Chapter 22: Dawning and blooming
The cracking of the twigs and branches under the heat of the fire resonating through the quiet night was not the only sound to be heard that night.
We all had formed circles around the bonfire closest to where we slept. Murmuring and chatting could be heard on a low tone as we stretched out muscles and relaxed our legs.
It had been a hectic day and a long journey.
By my estimate, Mr Monroe had ensure that we walk a bit more than the planned distance, for the sake of safety I guess.
I stared blankly down into the camp site below me from the cliff that stood close to it. A cup of tea in my two hands helped to keep them warm and a lot of worries in my head did well to keep it occupied.
There were a million and one things in my head and I couldn't figure out any of it.
"What a view!" Danny said from behind me.
" I guess so!" I replied
The lad sat down daintily beside me as we both looked blankly into the space. We both seemed to be looking at everything and yet nothing at the same time. His mind also seemed to be preoccupied like mine.
I imagine he was thinking about the same things as I was.
There was a long silence that sat between me and my brother and just stretched on into the night. For some reason, none of us was willing to break the silence.
It was kind of tranquil, having only silence and the gentle chirps of insects in the background to keep you company.
"Hey bro?" Danny called without looking at me.
"How did we get ourselves in this shit anyway?" He asked while laughing in between each word.
It was a dire situation but yet he found a way to make me laugh at it for a while.
"Heaven only knows that all we wanted was to step on black soil" I replied still laughing a bit
" I guess the soil likes you too much" he replied still laughing.
"he loves you too don't worry, but just let me escape in peace yh? "
" You are definitely high" I replied with a giggle.
" Well... We are on the edge of a cliff so"
We just burst into laughter for a period before slowly killing it to allow that ominous silence to grow again.
We looked down at the rest of our peers from the cliff like gods on their people and we saw them smiling and laughing and chatting with one another.
It was quite the spectacle actually, especially when we came across familiar faces like that of friends and colleagues. I smiled as I watched them and then I caught someone within my line of sight. I suddenly seemed to remember that I had a question to ask my brother.
" Yo I have been meaning to ask a question though? " I said looking at Danny.
" Shoot!!"
" What did you do? " I asked
There was a bit of a selah moment there for him.
"I'm confused." He said with his right eyebrow raised as he slowly turned to me.
"What did you do to her?" I asked with a serious tone.
I wanted to do my possible best in messing with his mind and make him feel like he had done something wrong even though it was hard to go through with it with that funny look on his face
*Alright... I'm not playing these games, do what to who? "
" What did you do to the self righteous and somewhat self-centered Eva Bailey? " I asked before laughing when his face finally relaxed.
" It's not funny, you know? "
" Kinda was .... You should have seen your face! " I said while having a hearty laugh at him.
" Can you stop now, please?" He asked with his face folded into a frown.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" I pleaded as I fought back the laughter to silence.
"But seriously though, what did you do to her that made her change?"
I found it intriguing that my brother would have found a way to change someone's character , especially someone like that.
I mean...
It's Eva Bailey we are talking about here.
"I didn't actually do much you know?" He said in response.
"What happened was a simple situation of getting to know someone better and it turns out that Eva is more of a dancer than anything else"
" So you got to her by dancing?" I asked
" Do you always want to jump to the end in a movie?" He asked giggling in frustration.
" Sorry, my bad... You were saying?"
He stared at me a bit before looking down the cliff into the campsite again. He seemed to be taking his time and he was actually smiling.
"You remember that morning when she was dancing horribly in the room...so I got to know her better after that morning."
"I met her dancing next to the river and then I came out and offered to help her in dancing" he said before looking at me again.
"So she accepted your offer and then became chill?" I asked a bit confused
"That's not all to it but after she eventually accepted the deal I guess she was able to find her true self...." He picked a stone and tossed it off the cliff.
I just hope no one was standing where it landed tho.
