by Joel Arcanjo
But even being thousands of miles away, he still hadn’t been able to outrun death. It had followed him and was now taunting him. It made him believe for a second that everything was good and that he had escaped its excruciating grip. Then, out of nowhere, it rears its ugly head once more. As he strode down the banks of Lake Taupo he couldn’t help thinking that the peace he was feeling was just another lull in death’s plan. He felt like sooner or later, male or female, nice or vile, someone was going to die.
Chapter 27
“Hey. Where are you off to?” a voice said from his left. He turned to see Annie sat by the lake, alone.
“I’m just walking around. Not doing any of the activities here, so I decided to just keep trudging this way.”
“Same here. Becki decided to go skydiving and I’ve done it before, so I’m not too fussed about doing it here.”
“Nice setting though,” Dante said, looking out across the lake.
“Yeah, but this way I can enjoy it all day long from here rather than for a few seconds after jumping out of a plane.”
“Good point.” It wasn’t a good point. You could finish skydiving and then walk around the edges for the rest of the day, but he liked this girl and he wasn’t about to disagree with her on something so trivial.
“So, can I come with you?” she asked jumping to her feet and wiping the dirt off her jeans.
“Er, sure. I have to warn you though, I don’t really know where I’m going.”
“Does anybody really know where they’re going?” she asked in a mocking tone.
“Wow. We got deep really fast there,” Dante laughed.
They walked side by side, their pace slow, but determined.
“So tell me something about yourself,” Dante finally said in a bid to extract some form of personal information from Annie.
“What do you want to know?”
“Anything that you’re willing to tell me.”
“I’m an open book,” she said pushing her hair behind her right ear.
“I find that hard to believe. We’ve spoken quite a lot already and I don’t know your last name.”
She looked at him. It was clear she was sizing him up and deciding whether to tell him. She looked at the ground. She must have decided he was OK because she let him know.
“Stevens. My name is Annie Stevens.” Her tone was light and barely audible.
“Well OK. We’re getting somewhere,” he said turning to her with a smile on his face. “My name is Dante Darion.”
“I know.”
This caught him off guard.
“How do you know that?” Dante asked.
“I saw your name on Mel’s clipboard.”
He felt a bit foolish. “Right, of course you did.”
“My turn. Why are you here, Dante Darion?” she said bumping him on the shoulder lightly.
“Whatever do you mean?” he said in his own mocking tone.
“Well, you don’t seem to be here to get black-out drunk like most people here. You’re genuinely enjoying the beauty of this place rather than allowing it to be secondary to everything else and you’re having fun, but you’re definitely not relaxed here. So let me ask you again, why are you here?”
Dante acknowledged her observational skills. He could tell her a lot about herself too, but he didn’t want her to become uncomfortable and close up. He had finally got her sharing something about herself.
“Well played, Annie Stevens. I’m here because my friend…”
“The hyper one with the expensive camera?” Annie interrupted.
“That would be him. He figured that after the summer I’ve had, I needed to loosen up and have some fun. So, he brought me here.”
“And is it working?”
“Yes and no. A guy dying in front of you doesn’t exactly relax you very much. But, this place is incredible and it’s taking my mind of some other things.”
“Other things?” she asked with what seemed like genuine concern.
“My Uncle died at the start of the summer. He was more like my Dad than my Uncle though. It hit me pretty hard.”
Annie fell silent, caught in her own thoughts.
“Thank you for not saying ‘I’m sorry for your loss’ by the way. I have heard that enough for a lifetime.”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“Someone close to you died recently?” Dante asked, not having to feign concern.
“Let’s keep it light, shall we?” she said, her smile returning for a moment, only to be replaced by sadness.
“Sure,” Dante said changing the subject to more about the nature reserve. It worked because Annie quickly forgot about whatever her mind had drifted to.
They walked around the lake for another half hour before deciding to turn back. They could see people skydiving on the other side of the lake but they were just tiny dots in the sky, completely unidentifiable even as humans. But as each one fell, Dante tracked their progress with his eyes. He wanted to make sure that he saw every one of them fall so that he could tell Asmir that he had seen him jump and not be lying. But by the end he was struggling and his eyes were hurting. The sun was beginning to go down which made things worse. He also struggled because the conversation with Annie was intellectual and challenging and he didn’t want to seem uninterested.
As they ambled back the final mile to the hostel, they were ambushed by the setting sun. It had turned the walk romantic out of nowhere, which was fairly easy because it was clear that Dante was into her and he thought that she might be interested in him too. Neither of them was ready for it, but the sunset forced them into sharing a moment. A silent, blissful but uninvited moment. They watched as the orange in the sky changed subtly into pink and then red. The wind had all but stopped and the lake was reflecting the perfect oil painting that was the sky. Without a word Annie slid her arm around his and they watched quietly until the sun had ducked behind the snow-covered peak of the mountain across from them. Dante couldn’t have planned it better even if he had tried. There was no kiss, there was no embrace or any words at all. There didn’t need to be.
