Chai on the Mountaintop

Distractions

I woke up the next day, finding myself completely disoriented. i woke up and stared at the four walls of the small room. I didn't know if I felt like screaming or laughing in psychotic euphoria. I looked at myself in the mirror to find out I had bloodshot eyes. The colour instantly made me sick. I was a completely different man than I had been the other day. The fragility of the human mind and humans as fickle as they are seemed strangely funny. I knew one thing for sure. Each moment in this bloody village ate away at the last shred of sanity I had left.

However, if I were to get out, I had to get my act together. My innkeeper was good at detecting lies, mostly because she had spent her life lying, as Velu had told me. I washed up and got ready for Tonga.

As I climbed down the winding oak stairway that led to the small lobby, I heard two women arguing. It was muffled, as if they weren't trying to be heard. I paused and tried to identify the voices. One was Rachel's, and the other sounded bizarrely similar but had a gruff undertone. I reached the end of the lobby and they immediately stopped. I walked toward the desk at the front and Rachel was there, with her twin sister Tara. They looked flustered. 

"Morning!" I said, trying to be casual. All I got for a reply were two forced smiles. I went straight to Velu's shop. He looked forlorn as always and his thick moustache seemed to be worried as well. 

"Michael...Sit down and have a cup of tea. We've got quite an assignment" he said and then taking a quick look around, moved in closer and continued as I sat down on the pale wooden bench. " We'll have to lay low for two days and let things cool down. In the meantime, you can meet up with Tara, Rachel's sister and do a few assignments. You may run into the other villagers. When you do, do not speak unless spoken to and you'll survive the day"

I figured it was best to go with what he said. After the recent events, I really could use some work to distract me. I hurried back to the inn and found Rachel, fumbling for something in her drawer. "Where's Tara? I sort of have an assignment" I spoke up

"Uhh...Tara..Oh...She's down by the stream ready to head out into the valley. Better run fast if you want to catch her" She replied, quite startled at my appearance. I heeded her advice.

I sped toward the stream, passing the gatekeeper on the way out, who looked more menacing than ever. There were a few people surrounding him, all with doubt on their faces. As I ran past the small crowd, they stopped their chit chat and immediately dispersed. The gatekeeper followed me with his eyes as I left Tonga. I knew they were talking about how he was knocked out the last night and that they have doubts about me. I decided it best not to arouse any more suspicion inadvertently.

My bag of equipment slowed my progress, but I got to the stream and right about to get into an SUV was Tara. She was getting into the driver's seat.

"Wait up..." I shouted. Tara looked up with her hair flowing over her floral dress and smiled. I caught them in the nick of time and leapt into the vehicle.

"Where are we headed?" I asked Tara as we started moving. She looked puzzled and said "Wherever you found the flower, Mr. Hess" . 

"Umm..I..uh.."  I stammered. I had to think of something fast and my mind suddenly went to the mountain top Velu and I had gone the other day. "There" I pointed at the slightly familiar mountain.

"Oh...that's perfect. The SUV can go all the way." She said

"Wait...don't you have to climb through the rock face to get there?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes...if you want to waste 3 hours. The valley road also leads up there." She replied

"What?!...But Velu-" I stopped and realized what he had done. For whatever reason, he chose the path that almost killed me. Velu's integrity depended on the time and I made it a point never to get too friendly with anyone there.