Outward Bound

1

It had been no fault of her own that Maia had seen the pamphlet in Wikitoria's room the last couple of weeks. Their new flatmate had said something about needing some kind of new direction in her life and taking herself out of their post-graduate existence for a few weeks sounded more like something she needed.

Stuck between continuing her major in psychology or taking up something more community-base, she'd picked up the pamphlet and read it while Wiki was out. Three weeks out of here, totally out of her comfort zone, she threw it down...sounded like something she needed.

"Wiki your rides here!" Nat yelled up the stairs, hearing the taxi outside.

"Yeah, I saw him pull up!" Carrying her bag down the stairs, grinning at her housemates, Wiki stopped. "Well, this is it, guys!"

"I still can't believe you're doing this?"

"Yip, Getting in touch with nature. Camping in the mountains..." She animated. "Singing cheesy campfire songs around the bonfire...." She chuckled, throwing her arm over her other flatmate Tammy's shoulder. "Aww, come on; you two will love having this place to yourselves." She looked around, suddenly noticing it was quieter than usual. "I'm assuming Maia has gone on her break already?"

"Yeah, she left this morning. Something about beating the traffic on the way up north."

"She said goodbye to you, right?"

Wikitoria met Tammy's gaze on her. "Yeah, yeah, of course! This morning." She lied, hearing the taxi driver tooting his horn.

"I better get going, guys." She gave Nat a quick hug, picking up her duffle bag.

"I'll see ya in a few weeks!"

She'd noticed Maia had been a little off the last few days. She couldn't believe her so-called friend had actually gone without saying anything. Maybe this really was a sign that she needed to get on with her life.

"Alright, last one off." The bus driver turned to look at the young woman sitting behind him. "Miss."

The light blue-coloured eyes looked up at him from under her baseball cap, her blonde ponytail tucked in the collar of her denim jacket. She grabbed her backpack and stood up.

"Thanks." She nodded, making her way down the stairs onto the loose gravel. Covering her eyes from the sun, she looked up at the two large sailing boats in the marina. Her adventure was about to begin.

The Outward-Bound van pulled up outside the marina. The van door flew open and

Wikitoria grabbed her bag and followed the others to the two big ships in the marina. Adam stepped onto the ship's deck in his Outward-Bound camp t-shirt. "Alright, can I have everyone's attention!"

The chatter stopped.

"Guys and gals, here is where your journey to self-discovery begins!"

"One, two, three," He counted the heads. "Good! So, whether it be to reassess your life or find inner meaning, our team Tia, Marco, Ruby, and I will be your leaders on this self-discovery adventure! Okay." He looked around. "Right, those that arrived with me on the van, you are now Team Tawhiti, the soul searchers. The remaining group you are now named Team Mataara, the life changers. Grab your bags, guys! Mataara head over to Marco. Tawhiti team, you are with me. All on board!"

"Make sure you pay attention to your leaders' guys! Teams give each other a wave; we are off!" Wikitoria turned and waved at the team on the adjacent ship. The young woman wearing a denim jacket and baseball cap that looked distinctly like hers caught her eye. Frowning, she stepped over the hull and leaned on the rail.