Altitude

Snowy Wall

The voice plunged into her inert sleeping thoughts, haunting her. Mia and Sherpa Norbu were resting at the entrance of Khumbu icefall, the most dangerous place after the rainbow valley. The crevices at this part ran deep into the mountain range like the intertwined veins in a human body. It swallowed many beginners before they could pronounce 'summit'. Each part of Khumbu was different and it had its own perilous effects.

"Find me... Or you'll pay for this... Find me. I know you're so close. Find me...!" This time it was not just the sound but an apparition appeared as a cloud of black smoke.

She sat up after tossing for a mere amount of time she wanted to rest before her long day. Hyperventilation accompanied as always. A cold sweat broke on her forehead, litters of salty liquid baked her skin. Easing the overall waterproof jacket felt like she could finally breathe. Then it came to her - the presence beside her in her little tent.

Something rubbed on her cheek as another person would. She side-glanced to her right. Clear as the summer sky, it stood there in proximity, barring its teeth. Its long tongue was out, slithering like a snake and crawling in the air towards her. An ear-piercing shriek escaped from her.

Covering her ears she mumbled, "Leave me alone... Leave me alone..." Tears tumbled down her cheek.

Serpa Norbu rushed in hearing the cry. He must have been surprised by the way she looked - like a broken child.

"Come to your senses, Mia." He shook her shoulders. When she marched back to reality, he made her a cup of hot herbal tea.

"You believe in spirits?" she questioned, her thoughts wandering around the voices she heard. They sat by the little bonfire Norbu made, to fight off the cold.

He scrunched his eyebrows together as if he was contemplating and searching Mia's face for something. After a long minute, he sighed, "Is that what all this is about? Your mind is not sound." He muttered the last part under his breath.

"No... Of course not!" she considered her reply for a bit, "Just wanna know what your beliefs are..."

It seemed he wanted to extend his warmth to ease up the tension. "A few years ago, a ritual was ordered to destroy an unsatisfied spirit that was creating all sorts of problems in our village." He sipped from his cup, reminding Mia of her forgotten cold tea. "The Ihawa whipped for a long time. Only then it opened its mouth saying the ghost died as a virgin and she doesn't want to be virgin anymore..." Norbu couldn't contain his laughter at that point. Mia knew there was more to that story.

Patience gave her a good laugh. "The ghost was inside a 67years old woman..." Mia joined him.

"What happened?" She managed to enquire between her fit of laughter.

"Well... The woman got pregnant while the ghost is gone once and for all..." His small eyes formed an upward line from the mirth.

"You've got to be kidding me..." she had missed mountain stories all those years.

The stratum of million years of snow over the mountain was unreliable. The Khumbu is the place where 'change is the only constant' suits better. Mia and Sherpa Norbu set out with the dawn.

"One more mistake and I'll drag you straight to Kathmandu Airport..." Norbu forewarned, expecting a disaster with her stubborn belief.

Mia thought her skills must have gone rusty as Norbu said. She was breathless in a few hundred yards of climbing, jumping the splits on the snowy land, crossing-over the huge ones with the help of the lying ladder. She had overestimated herself. Ten kilometers run every morning would have maintained the core strength, she had anticipated. That was not the case, she realized a bit late.