130

This story includes content which includes Physical Distress.

130

They’ve warned us this would happen. They told us to consume less, recycle more, drive less, bike more. They gave us time frames. In 30 years, maybe 20, we’ll experience more dramatic weather conditions. We’ll have less crops. More animals would have gone extinct…Our race following them not long after. They told us these things and no one listened. That’s the way things have gone for decades and nothing has changed.

North Carolina has gotten used to the warnings of natural disasters for the last couple years. Gotten used to the messages that would appear on our screens, warning us to get prepared, stay indoors, or better yet just leave. However, these “disasters” have never been as serious as they said they were to be. The storm didn’t cause damage and the flood’s waterline didn’t pass 2 inches. I’ve been to school in the midst of a “hurricane” and a “blizzard” and was fine by the time I arrived back home. My mom said it wasn’t always like this though. There were channels that gave accurate accounts of what to expect. There were barely any false alarms but now they say it's hard to predict. A lot of people had become suspicious of this, believing that maybe someone just wanted to keep this information from us but even meteorologists are agreeing that the weather that should be occurring at times just doesn’t occur. What once was a country that was moving towards believing in science and calculations was now starting to guess and go along with what has not been working. It was something we all wished was different but something we grew used to as well. 

“I hate this.” Kara sighed holding her phone up in the air. “My hotspot isn’t working.”

I let out a chuckle as I continued to help Xander put up one of the tents and as Mateo and Eli gathered wood.

“You mean you won’t be able to watch that annoying reality show when we’re supposed to be finishing our hike in the morning? Oh no!” Xander exclaims.

Kara rolls her eyes and puts the phone away. “You say that, but you looked really interested in it the other day.”

This time Mateo laughs, arriving back with the wood and tossing it down. “Y’know, I can see him enjoying that.”

The group carries on and finishes our tasks and then wraps up the night by sitting at the campfire and telling stories. Stereotypical, traditional, and nice. I’ve been close friends with Kara, Xan, Mateo, and Eli for almost my whole life. We grew up in the same area, went to the same school, and even (unpopular decision) all went to the same university. It doesn’t work out for everyone of course but for us it did. Because at this point we weren’t just friends, we were family and one of the things we liked to do as a family was hike up some mountain (didn’t really matter which one), camp a night, and then really just come back whenever we got tired. Nothing fancy, no clear goal, just enjoy the time we had together. This mountain was about 3 hours away from home and during daylight we had made it about 10 hours deep into the forest…however far along that was. 

“And that’s basically all I've been up to. "Xander shrugs. “Y’know just working and writing. Working and writing…”

I take a look at the map, trying to figure out where exactly we were and then raise a brow.

“What is it Syd?” Mateo notices, taking his attention off of Xander.

I look more closely at it and notice that I’m not just seeing things. Everything was wrong. We hadn’t passed a rest stop or a gift shop. The river wasn’t where it was supposed to be. I turn it over once more and notice Xander looking at me, whose face was as pale as a ghost.

“This isn’t the right map”, I let out, not asking but stating.

“Excuse me?” Kara shakes her head. “What are you talking about…not the right map? What other map could it be?”

“A map for Nobles Mountain Park.” I flip the map over and point at the small lettering spelling it out for us. The map was not accurate and the person with the map had to know it. All eyes turn to Xander who just brushes it off.

“It’s fine! I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want anyone to worry about it. We made it this far, haven’t we?”

“Yeah, and how are we going to get out then, huh? Have you thought that much about it?” Kara complains.

“I know the way back out! Y’know I’m just gonna go to sleep. We’ll finish the hike in the morning,” Xan gets up and starts to make his way back to his tent.

“No way dude…I think we should just try to find our way back. It doesn’t make sense to push ourselves farther in the forest without knowing where we’re going.” Mateo suggests.

Xan looks at us as if we had four eyes, at shock maybe that we weren’t agreeing with him or maybe that this could be the first year we haven’t attempted the hike. Whatever the reason, he wasn’t happy with us and even more, wasn’t happy with me. 

“Whatever.”

He eyes me last then goes into his tent. An expression of both disappointment and subtle anger. I know I shouldn’t feel bad, but I do. There might have been a small chance that maybe he actually did know the way out the forest but it’s a chance that I didn’t want to take. We weren’t just kids anymore. We can’t just drop everything, go on an adventure and have no consequences. After this weekend, we need to be back, and we need to be back safe.

