"How this trip did change her outlook in life?.........."
She knows to herself that she is really adventurous.
Curiosity always kills her.
She’s only 19 but she already wants to explore all the places she could go.
“Where are you going this time, Madeline?” her mom watched her while she was busy packing her things.
“Mount Carmel,”
“What? Are you serious?” her mom almost yelling at her.
“Calm down, mom. I’ll be alright. I’ll be here after three days,” she assured her.
“But that place is….”
“Mystical. Mom, it’s not true. There’s many campers already who tried to get there. And they all went down safely,” she’s trying to explain but she doubt if her mom would stop worrying.
“I still can’t understand why you have to go there?!”
“Mom, these things make me happy. So please just support me. I love you, mom. I won’t let myself be harmed. For you, I’d be so much careful,” she hugged her mom tightly.
End of conversation.
The next day she’s ready to hike the mountain of Carmel.
It has been a long hour of travel but that didn’t stop Mady to hike that mysterious mountain.
They were ten in the group, five girls and five boys. She knew them on a social networking site, Couchsurfing.
Since then, she was always on the go whenever her group will have an outdoor activity.
Just like today. They will climb the peek of this mountain.
“Are you ready, guys?” Fred asked them.
“Yupp!”
“Yes!”
“Let’s go!”
They answered him happily.
While they were on their way to the top, they still talk with each other despite of the tiredness they felt.
“How about you, Mady. When will you get married?” Fred asked her.
“I won’t,” she shortly said.
“But why o why? You’re beautiful. It won’t be hard on you to find a good husband,” Kim told her and winked on Fred.
“He will just leave me, like what my father did,” she said. She had a hard time when she was young because she didn’t feel having a father on her side while she was growing up.
“Not all men are the same as your dad,” Fred told her.
“I don’t even have a dad,” she opposed.
Fred looked like losing a battle, “Okay, let’s go.”
They built a tent when the darkness covered the sky.
“You were really mad at your father, weren’t you?” Fred opened the topic again.
“Yes,” she said shortly.
“Maybe he had his reasons why he left you.”
Mady shrugger her shoulders, “I don’t know. Even mom didn’t tell anything about it.
“I hope you won’t get mad at him anymore. It’s time to open up your heart for a wider understanding,”
“Yeah, I hope so,” but she doubted.
While everyone was on deep sleep, she has waked up because of an unusual noise. She heard something or rather someone asking for help. Later on she had goose bumps when she heard her own name.
This place is really mystic, she told herself.
The sound became louder and louder as if it came from a huge man’s voice. She tried to ignore what she’s hearing but she couldn’t fell asleep.
She tried to wake up Kim, “Kim, wake up! Haven’t you heard something? Someone is calling me!”
Kim didn’t bother to open her eyes, “I heard nothing. Go back to sleep.”
She can’t bear the noise she’s hearing anymore. It feels like her ears are going to sore. She went out of the tent and courageously looked where that voice came from.
She saw nothing but darkness and the only light that she can see was her flashlight.
“Hello?” she shouted, “Anyone in here?”
Silence.
She continued to walk.
She didn’t know where she got the courage she has right now. All she knows it that she has to find where the voice was coming from.
She nearly lost her balance when she stepped on something. She screamed when she found out that it’s a human bone half buried to the ground.
From the darkness a man came out, “What are you doing here, Mady?” It was Fred. He followed him here.
He heard awhile ago Mady was trying to wake up Kim.
“It-it’s a bone!” she pointed at her foot.
Fred looked at it, “You’re right, it is.”
Walking further more, they also noticed a bag also half buried. She get it and what surprised her more was the thing inside it.
It was a locket same as hers! It also has a picture of her when she was still a baby, her mom and maybe this was her dad. Was.
“I think we have the same thinking who was it,” Fred told her.
Her tears started to roll down her cheeks.
Fred hugged her, “And I also think that he wasn’t that bad at all. Now I know where you’d get it.”
“What did I get?” She asked Fred, puzzled.
“Your eagerness to travel,”
Fred was right. Now she knew where she really got it.
“Why does it take to meet him here?” She’s asking herself while staring at her father’s remains.
“Fate brought you here to finally see him. Remember, you’re the one who really insisted our group to hike here.” Fred answered her.
She smiled bitterly, “I know right.”
When she got home with his father’s remains, her mom started to tell her everything.
Just like her, his dad also really loves to hike and visit other places. Then one day, he didn’t go home wherein her mom didn’t also know where her father went.
After all this time, she believes that her father just left them without any valid reason and now she knew she was wrong.
“I love you, dad. And sorry for thinking bad about you.” She said on her father’s grave.
She felt a strong wind feeling that it is embracing her. She knew who it is.
She slowly walked away of the cemetery with a smile on her lips. Fred was waiting for her on the car.
End-
