Chapter 12. The Grand Canyon

We make our way towards the building which houses the ticketing booth. William approaches the older lady happily seated inside the shaded booth, oblivious to the scorching heat we are enduring a few feet away from her, waiting patiently as William gathers everything we need. The building has beautiful pictures of the Grand Canyon hanging on one side of the booth.

‘A talented photographer obviously an adventurer.’ I think to myself, noticing a particular picture that leaves me awe-struck.

It shows a soaring bald eagle over the openness of the canyon, searching for its next meal far below. I move away from Dean’s detached gaze, too focused on Sam to even notice I have slipped out of his grasp and around the corner of the green shed-like ticket booth to marvel at the pictures. I move to the next photo, it shows the vast openness of the Grand Canyon, miles and miles of canyon and steep cliffs with bright orange, red, and yellow rock illuminating under a dark almost black sky as a thunderous storm approaches from the far side. I move away from the photo to realize that I have reached the end. Only two photos hung up on this side of the booth. A few feet in front of me is a small building made of brown brick with a sign that hung in the front that says: ‘Entrance to overlook the Grand Canyon.’ A man is standing in front of the rotating doors taking tickets to let people in. I turn around and head back to my family, now enthralled by everything around me that I hardly notice the angry eyes that waited for me as I approached my little group waiting patiently in front of the booth. I approach William and take his loosely hanging left hand in my little one. He, also, is focused on whatever Sam is telling them. Dean’s eyes bore into mine, his frustration flowing out of him in waves that I chose to ignore at that moment. I tug at William’s hand, trying my best to get his attention in a respectful way that doesn’t involve interrupting them. Williams' eyes detaches from Sam and he slowly looks down at me, nodding his head slightly for Sam to continue his chat. I don’t even know what he is saying, Sam’s words flowing past me with no comprehension.

“Can we go now?” I point back to the brown brick building, my patience slowly running thin.

William nods his head at me and turns his attention back to Sam, who looks to be almost finishing up his little speech. I look back at the building in admiration, my innermost self trying to convince my ‘goody-two-shoes’ self to let go of William’s hand and sneak in without them. Almost like he was reading my mind, William’s grip on my hand tightens and he gently pulls me back towards him. I stumbled a little, just now noticing I was slowly drifting away from them again. The conversation between my brothers seemed to end as we all started to disperse and head into the building. I become giddy with excitement and start to hop and skip in my walk next to William to the building. He hands the man our tickets who tears it in half and hands the other pieces back to William, muttering something about a tour and to hand the other ticket in then. Entering the building, a large window, located directly across from the door, overlooks the vast canyon, some more photographs of the canyon and surrounding nature covered the wall directly to the left and right of the front door and another door in the same wall as the front door are the restrooms. My hand slips out of William’s hand and I start to walk towards the window, almost hypnotized by the scenery, until somebody pulls me back by the collar of my shirt.

*MM-HHMM* I hear somebody grunt to try to get my attention. I turn abruptly, noticing the stern look on William's face.

“Viviana, we have a rule for you. Just one little rule for today.” William speaks up, ignoring my stern look as I impatiently wait for him to let me explore. “If you run off on your own today, we are going to the car to wait for the others.” William sends me a silent plea with his eyes to listen to him.

I huff in annoyance and cross my arms in front of my chest, but my coughing interrupted my little display of annoyance.

*cough cough*

I turn away from William to try to locate Dean, knowing he will get too distracted to ‘watch over me’. William is being very stern and his rule just angered me further as it was a reminder of my age and my condition. I notice Cody admiring the pictures next to the window by himself, my frustration towards William getting worse.

‘I'm not a little girl, for crying out loud!’ I scream to myself

I find Dean looking at the pictures and say, "Dean, wanna go look out the window with me? Pretty please..? With a cherry on top." I bat my eyes and try to pull the puppy-eyes on him.

Dean looks down at me and nods his head, he takes my hand and leads me toward the window. I take out my phone and take a lot of pictures of the scenery and of course some of myself! We look around at each photo until a lady starts to call out about a tour starting and to follow her outside. A group of four and us follow her out the doors and she introduces herself to us as Maya. William and the other group hands her our tickets, and we follow her down the path where she leads us to a paddock area. Lined up in a row are ten beautiful mules, waiting for us to ride them! Dean leads us both to our mules, I got to choose a black mule with bright brown eyes. Once we all got assigned a mule, the tour guide, which by the way was riding a beautiful white horse, so not fair!! Starts to talk about the rules of the trail.

