Non-Stop

Ante always dreaded the mountains as a kid.

His grandfather was a trained trekking leader and led many expeditions on the Himalayas & Andes.

In the childhood whenever Ante spent vacations at grandparents, he would hear stories of how someone died on the last trek and how the young boy slipped from the edge and all these twisted with more fictional horror. Pan Grandpa enjoyed storytelling and he is making a big fish out of the tiny one.

Ante enjoyed these stories but somewhere deep down the stories had a larger impact on him then he realized.

The icing on the cake was, when he went on his first trek with grandpa at the age of 12 on Mont Blanc, he did slip on the trail. Although nothing major happened but it did leave a fear in his mind.

He overcame that gradually, especially after he moved to Spain in his teenager days and remained there for life.

Lilac was born in a village near Mount Elbrus, and she never like the cold all her life. She always felt she was not actually born there, rather been brought them by her parents (perhaps adopted) . She hated the winters and even the summers for it was too cold for her taste and liking she always dreamt of a warm place, with no trace of ice. She simply hated the ice and mountains combination. Later she moved to Spain for her studies and loved the place so much that she never bothered to go back, especially after she met Ante and they decided to spend the rest of their lives together.

She had a miscarriage last year during the lockdown. Which drained all her energy and zeal for life. She was just overcoming the grief when she lost her parents to Covid-19 back in her hometown and due to travel restrictions couldn’t go back to even see them for the last time.

It had taken a toll on her mental health as well as her physical health. 1 year into the future with things better and looking prosperous, finally here they were planning a getaway from al the doom and gloominess and start afresh.

The Phera family was having a hard time deciding their next vacation spot.

It was the onset of winter and Mrs. Phera wanted to go to a warm and dry place, whereas Mr. Phera was divided between the beach and forest safari

The discussion got so intense that it eventually led into a fight.

The 2-year long lockdown , off and on , had taken a toll, and with so many close friends they had lost, it was a very bad phase. They were glad that it was now over and Mr. Phera wanted to bring some change.

“Honey! Lets not fight, ok”,

I have an idea, lets put in our options on the piece of paper and into the bowl, and tomorrow morning we will pick 1.

And we do not ask one another why and ow, whatever it is, we will go with it.

“ok! Agreed Mrs. Phera

To keep it far as well as exciting each one put 5 options each . they both agreed.

Ante made amazing dinner that night for Lilac and invited the neighbour for the first time in months. They were really helpful during the stressful times. They were from Norway and were living in Spain for last few years for work. ****

“so, where did you guys decide to go? ‘Not decided yet, we gonna do a lottery tomorrow morning & go as per the lottery takes us to.

“wow, that’s interesting!”, Mrs. Hal could hide her excitement, “ we should try something similar as well”.

“pass on the salad darling,” interrupted Mr. Hal.

Mrs. Hal sounded really excited for them and insisted on letting er know once they have done the lottery.

“Oh, I cant wait!”, this is gonna be so much fun”.

“Shall we have dessert, I have been waiting for it,” interrupted Mr. Hal again.

Sure, let me get the bowls, Lilac went ahead to serve .

Mr. Hal wouldn’t stop talking about the warm fudge, best for winters. “You should learn the recipe and try at home as well honey, “he told Mrs. Hal.

Lets go on a walk, and they walked around the garden for a while before getting into their home.

Lilac & Ante were exhausted as well, they simply dived into bed.

It was a long exhausting day and they both were too excited about next morning.

Lilac was the first to wake up with all the butterflies in her stomach. Never had a vacation created such a ****, may be because it was after 2 years and with a lot of baggage to get over with . she shook up Ante, ‘wake up, wake up!” Lets go get the lottery. I cant wait a minute longer.

He lazily opened his eyes and struggled to wake up. Early mornings weren’t his favorite anyways.

Come on, come on , lets just get done with it, “

She held his hand tight & dragged him out of the bed.

They went to the study room where they had casted their entries in a piggy box.

Each one had a key each, and the lock could be opened only when both the keys were inserted together.

It was a fancy box they bought in Egypt while on their first ever trip together , and they have used the box for multiple occasions.

Sharing wedding vows, pregnancy news, new job, when Ante booked their house and surprised Lilac wit the keys, when Lilac gifted Ante his brand-new Tesla and hid the keys in the box and for so many more special occasions.

And our vacation spot is “Mount Kilimanjaro”, read Ante aloud from the piece of paper they chose to pick up at the lottery. They both looked at each other in surprise but without saying a word, as promised, agreed for the spot.

Lilac slowly walked outside towards her bedroom, as always , to get onto the shopping list and packing, “Ahh I wished we went to Egypt, or Western Sahara, it would have been nice and warm there at this time of the year”, “Ahh, but I think its ok, I anyways needed a vacation desperately and with Ante by my side, any place would be too bad”, she told her sister while packing stuff. “I need to call Mrs. Hal, she was very excited , I need to teel her, I will call you later,”

Lilac called Mrs. Hal who was overjoyed to her the spot. “OH wow! I have always wanted to go there, but no luck yet, anyways, you guys have fun,”

I wish, Lilac thought to herself but didn’t say anything else to Mrs. Hal and hung up excusing herself for all the packing and shopping.

