The Cold Raining Night

The start

It was well over 45°C, the sun blaring at my back. My shirt was dripping with sweat and my backpack felt really heavy. But none of those things bothered me. The only thing bothering me was, where had Boo run off to now.

Before we continue the story, I should introduce myself. Hey! I'm Lily and this is the story of my hiking trip with my dog, Boo.
Boo and I love the outdoors and spend as much time possible in nature. We often go trekking, kayaking and, like today, hiking.

We had been on the mountain for almost an hour and half until suddenly Boo caught scent of something and decided to run behind it. I wanted to run behind him as well, but I was not familiar with this part of the mountain and besides, the backpack and the heat made it very hard to walk and climb the steep slope so running was out of the question. So the only thing I could do was call out his name and hope that he comes back without hurting himself.
I knew he would be fine, after all, we have been to many such adventures together, so I wasn't too worried.

My feet had become very tired so I decided to sit under the shade of one of the trees. I pulled out a few sandwiches that I had packed, hoping that Boo would get the smell of the sandwiches and come back.
Soon enough, as I was finishing my second sandwich, I heard a rustle of bushes behind me and out came the little boy, his golden coat shining in the sunlight.
He sat beside me lay his head on my knees and began panting. I laughed. "Tired, are you?" I said and patted his head. He panted even harder as if agreeing with me.
I pulled out his water dish from my backpack and gave him  water. He gulped at it as if he hadn't had a drink of water in years. After he had quenched his thirst he eyed my unfinished sandwich. "Fine, you win." I said and tossed the sandwich to him which he swiftly caught in the air.

After sitting under the tree for another 10 minutes we started climbing again. I was surprised at how steep the mountain was, but at the same time, confused. "How did we miss this stretch of the mountain before?" I asked Boo who was oblivious because he was busy trying to catch butterflies.
We kept climbing steadily taking breaks every 30 minutes or so. After almost 2 hours of climbing I decided it was time for lunch, as if understanding my thoughts, Boo gave a loud bark.
"You like lunches, Boo?" I teased him and patted his big head.

He was only 5 years old but quite big in comparison to the other dogs his age. Even though he was so big, he was very irresistible, everyone loved him, even the people who were afraid of dogs. Which lead to him being the centre of attention wherever he went.

After having a hearty lunch of sandwiches and fruits for me and dog food for Boo, we got back to the climb.

My love for nature had been alive since I was young, I would wander in our big backyard full of trees and bushes since I was 4. I would spend countless hours just sitting on the grass and looking at all the different plants and insects growing in our garden.
As I grew older my love for nature and travelling grew. I have always loved travelling to new places and learning their culture, cuisines, arts and most of all, adventure sports.
5 years ago when I was travelling, I found Boo at one of the adoption centres and fell in love with him. So, he came back home with me and since then we've spent many hours, days and even weeks wandering and visiting new places and sometimes just hiking in our own town and climbing the mountains and hills nearby.

I took a deep breath of the natural air, it is always so refreshing to take a walk in the woods and breathe in the fresh air.
The sun was hidden behind the clouds and a small steady wind was blowing, just perfect for a nap.
I've always felt that Boo and I share a special connection, and proving me right, Boo gave a big yawn and sat down under a tree.
"Come on Boo, we've only been walking for 15 minutes. If we stop now then we won't be able to get back home by sunset."
He whined and gave another big yawn.
"Now you're making me sleepy too." I said looking at my watch, there was still 3 hours to sunset, "Fine, but only for 10 minutes and then we'll get back up." I said and lay near him and rested my head on my backpack and patted his shiny coat.
I woke up to something wet and slimy dragging across my face, it was Boo's tongue. I pushed him off and wiped my face. I looked at my watch, "Oh no! We've been asleep for almost 2 hours" I looked at Boo with scolding eyes but he didn't seem to mind it at all. He was beginning to catch the scent of another little rodent. "No! No more running behind rodents and squirrels." I ordered him. Luckily, he listened to me.

I looked up at the sky to judge the sun's position. Unfortunately for us, the sun was shielded by heavy clouds and I could see more heavy clouds coming our way.
"Oh no Boo, it's going to rain. I told you it was a bad idea to take a nap." He simply looked at me with his big brown eyes and tilted his head questioningly.
"Come on boy, let's go." I said and started walking back as fast as I could go.

I looked back and saw the clouds slowly clear out. "Looks like we're actually safe, Boo." I said and lightly patted his head as he trotted beside me. He barked back in response.

Unfortunately for me, I was wrong, around 10 minutes later fast wind started blowing and steady rain started falling down.
Now, if you're not someone who hikes then let me tell you, rain is never good, especially if you're in a steep slope.
Rainwater flows down and takes some land with it, and the more steeper the slopes are, the more forcefully the landslide will come down.

The only thing that we could do was to go down as fast as possible and hope that the rain stops soon.
We kept walking down the steep slope when suddenly I saw a bright flash of lightning in the sky. "Oh no, this cannot be good." I thought.