Anada

Entering the Mountains

The next day we left at 6am. Before we left I went down to the ocean and watched the sun rise. A soft cool breeze blew over the dunes. I knew it wouldn't be the last time I saw the ocean. Though it felt that way.

We loaded the van and left promptly.

After riding in the van for ten minutes I asked, "So where are we headed to?", nobody had told me yet.

"We're going to the Smokey Mountains. The ride will be five to six hours long. We'll be given our assignment when we get there." Neil said.

Alex was currently driving and Neil was in the passenger seat. I sat behind Neil, and Reina sat on my left. Westen sat on the far left behind Alex. Poor Reina was squished between Westen and I.

"Anada, since we have time to talk maybe it would be good if you told us more about yourself." Westen said to me.

It made sense for him to ask. I decided to tell them about myself, but not everything of course. I hoped it wouldn't change their mind about me.

So I said, "I have lived at an orphanage for as long as I can remember. A year ago I ran away. Since then I've been going from town to town. I did jobs and worked for my own food. I'm not sure if a search was sent out for me or not, but nobody ever found me."

"If you can last a whole year on your own then you'd be good on our team." Westen said approvingly.

"So you guys don't mind that I ran away?" I said surprised.

The whole truth was so much more complicated than my story. Even I found it hard to believe at times.

Reina said, "It wasn't the best choice. It was very dangerous, but it means you also got to meet us. I'm surprised you managed to survive that long, and that you weren't found by officials."

Nobody ever came to find me because they think actually I'm dead. They never found my body when I had 'drowned' that night. No police, investigators, or any other people searched for me after the night I supposedly died. Or maybe I'm just not worth a search-team's time.

On the ride to the mountains, we stopped a few times and got something to eat on the way. I learned more about the others as the hours past. I kept shifting my legs, because I wasn't used to sitting for such long amounts of time.

At about 11 o'clock, mountains started surrounding us. I looked up in awe, because I had never seen any before in my entire life. We drove through some tunnels as we got deeper into the mountains. I wondered what it would feel like to fly through these green valleys as the mountains rose on both sides.

We finally reached our destination at noon. It amazed me how you can be at the ocean and the mountains in the same exact day. Two places and two different geographies.

Our destination was a small village wedged into a lush valley. The mountains spanned out around us. As I got out of the van I could feel the difference in the air. The temperature was cooler here than at the beach. I could also smell new scents, but everything smelled different actually. No salty or fishy smell lurking in the air.

Alex had parked in front of a log cabin. It faced a wide river that ran through the valley. A few pine trees surrounded us as we walked to the door. I could see other cabins like ours, but most were smaller than ours.

Inside, the cabin had a fireplace with a large rug and plush couch. There was also a kitchen in the back of the cabin. To the right of the doorway, a small staircase went up into the loft above us. We brought our bags inside. I didn't have much except for some clothes that were given to me.

In the loft there were three bunk beds and cabinets. A small bathroom was located off to the left.

Three bunk beds means that there were six places for six people to sleep. It's a good thing that Alex's team had only five members or I wouldn't have had anywhere to sleep.