Pumas and Cliffs

It proved unfounded, of course. There was no trace of any possible explanation for the peculiar behavior of the trees. Nothing peculiar happened to the surrounding area. What really happened last night? They were still thinking about it as they made a start of finding the road trail again.

“Maybe that creepy puma brought some friends along and they had a stalking party around our camp.” Lacaille suggested.

The other two glared at their friend. They didn’t like the idea of a bunch of animals lurking behind the bushes, waiting and watching at their sleeping forms. Also, they have already forgotten about the black puma from yesterday and it was not comforting to be reminded of it again today when their nerves are frazzled from uncomfortable sleep and mysterious surroundings.

“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about that.” Dea haven’t seen the puma at all today, a tiny consolation. She didn’t really need the feeling of being watched when she was tired, wet and hungry. She was feeling something strange about that animal. Whenever she sees it, its cat eyes gleam as if in recognition, making her shudder at what those eyes reveal.

They found a brook around noon and decided to rest, thereby avoiding the blistering heat of the sun. Lacaille went off upstream saying she needed to heed a call of nature. Dea rummaged through her backpack and groaned when she didn’t find anything edible. They haven’t eaten anything since lunch yesterday and she was having mental pictures of her stomach eating itself.

Alithea looked up from her bag and gave her friend a rueful grin. “Nothing there either, huh?”

“Not a single morsel! We lost all of it last night in the storm.” Dea slumped down beside Alithea. “What are we going to eat now?” Dea saw Alithea look hopefully at the brook. Dea shook her head. “There’s no use in hoping. There are no fishes in there. The water’s too shallow. ”

Alithea’s face fell before getting a faraway look. “What I’d really want right now is some steak. Tender juicy steak. With mashed potatoes and salad.” She patted her middle and moistened her lips, as if seeing the delicacy right in front of her.

The faraway look was now also on Dea’s face. “Barbequed chicken, buttered noodles, coleslaw, some vanilla sherbet. . .” The two of them sighed at the mental pictures those words invoked.

They were in this state of euphoria when Lacaille came back from her trek. She took in the scene and looked suspiciously from one to the other. “Are you guys high?”

“We might as well be,” answered Alithea nonchalantly, refusing to be driven back to reality.

“Fine.” Lacaille plopped down near a tree and shrugged. “I might as well keep all this food to myself.” She revealed a pouch from whence came berries and nuts.

The two were immediately beside their friend. “Where did you get it? Are there still some left? What are these?” Dea’s barrage of questions continued as she held up a round red berry.

Lacaille frowned. “I don’t really know.” Dea stopped in the act of putting the berry in her mouth and Alithea started to choke since she just popped one into her mouth.

“What?” Alithea finally stopped coughing. “You don’t even know what these are and you’re feeding them to us? Are you trying to kill us?”

A mischievous smile touched Lacaille’s lips. “Well, the thought did cross my mind.” She held up her hands in surrender when the two started to approach her menacingly. “Seriously, I don’t know but I think I have a good idea of what they are and I know they’re safe.”

“You’re sure?” Dea was still doubtful. “How did you know which berries to get?”

“Must have read it somewhere,” Lacaille muttered. That was good enough for Alithea as she continued popping one berry after another into her mouth.

They finished off the last of the berries and filled their water bottles to the brim for they knew not when they would find another source of water in this unpredictable terrain.

“I can’t wait to get home.” Because of the food, Alithea’s spirits were up again. ” Then I can have all the food I want. I’ll also make sure not to set foot in this place again!”

They were already packing up their things when Dea held up a hand in silence. “What is it?” Lacaille looked up from her bag.

“Did you hear that?” Dea was looking around for any sign of movement. She definitely heard something. She was about to shrug it off when she heard the sound again. Like rumbling, like it came from a deep cave somewhere. Their eyes widened in shock and they looked back at each other, considering what to do next.

The next instant the black puma from yesterday leaped from the bushes and was coming towards them at incredible speed. The three girls screamed in terror and ran as fast as they could away from the animal.

“You said it wasn’t hungry!” Lacaille was screaming through gasps of breath from running.

Dea looked back and saw the animal still pursuing them. “I don’t know,” she screamed back, “maybe, like us, it hasn’t had its dinner yet!”

“Don’t joke like that!” Alithea felt branches and thorns drawing blood on her skin but she didn’t care. Those scratches are better than being clawed alive by that creature.

Dea was running in the lead and didn’t see that the ground was ending a few meters ahead and by the time she saw it, it was already too late. She felt no ground beneath her and fell into the mountain cliff. She could hear the others screaming her name but she knew there would be no help. The ground was coming fast beneath her. She was going to die. She knew. But I don’t want to die. She was falling. Falling fast. I don’t want to die. . .

