Falls Peak

Chapter 14

"What time is it anyway?" Kyle asked, still nervous after his dream, but also confused now. Had he really fallen asleep on the hard ground without getting into at least his sleeping bag? And why was it only slightly lighter now then it was when he'd remembered everyone going to sleep?

"Six-thirty," Jess answered with a shrug. "I hated it too but we need to get moving."

"Well that sounds awful," He smiled, only for show though.

Something told him that his dream would stay with him all day.

*

After Kyle had packed away what little he'd taken out and everyone had had something to eat, the team once again began their descent to the bottom of the hill before they'd begin the climb up to the waterfall.

At first, everyone remained silent just like the day before but once the sun began to rise again, everyone seemed to come out of their shells a little.

"So Kyle, you still didn't tell us who you were dreaming about. Anyone we know?" Teased Katie.

"At least it's a nice day again today. I don't think I would've been able to cope if it was raining," Kyle said, deliberately ignoring her.

"I know what you mean. This might surprise you, but I do not do well with rain," Jess laughed.

"Tactically avoiding my question," Katie interrupted. "It's a bold strategy Cotton; let's see if it pays off for him!"

"What?" Jess giggled, even stopping to turn back and look at Katie to make sure she wasn't about to wander off in a delirious state.

"Are you serious?" Katie snapped back. "You haven't seen Dodge ball? What is wrong with you?"

"Uhh . . . I've got friends and a life?" Jess offered.

"Come on, even I've seen that!" Kyle shrugged.

"See! Brennan is almost cool! What about you Matt? You must have seen it?" Katie called up to the leader who was, as usual, about twenty paces ahead of everyone else.

Matt didn't answer.

"Matt?" Jess shouted this time, succeeding in snapping him out of his daze.

"Yeah sure, whatever," He said back nonchalantly.

Kyle and the girls shared a worried glance before Kyle indicated that he'd go and see if Matt was ok. The girls nodded their approval at his plan and so Kyle jogged ahead and caught up with Matt.

"Are you alright, man?" He asked.

"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I be?" Matt asked, not sounding convincing at all.

"I don't know, you seemed ok last night and this morning but whenever we're walking you aren't saying much," Kyle shrugged. He'd never been the best at talking about people's problems. This made his recent attempts with Jess even stranger.

"Maybe I'm just concentrating," Matt huffed.

"Ok, fair enough," Kyle surrendered.

"And besides, I thought you guys would prefer that I wasn't saying anything. Nobody ever wants to hear what I have to say anyway."

"Nobody thinks that," Kyle replied, then realised that a lot of people probably did. "Come on, you can talk to me. What's this about?"

"You don't want to know."

Kyle looked back to see that Katie and Jess were deep in their own conversation so he decided to press on with Matt.

"Try me! Look, this can be our bonfire moment. You know what Katie was talking about last night. It'll be a pretty long weekend if we don't talk. Don't you think?"