will be fine. Don't overthink about this. Besides, what could possibly go wrong when the world's best friends are together?"
I chuckled at that. "Should I remind you what went wrong in this year's prom?"
"Oh please! Don't even bring that up." And we both started laughing hysterically. I stopped and listened to him still laughing. His way of laughing had a tinge of magic in it. It cheer a whole room of depressed people. He could lift anyone's mood within no time.
"Hey, what happened?" He asked when he stopped laughing.
"Nothing. I was still thinking how dumb that boy was to actually go into that creepy barn to find his date for prom. Like seriously? Who would believe that your date wants to meet you in some creepy barn??"
"Poor guy. He actually believed that prank and fainted when they scared him in that barn."
And we burst out laughing again.
"So, we're going to this camp right?"
"Yeah, I guess. See ya tomorrow then. I'll gather some things for the camp."
"Yeah, okay. But don't carry too much. It's only a one day trip. We'll return in the evening. If you make your bag too heavy, I'm not going to carry it to the top of the cliff."
"You are going to carry my bag as well as yours, Mr. Muscleman. And be assured I'll make my bag as heavy as possible." I retorted.
"We'll see to that. Because if you are going to make it purposefully difficult for me then I need my fellow musclemen to accompany us. Either ways, your bag will reach the top even before you will, Madam. Now go pack and take rest. Tomorrow is going to be tiresome."
"Good night to you too, Mr. Snappy." I said before ending the call. I packed my bag and went to sleep earlier than usual. 
The next morning, I was ready with my bag and waited for Ryan on my front porch. Momma came out when Ryan blew the horn of his SUV. He jumped out of it and met my mother and she pulled him into a hug. I rolled my eyes.
"Sometimes I feel like you love him more than me." I mocked at them.
"Of course!" They said in unison. My eyes widened due to utter shock.
"I'm going to pretend this just didn't happened." I said throwing my bag at Ryan. He caught it between chuckles.
"Garry would have gone with you if he was here."
"Hah. Nice, he isn't here. I can't handle two annoying brats at the same time." Momma slapped me playfully at that. Don't get me wrong, I missed him badly but that was just my way of addressing my brother.
"Have a good trip both of you." She waved as we got into the vehicle. We drove towards school and parked the SUV once we reached and climbed into one of the two campers. It was already filled with a few people. Ryan and I exchanged looks. The next thing I knew was him pulling me out of the camper and getting us inside the bus to its last row. I sat near the window with him beside me.
"Why not the camper?"
"One was full and the other one had Andrea in it."
I scrunched my nose at her name. You must have surely heard about highschool bitches. She was the epitome.
"Hey, what's that expression? C'mon she could be your best friend." Yuck. I gagged at the thought and he simply chuckled. His gentle laugh and warm smile that reached his gorgeous eyes was all I needed sometimes. I rested my head on his shoulder, unconsciously and looked out of the window as the bus started moving. I straightened when I realise what I was doing and looked around to check if anyone had seen. Not many students were in the bus, everyone wanted the camper comfort. My gaze landed on him and he was smiling at me. Oh, how my heart melted at that. I was so getting used to him being around me all the time, I wondered if at all I could survive if he wasn't in m life. Before I could realize what he was doing, he pulled my head back to his shoulder and kept me there. I stayed in that position throughout the way to the cliff and then we were called.
"Time for some exercise, Bethy."
I stuck out my tongue at him. He laughed at me then continued, "I wonder how you haven't become a fat pig by now. You never work out and I see you with chocolate almost all the time. Even last night, when I was on call you were having chocolate. What is your secr..."
"Wait! How did you know that?!" I cut him off mid sentence.
"Didn't expect your bff to know that about you, huh?" He grinned. I heard a teacher call out the students to start the climb so I pushed him aside and walked out of the bus to join the group. Ryan followed close behind. We started hiking and everyone was chattering in excitement. We were half way up the cliff without even realizing it. I took out a bar of chocolate when they decided to take a rest. We resumed our climb a few minutes later. I ate while we climbed and I saw Ryan take picture of different insects. I wasn't surprised because I knew he had a thing for photography. H e clicked pictures the entire way up. Once we reached the top, I shoved the last piece of chocolate into my mouth and he clicked a picture of me doing that!!
