Page 33 of Choose Us
It was 6 p.m. as the sun dropped behind the mountains in the distance. The still humid air became more bearable once the sun disappeared. The clothes on my back were so wet that it was pointless wearing them. The Nike T-shirt hung from my shoulder. Luckily my sports bra passed as trail appropriate clothing. Had I opted for fancier underwear that morning I’d have been screwed.
The trees all looked familiar now. The people we passed on the trails became less frequent. The wildlife started to appear. We saw a deer drinking from a river, which was delightful and very sweet. Immediately after, I saw a sign that said,Beware of bears—which wasless sweet.
“You don’t think there are actually bears in here, do you?” I asked.
Brooke looked alarmed when she noticed the sign I was referring to.“Erm...”
“What?”
“There was an article a few months ago about a man that got attacked by a black bear in Nikko.”
My gulp was audible. “You’re joking, right?”
“Nope, Iwish I was.”
“I wish you hadn’t told me that.”
Suddenly, every crack of a branch or bristle of leaves caused me to jump. Deer I could deal with, monkeys absolutely, bears, certainly not.
“Are we lost? I feel like we’re lost?” Each way we turned looked the same.
“Didn’t we already come this way? I feel like I saw that tree on its side about a mile ago. We’ve gone round in a circle, haven’t we?” It was my fault. I’d barely paid attention to the signs. I assumed Brooke knew where she was going.
“Possibly. I’m sure we were supposed to follow the signs to Toshogu Shrine and from there to Nikko Station, but I haven’t seen either one of those signs for a while now.” Brooke sighed.
We’d picked up a map before entering the park, but the map was useless because we didn’t know where on the map we were located.
Brooke pulled her phone from her pocket. “It’s dead. Do youhave yours?”
“I told you I left it in the car because I have no pockets.” I kicked at a rock in frustration. “Well, this is just great. We are completely lost.” I flapped my hands.
“I’m sorry, but you could’ve been paying attention too. It’s not all my fault,” Brooke claimed.
“I’m not the one who lives in Japan. If you’d have told me to pay attention I would’ve done, but you didn’t.” I slumped on the nearest rock and began undoing my laces.
“What are you doing?” Brooke asked.
“I’m walking barefoot; if I walk another mile in these trainers my toes are going to fall off.”
“Is that my fault too?” Brooke scowled.
“You didn’t tell me we’d be hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.” The PC Trail between Mexico and Canada was 2600 miles long, so it was a dramatic comparison, butI was angry.
“I have no idea what that is, but I can sense your sarcasm, and I don’t appreciate it.” She folded her arms and sulked. If I wasn’t stuck in the middle of a forest surrounded by killer bears, I’d probably have laughed.
“Can we keep walking, please? We probably have three hours before it’s pitch black. Then we are officially a black bear’s dinner,” I said.
“They prefer grass and fruit to humans.” Brooke stuck her tongue out and stomped off in the opposite direction. “I doubt they eat sarky English lawyers.”
“This way, Brooke. We just came from thatdirection.”
“No,we didn’t.”
“Yes, we did. The rock was on my left when we walked up,” Ipointed out.
“I don’t think it was.”
“Trust me; it was. I don’t think we can rely on your sense of direction anymore.”
