“Shouldn’t we be running away from an erupting volcano?” I said to Alex. “Not towards it.”
The man next to me obviously overheard and pointed out that this was a very common occurrence and that we would be perfectly safe to watch the eruption from the designated lookout spot.
“A common occurrence?” I hissed at Alex. “I thought you said the thing didn’t erupt.”
“Whoops,” Alex said, his eyes lighting up like a child at Christmas. “Come on.” He started moving towards it.
“Not a chance.” I stood still as more and more people started coming down the path. People with cameras, what looked like a news crew, old people, people with children . . .Maybe it was safe?
“Come on.” Alex took me by the hand and soon we were swept up in the crowd of people all racing towards the volcano. We picked up pace, jogging now, down the path, along the dusty road, climbing down the steps, up another set of steps until finally we arrived at the vantage point.
It wasn’t what I was expecting. I was expecting Krakatoa, tons of red liquid exploding into the sky, rocks and dust in the air like mushroom clouds. But this was nothing like that. It was the PG version. But still, spectacular. I was in absolute awe as I watched the glowing red lava shooting up a few meters like a fountain might. It looked even redder and more brilliant against the black background. In fact, I’d never seen such a bright red color before, a color that was just so alive.
I was awestruck by the magnificence of it all, this theatre of nature playing out an age-old dramatic scene for us. I gazed over at Alex, who looked equally swept up in this moment. Small trickles of molten rock began to form, sliding down the side the hill. The trickles grew, until they were small red streams. The lava didn’t move like a liquid though. It moved like a slow, strange alien creature. It crawled its way across the land instead of flowing. It seemed to take its time too, it was in no rush.And why would it be?It was ancient. It had been here for millions of years and had done this thousands of times before, creating, shaping and sculpting the landscape each time. I felt humbled by this great thing. There was something so special about seeing it and, suddenly, I felt strangely emotional. I was watching something so incredibly beautiful, yet destructive. Something that both created, and destroyed.
“I know,” Alex said softly to me.
It was only then that I realized I was biting down on my lip to stop the tears that I could feel in my eyes. I looked up at him and he draped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close.
“I know,” he said again, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking.How did that always seem to happen?
I put my arm around him and we stood there, side by side, arm in arm, watching in total silence as it continued. No one around us spoke either, and there was something so magical about this moment, a moment that we were all sharing in together. I’m not sure how long we stood and watched, but finally Alex whispered in my ear.
“We need to go, we have a helicopter to catch.”
“A wh—” and then I remembered. “You still think it’s a good idea to go skydiving?” I asked. “Can’t we just tick adrenalin off the list thanks to erupting volcano?”
Alex turned and smiled at me. “Oh, Valeria.”
“Valeria? God, only my mother calls me that. And only when I’m in trouble. Am I in trouble?” I asked, turning to look at Alex now. The sun was behind him and I shielded my eyes to see his face.
The bright daylight sun was doing something incredible to his eyes now and I found myself quite transfixed by them again. By the way they seemed to change in such a mercurial manner. He blinked and when he opened them again, I swear they looked a little different once more.
“The helicopter is waiting for us,” Alex said, and started walking away.
I snapped myself out of the gray daze I’d suddenly found myself in. “You know there’s no way I’m doing this, right?”
“We’ll see,” he said smugly.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
“I hate you right now, I hate you right now, did I mention that I HATE YOU. Right. NOW!” I screamed over the roar of the blades and the raging winds flying past the open door. I’d never heard such loud, violent gusts of wind before, and I was sure I wasn’t meant to either, not unless I was taking a stroll through a hurricane—and who the hell does that?No one!
Everything about this moment was completely unnatural. One never expects to be in a helicopter with the door open. Let alone sitting at said open door with legs hanging out! Nothing about this moment was even vaguely acceptable, normal or natural.
Alex looked at me with wide eyes now, all his previous smug smiles gone. “I think I hate myself too, now.” He grimaced at me, and the terror that washed over his face did little to soothe me; if anything it totally set me off. How dare he feel terrified! This had been his bright idea!
“I told you this was a bad idea!” I shouted over at him. “I knew it. This is officially the worst idea ever and it’s all your fault, Alex. Your fault!” I continued my panicked rant.
“Are you ready?” The instructor who was tightly strapped to my back asked me.
“NO! No, no, no, no, nooooooo.” I shook my head violently from side to side and shut my eyes tightly. “I don’t want to die, “I wailed frantically.
I heard a chuckle behind me from the instructor and I wanted to turn around and slap him.How dare he laugh in the face of danger like this?“You won’t die. It’s perfectly safe.”
“SAFE!” I scoffed loudly. “Safe is not throwing yourselves out of a helicooooo—”
He jumped. I screamed. I clenched my jaw and my fingers tightened into balls of anxiety. The cold wind assaulted my face, like thousands of tiny cold needles poking into my skin all at once. The winds howled against my ears, roaring into them so loudly that it was all I could hear. My cheeks burned, my mouth felt like it was being forcibly pulled open and my nose was about to be ripped from my face. For a second I couldn’t catch my breath, as if I’d had the wind knocked out of me. I was totally disorientated as we flipped over and over. Once, twice, three times . . . I looked up at the helicopter, it seemed so far away now and like Dorothy I wished I could click my heels together and magic myself back into it.
