Gilding Above

Chapter 3

I leaned back in my chair and gazed outside, it was raining which I had always enjoyed, whenever It rained I felt comfortable. This would Often would lead to me staying up late, watching the rain pitter, patter against my window.

Right now it was raining quite hard which was nice, the only thing that could have made it better was if it was misty. The mist didn't come nearly as often as the rain did but when it did come it was always thick, obscuring anything that was more than 30 meters away.

Slowly the patting of the rain changed to a much heavier thumping noise, it's sound grew until I looked outside, there was a rescue helicopter almost directly above the house. I watched as it's red and white body blended with the clouds until it was fully engulfed.

After thinking about it for way to long I decided to go up the mountain in the cable car. I started packing my charm and patch covered bag with some money and my small switch blade. Just as I was about to leave my room I remembered that I needed a bus ticket to get to the cable station.

My mom was out so I put a little note on the fridge that said I was going out and that I had my phone with me.

After a short walk to the bus stop I tried to remember which bus to take without looking at the information board. I eventually gave in and looked at it, it told me that I needed to take the 107. "I knew that." I grumbled.

After about 10 minutes the bus arrived, after climbing the steps I swiped my card and looked for a place to sit that was as far away from everyone as possible.

I thanked the bus driver and started the long walk up the road to the station. When I finally made it all the way up the road and up all the steps, I practically fell into the poor guy that I was supposed to give my card to. My ahh *cough* year pass *cough*.

Once I was officially on the mountain I stepped away from the crowd and climbed a flight of stairs to the less known coffee shop that sat on top of the station. Walking over to the till I ordered a hot chocolate and a muffin. While I waited for them I looked around, there was the counter that you order from, stretching out from it were a jumble of tables with four or five chairs huddled round each one. On the left though there was a line of couches, each was separated by a wooden board and they all touched their own massive window. I also noticed that I was the only one there. After thanking for my hot chocolate I decided to sit near the back, on a couch.

I ended up scooting over so that my shoulder was touching the window and looked down. The view was breathtaking, the edge of the mountain stretched on into the distance, it made a line like a lightning bolt, twisting and turning in harsh jagged lines. Its face was sheer and plummeted straight down but you couldn't see the houses that where scattered below on the side of the mountain, instead there was a fluffy grey cloud that hugged just below the mountain edge. Giving the impression that the mountin was the only land and I was suspended above the edge of the world.

I held my hot chocolate close, wrapping both of my hands around the mug in an attempt to warm them. I had already finished my muffin and I was halfway through my hot chocolate when I noticed an indent some way across the mountain top. It seemed that it had a decent amount of vegetation, judging by how green it looked from over here. I immediately wanted to go, I knew that I hadn't been before, actually I didn't think that I had ever noticed it. And I had definitely never been that far across the mountain before. And it certainly looked far away, at least a three hour walk across the rocky terrain. Plus the time I would spend there and the time it would take to get back, this all added up to at least a full day, which would have been fine with me, except for the fact that the sun was setting in an hour.

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I was sitting on the bus with my legs crossed. I had kept coming back to the same question from before, why had I never noticed it before? It wasn't 'super' hidden by that it looked very green and I normally had an eye for lush plants. After thinking about it more and slowly coming to the realization that I wasn't going to get an answer, I let it go. Sadly though I realized that I did it too late, I was two stops too far. I quickly pressed a button and got off.
I knew the area fairly well so I didn't panic, instead I started the walk back home.

After walking for a while it started to get dark and cold, I carefully placed my hands in my pockets trying to warm them just a little bit. I was tired and started to miss the warmth and safety of home.