Chapter 28
The extra day in Taupo was optional, but all but two people stayed, neither of whom Dante had had a conversation with. This also posed a problem for his and Asmir’s investigation. Either of the two could have been the killer. A smart murderer with just one victim would have done just what they did: stay another couple of days and then move on without being noticed. But their shared feeling was that the killer, whoever they were, was not stopping at one. They had no evidence to back this up of course, only speculation. But then again, there didn’t seem to be much evidence of anything happening at all. So maybe both Dante and Asmir were deluding themselves.
The reason that most of the bus had stayed the extra day was the Tongariro Crossing, an undulating hiking trail that led past the real location used in the filming of the fictional Mount Doom from The Lord of the Rings. Most of the bus was excited about seeing such an iconic location and it did not disappoint. Or at least it didn’t for most people.
“It’s just a big grey lump,” Asmir moaned, his hands firmly placed on his hips.
“What did you expect? Flames shooting out the top?” Dante asked.
Asmir ignored this. “Where’s the character? Where’s the end of days feeling?”
“That one’s all down to you, Az. It looks pretty cool to me.”
Asmir turned to Dante, obviously infuriated by that statement.
“Pretty cool? Pretty cool? Do you think Mount Doom is meant to look ‘pretty cool’? Or is it meant to make you feel fear and terror?”
Dante didn’t reply.
“Exactly, the second one. It doesn’t look intimidating at all. It doesn’t look like anything at all. Just a big lump of grey rock. I think this is how it feels to meet one of your heroes only to realize that he’s a giant tool.”
Everyone including Dante was ignoring the rant.
Asmir slowly loosened up as the walk went on. It h
elped that he had gotten friendly with Annie’s friend while skydiving and she distracted him from what he had labeled “a complete disaster.” Dante was having the opposite experience. He was enjoying the walk for two reasons: the area was almost prehistoric and it interested him immensely and secondly, Annie was accompanying him.
Asmir was right about one thing, it was grey as far as the eye could see. Except, there were large pools of what looked like water, but couldn’t have been because they ranged from yellow to turquoise in color. There was a definite smell coming off of them and he was having some flashbacks to Rotorua. He knew it was volcanic and there were geysers and hot springs littering the area, so he guessed it must be sulphur here too, but the smell was distinctly different. He put it down to a combination of being high up with nothing keeping it in and that it was windy, so it wafted away almost as soon as it tingled the nostrils. The colorful pools made for wonderful viewing. It was hard to believe there was life in any of them but Dick was certain he had seen a small fish in one of the bluer pools.
By the end of the walk Asmir was back to his normal self, taking command of the group and taking hundreds of photos of the scenery from every angle possible and with each setting possible. They had walked a lot further than any of them had thought. All in all it was probably about twelve miles.
Dante had spent much of the time speaking to Annie and a woman named Camilla, who was a truly interesting lady. She was about thirty years older than anyone else on the trip. Dante had noticed her flitting about from one group to another, blending in seamlessly, and he wanted to know her story so he asked her. She was a nurse who had been working in private practice for over thirty years. She had only had three holidays in her lifetime and two of them had been to Skegness as a kid. Recently she had been let go from her job or as she put it “the bastards fired me.” She had decided that after working her whole life without taking a single sick day, she was going to take one entire year off and travel the world. This was her last stop and she was willing to gush about all the spectacular places she had been and pour scorn on all the awful ones. She was entirely unfazed by the prospect of spending weeks on a bus traveling from place to place with a bunch of twenty-somethings and she was blending in a lot better than most.
Once they reached the end of the trail Asmir instantly began examining the pictures he had taken. Weeding out the useless ones and making a point to shove the camera in Dante’s face whenever there was one that he considered exceptional. They had even taken a joint picture of one of them carrying the other up the mountain, just as Sam had carried Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. Funny, yes. The perfect lighting? No. This threw Asmir back into his bad mood. The person he had asked to take the photo had truly done a spectacularly awful job. There was only one usable photograph. Which for most people would’ve been enough, but not for Asmir. The blow-up was even funnier because he would’ve ripped apart the bad cameraman under any other circumstances, but it just so happened that he had given the camera to Becki, Annie’s friend and the girl he liked. So Dante could see Asmir holding back the verbal abuse that he so badly wanted to hurl in Becki’s direction. He decided to take himself out of the way and went to sit back on the bus. Most stayed behind in the sun. It was a brisk 15 degrees but after their exertions they were all warm enough.
He had enjoyed the walk, but Annie was still dodging his personal questions and it had begun to worry him. It was time for his backup plan. If talking didn’t work maybe silence would. He was good at the cold shoulder.
Could it be her? he thought.
Chapter 29
After his fourth double vodka, Dante didn’t have much memory of the rest of the evening which meant it had been a great night. He was sure his plan was working though, because the whole night Annie was shooting him looks that were a mixture of confusion and frustration. She had obviously wanted him to come over to her like it had been for most of the trip. But he was holding out for her to make a move.