"Hey! Delete that!"  I yelled at him. He dropped our bags on the ground and started running about. I chased him until we reached the edge of the cliff.
"Stop... I can't run anymore." I said panting heavily.
"Okay. But I won't delete that."
"Okay. Don't. Just show it to me."
I really did look horrible in that picture. He grabbed his camera away from me before I could delete it. I smiled at him.
"I actually look great in that photo. You can keep it as long as you don't show it to anyone. Especially my annoying brother."
"Speaking of your brother, have you guys been talking and keeping me out of it?"
"How did you know?" He frowned. Uh-oh.
"We're not keeping you out of anything. We talked just yesterday and he said was going to tell when he was sure of things."
"Things?"
"There's a girl..."
"Hah. I knew."
I rolled my eyes, "He said he's going to tell once he comes home."
"Okay. That's something. Anyways, let's click a picture of us. Let me fix the tripod."
"You carried that?"
"Hah. Yes." Look who's carrying too much now.
I was enjoying the view and he called me when he was done. There was a small rock on edge of the cliff. i walked over to there and suddenly, my acrophobia kicked in.  I froze. Ryan walked closer to stand behind me. I leaned into him and closed my eyes daring not to look down.
"Open your eyes, Bethy. Look at the wonderful nature. Isn't it something that you love? Then why are you so afraid of it?"
I slowly opened my eyes to find myself sitting on the rock between his legs and he was holding me, assuring me everything was fine. I looked around to see greenery everywhere. I was wonderstruck. I stared at the beauty and immediately felt peaceful within myself which in itself was a great feeling.
"Now will you pose for a good one" He asked and I smiled for a picture.
He set the timer and came to pose with me. And we clicked many more pictures. I was thirsty after a while because of the chocolate I had consumed so I went to grab my bottle. When I returned to my spot I made him get off the rock and took the place. That wasn't easy. I had to apply full force to drag him off. He sat on the ground beside me.
"Bethy, I need to tell you something..." I gave him a 'go on' look and he continued standing up in the process. He looked at me with his dark eyes, "I think I'm getting used to being around you all the time. I... I don't know how to say it, but it's just that I don't think I would survive peacefully if I don't have you. I am grateful that I found you. The day we met was the luckiest day I'd say. I don't want to lose you, Bethany Claire."
I was so shocked. He said the exact words I had in mind for him. I was too overwhelmed to be crying, laughing or anything. I only stared at him.
"You know what, Ryan? I was thinking the same about you."
He gave me a smile that reached his eyes and made them look like they twinkled. He straightened and did a little victory dance that looked more like chicken dance. God, that was so funny! I was laughing hysterically completely forgetting thta we were still on the edge of a cliff. I immediately stopped laughing to see him still dancing on the edge.
"Watch out!!!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs just before his leg slipped.
The next few seconds passed in slow motion. I sprung from the rock and threw my hand for him to catch and saw his hand miss mine by mere inches. And he fell...

I don't know how long I sat there with my eyes wide open with shock due what i had just witnessed and tears streamed down my face like never before. The next few months passed in a blur, my article actually got published and I got an offer to write another and another and focused on work. I was buried in work until when my brother finally came home. And here I was replaying the events of that day. Only if I had trusted my intuition and gone somewhere else instead of this cliff, he'd be still with me as my best friend or maybe something more than that. And I couldn't blame myself lesser than I did. The memory haunted me. Each time I thought of it, I felt guilt, grief and heartbreak. And it hurt so much that it actually caused physical pain in my heart. But eventually, past is the past. You can neither change it nor the way you feel about it. This memory was going to stay buried in my heart, my mind, my head for ever.

I put on my headphones and played his favorite song, Symphony by Clean Bandit. I listened to it on repeat until I reached home and got into bed to travel to my dreamland, hoping to find him there.