And then suddenly, it stopped. Dea blinked a few times to process what was going on. She looked down and saw the ground but it was not coming towards her. She had stopped falling. What happened? Did I get caught on a branch? She looked around and froze. She didn’t get hooked on a branch. She was hanging in mid-air six feet from the ground!

She was going to pinch herself to know she wasn’t dreaming when she suddenly dropped and hit the ground hard. “Ouch!” Dea rubbed her behind. “So I wasn’t dreaming. But what was that all about?” Then her eyes widened. “Al and Caille!” she screamed and ran to find a way up to the cliff where her friends were.

She didn’t she see the puma looking down at her from the cliff all this time.

Meanwhile the two girls were in tears at their friend’s fate. They felt relieved that they finally managed to lose the puma but were devastated at the lost of their friend. Lacaille didn’t want to lose hope. “She’s alright.” Her eyes were filling with tears.” Maybe she didn’t fall. And if she did, she’d survive. You know that she’s thick-headed.”

Alithea wasn’t encouraged. “You saw that cliff, Caille. No one could survive that fall.” She wiped her tears away with a hand. Lacaille held Alithea’s hand and both fell into a mournful silence.

“What are you guys doing?” Dea demanded.

“Wha. . . wha. . .” Lacaille was pointing at Dea in shock.

Alithea rushed forward and hugged Dea. “I’m so glad you’re alright.” She studied Dea up and down. “I guess you really are thick-headed.”

“What?”

“You got caught on a branch, right?” It was now Lacaille’s turn to hug Dea.

Dea looked at the ecstatic faces in front of her. “Well, no.”

Confused faces looked back at her. “I levitated.” Dea could see disbelief in Alithea’s face while Lacaille had an understanding expression.

“You hit your head!” Lacaille examined Dea’s head. “Where does it hurt? Are you bleeding? Would you need stitches?”

Dea shooed her friend away. “No, really. I levitated.”

“Sure.” Lacaille was still looking at Dea’s head. “Right before you fell from the cliff you levitated thus saving you from a gruesome death. We believe you.”

“Listen to me! I didn’t hit my head! I levitated!” Dea realized she was screaming in frustration.

Her friends were silent. Dea felt embarrassed at her outburst. “But Dhey,” Alithea started, “Do you know how silly that sounds?”

“I know! Don’t you think I know that! But it happened! It’s not hard to believe when I was hanging six feet above the ground!” Dea slumped on the ground in frustration of trying to convince her friends and herself of the impossibility of the incident.

Alithea was thinking hard. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s ESP! I’ve read that there is nothing impossible where the mind is concerned. Some people have the ability of telekinesis so why not levitation?”

Dea looked doubtfully at her friend. “You think so?”

She pounded a fist in one hand. “That must be it! You were so afraid of dying at that moment that your mind used that fear in order for you to levitate thus removing the fear!”

“Cool!” Lacaille was looking at Dea wide-eyed. “Can you teach me how to do that, too? Please?”

“What?” Dea tried to shoo her friend away. “I don’t even know why I levitated much less how to do it!”

“You’re so selfish!”

“I am not!” Dea pinched Lacaille’s ear then, realizing their current situation, let her eyes wander, anxiety clearly showing in their depths. “That is the least of our problems right now. We now have a hungry puma running around loose in the forest and here we are—easy prey. We best expand the distance between us and this place.”

“Great plan. But there’s a tiny glitch in it,” Lacaille said. “We left our packs back at the stream remember? Our things, clothes and most importantly, the map and compass are still there. How are we supposed to get home without those?

Alithea grimaced. ”Shoot!”

Lacaille went on. “On the other hand, if we go back we might encounter that puma again and I know you don’t relish that. So it’s either go on and wander through the forest for I don’t know how long or go back and chance a meeting with that puma.” She shook her head. “What a horrible predicament we’re in!”

Alithea groaned.

“Tough choice.” Dea’s brows were knitted together in thought. She looked at the two. “So what should we do?” Her friends shrugged in response. “I think we should go on. We were already lost, even with the map and compass to guide us, so it’s no use getting them now considering the danger. And I don’t think either one of us bothered to see where we were going when we were chased by that puma; that means not one of us know how to get back to the stream. The best we could do is hope that we meet someone or see signs of civilization along the way. Do you agree?”

“Absolutely,” Lacaille said.

“It’s better than nothing,” Alithea grumbled, then brightened up and looked lovingly at Lacaille.

Lacaille narrowed her eyes suspiciously. ”What?”

Alithea displayed her nicest smile. ”Caille, could you possibly find us some more of those berries? All that running made me hungry.”

“Go away!”

Licorne’s Notes:
I had so much fun writing this chapter! I definitely needed some cheering up since I wrote this part after a not-so-good result in the said math exam #_#. Writing always cheers me up!

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