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“Yeah.” I smile proudly. A silly kid wanting to match their parents. “The Xi style.”
“I do it because I like the anonymity. Moving around the North Shore is easier when people aren’t sure who you are. Not sure you fit the Xi style with that coat.”
My fuchsia coat is indeed not making me blend with the night as his attire does.
I open the window, letting the cool night wind flick my hair. The nights are getting much colder. I’m a summer girl. Camping at Stoneview Lake with my friends, stargazing from our small town. Boating activities.
My favorite thing, however?
My parents are usually away on vacation. Washington D.C. is a mere forty-minute drive from Stoneview, hence why we have so many politicians in our town. My father can easily drive back and forth. Well, his driver does. So he’s home a lot. Except during summer, when they’re away. That time used to be my favorite occasion of the year.
I’m not a winter person. I don’t like the cold, the rain, or sometimes the snow we get. It hasn’t been too bad lately, even though evenings are starting to smell like Fall. The light noise of leaves falling, the bite of cold in the air.
I stay silent as Xi guides us out of town and through some cliff roads. My eyes tear up from the wind, but I like it. With his presence by my side and the taste of freedom on my lips, I feel light.
We park on the edge of a cliff, with nothing around us but sandy, dusty ground and tall trees.
“Where are we?” I ask as I inhale the fresh air. He turns to me and puts a strand of my hair behind my shoulder.
“We’re at the falls.”
“That’s not the falls,” I chuckle. “I know what it looks like around the falls, and that’s definitely not it.”
He shakes his head. “You know what it looks like from the south bank. This is what it looks like on the North Shore.”
The words are delivered with a coolness I’ve come to enjoy.
“Come on.” He takes my hand and helps me out of the car.
The faint noise of the waterfalls that gave the name to this city can be heard in the background. There’s gravel and dust where we’re parked, but only space for one car. Everything else is forest. It’s a very small viewpoint without any infrastructure.
I walk closer to the edge of the cliff and watch the horizon. The falls aren’t actually here. All I can see is Stoneview Lake. It’s a vast lake that looks like a black hole of nothingness at night. There are no lights around here. The only thing shining are a few of the Stoneview Lake houses far away in the distance from us. Just dots in a midnight blue background. Fireflies in the darkness.
I can faintly see my small hometown on the other side. Here, the water is barely accessible. The cliffs haven’t been structured to access the lake like it is on our side. I guess one could jump in and quickly climb back out, but there are no wood platforms and human-made pebble beaches like we have. And there are certainly no lake houses. Yet, there’s something special about this place. A calmness that grounds me. It’s not pretentious, it’s just nature.
Xi’s hand grabs mine, and he pulls me to the side. “Come, I want to show you something.”
I follow him, my white, expensive sneakers already turning gray from all the dust.
He takes me through what barely looks like a path. It’s not something official, but that’s formed over the years of people walking here. He jumps down a few rocks, then turns around and holds me by the waist. My heart lurches in my chest, and my hands fly to the top of his shoulders as he picks me up to bring me down to his level.
The lack of light makes it all feel forbidden and a little scary. Like something could jump on us at any time. Like someone is hiding and watching us. It makes my heart accelerate in the best way.
I’m not really scared, though. I trust Xi. It’s more like watching a horror film, being aware of fear, but nothing can happen to us.
“Are we even allowed to be here?”
He lets go of my waist to grab my hand again. “Try living a little, cupcake. Don’t worry if things are allowed.”
“So, no.”
He lights up a path with his phone, and we walk for around ten minutes, the noise of the Silver Falls getting louder and louder. He pushes through some thick wild bushes, and I follow him despite the small branches scratching my arm.
And I’m glad I do.
“Oh my God,” I gasp above the now loud noise of water going down and hitting the river many feet below.
“You like the view?” Xi sits down in front of me and taps the ground next to him. His feet dangle into emptiness, and my belly flutters looking at the falls crashing down. It’s not easy to see, only lit up by the moon, but my eyes adjust quickly like a predator of the night. The falls are gigantic. The other side of them is where the south bank trail leads to. It’s a nice hike to do on the weekend and leads to a spectacular view. But not this close.
