The Search for Serenity

14 - Quite the View

- Alice -

"This is a terrible idea. You do realise we could actually fall and die, right?"

A chuckle rumbles from Toby's throat at my panicked state. "Come on, don't be so dramatic." His eyes roll playfully as he practically drags me to one of the trees in the woods. I begrudgingly follow with an exaggerated groan.

"Well, I'm glad you find my suffering amusing." I huff as we come to a stop, folding my arms over my chest.

He rolls his eyes again, shaking his head. "It'll be fine, trust me. I've done this a million times, and the view up here is worth it even if we were to fall and die." He points up to where to countless branches of the tree spiral up and up. I hold my breath as I take in the height of it all.

After I finished with my work, Toby helped me pack up and drove us to my place to pick up my camera, telling me we'd be going to the woods. He said he knew the perfect place to go to take great photos.

So here we are, standing before an old tree with tangled branched and intricate indentations in its bark. I'd admire it if it weren't for the fact Toby expects us to climb it, practically sentencing me to an early death.

"If I die, I'm coming back to haunt you." I threaten with a mumble, and he chuckles again. I ignore him, adjusting the camera strap around my neck as we move closer to the tree.

Toby steps in front of me, surveying the branches. I hang back, my palms sweating as my nerves pick up. I never realised I was afraid of heights until now. Toby seems so excited and was kind enough to offer to pull me from my misery earlier, how can I let him down and tell him I'm a bit more than nervous about this?

"You good to go first and I'll follow up after you? That way if you do happen to slip, which is highly unlikely by the way, I'll be there. Or should-" He does a doubletake when he notices whatever distress I was trying to hide. "Hey, if you really don't want to climb, we don't have to."

"I'm just overthinking it. I'm quite the professional at that." I shake my head, pushing my nerves away. "I want to go up. You said it's nice, right?" I insist, looking for any kind of reassurance to convince me that this tree is not a death trap.

I can't always live without taking risks, I need to push myself more sometimes and get out of my comfort zones. I'll always be stagnant otherwise.

He nods. "Exactly. But if you change your mind, that's okay too."

I give him a smile as I begin to internally hype myself up to give myself some courage. Despite my apprehensiveness, I want to at least give it a go. You only regret the things you don't do, right?

Unless it's drugs. Definitely don't do drugs.

"My lady," Toby gestures for me to go first, bowing slightly.

I snort a laugh. "How chivalrous." The tension releases from my shoulders at his light-heartedness. Pressing a hand to my chest, I play along with the act before removing it and taking a step forward.

I grab onto a low branch, lifting a foot to another, using them to pull myself up. I huff as I climb higher, slowly finding my footing and pushing myself up again. My heart races with each inch I climb, but it's from exhilaration rather than fear.

"Is this high enough?" I try to balance out the tremor in my voice as I speak, face close enough to the trees' rough bark that I see the mites scramble between the crevices. I refuse to look down even as I hear Toby's laughter.

"Alice, you're barely up five feet," he says between small wheezes of his quiet laughter. "I promise it'll be okay if you go a bit higher up."

"Oh." I internally thank the fact that I'm not looking at him as my cheeks heat. I clear my throat, lifting an arm to hoist myself up further.