I fold up the map and decide to call it a night too. 

“Sure…whatever”

***

I wake up, covered in water. The sun beams through the tent. My hair is soaked. What kind of joke was this? I see Kara beside me who seems equally as frustrated, crushing a water bottle in her hand.

“I didn’t mean to use that on you, but I mean it’s good that I did…are you okay?”, she asks almost out of breath. 

She has sweat all on her face, running down her neck. Her long wavy hair is now in a bun, sitting on the top of her head. I put my head over my head to stop the sun from meeting my eyes and notice that most of this isn’t water on me. It’s sweat.

“What’s happening?” I ask.

“A heat wave.” she says.

Suddenly I see Eli’s shadow jogging towards our tent. He opens it and hands us two bottles of water.

“Oh good morning, Syd.” he chuckles.

“This isn’t funny! How long is the heatwave gonna last for?”

Eli gives us a look. “Yeah, but it’s funny that you think any of us could possibly know that.” I hate to admit it but he’s right. The predictions are never right, and the warnings are never meaningful. But at this point an automatic warning sent to our phones was all we had to go off of.

“Well, what’s the state saying?” I asked.

They both look at me, with more serious eyes this time. Of course. It’s gonna be all day. We’ll have to stay in the tents and make use of all the water and food we’ve already brought.

“So that means until sundown I’m assuming. It’ll be fine. We really should be saving this water then...We could also wait until it’s a little cooler so we can swim in the lake or something.”

“No, Syd…it’s not going to be cooler then.” Eli cuts in. “They’re saying the heatwave could last until next week. They’re expecting it to get cooler but today it’s going to be hot.”

They both watch for my reaction like hawks. There’s still something else I don’t know. We’ve been through “heat waves” before. We survived. We grew up facing these kinds of things so why were they so scared?

“So how hot? 97…100 degrees?” I ask, starting to feel myself go out of breath.

Our phones begin to buzz. A warning. I lift up my phone and almost throw up at the sight of the number. Oh my God. 

“We’re gonna have to leave today. I don’t know Xan and Mateo are talking about what to do.” Eli tries to comfort us, but it only makes Kara irritated.

“So, we’re gonna let Xander have all of our lives in his hands. You gotta be kidding me.” Kara exclaims, taking off her shirt sluggishly.

“We can’t just be irrational. If we stay here too long, we’ll run out of water and then on the walk back to shelter, we could get a heat stroke or become too dehydrated…”

“I know you’re not explaining what too much heat can do to a medical student right now.” 

He flashes an awkward grin which in better circumstances would’ve resulted in a shoe in his face. Not long after, Xander’s yell for Eli can be heard from the other tent.

“I guess that might be some news, "he says before leaving.

When he does though, I start to realize that this is about to get more real when he comes back. 145 degrees. It comes to my mind again. That’s all I can think about. I look at my bottle of water again, but I don’t think I need it right now. I could save it for later or the lack of it could cause me to die. I don’t say anything though. No need to worry anyone else.

“We’re gonna be okay”, Kara tells me like she was reading my mind. She rubs my arm, ignoring the sweat. 

“Do you really think that?” I ask, almost laughing.

“Duh...we’re always okay.”

True. We were always okay. Always getting into trouble but we also ended up okay. Now however, I did feel a little less invincible. I take a few sips of water and tighten the cap back on.

We sit back up, noticing Eli’s shadow walking back to the tent.

“So…” he starts. “Sundown, they’re expecting it to be around 100 degrees. We were thinking we just stay here in the shade, eat a few granola bars, stay hydrated and then make a run for it tonight.”

“Wow…what a plan. Only took you guys 30 minutes,” Kara says unenthused.

Eli opens his mouth to say one thing but just goes along with the latter, “We’ll only go along with it if everyone’s on board.

There’s a moment of silence.

“I’m on board,” I say. “If you all think it’s going to work out…”

Kara studies my face and then nods her head. “Ok. Then that’s what we’ll do.” 

****

And that’s what we did. Or attempted to do. Was there a better alternative than this? Was this what 100 degrees felt like?

