Free Water by Natasha Hardy Page B

the chuckle of a stream somewhere below where I was standing and could make out the grassy plain we’d walked through earlier in the day, now a pool of violet shadow.
    I turned to see what lay ahead of us, what the rest of this camping trip might hold.
    Its beauty left me breathless.
    We had walked deep into the Injisuthi and the mountains that were a pretty backdrop from the Van Heerdens’ farm, now soared majestically skyward, their jagged outline looming in confident grandeur above me. I felt so small and insignificant pitted against their timeless magnificence.
    Josh’s sleeve brushed my arm, startling me, as he joined me in admiring the view.
    “It’s beautiful isn’t it?” His voice was hushed as the night’s chorus washed over us.
    I nodded. We stood in companionable silence watching the last of the light bleed into the shadows, before moving back to the crackling fire.
    Our conversation spanned a vast array of subjects, from Josh’s theories about the female leader in the cave, to school. Josh politely avoided talking about my family and particularly about Brent, which I was grateful for, and instead hovered on light and happy topics.
    Josh was going into his final year of school the following semester and was then planning to go on to study further in medicine.
    “What about you, Al?” he asked casually. “What do you want to be?”
    I hated this question, mainly because I didn’t know the answer to it.
    My parents had decided that I would study further after school and were trying to persuade me that my grades in maths and science should naturally lead me to engineering or medicine or something along those lines. Just because I was good at those subjects didn’t necessarily mean I liked them, in fact, I couldn’t think of anything more terrifying than being trapped in a world constantly bombarded by routine. A world, that from my perspective, most adults I knew seemed to suffocate in.
    I shrugged “no idea”.
    “Oh come on,” he goaded, “you must have some clue?”
    “OK,” I grinned. “I want to be a warrior princess.”
    Josh laughed at me. As children we’d often played a game where Alexa the warrior princess, along with her trusty sidekick Josh, rescued the world from Luke the dragon.
    “You look like you’re turning into just that,” he replied, grinning at me, seemingly pleased at the blush that crawled up my neck. “Although maybe the warrior element needs a bit of work, most warriors can hold their own against baboons,” he amended, lightening the sudden intensity of the mood.
    I laughed, nodding.
    “What’s so funny?” Luke asked, walking into the cave.
    “Just teasing Alex about her clumsiness today,” Josh replied easily.
    The rest of the evening was lovely. One of the last uncomplicated evenings I remember. The night sky, so far from any manmade light, was crowded with billions of stars, the summer air warm and gentle on our exercise-weary bodies.
    The boys had decided to go back to the pool I’d fallen into the next day. As it was only a short distance from the cave, I was given the option to join them or stay at base camp.
    I shuddered at the thought of going anywhere near that pool again, remembering the icy water closing over my head as my lungs fought for air and black spots danced in front of my eyes. It wasn’t just the water that made me edgy,
he
might be there, or was the right pronoun
it
?
    After dinner, we climbed into our sleeping bags around the fire and chatted until the moon rose brilliant and full, eclipsing the stars.
    I don’t remember falling asleep, but I do remember waking up!
    The firelight had faded and the crackling and popping of burning wood had subsided to a smoky hush. My eyes opened heavily my mind trying to sort through what had woken me.
    I was just drifting back to sleep when I heard it again. The soft pad of footsteps as someone walked past my head.
    My heart began to pound.
    I opened my eyes to tiny slits searching for Luke and