Ember of Hope
Chapter 5

The three day stay in Jamestown went by so fast that she couldn’t believe it had happened. When she first saw James Hunt, she was like a kid meeting his superhero for the first time in life… star struck and all awkward. On the other hand those three days were enough of a time for her to get friendly with the whole group. And she had a concrete belief now that Taylor was already in love with Chris. The girl had stars in her eyes whenever Chris talked or even looked at her. It was cute to watch her blush. But something told her that for whatever reason, Taylor didn’t like her very much.

Days passed as if in a blur and Raegan found herself in the Shenandoah National Park, about to fulfill a dream. Chris had become a dear friend on this tour and she was glad for his company. Sometimes she would catch Taylor eyeing them when they were laughing or walking together and she thought that Taylor was jealous of their easy friendship. Maybe it was only because Taylor herself wasn’t brave enough to befriend Chris on her own. He was very kind towards her but they didn’t have the kind of easy going friendship like he and Raegan did.

The trek started and only two days into their journey, people were starting to show their true colors. A fight barely fell short of turning into a flat out brawl and there were quite a few mean comments and ugly sneers. Poisonous insects and huge mosquitoes can do that to a person. But Raegan was in her own little piece of heaven… never having felt the kind of freedom she was feeling there in the wild. It called to her soul… like she was finally reaching a place she was meant for.

Perched on the edge of a cliff, she focused her camera lens on the most beautiful sunrise she had ever seen. Nobody was up yet. Having spent the last day covering more miles than before, everyone was wiped out. She was busy aiming her camera when she heard footsteps behind her and she turned around: “oh hey Taylor”.

“Stay away from him, will you”. An irritated, aggressive reply came in return.

Shocked at Taylor’s almost violent tone she turned completely towards her. “Taylor, we’re just friends, okay? You have nothing to worry about from me. You just have to go tell him about how you feel”. Raegan tried to be polite even though her temper was already starting to flare at Taylor’s stupidity. Instead of growing a pair and telling Chris about her feelings she took her to be the easy prey. Yeah, not likely kiddo.

“Do you think I’m stupid? Do you think I can’t see how hard you are trying to get him in your bed? You’re pathetic. Just stay away from him if you know what’s good for you. HE IS MINE”.

“Whoa, okay. You guys go break a leg. I really couldn’t care less”. With that Raegan turned around with her camera in hand.

“Why don’t I just break your neck bitch”. Taylor rushed forward like an angry tornado. Raegan turned back, but wasn’t fast enough before she was shoved hard off the cliff. With a shocked cry she fell backwards. A scream ripped through her throat while she tried frantically to replace something to grab onto – to break her fall. But she kept falling.

There were trees below. Pointy pines that loomed near – deadly – she closed her eyes; readying herself to get impaled on one – but luckily she just got tangled up in branches on her way down that slashed at her exposed face and neck, her hair ripping out of her head. The torture didn’t stop even when she hit the ground as her body kept rolling downhill – her head hit a tree trunk and everything went black.

Before embracing the oblivion – her body screaming with pain and broken bones – the last thought that occurred in her mind was “Finally – I’ll meet them again”.