Mateo has thrown up four times already since we started walking, Kara keeps complaining, and I’m convinced that the person who’s supposed to be leading us out is no longer in his right mind.

He stares into space, shaking his head rapidly. He says he’s okay but he’s not. I could always tell. He was like a book, so easy to read. 

An hour passes so I jog up behind Xander to make sure he’s okay. I watch his eyes, as he looks chaotically around, not even noticing I’m there.

“Xan.” He ignores me.

“Xan.”

“Xander!” I yell, this time shaking his shoulder.

He looks at me, almost animal like. “What?” 

“Do you need some more water? You don’t look…” I don’t finish my sentence. I don’t feel like being yelled at or yelling at anyone else for that matter.

“Never mind. I’ll just let you do your thing.”

He shakes his head and continues on, like nothing had happened. I felt like it was possible that he blamed me for all of this. It wouldn’t make sense but neither did he sometimes.

Our phones buzz again. We stop walking but no one checks their phones.

“Hey, maybe it’ll just say the heatwave will be over soon.” Eli says knowing no one would believe him. 

I take my phone out my pocket and look at the screen. Another warning of a heat wave. Stay Indoors, Stay Hydrated…Current Temp-130 degrees.

Why…

“I thought it was supposed to be 100?” Mateo questioned, curling over.

“They get it wrong sometimes” I try to calm him down.

“No!” Kara yells. “Who actually saw them say something about 100 degrees? I didn’t get that notification!”

Mateo looks over to Xander. The expression of shock seemed to answer her question. “Please tell me...this is a joke, man…Xan, did it actually say that?”

Xander remains silent, supposedly not tuned in much to the conversation at all. “Let’s just keep going. We have about 4 hours left.”

This time, Mateo charges at him, pushing him to the ground. “You can’t just do that! Are you really trying to kill us, seriously? Like can you do one thing, right??”

“Stop! "I pull him off, swinging him away. “We need him to lead us out…we’re almost there.” I say it but I don’t fully believe myself. It’s dark. I don’t know where we’re going. He might not know where we’re going. We’re all just melting, irritable, lost.

“Sara’s been leading us for all this time. Just calm down and listen to her!” Xan roars.

Now we’re all silent. At a loss for words. He’s been following Sara. That’s what he just told us.

Sara, Xan’s sister. Young, beautiful, smart, and dear to us all. Sara might’ve been able to lead us out of here, but she wasn’t here. She hasn’t been showing Xan the way out. She hasn’t been walking in this hot heat and she hasn’t been suffering. Sara’s been dead for 3 years and she wasn’t here.

“He’s been…hallucinating,” Kara says silently, voice cracking into a cry. “I should’ve noticed it before…”

“Xan, Sara isn’t here. Remember, she passed a few years back? I need you to show us the way out of here.” I tell him.

He's still mad at me. I don’t think he even knows why but he says I’m lying. He yells more. He screams. He walks off, saying Sara has run farther into the forest. Eli tries to grab onto him, but he tries to fight back.

I don’t have any energy to do anything else, so I just sit down. This is the part where I stop caring. It’s nice. I watch as Eli chases after Xander but all I feel is sadness for Eli. He hasn’t given up like the rest of us. Kara sits next to me with her head lying down on my shoulder and Mateo lies in the grass. Xander’s mind is somewhere far from here, no one even knows when’s the last time we saw it. But Eli cries. He cries and tries to convince us to keep moving. He pours water on us. He kneels down beside Mateo and cries harder. Was he dead? I don’t know. 

“If you want to get out…take the water.” I croak.

“What? I’m not leaving you guys! You’re just frustrated. You’re not thinking right.” There are tears in his eyes. He’s already grieving.

“Just take it.” Kara rolls her eyes. “Look, the sane people gave you permission.”

He looks at her more intently now, caressing her cheek. He speaks more softly to us, but I don’t know what exactly he speaks of. Clouded lovely words. Sweet things. He’s saying goodbye. He takes our hands and kisses them, then he goes over to Mateo and talks to him too. Kara still finds rest on my shoulder, but her head begins to droop more downward until she falls into my lap. I smile, not even feeling hot anymore. Is this actually what 130 degrees feels like? Cause this is nothing.