Page 48 of The Edge of Never

“Am no sure we’re gonnae be rescued.”

“Me either.”

Both of us went silent at that. I didn’t stop holding him, even if he didn’t hold me back. That was okay. I wanted to offer him my strength, even though I had a limited supply of it.

After a while, Thane coughed and shifted underneath me.

“We should probably eat something,” he murmured.

“Yeah,” I breathed.

The thought of pulling away from him cleaved me in two, but I did it. I struggled my way out of the sleeping bag into the freezing air.

“Fuck me, it’s way colder than yesterday.”

Thane shifted and stretched while I set about preparing some semblance of breakfast. When we finished eating, he lay on his side so I could get back into the bag with him. It was far too cold to be outside of it.

“I dread to think how much it snowed overnight.”

The sound of the wind whistling outside had me wanting to stay in the tent all day. I would have to venture forth eventually. My bladder wouldn’t hold out much longer.

“Winter storms can be absolute shite.”

“You must be used to them living up here.”

“Aye, but I’ve never been caught in one like this. Ye can read up on all the advice ye want. Nothing can prepare ye for being in the midst of it.”

I fiddled with my top.

“Yeah, not going to lie. When we were up there on the mountain, I was terrified with all the wind and snow. I thought we would slip and fall at any moment.”

“It put ye off mountaineering?”

I snorted and pushed at his chest.

“No. I mean, I’m not about to go off climbing the world’s highest mountains or anything but bagging a few Munros would be an achievement.”

“Pity we couldnae get ye up yer first one this time.”

“Maybe next time.”

If there is a next time…

There was no point me in contemplating our downfall. We still had supplies and each other for now. I had to hold on to hope that we could get through this.

“We’re going to be okay, right, Thane? Like things could be worse.”

“Aye, they could be.”

I noticed the way he hadn’t answered my question. He wasn’t sure we would be. I wasn’t ready to prepare for the worst yet. Especially not on my birthday. Tomorrow I would consider other outcomes. Tomorrow I would be stronger. But for today, I wanted to stay close to Thane and pretend for a moment that we were friends celebrating my birthday, not strangers who barely knew a thing about each other.

So that was what I was going to do.

Sixteen

Thane

It hadn’t been my intention to talk about our predicament today. Not on Kit’s birthday. A sense of melancholia fell over the two of us after they’d asked me if we were going to be okay. If I answered that honestly, it would have ruined both of our days. Maybe avoiding it hadn’t helped matters, but fuck, I couldn’t do that to them today. Couldn’t tell them I feared rescue wasn’t coming at all.

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