Chapter 36

1 0 0
                                    

It was a chilly day, with a heavy fog guiding them along, as Tyler, Misty, Dennis and the twins made their way. The only upside being the scenery. Almost a week had passed, and none of them could get past the beauty of the place (that included the two who had grew up there). With its historical buildings, friendly inhabitants (minus Clarissa and the uber rich), and the breath taking views. Misty could understand how one could settle themselves here, despite it being a place stuck in time. However, Tyler was staining the beauty with his extracurricular activities. With all his talk about holiday's and relaxing, to her this was a massive 'hypocrite' moment. It had rained heavily the previous night, causing their track to come alive. The dirt grabbed at their ankles, slowing them down as they trudged on. The cold willed to control their mouths, but unwilling to be slaves they made sure the chattering of their teeth was voluntary as they spoke amongst themselves.

"I am quite sure, if not 100% positive, that there are better things to do in your hometown that do not involve strenuous activity." Misty muttered. The pout had not left her face the entire morning. From the moment she had been unwillingly dragged out of bed to suffer along this trail. Of all the things that Tyler could have thought of, how could he have possibly thought that she would enjoy this. On a morning like this, at all times!

"You can hardly call this strenuous," Tyler brushed Misty off.

"That's what she said."

"Really Stanley!?"

"I've been watching reruns of the Office, blame Michael!" Stanley defended, as he jumped out of the way just in time to dodge his sister's attack.

"Does this even come off?" Misty asked bitterly, as she rubbed her arm raw, only for it to remain blue. Giving up, she turned back to Tyler to continue their argument, "anyway, this is a strenuous activity. I am exerting more energy than usual." Misty argued. "The very definition of strenuous is to use great exertion."

"You are not using great exertion."

"That's what she said."

"Who are you to tell me my level of exertion? This hardly constitutes as a good time." Misty whined, hands waving around in frustration. They had been wading their way through the muddy trail for what seemed like hours now, and it seemed as though there was no end in sight. Misty was cold, grumpy, and quite frankly sick of watching people pass them by.

"It's not like we're forced to go any faster than our current pace." Tyler reminded Misty, giving her a pointed look.

"Yeah but, 'nobody wants to be the last one there, cause everyone wants to feel like someone cares'. Not the point Misty, stop getting distracted. Nickelback was right, okay, even though they were singing about love, they laid out a principle applicable to all factors of life. As humans we don't like to lose, nobody wants to be the last one there."

"Winning or losing is largely based on your mentality."

"No, I'm pretty sure it's based on whether you place first or last." Misty rebutted, snark evident in her tone.

"That's in a competitive race. This is a charity fun run, raising money for sick people. Mental illness slash conditions to be exact."

"Oh." Misty now understood why waking up at the crack of dawn to do exercise had been so important to Tyler. Though to be honest even if it was not aimed at those suffering mentally, Misty should not have had such a critical attitude towards charity. It was just, her sleep had been interrupted, which interrupted her dream, which made her come back to the harsh reality of her life. The whole time she had been projecting her frustrations about her newfound dilemma; why dreams couldn't be reality.

"Yeah, oh."

"Fine, I'll stop complaining. But, I just want you to know that I'll be silently protesting in my head." What about, was just a minor detail.

Tyler would take what he could get. Happy with the compromise he voiced out one final request, "just try to have fun." Tyler smiled, as the colour red rained down on top of him.

"Yeah, why don't I sell you my right kidney while I'm at it."

"Really?" Tyler was not impressed. Yes, he had hardly considered anyone else's feelings when he had declared that they were going on this impromptu adventure. But in saying that, never had he met someone who would pass up on the opportunity to run, whilst people threw colour bombs at them. "You know you're very pessimistic?"

"I'll be sure to put that down on my resume."

"Urghhh, just stop!"

"That's what she said."

---

---

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Diary/Journal/Whatever is ManlyWhere stories live. Discover now