“This is a two mile ride to the bottom of the canyon. You will be able to admire the beautiful scenery and rock formations as we descend. Please keep close to each other, no venturing away from the group to another path. We will be stopping at the bottom of the canyon for a break and you can take photos and wander around. I just ask that you please stay within the fenced area and out of the river. The water is very cold and strong today, only walking ankle-deep can sweep you away into the strong current and I would have to call for the paramedics. Another worker, his name is Luke, will be riding in the very back of the group to help anyone out.” Luke pops up with his white horse next to Maya and waves at us. “Let's start this tour! Please remember to have fun and drink water!” We started to ride down the path, I was stuck in the middle of the group surrounded by my brothers.

"Over on your left side, in a few feet, will be a dangerous drop. Please stay on the trail at all times, and do not try to jump your mule over the fence we have placed. To answer your next question, yes somebody tried to jump his mule, a young boy who claimed he was an expert on riding. He did not get hurt, but the mule did. Damaged his poor front leg on the fence. So for your safety and the safety of our mules, please do not attempt to do anything... let's say, rebellious. Thank you." Maya calls out a few minutes into the ride from the front of the group.

Cody and I start to laugh so hard at the story. I knew someone was going to be stupid enough to do something like that, I just didn’t expect the poor mule to get hurt in the process.

‘Dumb boy, I hope he had what he was going for.’ I thought to myself as we continued riding our mules down the path.

"Now over on the right side, I know it must seem like only a giant rock, but the Grand Canyon itself used to be only flat land a long time ago. The Colorado River grew so large and its waters mixed with the weather and Mother Nature transformed the once flat lands of Arizona into what you see today. The layers you see carved into the rock represents the years it took to transform into this vast creation. Each layer contains a special story, each holding a treasure yet to be discovered. Over on your left, you can see the Colorado River itself. A lot of people love to kayak and raft in the waters, you can pay to go, but it is recommended for people who are good at white water rafting, since the river is very dangerous..." She went on and on about the Grand Canyon.

Everything took my breath away as I listened to her telling us the story of the land and everything around me. I have always loved being out with nature but this is very new to me. Cody is silently riding next to me, listening and admiring the scenery just as I am. After the 2 mile ride, we had finally reached the bottom. We climbed off the mules, leaving them in the pasture to rest and eat, and we got a half hour break. Of course we had to stay in the fenced areas, which was only around a mile in diameter. William and Dean dismounted and made their way to Sam to talk about god knows what. I wonder what has gotten into them! They have been so focused on Sam all day. Damon approaches Cody and starts to point out some of the rock formations near the mules. I decided to venture off by myself, I know what William had told me earlier, but as I silently try to convince myself that they wouldn’t find out, my frustration gets the best of me and the memory of Cody wandering around inside earlier by himself pops into my head. It’ll be only a second and all of them are pretty busy to even notice me right now anyways, besides, what girl doesn't like to be a little adventurous and rebellious?

*cough cough* I cough into my shirt sleeve and think to myself, ‘Not even this stupid cough will stop me!’

The river goes off into a hug lake with a waterfall flowing down to it. I take out my phone and start to take photos of the water, the waterfall, the mules, and everything I find admiring. My phone is water resistant and I decided to try out the camera with some underwater photos. I take off my tenni shoes and silently thank myself for wearing shorts, as I walk into the water as far as my legs could take me towards the waterfall. To try to take good photos, I bend down and start snapping photos of the water, the fish and rocks and the waterfall. A strong breeze almost knocks me off balance and large waves start to form. As the next breeze catches my hat, I turn around quickly to grab it and my footing catches on a sharp rock, knocking me backwards into the water. I scream and struggle against the current to get back to shore, my phone secured in my fist and my hat long gone. Dean jumps in the water. I scream louder and start swimming towards him. The water is pulling me towards the faster moving water in the middle of the large river, my mind goes into panic-mode as I now realize the danger I am in.

I start to scream again, “HELP ME!”

"Vi! Grab onto my shirt! Now!" Dean screams as he swims closer to me.

