Balcony Boy | ✓

Balcony Boy (17)

We arrive at Katmandu and I watch Jake's reaction. His smile reveals his teeth and he bounces slightly with the excitement of a 4 year old. He stares at the upside-down house in awe and I can't help but smile.

"This is amazing." He says, smile still spread across his face.

The house is built to look like a mansion that's upside-down with roots coming off the top as if it was ripped from the ground and there are several ponds either side. The hotel behind has a huge plastic creature climbing it, with white fur and pointy ears.

We walk over a small bridge towards the entrance and buy our tickets. There are people everywhere.

"Right, you two go off and we'll meet you at the end when you're ready." My mum tells us, handing us our tickets.

First we enter a room with a plastic tree in the middle; mechanical animals moving all around the room with all kinds of animal sounds coming from surrounding speakers. The tree has a face and me and Jake come to stand in front of it.

"What kind of tree fits in your hand?" Jake asks.

I sigh in response.

"A palm tree." He says, laughing at his own joke and I roll my eyes.

He sees me and places a hand on his heart, acting offended. "I fernly beleaf my tree puns are qualitree. Yew can't beat a good tree pun."

I punch him in the stomach.

He doubles over, "Worth it."

I laugh and walk over to a wall. It has two panes of glass with a horizontal gap across the middle. I put my hand through the gap and a note plays. It makes me jump and I pull my hand back.

Placing my hand in again, I move over the gap and the note changes. Jake comes over and puts his hands in next to mine, playing multiple notes at the same time. He attempts to make some sort of dance beat, and fails miserably.

We continue to walk through the house and come to a walkway inside a spinning, multi-coloured barrel. I walk through, Jake close behind me and I start to lean to one side, nearly falling over. I look behind and see Jake doing the same. Jake's hands come to rest on my waist.

"I almost fell over." He shouts in my ear, over the loud sound of the spinning barrel.

"Don't take me down with you." He's so close that I can feel the laugh as it shakes his body.

We reach the end of the walkway and take a moment. I'm so dizzy I almost fall over right there and then, but Jake's hands are there, holding me up.

We spend the next hour or so exploring the house. It's full of optical illusions and quirky things that I can barely drag Jake away from; his inner child has taken full control and I can't wipe the smile off my face.

Every time we walk to a different room Jake comes up next to me, holding my hand in his.

We walk into the next room and I'm instantly freezing, my breath forming a cloud in front of me. How they manage to get this one room so cold in comparison to the heat outside I don't know, but I'm definitely not dressed for it.

The walls are made to look like ice and a model of the white furry...thing is opposite us, a loud growl coming from speakers around the room now and then.

I instinctively lean into Jake's side, but instantly begin to move away once I realise what I'm doing, blood rushing to my cheeks. I let go of his hand and cross the room, pretending to look at something on the wall.

"You ok?" He asks, coming to stand behind me.

I want to respond but my teeth are chattering and my whole body is shaking slightly from the dramatic temperature change. In my vest and shorts – it's safe to say I'm absolutely freezing.