Ante started exploring camping options, tickets, and planning itinerary, wondering it would have been so nice he they went to Madagascar and had a nice beachy vacation and also enjoy the safari. What a bliss! He thought to himself.

None the less, he was happy for Lilac and now started to dream of what they would do on the mountains.

It was a quiet day with both of them busy on their tasks and usual day. Indeed, the day as quieter than the others.

But neither of them wanted to disappoint the other so they simply went by the day.

Dinner was infact left over from last night, followed by a movie online and both fell asleep on the couch.

Ante woke up started and sweating, awoken by a nightmare, his sudden movement woke up Lilac as well.

“hey honey, you all right?”, Lilac said in a very sleepy voice.

“yeah all good,” let’s go to the bedroom and sleep.

“Am Too sleepy already honey,” you go. I will join you and she went back to sleep.

He got up moved to the bedroom and laid down, recalling the nightmare. He has been having these nightmares for a while now, infact he has had it since he was a kid, only the visuals have changed but the underlying nightmare has been the same. Someone pushing him from the edge of a cliff.

But he hasn’t told this to anyone till date.

Lilac still lay on the couch in the living room, deep asleep, but suddenly waking up with a jerk, as if falling.

When she was a kid, she used to have nightmares of being abandoned in the cold high mountains of her village, and she is slipping on ice and tripping off the edge. She had the nightmare so many times that at tines it felt like reality until she moved to the tropical Spain.

And she had recently started to have these again. She woke up all puzzled and scared. Not finding Ante by his side, she got up and went to the bedroom, hugged him tight to realise he was still awake. “You not sleeping honey,”

I was waiting for you, and smiled

They both then slowly dozed off.

One week flew past at the blink of an eye, and it was finally time for the trip, as they made way to the car to pack stuff and drive to the airport. Mr. & Mrs. Hal stood at the driveway waving at them hysterically.

Mr. & Mrs. Phera found it odd, but they were too engrossed into themselves, so they simply ignored.

They were at the airport, and then boarded the flight and in few hours landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport. The pick up cab was booked in advice and the headed directly to parking, spotting the cab n GPS tracking and there they were, on a cold snowy day on the way to the camp specially arranged to them.

Due to tourists not having picked up for the season yet, affected by covid- 19 as well as the season, they found the camping zone all for themselves.

The staff was available around the clock , but their camp was a 15 mins walk away from the staff zone. So, every time they called for any service the minimum it would tale anyone would be 15 mins.

Golf cart was available, but due to heavy snowing it was unusable.

Its gonna be sunny and bit warm tomorrow as the news channel predicted, commented a staff while on their way to the camp room.

The weather over here is so fluctuating. One day is dense snow and the next all green and sunny.

“Hopefully!”, The couple was looking forward to some peace , privacy and warm.

Your room is loaded with all the heating you need and with complimentary hot hazelnut chocolate milk every morning and evening.

The mini bar is loaded with snacks and is again already included in your package so enjoy binging

Lilac although disappointed by the weather but the hot chocolate brought a smile on her face; she looked at Ante and she simply knew it was he wo must have arranged for it, who else would know her favourite drink.

The staff left after showing them the property and everything that they had to themselves to explore.

They both quickly changed and jumped on the cosy bed , infact too cosy for a camping themed room , to relax and unwind for the day.

Next day was the trekking towards the mountain with their local guide . That night they again saw their respective nightmares but didn’t tell one another. They just got up and went about with the day as planned.

Ante had past experience with trekking and Lilac’s upbringings in the mountains made her very agile and adoptive to it naturally.

It was a clear sunny day as predicted by the staff, and the first day of exploring the nearby . they had a nice day and felt very relaxed, unlike what both expected it to me.

Finally, they started to get into the vacation node and were literally enjoying themselves.

They had planned the vacation to be a device detox, with no internet and social media, no work-related stuff and literally no connection wit people from the world. Just like good ‘ol days in the past .

Even the 2^nd da went really well, with a lot of sun and fun. The guide was very experienced and not to pushy and ensured the couple is having a relaxing time and not too much of trekking and exertion.

Lilac enjoyed the 2 complimentary hot hazelnut chocolate drink but didn’t find it enough, so she requested for 2 other cups, and the resort provided It absolutely free .

Till now everything seemed to be as normal as it could be. Until it was day 4. The staff informed them of an upcoming stormy weather and recommended they skip the outdoors activity. At first they agreed. But later they got really impatient at the camp and decided to go for a walk around and return if weather were bad. They both agreed and stepped out hand in hand.

After so many days they felt the romance . After the miscarriage they both restricted themselves into work and within themselves, not really opened up to each other and after a long time today they walked hand in hand sharing their feelings like old days.

O their trail they came across a dead end on the hillock which had a deep trench, and at the sight of it, Lilac recalled her nightmares and started telling Ante about it. Within seconds his face turned Blue and be looked numb,. Lilac was worried and asked what happened.

 He replied in a rather stern voice, “I have been having the ae nightmare while I was a kid and in last couple of days as well.

They both got petrified and stood like dead stones. And before they could realise, a huge rock rolled down from the top of the hillock.

At the peak of the hillock stood Mr. & Mrs. Hal, waving at the couple and the rock as it took them along and fell into the trench