My story of the Mountain.
At the request of baka moyashi, who is intent on making me VCC. Please, NO.
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Alex huffed, his breath coming out in a whisper of mist. Despite the biting cold of his surroundings, sweat beaded on his forehead. This was one of the more particularly difficult missions he had been assigned to, and it was draining away at his energy.
The thirty-five-year-old was a flight doctor, an expert at saving the lives of people trapped, wounded, anytime, anywhere. And though not all missions were successful, he was determined that this one would be.
A young girl had gone hiking up a mountain with her brother earlier during the day, and something had triggered an avalanche. The name of the mountain escaped him, but as he attempted to as gently as possible secure the sharp branch that had lodged itself in the girl’s thigh, time sped up, and anxiety built up inside him, adrenaline running madly through his veins. Blood leaked through his fingers.
The helicopter hovered quite a distance away, careful to be far enough not to trigger another mini avalanche in the area. After all, Alex didn’t need any more trouble than he was already dealing with.
He had long since bandaged up the girl’s body, mangled though it had been. She was breathing quite evenly now, and Alex was elated that he did not have to deal with any form of internal injuries. His partner, Melanie, had gone off in search of the girl’s brother with Heath, her assistant, in the surrounding area, leaving him with his assistant Jackie, who was currently maintaining the stable situation of the girl.
Alex wrapped the donut-shaped bandage carefully around the branch that jutted out of the girl’s thigh, securing it. He stole a glance at Jackie, who caught on easily. Switching on their walkie-talkie, there was a beeping sound.
Jackie began to speak to Melanie, and time ticked by, eating away at Alex’s patience.
He sent the dark-haired girl a fleeting look, hinting impatience. He raised the back of his hand to his forehead again, still holding the branch securely in place, just in case.
But at some point in the conversation, something Melanie said caught his attention.
“We’re good. We haven’t found the boy yet. But I think we’re close… There’re some footprints and…”
Jackie knew what that meant. She glimpsed at Alex again, but he was facing away from her, packing up their tools.
“Alright. Mel, we’re heading off first. If this girl isn’t treated soon, she’ll die. Over.”
“Don’t jinx it,” Alex muttered, a cloud of warm air escaping his lips.
Jackie peeked at him again, but turned away.
“Roger that. I’ll see you guys later. Good luck. Over.”
“Yeah, you too. Good luck. Over.”
There was another quiet beep and Jackie switched the frequency channel she was on.
Alex couldn’t help but listen in on the conversation. His mind needed to relax, and it automatically tuned into something that was potentially more distracting than the mess of blood and bandages in front of him.
“Hey, can you hear me, Allen? Over.”
“Yep. Is it time to come down? Over.”
“Yeah, it is. Remember though, not too low. We want to get this girl out without any more problems.
She’s on the verge of death here. Over.”
“You think I don’t know that? What do you think I was trained for?”
Jackie smiled. Allen always brightened the situation with jokes.
The beep sounded again, and Alex finally spoke.
“Jackie, what have I said about talking too much? We’ve been here for hours. And this girl is in critical condition, chatter box,” he said quietly, dangerously, in spite of the fact that the conversation Allen had had with the girl in question had distracted him quite a bit.
The 30-year-old simply kept quiet after that.
The whirl of the helicopter above them broke the silence and the two flight doctors looked up. Help had arrived.
-
Allen passed a cup of coffee in front of his comrade’s face.
There was no reaction.
Alex had his hands out in front of him, his elbows on his knees. His hands were still dirty, tainted with the blood of the innocent who had died in his care on the way to the nearest medical facility.
A quiet murmur escaped the man’s lips.
“I hate this job.”
Allen sighed, a hand going up to rub his temples.
He slumped back against the wall; they were sitting on stools.
“You always say that when they die,” he said to the ceiling.
“We’re not gods you know. We can’t save everyone.”
“I know. But it’s our job to save people.”
The younger of the two sighed once more.
His free hand patted his childhood friend’s shoulder.
“Get over it. Death is a part of life. You can’t stand around crying for everyone who dies.”
He stood up.
“Besides, a mountain isn’t the safest place on Earth. Get over it.”
That said, Allen left the cup of coffee on the bench beside Alex, walking off, muttering something incomprehensible to himself.
Alex continued to stare at his hands.
“Stupid mountain.”
Hours flashed by, people rushing around him.
Soon, it was night.
Alex had sat stiffly on the bench all day, staring at his hands in what looked like an uncomfortable position.
He continued to stare through the night.
The blood had dried on his hands, and had turned a murky brown on his skin.
Footsteps echoed off the walls of the hallway, but Alex did not start, did not hear anything, deaf to the world.
Someone came to stand beside him, but the bronze-haired man ignored them.
“Alex, Alex, it’s about time you went home for the night.”
Alex looked up at the person addressing him.
It was Allen.
“What do you want?”
His voice was monotonous, cold as ice.
“You can’t sit here all day and mope.”
“Yeah? And what are you going to do about it?”
A hint of anger plagued his voice now.
“The mountain saved my life.”
Alex spun around to face him, shocked.
“When I was a kid, I used to go to my grandad’s lodge at the bottom of this mountain.
“He used to bring me hiking, teaching me survival skills and whatnot. Trained up my muscles, and endurance, everything.”
Allen looked a bit out of it.
“You may not believe me, but I was in an airplane crash in the more isolated regions in the polar climate areas. I was stuck in this blizzard with nothing but the clothes on my back, almost frozen to death.
“But my grandad had taught me many things on the mountain, and survival skills was the most frequent of exercises we did then.
“So, I survived there for a while before someone actually came to get me. I’d learned to dig myself into the snow and stay in the ground long enough to keep myself warm. The blizzard stopped after a few days, and that’s when they found me. If I’d not been taught here at this mountain, I would have died.”
Alex was stunned into silence.
He had never expected this, especially not from Allen.
After all, how could something that seemed so wonderful take lives away everyday, right in front of his eyes?
Alex was torn. He didn’t know what to think.
He could go along with Allen’s story, something he’d never heard of before and something he didn’t have the evidence to believe, or continue on his sad life, knowing, witnessing, the wrath of the mountain and its dangers.
Allen seemed to sense Alex’s contemplation by the look on his face, and immediately stood up.
“Well, whether you choose to believe me or not, it’s your choice. Just know that that’s a true story, and I leave it to you to decide what to believe.”
And for the second time that day, Allen walked off.
Alex stared after him, weary now.
He looked around the darkened corridors, visualising the events in Allen’s story.
“Well,” he thought to himself, “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
He got up, and jogged in Allen’s direction, reaching the younger man in seconds.
♪.moonrise.♪
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♪.Sing to the Heaven of the Dawn.♪
