Trouble on the Mountain

The next morning, Aiden got back out on the slopes as early as possible to practice. An hour or so later, he finally managed to land the jump the way he wanted so he started taking the intermediate path with multiple jumps. At first, he had some trouble transitioning from one jump to the next but, by the time lunch time rolled around, he felt a lot more comfortable with it.

After eating lunch and chatting a bit with Yuki, Aiden was back to the slopes. He really enjoyed snowboarding so he didn't want to miss a single minute. As he was heading to the lift once more, he ran into Zeke who seemed surprised to see him.

"Huh? Didn't you only start learning yesterday? You know this is the intermediate slope, right?" Aiden raised an eyebrow.

"You know, I think that's the most I've heard you say at one time. But yeah, I know. I've been practicing the jumps."

"You've already learned to jump? Just what are you?" Aiden and Zeke got on the same lift as they were talking.

"You ask like I'm some sort of alien."

"You probably are." Aiden laughed.

When they reached the top of the slope, Zeke motioned for Aiden to descend first, which he did. Zeke followed afterwards. At the bottom, Zeke just shook his head in disbelief and they both continued to snowboard together for the next couple of hours.

Taking a short break, Aiden went inside and got a cup of warm tea. It wouldn't do him any good if he was too tired or too cold. While sitting by one of the resort's fireplaces, he saw Becca talking to someone on the other side of the room. They didn't talk for too long but Aiden couldn't help but think it was strange. As the two left, he made sure to remember what the person she was talking to looked like. If he didn't, he was sure it would come back to bite him later.

As soon as he was well rested and warmed up again, he headed back outside. He decided it wasn't a good idea to attempt any of the expert slopes and continued practicing on the intermediate one. Plenty of other people were also on the slopes by then so he took the opportunity to watch and learn from some of the more experienced snowboarders.

In the early evening, the wind started to pick up. Several people checked the weather but there were no reports of anything that would inhibit them from being on the mountain. As long as things didn't get worse everything would be fine.

Just before he started his next descent, Ava came rushing over to him in a panic.

"Aiden! Please help me talk some sense into him!" Aiden moved out of the way for the other snowboarders and tried to calm Ava down.

"Hold on a second! Calm down and breathe. What are you talking about?" Ava was on the verge of tears but the anger in her voice was evident.

"That moron, Zeke! He got provoked by one of the guests and now there's this stupid bet happening. He's going to attempt one of the more difficult expert slopes but he's never done one before! He's going to get hurt!" Aiden had a really bad feeling about the situation.

"Where is he now?"

"This way!" Ava quickly led the way to the other side of the slopes where the expert paths and unmarked areas were. As they approached, Aiden saw a very panicked Yuki, Zeke, who was silently checking his gear, and an eerily familiar stranger. His stomach dropped and he clenched his fists when he saw the man Becca had been talking to earlier. There was no way it was a coincidence.

"What's going on?" Aiden asked as soon as he was close enough to them. Yuki looked a little relieved at his arrival but Zeke just kept checking his gear. It was the stranger who spoke first.

"Ha! No matter how many of your little friends show up it won't change anything!" Aiden narrowed his eyes at the man but then ignored him and turned to Zeke.

"Are you sure about this?" Zeke simply nodded. "...Alright. Just be careful. You know if you get even the smallest scratch Ava will nag us all to death." Aiden saw an almost imperceptible smirk form on Zeke's face before it vanished.

"What?!" Ava yelled. "You can't be serious! Aiden, please stop him!"

"Ava, I know you're worried but I don't think Zeke would attempt it if he wasn't confident that he could do it without getting hurt. Why don't you and Yuki head back down and wait for him at the bottom. He'll be there in no time." Ava clearly disagreed and was reluctant to leave. She looked at Zeke who just silently stood there resolutely.

"Fine! Fine! If you're so hell bent on being this stupid then go ahead! But don't think I'll visit you in the hospital later!" Ava stormed off and Yuki hurried after her.

"When you reach the bottom, send a picture to this guy's phone as proof." The man pointed to Aiden. "If you don't though, I'll call for search and rescue. Ha ha ha!" Zeke frowned and looked at Aiden.

"It's fine. After you send the photo I'll take the lift down. It won't be long till the sun goes down and the temperature's dropping. It might make the slopes icy so be careful." Zeke nodded. Then, he started down the mountain leaving Aiden and the stranger alone. Unbeknownst to the man, Aiden hit record on his phone and placed it back in his pocket. "So, how much did she pay you?" He asked.

"W-What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Becca. I saw you two talking in the lodge. How much did she pay you to mess with me and my friends? A grand? Two perhaps?" There was a tense moment of silence before the man laughed.

"Ha ha! Yeah, alright. I got two thousand. She wasn't all that specific with how she wanted it done though."

"Then what exactly did she want?"

"She wanted you to see your friends suffer. Ha! Can you believe that? Twisted little thing isn't she?" A cold and vicious glint shone in Aiden's eyes.

"Yeah, I believe it. It's not the first time she's done something like this." In fact, it was always the same. For some reason, if Aiden wasn't completely alone and isolated then Becca wasn't happy. It was as if her life's mission was to get rid of everyone he got close to. He should have expected it but he had been so uncharacteristically happy recently that he'd let his guard down. It was his mistake. He should have dealt with her a long time ago.

Aiden's phone buzzed and he pulled it out of his pocket. Switching from the recording to his text messages, he saw a picture Yuki took of Ava pulling Zeke's ear at the button of the slope. He held up the phone to show it to the man who wasn't pleased.

"Tch! Lucky brat!" Aiden put his phone away after turning the recording back on and was about to try and get more information when he saw something that stopped him in his tracks. The stranger had backed up to a covered spot near some rocks and was holding up, of all things, a grenade. Aiden's adrenaline started pumping and his heart raced. Where the hell did he get something like that?!

"If you do that, you'll be in just as much danger as me." In an area like the one they were in, even a loud sneeze could trigger an avalanche. If that man set off a grenade, Aiden shuddered to think of the damage it would cause. It would endanger everyone on the mountain.

"You'd think, right? But I'll take my chances." In a moment that moved like slow motion, he pulled the pin and launched the grenade at Aiden. As much as Lyla, Spencer, and Becca had put him through and of all the things he'd suffered in his life so far, he had to admit that he never had to dodge grenades up until that point.

"Shit!" Aiden ran as fast as he could through the snow and jumped for cover behind some trees. Just as he hit the ground, he heard the explosion behind him as snow, dirt, and rocks were flung into the air. It was louder than he thought it would be and his ears were ringing. He staggered as he stood up and winced at a sudden pain in his leg. Looking down, he saw a small branch had stabbed him in his left calf. Luckily it didn't seem too deep. Unfortunately, it soon became the least of his worries.

A loud roar filled the air and Aiden felt the ground rumble beneath his feet. He climbed out from behind the trees and first saw the crater that was left where the grenade went off. Then, he looked up and his initial fears were made into reality. At the very top of the mountain, the snow had broken loose and started to fall. The blast had triggered a huge avalanche.