Forbidden

Chapter 3

                                                                                        Dawn

 Cold.

Cold.

Why was it so cold up here? I really should have worn something more appropriate for mountain climbing.

"How did I get talked into this again Aria?" I ask turning to the girl behind me. Her bright red hair is open and they wind is blowing it like crazy, but she looks good like that.

"I believe you were the victim of emotional blackmail," she answers tucking some hair behind her ear. She's wearing blue jeans and a white hoodie. It must be much warmer than my outfit. Jeans and a thin black sweater. Why'd it have to be so thin?

"Oh yeah," I say with a shrug. Kenny's speech was really annoying, but he somehow managed to make me do him this favor. "So, can we go now?" I ask shivering. I knew the request was going to be extreme, but I never imagined having to climb a mountain.

"Dawn!" Aria scolds putting her hands on her hips. "You have to find the flower! It was part of the deal!"

"Right, right. Of course, I do..." I reply sheepishly. Why do I have to give in so easily?

"So where can I find that flower?" I ask wanting to get out of the biting cold as fast as possible.

She pulls out a book and after reading a few pages for a good fifteen minutes she finally answers. "So, it grows in extremely cold areas-"

"No duh." I interrupt. After shooting me a dirty look she continues.

"Most have been found on cliffs and they don't grow in groups-"

"Just my luck!" I mutter crossing my arms in front of my chest.

"Are you done?" she asks. Without waiting for my answer, she continues. "It's really rare so finding this is going to take a lot more than we thought."

"Why couldn't he have just asked for something like a daffodil?" I grumble. "And how come we have to get it? I could just have a couple body-guards come up here and find it so we could head b-"

"I thought we went over this! If somebody else got it then we would not be fulfilling our part of the deal." Aria says pulling me towards one of the cliffs.

"I know, I know. Jeez. But what if we uh, I don't know, fell off the cliff. Nobody knows where we are." I whisper.

"Stop it with the negativity Dawn. We are going to make it out of this alive." She fist pumps. "Now put your hair up and get down there, the book said it also grows in caves." She says handing me a hair tie. Groaning, I tie up my hair and get down on my knees.

"Are you sure this is safe?" I ask nervously. It's very dark, small and looks like the possible home of a monster.

"I hope so. Now hurry up, I'm going to check out the cliffs. If you come out first then don't go anywhere, okay?" she explains handing me a flashlight, a small backpack, and hiking shoes. Changing my shoes, I crawl into the small opening in the mountain.

"See you later, Aria!"

"See you, don't die in there okay?" she exclaims, still sounding happy despite what she said. "Or monsters. Don't get eaten by monsters either!" her voice fades as she probably walks to the cliffs. Her specific wording choice sends shivers down my spine.

"Gee, thanks a lot Aria. I hope you don't slip off the cliff either!" I mock crawling on the filthy ground. The ground is wet and cold, I shiver involuntarily but keep moving. My jeans get caught on a small rock, so I spend five minutes trying to get it free in the dark. Once it finally gets free, I can tell there's a small hole, I start crawling again with my hands brushing against the walls. A small rumble from behind me stops me. Carefully, I take out my flashlight shining it behind me. Nothing. I was just overreacting.