The entire night she looked like she was ready to put down her drink and come over to say “hi,” but something was stopping her. Pride maybe, or fear. Either way it worked to Dante’s advantage. He was having a great time with some of the guys while she was keeping tabs on him. A quick change in the power dynamic. It was as easy at that. She would undoubtedly be angry, but he knew that she wouldn’t show it. She was way too self-confident for that. So he would continue to be patient.
The next morning Dante had a more pressing issue though. He was feeling worse for wear.
Sluggishly, he rolled out of bed, his head in his hands. His forehead was on fire. His body felt weak and tired but in truth he didn’t know where the hangover stopped and where the tiredness began. He was in a world of hurt. Behind his eyes it felt like a war had broken out and whatever was inside badly wanted to escape. It didn’t help that Asmir jumped out of bed, seemingly unaffected by the drinking the previous night, and opened the curtains.
“Ahhh!” Dante groaned as the morning sunlight greeted them warmly.
“You, my friend, are a mess. Get in the shower,” Asmir said looking down at him, his arms crossed like a parent who was disappointed with their child.
“Hold up. Gimme a second,” Dante mumbled into his hands, his head unmoving.
“I’ll get you some coffee, just get in the shower,” Asmir said pointing towards the bathroom.
Dante sat dead still because each movement, however slight, made him feel like he was on a boat being buffeted by the storm of the century.
“We leave in an hour. Come on.”
In his exhausted state, Dante could only muster a pathetic flap at Asmir’s suggestion.
“I’m coming, just give me a second.”
“OK,” Asmir said and stood still staring down at his pained friend.
“I didn’t mean stand above me like a vulture waiting for me to keel over and die!”
“Got it,” Asmir said jumping into action. “Yo. You need anything?”
“Coffee and water please, Az, and do you have any headache tablets?”
“Sure, but I thought you weren’t into that stuff? You said it weakens your immune system.”
Dante turned his head so just his right eye was visible.
“Az, I would take steroids infused with heroin right now if it made this pain go away.”
“Got it. Coming up,” he said reaching down to his suitcase and pulling out a small amount of paracetamol.
“Catch,” he said throwing at Dante. Dante didn’t move a muscle, he just let it hit him on the arm. Slowly, he reached for the container and popped three pills into his mouth.
“I think you’re only meant to take two of…and you don’t care,”Asmir said as he saw Dante turn towards him again, anger and pain etched on his face.
Dante pushed himself off the bed slowly. He ambled into the bathroom, turned the shower on and closed the door. He made sure it was cold. His system needed waking up and fast.
The coffee, water and food Asmir had brought him had helped a great deal. He was still feeling weak and physically drained. He had been up late but that wasn’t really enough to explain the feeling coursing through his body. The walk the previous day might have explained it, but his legs weren’t aching and his feet weren’t sore. The only explanation was that he had the mother of all hangovers, which didn’t sit too well with him because he had been quite excited for the next stop on their tour, River Valley. A place where the passengers could go white water rafting, horseback riding and even play some golf. The accommodation looked spectacular too. It was a series of wooden buildings nestled in a deep valley. Just opposite the lodge there was a very slow moving river which Dante had been excited to swim in and maybe even fish in. On the brochures it looked immaculate. It had the perfect mixture of character and warmth. Smoke billowed from the chimney and small children were playing out the front of the lodge.
They were greeted by a smiling lady who showed them into their room. That’s when they realized that she really did mean room, s
ingular. It was a large room with what looked like one huge bunk bed covering one wall. There was the base level which the hosts had already covered with thin mattresses and pillows and the second tier which was only accessible by a ladder. It was unconventional for sure and it stopped the passengers dead. They looked around, trying to take in just how this might work. But it didn’t last for long.
“Shotgun top!” Carl belted out as he climbed one of the ladders to clay claim to his place.
“Same here,” Dick cried from just over Dante’s shoulder.
All Dante could think was, Why on earth do they want to be on the top?
He slunk forward, barely able to carry his suitcase. He dropped it in one corner. At least that meant he would only have to deal with one stranger sleeping right next to him with no barrier. He dropped to his knees and then twisted onto his back. He felt like staying in the position the rest of the day, but he knew he couldn’t forgive himself if he did. He only enjoyed a few moments of this peace before someone threw their stuff down next to his. He didn’t look up, he assumed it was Asmir. He was wrong.
“Mind if I sleep here?” It was Annie.
“Sure. I don’t think we will be sleeping much…” Instantly he bit his lip. He knew how that must have sounded, so he tried to rectify his mistake.
“I mean, because there’s so many people in one room, not…the other thing.”
She blushed a little and smiled politely.
“I knew what you meant.”
Smooth, Dante, smooth, he thought.
But at least he knew one thing. She didn’t have to place herself there. She had every single position to choose from and she chose the one space next to him. He may have put his foot in his mouth just then, but at least the silent treatment was getting to her.