"..you know, she isn't really one of them, she just wants to be with someone that gets a part of her. In their case, they got the part of her that was really into fashion but then they can be really overbearing sometimes but she puts up with it cause there's nowhere else to go" he shrugged
He was smiling for a good majority of the explanations he made to me. I had a suspicion but decided not to talk about it to him. However, talking about her now, made me feel more sorry for her than any other feeling of resentment I had previously had towards her before then.
By the way, how deep had he spoken with her to know that much about her.
I looked away from Danny but continuously shot gazed at him. He hadn't stopped smiling and it was getting harder to hold back the question that I had for him but I kept deciding against it.
"You know you could just ask me?" He blurted out as though he had been eavesdropping on my thoughts.
"Fine then..." I said with two of my hands in the air in surrender.
"Do you have feelings for her though?" I asked.
"I don't actually know... I guess I am not sure!" He explained calmly
"Why the doubts?" I asked
"Something just feels off..." He said as he played with his fingers and looked at me.
"The same way something feels off about Camila" he added sharply.
" What felt off about her man?" I puffed. I felt he was overreacting or maybe he was joking about it.
" I just find her suspicious but I don't actually know what exactly is wrong yet... I'll look into it but keep your own eyes and ears sharp too, will you?"
I just stared at him quietly and pondered on what next to do.
I wasn't one to doubt Danny and his intuition. I guess I just didn't want to offend Jasmine. She seemed to have grown sentimental about Camila.
"I'll look into it" I assured and we continued to stare at the plains.
It took awhile before we eventually went back down to be with them, even though the aim was more of to seek sleep than interact.
We chatted as we made our way down. I love it whenever Danny and I talk this much. It's been a while since we did. He's like my best person and since parents aren't around at the time then we have to stick close to each other.
"Alright so my tent is way over there." He pointed towards the extreme left and took his leave
I just smiled and headed for my tent.
It had been a long day and what I really needed was some shut eye.
I passed by multiple bonfires and saw different students doing different things. Some were singing by the fire, some were cuddling, some were chatting and some happened to be drinking. They all seemed so happy and merry at the moment.
I stood by and watched them and their merriment, in awe of their ignorance.
"They don't know what's coming do they?"
I turned my head to see Jasmine standing right behind me.
"No.....no they don't" I said in response as we both watched.
"To think that no one has caught on yet?" I shrugged
"Do we want them to though?" She asked coming in front of me and grabbing my shoulders in her small hands.
I heaved
I guess she had a point. It wasn't the time for them to know yet.
I pulled her in close and embraced her, kissing her forehead softly immediately after and then just standing there in the embrace.
Having her in my arms and being in hers was my safe haven.
"I'll do my best to keep you safe Jay Jay" I said without looking down at her
"And that's a promise" I assured.
It took a while, but we eventually broke the embrace and headed towards the Mr Monroe's tent. There was something we needed to do before the morning came.
Stepping into Mr Monroe's tent we came to meet him seated on the floor with a table set before him and of course the map as well.
"Oh hi guys! Nice to have you here" he greeted as we zipped up the entrance to prevent intrusion.
"So what's the plan? Where are we exactly?" Jasmine asked as we sat on the floor and gazed into the map like it was carrying some kind of hidden information asides land tenures and topography.
"Well...." He started
"Right now we are here and we plan to be here at the end of tomorrow" he explained touching the points on the map's surface.
"It seems like a small distance to me" I commented
"Well that's because, your truly.....moi, has gotten us way beyond the distance we want to travel today... Thank me later" he explained
Felt like a situation of suffer now and rest after. It would at least assist with reducing suspicion and stress.
"Good, we set out tomorrow then" I said as we stood up and to take our leave.
There was a small sound of a twig breaking outside the tent.
"Wait!" Jasmine asserted sharply
"What's that?" I asked
There was a bit of silence as she seemed to be listening out for something but after sometime she seemed to let up.
"I guess it's nothing" she said.
I heard the sound too but I hadn't given it regard until she made mention of it. It would seem someone was trying to overhear us or was already done listening to us and had gone.
"Y'all be careful out there!" Mr Monroe warned as he packed up everything that he had set up and hid it.
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