The Girl on the Cliff (2)

Nerida shook her head and smiled at Julian. She gestured at the boy's hands as if trying to accept the gifts he got for her.

"Oh! Right. I have a lot of canned goods with me, so I came to share. How many days are you going to stay here, by the way?" He said as he gave the five canned goods he had in his arms to Nerida. She smiled and received the cans with care.

"Hahaha. They won't break, Nerida. You don't have to be careful with them."

"I'll be staying here for as long as I want now."

"Wait… what?"

"Are there any problems?" Nerida tilted her head.

"No… I am just surprised."

"How many days are you going to stay here?"

"At most, two days."

Nerida smiled then cast her eyes down. Julian watched her stare at the grassy ground when she suddenly looked up and gazed into his eyes. He was surprised when their eyes met and even had to step back.

"Wha… what is it?"

"Nothing. I'm just glad and conflicted, to be completely honest."

"Why?"

Nerida's smile never reached her eyes. Once again, she shook her head and smiled brightly at Julian.

Julian's eyes wavered. He felt something behind her smile. What was it? He grew anxious as he gazed at Nerida's face as she opened her bag and took her items out one by one. When she produced a portable stove from her backpack, he gasped.

"That!"

"Pardon?"

"Can we… you know, never mind me. It's against the rules anyway. So, you'll stay here in the mountains?"

Nerida looked directly at Julian's eyes and didn't say anything for a few moments, then nodded. "I've been losing homes ever since I was a child, so I don't really have anywhere I can call my home. Being in the mountains is good. I can be one with nature. I don't have to think about mundane things in life. Nothing to hurt over for…."

"That's bad… how did you get money though?"

"I'm sorry, I'd rather not answer."

"Uhm… okay. I'll… I'll just be with my friends. If you want to talk to someone, you can come over and talk to me. Somehow, I feel like we have been close."

Nerida smiled wryly.

"Understood. Thank you for the offer."

Julian awkwardly went over to his friends as they teased him over their conversation. It was a complete flop, and it became awkward near the end. He didn't know what to say after she suddenly revealed a little about her life.

Somehow, he remembered the child that he met when he was a kid. After being bullied for so long in school, and it even extended outside, he finally found a friend that could brighten up his days just by her smile. Also, the note she left. He still had it in him after all these years, though it kind of got worn down. After all, he really treasured it. Thinking that he could welcome a friend after a lot of years passed, it gave him warmth. Indescribable warmth. However, back then, she also lost her home when a murderer performed a murder on her aunt at that. Later, it was revealed that the aunt was abusing her niece when the child's parents left her there.

Furthermore, after the murder, the child was never seen again. The child protection was adamant on finding the child in the neighborhood and the neighboring city. Unfortunately, they didn't find her everywhere. It was a total mystery on how a child could disappear that fast. After a few months and failed attempts, they gave up. Since they didn't find any pictures of the child, they just mainly leaned on the descriptions of her neighbors that saw her.

"... I want hot rice," Aaron suddenly mumbled.

"... do we have money on us?" Reed asked.

"Why don't we go down and ask for permission to light a fire?"

They all looked at Jahleel with realization, and made stupid exclamations.

"What? This is a school project, not a trip."

"Who will go down though?" Reed inquired.

"Obviously not me!"

"Aaron it is. Who is the one going to accompany him?"

"What?!"

Suddenly, Nerida interjected. "I can come with you. I kind of know who manages this mountain. Let's go seek his permission."

Aaron's crestfallen face brightened up when he thought of the prospect of walking down the mountain with a beautiful girl. He immediately turned down Julian's sudden offer and approached Nerida with a feral grin.

"I'm Aaron. Nice to meet you!"

"I'm Nerida. Nice meeting you too."

Aaron smiled triumphantly at his friends and turned his gaze at Tray.

"Sir, we are going now."

"Be careful out there, Nerida, Aaron."

"Wait! I am coming too!"

"Julian, stay," Jahleel held Julian's shoulder and made him sit down. "You have a job to do."

"But…!"

As they bantered, Nerida and Aaron already disappeared from their sight, and it made Julian depressed.

Hours passed and Julian was worried when the two still hadn't turned up. The sky was getting darker and the sun was already setting. Suddenly, there was a rustle. Julian immediately focused his vision there and saw that Aaron and Nerida were walking side by side, with a smile on their faces. He grew jealous and stomped his feet on the soil.

"Sorry, we took a while. We have permission to light a fire for two days! Also, the locals gave us some food. They are all good people," Aaron beamed as he presented the bags before his friends.

"Wow!" They exclaimed as they opened the bags filled with tupperware with names on it, probably the names of their owners.

"They must be sharing food with all the people there…," Nerida mumbled.

"Really? That's amazing! For once today, I am glad that we picked this place," Aaron said.

"Time to light a fire, we already picked dried woods and leaves earlier," Reed announced.

Nerida left them on their own after she made sure that she wasn't needed anymore. Julian, all this time, was carefully watching her every move. When he watched Nerida enter her tent and her lamp turned on, he finally took his eyes off her and helped prepare for dinner.

Finally, they could feel satisfaction deep within them when they finished eating tonight's portion. They returned to their own tents while Julian stepped out to answer nature's call.

It was around 9 PM when he heard silent footsteps coming from where his friends were. He snuck in and saw that it was Nerida. She came out of her tent and was heading towards the elevation leading to the cliff. It was already night out, and the fire was put off. What more business did she had to do? With that question in mind, he followed her silently, trying his best to avoid making big sounds that could arouse Nerida's attention.

She was already one step away from the edge of the cliff when she stopped advancing. Her eyes gazed at the millions of stars on the night sky, and seeing her like that made it all the more captivating. Suddenly, she sat at the edge and dangled one of her legs as she gazed far away who knows where.

When she reached out her arms towards the sky, she closed her palms and sighed.

Julian saw that her back was lonelier than earlier. He didn't know why, but his feet took him behind her. She turned her head back and smiled brightly at him.

"Why, hello there, Julian. You should be asleep."

"You are right. I just saw you come out of your tent, thinking that it was a person that had bad intentions. Since I am still not sleepy, I decided to follow you."

"Fair point. Come, sit here."

"... aren't you afraid? What if you fell and broke all of your bones?"

"Hmm… well, yes, I am afraid. I just stopped caring. Is it hard for you to come closer?"

"... I value my life. Thank you, but no thank you."

Nerida's gazed locked on his eyes for a moment before she burst out laughing. Julian was confused by the sudden change in the mood.

"I just remembered someone from my childhood that said that too." She puffed out her chest then said, "Life is precious."

"Isn't that person so wise?" Julian complimented.

Nerida smiled at him then stood up. She carefully treaded the path and approached Julian.

"If I am not wrong about my assumptions, then it's a relief."

"What do you mean?"

Nerida shook her head and gazed at the stars.

"I didn't know that the time would come this fast."

"Well… time do move fast," Julian nodded.

"Isn't it time for you to sleep?"

"Yes, it is. It's just… I am not the least bit sleepy now. Should we head down and have some late night snacks?"

"That would be lovely."