The Breakaways

Chapter 10

Liz's POV

"Now, stand right here. Get ready."

"For- for what?" I asked. She had led me out of a door branching off from the hallway- and in all honesty, I had been pretty convinced she was kicking me out when I saw it led outside. But apparently, that wasn't what was happening, because I looked down and saw that we were on a bamboo platform. It was connected on all corners to a vine that went so far upwards I couldn't see where it was attached to. Then we shot upwards.

* * *

"Ah- ..whoa..." I began. It was beautiful. 

I stepped off the platform directly onto a balcony, somehow forgetting any fear that the platform could've stemmed from it being slightly shaky. But it hadn't been shaky. It had been smooth. How was that?

I looked behind me. Only in a fantasy story, I thought. 

Ahead of me wasn't a different story. The whole thing was made out of bamboo (I was noticing a theme), and there was benching all the way around, made of oak. The legs of the benches were curvy branches, with the bark shaved off. Everything had a layer of sheen to it, something to protect it from water damage. The view from the balcony though, that's what I was really looking at. 

It was on the other side of the building, the side I didn't see when I had entered the inn. There was a big cliff reaching over, only meters from I. In one of the only patches of exposed dirt, there was an oddly rectangular shaped mark in it, but I ignored it. The rest of the world was so breathtaking. 

Millions and millions of pine trees had claimed the land. They were, really, the only foliage I could see-minus grass that was up close. You had to wonder what animals lived there-chillisks, Ikaverns, Bali-whatever Basilisks, and much, so much, more jaw-dropping things. Hanging over it, there was mist-not smog, just water vapor in a pure form.

And when the sun, peaking through the clouds hit it-oh, the mist was rainbow, and the grass was such a brilliant green and the trees were ombres of green in the gleam of radiant light, growing and taking in the energy of the sun and other sources around it then giving back with its own life-giving source and the only thing you could think was, This is where I belong. 

"It's incredible, huh?" the lady asked. I would have looked at the name sewn into her clothes, but I already knew it began with A, and that I couldn't take my eyes away.

After a few more moments, she started talking, and I had to remind myself I could come back out here to see it before I tore my eyes away. 

I looked at her name tag. Ataahua.

"...and I'll bring you to your side. Your neighbors share a balcony with you, but that's okay because they'll introduce themselves to you later. Their names are Waylon and Loxley. They live on the left."

I looked over at the building that was attached to the balcony. There were double doors in the gold-encrusted building. The reason it was gold encrusted was because it made a beautiful mountain scene out of burned bamboo bits, oak, and gold bits. Upon closer inspection, I realized that there were little oak carvings of 2D animals.  

Ataahua began walking forwards, then held the door on the right open for me. I saw that there was a wall between the two doors, so they looked like double doors when closed but weren't.

When you went inside, it was like any normal hotel. There was a small kitchen, living room, a bathroom, and there were two other rooms, each with one bed. Once I asked why there was a door-without a lock-in the wall between us, Ataahua answered simply, "So they can come visit you."