Love Without Fate

 The last thing she saw before passing out, was her partners pail white face...

“This is gonna be awesome, I can’t wait, we are so gonna win this”,Quinn said with excitement, packing her large army fatigue bag and tossing it over her back. Quinn Lambert has been a adventurous child and grew to be a very enthusiastic woman. She had began mountain climbing when she was only 7 years old and mud races when she was 10. She loved snakes and other slimy reptiles and considered herself a tomboy due to her boyish ways. She never liked dresses and very much hated makeup. Her parents were a homosexual couple so they didn’t mind that their daughter dressed differently or didn’t act like a average girl, therefor they decided to put her in an all girls charter school. There she met the love of her life, Alice Coleman. Her pretty blond hair always swayed past her shoulders, her blue eyes sparkles like clear Crystal ocean. She was just beautiful. They had began dating and have been together ever since. Now that they were adults, Quinn was ready to have this adventure with her.

”I’m not so sure about this, are you sure this is safe”?

”I’m positive”

”okay but you know I’m scared of heights and you know I have bad PTSD”

Quinn caressed Alice’s soft face and spoke.

”As long as you don’t look down and stay by my side you will be fine, I promise“

she kissed her forehead and  with that, they hopped into their Jeep and drove to where the contest had began. The drive took about 3 hours, the hot sun beaming on the hoodless Jeep. It was as if the vehicle would stop mid drive and melt into dusty street. Alice couldn’t stand this heat while Quinn on the other hand, was not too worried about the heat. No, she was more concerned about the contest and most importantly, winning. They had eventually made it and boy were they relieved. They parked their car, grabbed their bags and began to walk towards the host. He spoke.

”Hello there, Are you hear for the wilderness mountain contest”?

Quinn spoke for the both of them.

”Yes we are, I hope we’re not late or anything”.

”oh no, he said, your right on time, may I ask for your names”.

lucky for them, they had filled out their applications online so they wouldn’t have to worry about waiting in a painfully long line while the host would have to search their names up.

“Quinn Lambert and Alice Coleman, sir.

”ok... let me check, hm hmm, Oh their you guys are, y’all good”

The host pointed them to towards their stations, where they could set up and get ready. On their way they passed a very short woman and what looked like her brother due to some similarities in the face area. They also passed two more couples, a male couple, and a married couple. Quinn glared at each of them noticing so many strengthens each couple had. From heavy build muscle toned bodies, to some of them even having go-pro cameras on their head. Gearing up and preparing for the most dangerous hike their ever was. As Quinn thought to herself”would I be looking death in the face.. No No I am a survivor. I am tough. I AM Quinn”. 

although Quinn knew she had this in the bag, something inside of her was kicking her gut. Her inner self had a feeling. Your not gonna make it. she shook her head, trying to remove those thoughts and focus on winning the $1,000. The host began 

to explain the rules of contest.

”No cheating“

”No shortcuts”

”Only follow the path given”

”and finally have fun”

One of the other players on another team began to ask a question.

”But like what if one our teammates get injured or dies?”

”then you will be disqualified and your teammate will be immediately rushed to a hospital”

The other players began to scowl in disgust as those filled their ears. Quinn didn’t mind, because she knew. She knew she and Alice were gonna be fine. She knew that she Had to win, and that’s what her intentions were. She kept that in mind the whole time the host was speaking. Alice was just paying attention to what the host had been saying. She peering at Quinn, wondering why she had a blank expression on her face. Yes, she knew Quinn would daydream randomly, but it would be for a reason. But for this particularly situation, Alice was a little puzzled but simply ignored it from that point on. The host stated that they had to wait due to some difficulties. Quinn just didn’t mind. Alice wanted to go home.

An hour went passed and by that time the sun was already about to set. Than all of a sudden a loud boom sound scared everyone either out of a nap or caught them by surprise. 

“Alright contestants, Are you guys ready for your adventurous and dangerous journey”? 

“Heck yeah”, said one of the power couples.

Moans came from the remaining team players. Some stretched, and some yawned. Some were already pumped and some were just ready to go home. Quinn checked her watch. 4:30 p.m. It was time for the competition to hopefully (finally) start. As the sound of another boom blasted through everyone’s eardrums, that was the signal that it was time. And with the third boom, the couples were off on the trail. While the other competitors took the right path, Quinn suggested that take a short cut, to get ahead of everyone else.

“Um.. I don’t really think this is a good idea, we are gonna get disqualified”

“We will not get disqualified, plus the other teams won’t even care or notice”

“Okay but what if they have cameras watching us, testing us, to see if we are gonna break the rules”.

Quinn looked at her with the funniest expression. She began to speak in a mocking voice.

“So their really gonna have cameras watching us, in the dead wilderness”?

Alice began to chuckle.

“I guess not”.

“Exactly”. 

They both chuckled and went on the path. Eventually it got dark so they found a resting place and set up for camp. After a few minutes of setting up, Alice got settled and comfortable in her tent and went fast asleep. While Quinn on the hand, was sitting in front of the camp fire. With a blank expression. This is a bad idea. Go Home! Quinn tried to think hard but all she could hear was a small voice repeating the same thing over and over and over again. Your not gonna make. Your not gonna make it. Your not gonna make. She was getting more and more frustrated as the voice grew more and more louder. Your not gonna make! Your not gonna make it! YOUR NOT GONNA MAKE IT!. She snapped, punching a piece of burning fire wood. 

“Shit”. 

Alice than jumped out of her sleep, startled by the sound of her wife muffled cries in pain. She opened the tent and saw that Quinn’s hand was bleeding. 

“Babe what happens to your hand?”

“Nothing I’m fine”, she replied,”I was uh.. trying to kill something and accidentally punched the log”.

Alice just brushed it off and went back to sleep. Quinn soon did to.