I try to reach out and grab onto him, but as I inhale a large amount of air, water gets into my mouth and into my lungs causing me to choke and cough. I start to splash harder, struggling to breath and without any energy left in me, I give up and close my eyes as the water takes over. I faintly hear Dean crying out my name before everything goes black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Third Person Point-of-View~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Viviana tries her hardest to stay afloat when Dean jumps into the water to save her. She swims towards him, tries to reach for his shirt when Dean gets closer to her, but with the strong wind and the water splashing at her, Viviana starts to choke and the current engulfs her into its vast underwater depths. The others still on shore start yelling her name as Dean dives into the deep water, reaching for her hand as he sees her unconscious, her hands reaching for the surface of the water. He pulls her successfully into his arms, and swims back to shore. William jogs in, against the tour guide's demands, grabs Viviana from Dean and lays her down in the grass. Sam starts to check for a pulse while Damon is doing CPR. Jake is on the phone with backup and Maria takes over the CPR from Sam. Viviana slowly wakes up, coughing up water. Dean grabs her, pulling her in for a strong hug.

Her eyes remain shut and her breathing shallow as he tells her, "Don't you dare do something like that again, young lady! You scared the shit out of everyone here!"

Everyone hugs Vi tightly and William gathers her up afterwards, holding her in his arms and wraps a towel that Luke had gotten for her around her tiny, shivering body.

"Your grounded Chiquitina. (Spanish for little girl) and a hard spanking is waiting for you back at the hotel room." He kisses her forehead and tightens his grip around her as a doctor arrives, “I am so glad nothing bad happened to you, I don’t know what I would have done with myself if you had gotten badly hurt.”

Viviana groans in response, nodding slowly. The doctor approaches Viviana and quickly starts to check her thoroughly, making sure she is okay to walk off the premises without having to call the paramedics. A good half hour goes by before the doctor dismisses Viviana and she is forced to ride back with Dean, while the doctor rides her mule back to the barn. Once everyone has dropped off their mule, William goes straight to the manager who is waiting for us patiently inside the building. The manager tries to hand William his money back for the inconvenience, he even mentions that he is going to fire the tour guide for not watching over the group properly. William explains to the manager that the tour guide was perfect, that she doesn't deserve to get fired over something that his little sister did wrong. The manager was finally convinced, gave William a full refund for the tour and pulled both tour guides to his office for a meeting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Vi's point-of-view~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After almost dying, I am hungry. My stomach starts to grumble and I shiver in Dean’s arms as he holds me tightly, the towels still wrapped around us. We head to the car and Dean sets me in the back seat, buckling me in.

"I'm hungry!" I yelled for no reason whatsoever.

"Good idea. Who wants Subway??" Sam calls out.

Everyone agrees on subways' delicious sandwiches, so we drive to the one on our way back to the hotel, going through the drive-through as William argues with Sam that Dean and I need to get warmed up before anything else.

"I want a foot long, Italian cheese bread, with turkey, bacon, swiss cheese, lettuce, a lot of avocado, tomato, pickles, olives, all the shakers and the oils please." I tell the lady over the intercom.

We grab our sandwiches in the next window, pay for the meal and pull away, driving back to the hotel. We arrive and after quickly parking, I hop off the car to start walking back to the room when William’s sharp voice catches my attention.

“YOU wait right there!” He barks at me as I am a few steps away from the car.

I freeze and wait for my brothers to gather themselves. William picks me up, against my demands, and starts to head back to the hotel room. We enter our room and William ushers me straight into the bathroom where I take a fast, steaming hot shower and change my clothes. When I emerged from the bedroom, I saw that everyone was almost done eating and Dean had already showered and changed. He grabs the sandwiches he just finished cutting as I walk further into the room. He sets them down at the table and motions me to sit down next to him. I did just that, devouring my sandwich like I had not eaten for days.

Afterwards, we decided to go back to the Grand Canyon and walk around some more, this time no tour guide, only us looking at the scenery and taking a lot of pictures. Cody and I got some lemonade at a cafe and William, Dean, Damon, and Sam order cold beers. We enjoy each other's company for the afternoon, chatting and laughing at shenanigans. Nextdoor is a small gift shop and we decided to have a look around.

“Cody and Viviana, you’re both allowed one thing.” Damon tells us.

