Walking the Ruins

Hiking in the rain

I hate hiking. And I hate rain.

And today, I'm hiking in the rain.

With each step, my heavy boots sink into the squishy, brown mud, making ghastly noises. Wet socks and the throbbing threat of a budding blister add to my discomfort.

The trail my friends and I walk ascends through a forest. The trees and shrubs on both sides crowd in on us, their claw-like, wet branches trying their best to soak whatever we have managed to keep dry.

A short walk—that's what our physics teacher promised this morning, after last night in that hostel. This short walk in the pouring rain is endless, though.

And the chilly wind gnaws at my ungloved hands.

School outings are supposed to be cool. Not cold.

"How much longer?" I ask. "I hate this."

"We're close," Kevin answers. He's on the trail right behind me. "We should be able to see CERN when we reach that ridge."

...able to see CERN. He makes this CERN sound like a city or some profound truth. Anyway, he should know. He's the only one in our group interested in that kind of thing. The destination of our hike—our hike in the rain, note—is the information pavilion of the CERN... or the information pavilion of CERN, as Kevin would say.

Our physics teacher has told us everything about the CERN. It's a place where physicists do experiments. They accelerate particles. Physicists—the people with the wild hair and the neckbeards.

I haven't the slightest idea what should be interesting about these physicists and their particles.

"I bet the first group is already there." Kevin is breathing hard. It seems our ascent is taking its toll on him.

But he's right. I can easily imagine that our teacher and his usual group of brown-nosers are already enjoying warm drinks in a dry, heated place—drinks served by these physicists. The rest of our class is probably close behind them. Only a handful of stragglers are still out in the cold, far away from all shelter. And I'm amongst them.

My gaze falls on the guy walking in front of me. Steve. His backside is propelled up the endless slope on a pair of well-muscled legs. The sight draws me back to the here and now.

I should utter a girlish sigh, hoping to awaken the man inside him, a man who would certainly offer to carry at least my heavy sleeping bag. I'm sure he'd do that. But as I ponder these thoughts, I look up and see the ridge ahead of us. It's closer than I thought. So I decide to postpone any sounds of exhaustion for later.

"Hey!" Steve's voice sounds astonished.

It jerks me away from my thoughts. Is he talking to me?

"Jenny?" he says.

No, he's not talking to me. I'm Leona.

Fearing the worst, I look ahead, towards the ridge, where I see a figure sitting on a rock. The long, blonde angel-hair falling from its hoodie confirms my fears. It's Jenny. Beautiful, lovely Jenny—everyone's sweetheart. And she's not at the head of the class with the teacher, where she belongs, but she's hanging out at this exact spot for reasons yet unknown.

"Ooo, my God." The three 'o's in her first word are clearly audible—she must be convinced that her situation is awful. "Hello Kevin, hello Steve. It's sooo good to see you guys!"

"What's the matter?" Steve stands tall, the man within him obviously awakening to the cooing of the triple-voweled blonde female. I grit my teeth.

"Everything's hurting. My legs, my back, and, oh my God, my feeet!" Jenny waves her hand at her dirt-repelling, pink-black hiking boots sticking from the bottom ends of a pair of high-tech hiking pants. "I can't go on. My pack's so heavy."

"We're the last group." Steve gestures towards Kevin, me, and the other stragglers behind us.

I hate his worried and helpful tone of voice, and I watch the events unroll—helplessly.

"You can't stay here," he continues. "You'll have to come with us... give me your sleeping bag. I'll carry it for you."

And thus, reality's sharp teeth bite me, painfully. I should have uttered that womanly sigh myself when there was still time.

Jenny smiles, displaying a perfect row of white teeth. "Thanks, you're such a sweetie!" She starts to remove her light-blue sleeping bag from her backpack. Then she looks up, and her eyes find mine. "Oh, Leona, you look terribly tired."

"Well, I still manage to carry all my stuff, thanks." Take that! "But you're right; I'm tired. Some people did make a lot of noise last night, in that hostel, when we were trying to get some sleep." I'm sure that she was one of them. She's always part of the action.

She shrugs.

We silently wait while Steve straps Jenny's sleeping bag onto the top of his own, and the rest of the group catches up with us.

A gap in the trees offers a view over the valley before us. Fields, some buildings, and small groups of trees, whose colors fight the weather and lose—most of the scenery is painted in shades of greenish-gray. The other side of the valley is flanked by a forested hill, similar to the one we stand on. Heavy clouds hang like a lid over the landscape, turning the day into a scene of twilight.

I shiver in a cold gust of wind. "Didn't you say we'd be able to see that CERN thing from here?" The irritation in my voice surprises me.

Kevin puts on the wet glasses that he was just about to wipe. He squints, first at me, then at the scenery, and finally points into the valley before us. "Sure, that's where we have to go," His finger is directed at a far-way building looking like an oversized wooden marble. "That round thing is CERN's information pavilion."

"But we have to go that way." Jenny extends a slender hand along a path heading left, definitely not towards that pavilion. "The others all took that trail."

"But that's a huge detour. I won't survive this." The words pour from my mouth without conscious effort, and they accurately express the state of my brooding mind and aching body.

Steve gets up, balancing the increased weight of his backpack on his broad shoulders. "Hey, look at this!" He points towards a small, unmarked trail leading directly and steeply downhill, right into the direction of the wooden sphere of the pavilion. "This must be a shortcut. The trail the others took... I guess it leads down the slope in switchbacks. This one's steeper, but it will take us right where we wanna go. What do you think?"

Steve looks at us, brows raised and an adventurous grin on his tanned face.

"Sure." Kevin grins back, obviously rising to the challenge.

"I think..." Jenny starts. I stare at her, wondering what gives her the right to have an opinion, let alone to voice it; she's not part of this group. "I think," Jenny continues, happily unaware of my stare, "we should follow the others."

Steve looks at me now, still carrying that challenging look. "And what's your opinion, Leona?"

I don't hesitate and smile back at him. "Let's go for the shortcut." Glancing at Jenny, I see a pout growing on her face.

Steve's smile grows wider. "Great. Let's go there. Or would anyone like to take the long way?"

One by one, the rest of the stragglers agree to follow. All except Jenny, who silently looks at her sleeping bag perching on Steve's backpack, and then at us. I guess she realizes that she would be the only one taking the 'official' trail, the switchbacks. "Okaaay!" she says, finally, "I'll come with you."

A pity!

"So, let's get going." Steve starts off, and we follow him towards our descent along the shortcut.

The trail is steep and slippery. And the dense undergrowth makes it hard to find—as if no one has walked it for years.

I wonder if taking it is a good idea.