——————————————————————————————————

It was the next morning and luckily for Alice, who was not a morning person, didn’t have to worry about the sun because the trees were blocking it. She yawned but quickly had a realization. Where is Quinn?  She jumped up quickly and exited the tent hesitantly. She began to yell.

“Quinn”!

“Quinn where are you”!

Suddenly she could hear her voice. She turned and saw her walking back towards the camp site. Alice quickly jumped on her, hugging her tightly, making Quinn drop almost everything. 

“I was worried about you, where did you do”?

“Sheesh calm down, I went to get supplies for the rest of way”.

Alice was skeptical about where the supplies had came from.

“Um where did you get it from”.

“Don’t worry about that, we should continue”.

Alice didn’t bother putting up an argument, so she just packed the camping equipment and they began their walk again. For the first time in a while, Alice actually enjoyed nature. The pretty birds with their colorful feathers. Just the color of the forest itself made it majestic. Besides the mud and frogs. But something wasn’t right. As they began to walk farther into the forest, Alice started to notice the other teams equipment and supplies. She also noticed blood but she didn’t want to let Quinn know because she knew that she would make it seem like she was paranoid.  eventually they made it to a fork in the road. It went both ways, One way leading to a path another a cliff.  Quinn got curious.

“Hey you wanna take some pictures on the cliff before we continue”?

Alice was hesitant at first because of her very bad fear of heights, but finally gave in. They took the path that lead to the cliff not realizing that, that would be the worst mistake they had ever made. After passing some signs that clearly said No Trespassing! They eventually made it to the cliff. Quinn stepped closer to the edge, grasping onto Alice’s hand, pulling her closer. Quinn took a sniff and inhaled the beautiful fresh air.

“It’s beautiful up here, don’t you think”?

“Um yeah, sure”.

“come on you gotta face your fear at some point, why not now”.

Quinn nudged Alice closer but as she got closer her heart was beating at a rapid pace. She felt like she was gonna pass out. And with that she snapped.

“Okay Quinn that’s enough”.

“Alright jeez I’m sorry”.

Quinn hugged her tightly and they went back toward the same direction they had came from. 2 days went by, which wasn’t a bad thing due to the fact that the website had said “this content may take a number of days to complete”. But in between the hours of those two days were actually pretty decent. Berry picking, flowing collecting, laughs, giggles, kisses and more. They had never felt this close before. Alice although still was a little skeptical about the other teams but Quinn Insured that they were fine. 

The last day, something came over Alice and she looked at Quinn with a smile.

“I think I want to go back to the cliff”.

 Quinn nearly choked with a surprised look on her face. 

“Are you sure”?

“Yeah I’m sure”.

So after two hours of walking and taking breaks, they had finally made it to the cliff. Alice sat by a tree and Quinn followed. Just then she had an idea. She pulled out a large black pocket knife and carved her and Alice’s Initials into the tree. This would be their happiest place. The one place they felt more connected with and around including being more connected to each other.  Alice stood up, her back facing the edge. Quinn also stood up and they hugged tightly.

“I love you Quinn”

“I love you too Alice”

Alice stepped back and tripped over a bunch of gravel and a vine hidden under the surface of the earth. Quinn caught her hand and gripped the ground with her feet. She held tightly onto Alice’s hand, trying to pull as hard as she could. But her boots were no match for weak gravel they had walked. They both heard the the ground break. They both felt the pressure. And with quinn’s foot letting go of the vine, both of them eyes filled with tears, they said to one another....

“I love you”

And with that they both fell of the cliff together and both hit the ground with a thud.

——————————————————————————————————

Quinn open her eyes, she felt for what she had landed on. A bush. She looked over but the  last thing she saw before passing out, was her partners pail white face. Quinn woke up in the hospital. Her neck and back filled with Excruciating pain. She examined the hospital room and noticed the doctor and guy in a black suit. The must have noticed the she was looking because he came walking towards her with a concerned look on his face. He began to speak.

“Well looks awake, well I guess you might be wondering why your in here, well I’ll tell you”.

He then began to explain.

“After you and your partner fell off the cliff, the people who had negotiated and or had something to do with that contest, had placed trackers in your backpack. When you fell they lost the signal so they tried to follow and trace the last time you guys were active and boom found you”.

“Now another thing, the other teams didn’t make it due to active bear attacks so their was no survivors”.

Quinn noticed a pen and paper on the tray next to her bed. She grabbed it and began to write. It said Is Alice okay? The detective’s expression went from concerned to sad. 

“Well because you landed in a bush, you suffering minor yet major injuries while Alice on the other hand landed on straight rock, when she fell, she broke her neck instantly , I’m so sorry”. 

Quinn began to cry under the body cast. She also felt low on air. But she didn’t care all she cared about was Alice. Her sweet, sweet Alice. The thought ran through her head again. I should have listened to her. Now she’s dead. I have nothing. I am nothing without her. As the thoughts filled her head, the doctors noticed that Quinn was having a heart attack. The doctors tried to help but Quinn didn’t care. She wanted to be with Alice again. She closed her eyes and imagined all the good memories they had. The berry picking. The flowers. The wedding. The planning of kids. A home. A future. The laughs. The cries. The amusement park rides. Everything. As she began to reimagine those memories, her heart beat was increasing heavily. She. Did. Not. Care. A single tear went down her face and with that, the heart rate monitor showed a flatline. Quinn was happy in the afterlife. She was with the woman she loved. And that all right.

——————————————————————————————————

A news report showed on tv 2 days after the deaths. Some people suggest Quinn died of heart attack but were a little confused because records show she only had a broken leg and a broken leg. But some people. The people who believed in love. The people who of Alice’s death and knew how close her and Quinn were. They knew no heart attack killed Quinn. She died of a broken heart.