Casey and The Quints

05

We passed the "Welcome to Segginton" sign right as the bell for the beginning of the fourth period would be ringing. Like anything in this small town, it only took us 5 minutes to reach it from the restaurant.

"I thought I asked what the best thing to do in Seggington was, so why are we leaving?" I ask gesturing to the town sign behind us. As soon as we left the town centre and made it to the rural side of town, we were surrounded by forestry and there hasn't been another car in sight since.

"Just hush and enjoy the ride," He says taking his hand and covering my mouth. As soon as his hand comes in contact with my face I lick his palm and he quickly recoils before replying, "And besides it's only a few miles out of town because trust me there is absolutely nothing to do in Seggington unless you like playing with the grass or throwing fruit at innocent people in the grocery store."

"Ha! So you admit it, it was on purpose?!" I say whacking him on the shoulder. I knew he did it on purpose. And to think I was gonna give them the benefit of the doubt.

"Innocent until proven guilty," He responds with a smirk, turning right down a dirt path surrounded by more trees and bushes. We drive for about another 30 seconds before he pulls the car over and gets out. "We have to walk a little bit of a ways but I promise it's worth it."

"If you're lying, you're buying me ice cream on the way home," I reply, following Matthew into an even smaller gravel path surrounded by even bigger trees, and I would have missed this little trail if not for Matthew leading the way.

As we walk down the path, the walkway gets smaller and smaller with every 100 feet, until ten minutes later the path is almost non-existent and I'm constantly tripping over tree roots and small shrubs. If it weren't for Matthew's decisive steps and the way he looked at different trees and then would take a turn or pause before continuing, that makes me assume he knows where he was going, I would have thought we were lost in the middle of nowhere. We keep walking in silence for a couple more minutes, before Matthew finally pulls back a huge tree branch blocking our path and I am instantly blinded by the sun, which was nonexistent in the forest we just came from. He holds back the branch, for once making me think chivalry is not dead, and I step from the trees onto an open cliff.

Once my eyes adjust to the blaring sun on the other side of the forest, I am stunned by the scene in front of me. It is even more breathtaking than the scene in my backyard. We are on a cliff that is surrounded by an arena of trees, that seems to go on for miles and miles. If you shift your gaze to the edge of the cliff, you can see the edge of a lake that is right in the middle of the circle of trees. As I take a few tentative steps forward, I can see more of the body of water that is underneath the cliff and it glistens and sparkles with the incoming sunlight from above. I knew that in Colorado we had some beautiful lakes and forests, but never have I witnessed one this breathtaking. It seems like I walked into a movie scene.

"Wow," I say as it's the only thing that seems to sum up the dream I'm currently living. I walk forward again and stop a few feet from the edge of the cliff. I can see now, that the water is even clearer than I thought it was. "Where ever did you find this place?"

"Like I said there isn't much to do in Seggington so I had to branch out, no pun intended. I found it with Hunter a couple of years ago."

"Is that the guy that threw the apple at me?" I ask and a grin immediately hits his face and I take that as all the answer I need, "Does he not go to Seggington High? I've never seen him around."

"No he does. He's in the advanced placement class... You know for smart kids," He replies, walking past me and closer to the edge of the cliff, so the toe of his shoes are hanging off of it.