Alley [Interactive]

Chapter Eleven

'In the end, you will not see the physical beauty in others that caught your eye, but the fire that burned within them. This kind of beauty is the bonfire you had to attend.' -Shannon L. Alder

"What am I supposed to be getting out of this again?" I ask as we pass the five-mile checkpoint. My legs are burning again. Thankfully we are still amongst the trees so it is not so hot but it is humid.

"Well... perseverance." Sebastian says with a slight laugh. "You'll understand when we get there."

"She may need perseverance but the rest of us climbed a god damn mountain two days ago. She is the only one who needs to learn perseverance." Nadia says. Today we have a walk as our activity. Dinner was an hour early to make sure we were all ready to go before it got dark.

"Yeah but I don't think you guys got another aspect of what you could have learned. Come on, there's only twenty minutes left." Sebastian says. As the two who didn't have such a hard time on the hike two days ago, we are at the front. Sebastian and I have a slight air of awkwardness but he seems fine now; even though he's been gone all day, plus the burning that is going up to my back is making me forget about it.

The trees start to become less dense, and I begin to see an opening. It is difficult to see but I begin to feel a breeze. The trees kind of stop that so it gives me a second wind.

"Is that it?" I ask Sebastian. He smiles and nods. I look back at the others and smile. The sun has just barely started to set so I get excited, my speed picking up again.

"Slow down." Nadia groans, jogging to catch up to me. I take her hand and pull her with me. When we get to the clearing there are a few wooden benches. Nadia flops down as I walk ahead, I thought we were going up a slight incline and I seem right. Ahead of us as a slight drop, water at the bottom with trees amongst it. There are patches of fog above the water. It is not that far down but I wouldn't step much further out. The sun is properly setting now, it is through faint wisps of cloud so it's not strong.

Once everyone else is here they sit down either on the ground or on the benches. While tired they admire the view. Even north western guy stays quiet.

"So, what did you get out of the hike?" Sebastian asks us as he sits in front of us all, looking at us with waiting eyes.

"Perseverance and adaptability I guess." Nadia says, breaking the silence. "Those were the aims right?" She asks.

"Yeah, and you guys did persevere and adapted relatively well. But by the end you guys didn't get to see the benefit. Look at where we are. It's beautiful right? It wasn't an easy walk but we did it. You did it. You work hard, you get results." He says. "You all have aims, goals. And they are great. You'll have bumps in the road but it's worth it to push through." He says with a warm smile. We all kind of sit there quietly for a moment. Looking at each other and smiling; realising he is right.

"What did you have to push through, to get where you are?" Nadia asks, making everyone sit up. Sebastian smiles awkwardly, looking down.

"Well it was hard generally to do things my own way. It took a while to be taken seriously. I was basically homeless when I started. I had no friends, family to rely on and I only barely got through high school. So, when my first business started taking off everyone wanted a piece, telling me to do things I didn't want to do with my business. It was hard to do it alone but no one listened to what I wanted to do. But yeah, it worked out, I stuck to what I thought worked and it did." He says with a shrug. I bite my lip softly and Nadia nudges me, I look at her and smile. I look at Sebastian and he smiles happily at me.

We relax here for a while before walking back. I trail behind everyone since I am still taking things in and the others just want to get back. I look at the trees and listen to the sound of twigs snapping as we walk, just letting my brain wonder.