Into The Vale of Shadows // Max Mayfield

II; i. the fall

chapter one
the fall

     THE SUN WAS at its peak, blazing brightly and hotly through the trees. The breeze flew by, hot and warm, the leaves dancing as they went, the sound of its rattling matching with the birds lovely songs, calming music to the ears.

      Raven would've enjoyed the lovely sound, only if she wasn't hot and pressured by the current temperature. She walked through the treeline, silently arguing with the entity beside her, looking for the signs of the body of the water. Behind her was Max, watching with amusement pooling in her eyes, smiling wide from one ear to another, heart beating fast that she was sure Raven can hear it, with stomach horded with butterflies, tickling her into almost laughing.

     For the past year the two had gone closer, surrounding themselves with each other every chance they get — those chances coming everyday — much more inseparable than Mike and Eleven, or even Gorgon and Raven when they're together. They've spent too much time together that it felt really odd to not be with each other, being separated for a few hours and finding themselves together, brought there by their subconscious.

      Max suggested for them to go to the community pool to cool down, Raven disagreeing and saying that going to a lake is a better choice since it was colder and has lesser crowd, the duo argued back and forth until they ended up agreeing to Gorgon's suggestion about going to this secret paradise, thus having them here, in the middle of the woods, looking for the said place.

     "I told you, we were supposed to take a left, like five minutes ago," Raven argued, looking at Gorgon who was out and exposed by her side, neck attached to her back and extending by her shoulders. Max watched before them, silently laughing at their banter.

      "Who has better memory? Oh yes, that's it, Gorgon! Keep a straight, and then a left at that broken tree, few meters and we will be there," said the entity, shaking its head as it watched Raven struggle to follow the directions.

     "Are you guys sure where we're going?" Max ducked under a hanging branch, following Raven and Gorgon as they took a left by the said tree, taking a hold of Raven's hand and intertwining them, stomach doing flips and face becoming warmer.

     Soon, the sound of the flowing falling water came to their earshot, Gorgon turning at Raven with a smug look at its faceless head, while the girl rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she carried on with Max by her side. The ginger chortled at their antics, squeezing on Raven's hand as they walked.

     When they got out of the tree line, their eyes met a breathtaking sight of a water fall that looked to be fifteen feet high, falling into this wide slowly flowing river that had a greenish clear color, so clear that you can see the depths of its bottom. Here it felt cool, the sounds of the water hitting onto the bottom was so relaxing that listening to it can make you fall asleep, it was blissfully peaceful and calm.

     "Told you so," said the entity. Raven's shoulder fell, hands letting go of Max's to take her bag off and drop it to the ground, the lack of contact made Max feel a bit out of mood, but she pushed it aside, copying the blonde's very movement.

     "This place is beautiful." Max stepped forward to admire the place, Raven watching after her with a proud grin, feeling a ticklish sensation in her stomach as she saw how bright Max had gone. "How come no one comes here?"

     Gorgon chuckled at the said question, "Works only I could have finished."

     "Smug little rabies," Raven mumbled as soon as Gorgon sank underneath her skin, something within her gut rumbled, followed by the entity's voice.