Thy Letters

Ch 9 ~ The Climb

Ch 9 ~ The Climb

—————————————————————————

"How far is it ?" Noah asks me.

"We're almost there." I reply looking out the window.

And then this feeling settles into my stomach, this nostalgic but prickly feeling. And this happens whenever I think of him.

Yeah, I know. I'm sick.

I don't know what is wrong with me. I can't even go on a day without thinking of him. And I do so even though I don't want to. It's almost like a 'knee jerk reaction'. Like he has to be there in my thoughts everyday.

And I know that I have to get over this....infatuation. This useless, unrealistic and reckless infatuation . And although I am trying my best there seems to be no way to get over the obstacle that is Aaron and how I feel about him.

And this doesn't even begin to describe the critical situation that I am in.

But to be true Aaron and I sort of have a lot of memories related to this place. I've not been here, you know since that happened but I remember everything. It's sort of a human tendency to remember the things which hurt us more than the things which make us happy. To remember the bad things while keeping the good ones on the side lines.

But I'm not sure which category to put this one into. It's a good memory, but it hurts.

We didn't find this place accidentally. We were sort of on the prowl of looking for a place to call ours. It sort of happened in seventh grade after I had a small argument with Aaron. About how he and his other boy best friend, Ray, had a place to hang out, a place they could call theirs. I mean seriously, if Aaron wasn't with me or at his home or at school you would probably, no scratch that, definitely find him at their 'hangout'. And I wanted a place we could call ours.

And this is the place. Nothing special about the place itself. It was a seven storey building, half a mile out of town, which had not been completely constructed because someone had brought up a suit against the owner, something related to air rights and the construction had been stopped. And I don't know more of the story.

Although it was tiring to climb the seven pairs of staircases to reach the top, it was worth it because the view from up there was just breathtaking.

"Where are we going again?"

I look at him and smile. "It's just this building, which is sort of abandoned, more like never inhabited and I used to go there earlier to hangout with my Aa-" I pause for a second not sure of what to say next." .....with Natalie."

"So you don't go there any more?"

"Nah..." I look away and out the window." ......not any more."

"Why?"

"I don't know...... we just don't." Okay now I'm feeling really guilty about lying to Noah. But I'm not sure if I can talk to him about Aaron right now. More like I'm not sure if I can trust him yet. And if this works out, and even if we end up being friends or more than that, and I trust him and the time is right I will definitely tell him.

Just not now.

He pulls up outside the building and I step out of the car. I look up at the building and I feel like crying. All the memories come flooding in, in-spite of my trying to block them and I feel nauseous.

The slight bang of Noah closing the car's door brings me back to my senses. I look at him."Let's go." And then I surprise myself by taking hold of his hand and pulling him alongside.

"Do we have to climb the stairs?" He asks and then I remember that song by Miley Cyrus that Aaron used to sing whenever we used to come here because he too, never liked to climb the stairs. It was called 'the climb' I think, the song. And I used to laugh my head off because he would sing it in such a squeaky manner. And then we sort of offhandedly named this place the climb.

"Of course lazy bum." I say and giggle."We call this place 'the climb'." I air quote.

He smiles."The climb. Seven floors right?"

"Right."

"Alright let's find out why this place is so special for you."

And then we start climbing the stairs. And because it is dark I tumble a few times but then regain my balance. And then when we finally reach the top and step out on to the roof the cool wind hits me. But not the kind which makes you feel chilly, the kind which makes you feel really comfortable. And then we move towards the edge and stand there for a few seconds.

"Wow." He mutters after a few second. "Now I know why you like this place."

He leaves my hand and moves around.

I take in the scenery. And the beauty of it makes me sigh. First there is this large expanse of forest like area through which the road cuts, which we took to get here. And the trees surround our town on all the sides. Our town is neither too big nor to small. But it is very lively. I look at the shimmering lights, some yellow some red, and all the buildings, mostly accumulated in the centre and then becoming a little sparse as they near the boundary. And then if you look past our town and into the distance , there's the never ending extent of sky which is adorned with the twinkling stars and the half moon seems to be playing hide and seek with the clouds.

It's just beautiful.

I step forward towards the edge. "Woah." Noah pulls me back." Where do you think you're going?" He asks me.

I smile."It's okay. Let's sit."

"Like with our legs dangling off the edge" He asks me. I nod." You sure?"

"Yeah. I've done this like a hundred times."

"Alright if you say so." And then we carefully crouch down first and sit on the ledge and then I slowly move my legs off the ledge and into the air. And he does the same after a few seconds. We lean back on our hands.

"Did you come here often?" He asks me .

"Yeah. Every other day or so." I reply.

"With Natalie right?"

I look at him."Not really. I mean I came here with her, but just a few times." He senses the stiffness in my voice and doesn't probe further. He looks at me and then moves his hand and pushes a flick of hair behind my ear which had come loose and I almost stop breathing at our proximity. "Thanks." I say, more because he doesn't ask me any thing further about my visits here.

He just smiles and looks in front again.

And I smile to myself because to be true this moment couldn't have gotten better.

—————————————————————