Dissolving

Chapter 36 - Creatures

Dying from a heatstroke is an actual possibility today.

And according to my brothers, this is not even the worst heat yet that we will encounter on this trip. They are seriously planning to stop in Death Valley on the way home and since I cannot imagine being anywhere where it is even hotter than here, I desperately need to come up with something to stop this from happening.

Apparently, it can get so hot there that roads melt. I don't even want to imagine what it could do to my secret chocolate stash.

After that crazy storm last night, I stupidly anticipated that today, the weather might be milder and less scorching than yesterday. I don't know what I was expecting, but certainly not the torturous heat we are currently exposed to.

"How are you holding up, squirt?" Sam interrupts my depressing thoughts.

Depressing, because when I thought of chocolate, instead craving some, my stomach turned to knots. That to me is a clear sign that things are going downhill fast. It is pretty much unheard of that chocolate does not make my mouth water.

I hate heat. It makes me feel weird.

"M'okay," I reply unenthusiastically.

I should probably ask him back, since he is the one who really must be suffering. Because, currently, Sam and I are on the way back to our makeshift camp, and he is giving me a piggy back. Which I am super glad about, but it also makes me feel a bit guilty.

"More importantly: How are you?" I want to know. "I can walk by myself, you know. You don't have to carry me all the way back to camp."

It sure doesn't help my guilty conscience that it is still a couple of miles away and with it the, what I consider, life-saving equipment, like the Beast's air-conditioning. Although, I fear that I might not be allowed to hide away in the truck and turn its air-con up to the max. The three oldest are very adamant that we are not going to be adding to the pollution of our planet by running such a massive truck's engine just so that "the little princess" – to quote Jordan – feels more comfortable.

I knew that going on this trip was a bad idea.

While I agree with their assessment about not unnecessarily wasting gas because I am a spoiled brat, I am now stuck suffering in this inhumane desert climate (as I knew I would, because I hate everything to do with feeling sticky and sweaty) while also constantly being at the receiving end of stupid jokes and teasing remarks by my currently not very lovable siblings.

Not to mention that I am having a hard time getting used to Jordan's adventurer-persona. It is like he has become a completely different person ever since we arrived here. For some reason he is totally in his element in these adverse conditions. In everyday life, he is kind of on the happy side, but the excitement he displays in this environment here is on another level. He could easily give a 5-year-old on Christmas morning a run for their money.

It would be kind of cute if it weren't so confusing. Because, paired with said excitement comes a recklessness that scares and annoys me simultaneously. It's like he threw all caution out of the window the second he hopped on his new motorbike and we crossed the border into the National Park.

His devil-may-care attitude is the main reason why we haven't made up yet.

Last night, I told myself to forgive him for the stunt of rushing out into a raging storm just to save a stupid motorcycle. But before I could start a proper conversation with him when we were preparing breakfast, Jordan decided that it would be a great idea to get us acquainted with some native wildlife – namely with a couple of snakes he had discovered nearby.