Journeys of the Heart

#6 Her | Part 2 |

Previously...

I was so focused on getting the perfect shot, I didn't notice the person who came and stood beside me. When the sun finally disappeared behind the hills, I put my camera down and stared at the navy blue night sky.

"It was beautiful, wasn't it?"

The voice of a girl broke me out of my trance. I looked to the left and saw the girl was standing next to me. She had long hair tied up in a ponytail, was carrying a small backpack with a book keychain attached to the side and a camera hung around her neck. I immediately froze.

She was that girl I saw on the path.

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"Hello? Hellooooo? Anyone in there?"

I was stuck in my own thoughts I didn't notice that I was staring at her the whole time. Regaining my composure, I averted my focus back to what was the direction of the sunset, now just pitch black sky and shadows of mountain tops. Even though if I wasn't looking in this strange girl's direction, I could feel her eyes burning holes in my scalp.

"You know it's rude to stare, right?"

"Says the person who was looking like a duck, staring at me first."

Well, that shut me up. Blushing at her remark, I decided to change the topic of the conversation, seeing that she got me cornered already. Not to mention the fact that we only just met!

"Who are you anyway? Shouldn't you be with your family? Maybe some friends? Or is it just normal for you to be talking to random strangers?"

"I'd ask you the same question. Shouldn't you be with your family or friends? Or maybe a girlfriend, since you were watching the sunset a while ago. She would've liked it a lot. It's a shame she missed it; rarely the sun gets to set without the fog covering it all up, and same goes for the sunrise. I came here last year and I never once got a good picture without the fog! Good thing I came again. I just had a feeling that I should. I didn't want to give up, you know? You can't capture beauty like this every day. Actually, you can't capture beauty AT ALL. It isn't meant to be captured. Sorry. Am I ranting? Sorry I get that sometimes. Feel free to stop me any time. Anyways, enough about me, what's up with you? Why the long face? Hey! Are you listening to me!?"

Sometime along her rant I accidentally fell asleep. Fortunately, I fell backwards instead of forwards or I would've been skydiving off this cliff. I stood up, dusted off my pants, and started walking towards the tents. Little did I expect that this random girl would follow me. Stopping midway, her walking straight into my back, I turned towards her.

"Listen. It's been a long day."

"WITHOUT YOU, MY FRIEND. AND I'LL TELL YOU ALL ABOUT IT WHEN I SEE YOU AGAIN. Sorry, you were saying?"

"....right.... It's pretty late. Shouldn't you be getting back to whoever you came with? I should get going too. My friends are probably wondering where I am."

"Oh, I came alone."

You don't see that every day, do you? A lone girl hiking up a mountain by herself? Not afraid of getting her nails broken or mosquito bites everywhere. Being able to spend more than one day without checking Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr. Spending hours and hours hiking up a mountain, enduring the pain and risk getting heat stroke. Knowing that on this mountain, she probably won't have time to do her make up, wear pretty clothes, and maybe even wash her hair. What kind of girl is she?

"You're blanking out on me again. Come back down to earth, duck boy."

"Why are you calling me 'duck boy'?"