ragnarok - rim of the world

Getting Settled

"All right, Zhenzhen, you are good to go. Safety first," Logan said, hooking up the harness and making sure it was safe.

"Mhmm. 'Sup girl? I'm Dariush." Whenever he tried to pick up any girls, I wanted to jump off a cliff. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Is this a layover because we're making a connection, you feel me?"

I just cringed and closed my eyes, hoping to disappear from this moment. She glanced at me, I quickly shot her an apologetic look. Zhenzhen just jumped off and went down the zipline.

"Oh, all right," Logan said with a chuckle, "That pickup line was the worst I've ever heard, man."

"I can't believe I'm related to you," I scoffed. Dariush just chuckled slightly as he rolled his eyes.

"Look I got game. Girls fall when they see me." 

"Yeah, they fall off the zipline and almost commit suicide," Logan said, with a serious look on his face. I chuckled at his words and Dariush just gave me a quick side glare.

"No, they fall in love."

"Is that right?" I jokingly asked.

"That's right."

They continued to banter, however, their words drowned out as I noticed a small ginger kid making his way up. I quickly went over to him and helped him up. I noticed his fearful expression, it made me a little worried about him.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked him, he just gave me a quick nod. It was obvious he didn't want to be up here though. He walked over to Logan, I just hoped he would be kind to the poor kid.

"Carrot Top's up next, you ready, Alex?" Logan asked Alex, "Come on, let's do this baby. Come on. Come to the edge. Look right over to the edge, there we go. All you gotta do is breathe, baby." Logan led the anxious boy over to the edge, how would that help?

Alex started to doubt himself, saying he can't do it continuously. His thoughts seemed to be racing around his mind as Logan tried to prompt him, not in a comforting way.

"Logan! Dude!" I exclaimed, interrputing them both from their overlapping words. I pulled Alex away from the edge and shot a menacing glare at Logan before turning back to him. "Alex, if you dont wanna do it, its fine. You can go back down. Dont feel pressured." I directed my last semtence to Logan, who just rolled his eyes impatiently.

After a few seconds of looking between the zipline and the ladder back down, he gave me a thankful tight lipped smile.

"Thanks...I'm gonna go back down."

"Thats fine. Go ahead."

He solemnly made his way back over to the ladder, climbing down gingerly.

I turned to Logan, a disapproving glare in my eyes.

"You need to be nicer, they're just kids."

"Yeah, whatever. If you gave him a couple more seconds he woulda been screaming going down that zipline having the time of his life." I rolled my eyes at his ignorance.

"Yeah, I dont thimk he'd be screaming for joy."

"Whatever."

I was wandering around, exploring the camp, not quite ready to go back to my cabin yet. The same kid from earlier caught my eye standing by himself, I walked up to him.

"Hey, Alex, right?" He jumped at my sudden appearance, it looked like I had interrupted something. "Sorry."

"It's okay."

"I'm Hope. Sorry about earlier, that shouldn't have happened. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm-I'm fine. Thanks."

"If you need someone to talk to or whatever, I'm here. Don't feel lonely, m'kay?"

A small smile crept onto his face, "Okay, thank you."

I smiled at him and waved goodbye to him as I walked away, not wanting to disturb him any further.

My legs carried my now heavy body back to my cabin, while I tried to stifle a yawn. I plopped onto my bed, exhausted, barely anything had happened yet my body acted as if everything had happened. 

I shared a bunk bed with another girl, I wasn't sure who though, nobody was there when I came in to put my bags down earlier.

My eyes were closing as my body started to shut down. Before I could drift off into blissful slumber, someone entered the cabin; it was Zhenzhen, she walked closer and closer and then I realized...Zhenzhen was my bunkmate? What a coincidence. I quickly pulled myself off the bed to greet her.

"Zhenzhen, right? I'm Hope, I-uh guess we're sharing a bunk bed."

She didn't say anything and looked towards the bed but I could tell she wasn't annoyed...I hope.

"Oh, I'm sorry about my brother earlier, he can be like that sometimes and it's annoying, to say the least. Well, I hope we can be friends!" She gave me a small smile before she started to climb up to her top bunk, "Uh, goodnight." I called one last time, she looked at me and gave a small approving nod. I plopped back into my bed and fell asleep in a matter of minutes.