Sparkring : Chapter 4

Day 4
Time : 12.42am

We make our way along the side of Black Forest, a plateau with steep sides. As I look out of the window, the mountain falls away from the winding crude path that we are traveling on. The jeep holds up, thankfully, as the wheels beneath me skid slightly as they try to find purchase on the crumbly gravel. Hopefully, as our driver says, we will reach the guesthouse by nightfall.

.

I blinked. The words were blurry and somehow at a strange angle. Then, upon realising it was me who was at a strange angle, I straightened up, pushing my blanket off. I felt around for my torch, a hard round cylinder, found it, and switched it off. It must have burnt through the entire night.

A knock attracted my attention and I looked up, Mich was standing by the door, hand posed for another rap on the open door if need be. "Morning."

"Morn' Mich." I yawned and stretched my cramped muscles luxuriously. The book fell away somewhere beneath the folds of the blanket. For some reason or other, I was slightly surprised to find myself feeling protective over the book as soon as I saw Mich by the door. By most counts, I was generous with my items, a favor returned by Mich. But this time however, I didn't want to share my find with him; not yet anyway.

"Dad," He said, referring to his father and my uncle, "Made breakfast."

I waited expectantly for him to continue, sitting in my current position with my hands folded over each other. Mich made to open his mouth, paused, thought for a moment, then jerked his thumb helplessly towards the kitchen in an indication that I should get going before disappearing from the doorway.

I shook my head. He had been like this for the past few times, getting tongue-tied the first day or two. While I didn't exactly know why, I had a mild suspicion that he had been getting those adrenaline rushes and sweaty palms, translation: He had fallen for some girl.

And without telling me too. I shook my head.

Ah well, there is plenty of time to wheedle it out of him later. Scratching my head, I pulled my grumbling body from the bed and dragged my feet towards the toilet.