I decided on a pretty necklace with a black mule on it to remind me of my first visit to the Grand Canyon. Cody got some sort of glass ball with the Grand Canyon inside it. We continue our walk around the canyon’s walking paths and stumble across a glass floor that goes over the edge of the canyon. I am scared of heights so I stay glued to the hard rock floor as my brothers walk over the glass, laughing and enjoying each other. Dean tries to pull me towards it also, wanting to walk on the floor himself but oblivious to my fright. “No!” I yell out in terror.

“Viviana?” Dean turns around and notices my pale white face and shaking body. “Hey baby, it's okay. It won’t fall, see? Look at how Cody is jumping up and down on it.” He laughs a little, trying to get me to smile, but I stay put. Cody jumping on the glass gets me more frightened and I start to back away from them. “Viviana, baby…” Dean’s face falls as he realizes that he isn’t helping me at all but making it worse. He turns quickly to Cody and says, “Stop jumping and step off real quick.” Cody’s face falls as he realizes I’m not having as much fun as he is and he just stands there, confused. Dean turns to everyone else and says, “Come on. Get off the glass, all of you.”

The others seem to realize that he has a plan and obediently listen to him and step off the glass floor. I don’t care what is currently happening around me. I don’t want to go there and that's that!

Dean kneels down in front of me and takes both my hands in his larger one, forcing his gaze on me, “Sweetie. Look at me please.” His quiet and calm voice helps calm some of my nerves and I look up at him. “If I walk in front of you, holding your hand the entire time, will you accompany me over the glass floor?” I ponder on this for a moment, my eyes looking all around me now. “Everyone got off the glass, no one will jump on it. I promise I won’t let you fall.” Dean whispers quietly to me.

I slowly nod my head and he leads me to the glass floor, holding my hands and walking backwards, facing me the entire time. Pulled onto it, but feeling the safety of Dean with me, I found it to be pretty cool. I giggle and a big smile appears on my face as I look around the area and take in the beauty of the canyon. From behind us, Sam takes a photo of both Dean and I, hand-in-hand and overlooking the canyon. Dean smiles down at me, still clutching my hand but now facing the canyon instead of at me. Afterwards, we walk around some more and find a nice restaurant to enjoy our dinner. We got seated at a table overlooking the Grand Canyon as we enjoyed a nice hot meal of good-old American food.

Later that evening, we are now back at our hotel and I go into my room and slide on the expensive, white and fluffy robe from the hotel. I settle down on my bed and finish writing in my diary the events of the day as William walks in.

He leans against the door frame and says, "I hope you're not planning anything right now because it's time we had our little chat."

I groan, shut my diary and sit up as William pushes himself off the door frame, closes and locks the door behind him, and makes his way to me. He sits down on the bed across from me and starts to lecture me.

"You disobeyed a direct order walking off by yourself. You went into the water, which by the way the tour guide told us specifically NOT to do in the beginning of the tour. Then, by all means the lord, you drown. DROWN! VI!" William takes a deep breath and pinches his nose in an attempt to calm himself. I can't even look at him right now, I am so disappointed in myself, I can't even imagine my brothers' disappointment towards me. "You are grounded. After the spanking, I need to do a full check up on you. Then you can take a bath while I contact your doctor."

I groan, "Hermano!! The doctor, really? I'm fine, te prometo! (English translation: I promise)." William stands up sharply, towering over me, "(Spanish) No me dices mas! Estoy cansado ya!” (English translation: Don't tell me anymore, I am tired) William starts to pace across the room and takes deep breaths. My anxiety starts to raise, I bounce my leg and fiddle my fingers in my lap.

“You almost drowned out there Viviana! I almost lost you! WE almost lost you!"

*cough cough cough cough cough cough cough*

I had to ruin everything with my cough didn't I? William plops back down on the bed, his head resting in his hands which are on his knees.

‘Goodness, I really messed up’ I think to myself.

I stand and make my way towards him, hugging my worried brother tightly, "I'm sorry big brother. I deserve this spanking, I don't want to make any of you guys cry because of me." William hugs me tightly, then gently places me over his knees, my hands touching the floor in front of me and my legs dangling off his lap and he wraps his strong legs around mine to prevent me from kicking him in the face like I did last time.

His hand rests on my jeans-covered bottom and he says softly, “Are you ready?”

‘When will I ever be ready?’ I think to myself.