Alaska's Illicit

XXI

Chapter 21 | THE UNKINDNESS

I mean, yes, the limbs do look wide and sturdy. However, what if I fall? I have virtually no balance whatsoever, and if I fall...

I look at the distance between the branches and the callous river, furrowing my eyebrows.

Then I could totally die, depending on how deep and freezing the water is.

"Now, you see, normally I'd be up for tree-travel. But are you even sure if it's safe?"

"Tree-travel?"

I look at him. "Yeah. Now, stop being concerned over my personal dialect, and please answer my question. Thank you."

"Idiolect."

Before I can go, 'What? Tree-travel isn't that stupid of a term, is it?' I realize that idiolect, in fact, basically means 'personal dialect.'

"Idiolect, whatever. Now answer the question."

"You probably won't fall."

Silence.

I just stare at him with an unimpressed expression.

He pinches the bridge of his nose. Am I really stressing him out that much? "I didn't say that you would probably fall, did I? I said you probably wouldn't."

I nod. "Yeah, but still."

He shakes his head, moving towards the giant tree which holds the first limb.

So, basically, he's doing this with or without me.

And, I'm not the weak, pathetic thing he thinks I am. So, I follow after him, stuffing the hatchet into one of the back pockets of my snow pants again.

When I reach the tree, he's already made it to the limb, the creepily agile man that he is. So, I struggle to climb up after him.

When I've pulled myself up to the giant limb, he's already on the one connecting branch from the tree on the other side. I watch as he swiftly crawls forward and into the tree on the other side of the river.

I wonder if he'll wait for me?

Probably not, but we'll see.

I take off my choppers, stuffing them into my pockets in order to be able to get a firm grip on the branch.

The tree bark is callous and cold, like a solid version of the river below. It feels as if there was ice layered deep on top of it, and it's only recently melted. I hate it because that means that it's slippery enough to the point where I could lose my grip.

Slowly and carefully, I place my hands forward, one in front of the other. And then I crawl, one knee moving in front of the other on the branch. I avoid looking at the river. I just focus solely on cautiously moving ahead, making sure to keep my balance. When I eventually make it across, I struggle to climb into the tree, but once I do, I begin to descend. As I drop to the ground, the first thing I see is Vaughn leaning against a tree a few feet away. So he waited for me, then? Huh.