Heart of Steel ~ Winn Schott

The Young Lost

"Hurry up, we literally have like a mile left."

"Louise, we've been walking for almost two hours. How do you suppose we get down from here?"

"The same way we came, you doorknob."

Cold, sweaty and out of breath, Frankie was not in a good mood. Somehow, she'd been convinced to go on some stupid hike and now she was pretty sure that they were lost.

"Are we lost?"

Louise groaned, stopping on an exposed tree root, several feet ahead of Frankie. She threw her hands on her hips, very over dramatically,

"Frank, I've done this trail so often that I could do it without either of my eyes. Can you just trust me?"

"Fine."

Frankie started walking again, her legs and chest burning with the steep, uphill climb they were being forced to do. Louise kept talking the whole way up, somehow managing to not sound out of breath at all, and Frankie suddenly wondered if she was getting enough exercise. 

Maybe she should cut down on the creative spaghetti recipes every second night.

Louise stopped in front of her suddenly as she reached a clearing.

"Here you go. I told you we'd be there soon."

But Frankie wasn't listening. They'd just come up to the end of the trail, and the view was incredible.

They'd climbed one of the most average trails in National City, a whole five miles - the city wasn't known for its magnificent mountains. The moment the trees in front of them separated, all they could see was the city laid out beneath them, the lake across the other side. It was a cold morning, so all of the rooftops were covered in a layer of mist so that only the tallest buildings were clearly visible, the rest falling away under the translucent layers of grey.

The birds chirped from seemingly everywhere at once, and somewhere in the distance, Frankie could hear the sound of a rushing stream.

"It's beautiful," She said, not taking her eyes away for a second.

"Isn't it?" 

Louise pulled out her phone, taking a few pictures. When she turned around to point the camera at her, Frankie neatly ducked out of the way, scampering behind a tree and sending a terrified squirrel darting off into the distance.

"Idiot," Louise said, giving up and putting her phone back into her pocket.

Frankie carefully moved back out into the open with a faux caution about her before straightening up to look back out over the city.

"It makes you want to make a deep confession of love." She muttered, turning to Louise and getting down on one knee.

"Louise Jamie Morris, will you marry me?"

"Yes, yes! A thousand times yes!" Louise said, feigning surprise as she pretended to cry with happiness.

A young couple passing them stared oddly at them, causing both Frankie and Louise to burst out laughing.

"Speaking of undying love," Louise said as she finally pulled herself together, still grinning manically. "How's things with you and Brad going?"

Frankie's smile took on a different tone as she thought about the date which was scheduled for that night. 

"Good. Really good. We're going out again tonight."

Louise went red with the effort of not yelling out.

"That's great. Look at you, one more date and then you can have some sexy-"

"Ew no, shut up."

Louise threw her head back and roared with laughter, several birds in nearby trees taking flight.