text: Sunset Have you ever stared at the sky right before the sun began to set? Not in the direction that exists only as a distraction, pulling attention to its flaming brilliance, no, to the East. Where the colors change slowly and with intent. Where the blue in the sky gradually turns to pink, to purple, then black. Where the colors intersect in bands, pulling on each other in a calm yet fiery battle until both shrink away in defeat to the moon and stars. Well if you did you would notice something. Something only a few are chosen to see. How the blue and pink sky combine at the horizon line. How their shifting frequency morphs into a summit. Peaks dotting the eastern horizon as the sky quickly darkens. A magnificent mountain range that twinkles into the moonlight as quickly as it rose. Well, I observe this every night. And as I do I imagine myself, taller and stronger, scaling that range. Climbing further and further into the sky until I can’t see what I left behind. Holding the shimmering and cloudy snow in my hands as everything, including myself, fades into the night sky. Such a concept remains a fantasy. Something you can imagine yourself doing, but only with a resigned mind, not ever believing it could happen. I’m here to tell you that you’re wrong. That when I imagine myself in the clouds it’s not just make believe. I’m really there. I don’t know how to describe it, if it’s another time, another life, or even another field of existence but she’s not only in my mind. She’s there, on the mountains in the clouds. Sunrise Light. All I perceive is light as I slowly regain consciousness. The fog in my mind dissipates as I become aware of the gentle hum of the fan near my bed, the birds softly chirping outside, and the sound of water running somewhere in the house. It’s bright. I blink my eyes open and come face to face with the painful sphere outside my window. I let out a groan, shutting my eyes in agony, and roll to lay on my other side. After waking up for a bit, I swing my legs out from under me to the floor. I stretch my arms above my head and give a glance behind me, the sun still blazing into my room, and grudgingly get up. I wouldn’t be up at this hour if it wasn’t for my roommate. She’s been begging me to take a trip with her forever and I finally gave in to one. I had to be up at the break of dawn according to her, however according to my own health and well-being I convinced her to settle for a slightly delayed “break of dawn”. She has to be getting antsy in the kitchen though, I can hear water running and frantic scrubbing which must be from her breakfast. I pick out an outfit, nothing too fancy, just running shorts and a shirt, and swing my already packed duffle bag onto my shoulder. She made sure I packed according to her meticulously thought out list. If your roommate ever tries to specify how much underwear you should pack, run. Something that was too late for me at this point I think with a smile as I grab a pair of socks, turn off my fan, and head outside into the small common area we share. Her auburn hair bobs as she works in the sink, the curls grazing the tops of her shoulders. When she hears me she turns around with a wide smile that reaches all the way up to her eyes. “Carrie! I see you’re finally up, give me a hand?” She holds the frayed light blue towel in her hand, an invitation to help dry. “Good morning to you too.” I smile back as I snatch the towel from her and hold my hand out for a wet dish. We clean in silence for a bit, the sounds of the water pouring from the faucet and smacking the metal basin only interrupted by the squeak of wet cloth on porcelain. Standing on my toes I gingerly set the last plate on the stack and come back down to earth to see my roommate gleaming at me, anticipation in her eyes. “Thanks so much,” She turns and starts fiddling with a small bag on the counter. “I wanted to have something nice as we don’t always get to do this. I might’ve underestimated how many dishes I would go through in making it though.” At this closing sentence she again smiles and turns back to me, I can now smell the apples, fried crust, and other comforting odors as she picks up the bag and zips it shut. She didn’t mention this at all last night, I can’t imagine how early she must’ve had to wake up to get everything ready. She’s practically bouncing, obviously excited to see what I thought. “It smells delicious, Lilac, thank you.” I give her a gentle shove on the shoulder, making her laugh, “You should’ve woken me up to help.” She rights herself after the slight push and merely shrugs my concern off with a grin. “I know you would have rather stayed here anyway, I wanted to do this to thank you for going on the trip with me.” She pauses at this and blushes, glancing to the side. “And to be honest I really was craving pie.” I laugh and she begins to as well. I tell her I’ll be right back as I head into our shared bathroom and prepare for the trip. I run a comb through my hair and tie it up in a ponytail. I brush my teeth and then throw all my toiletries into a small bag which I deposit in my duffel when I return to the kitchen. Lilac is tying her running shoes at the door, dressed in a similar exercise outfit as me. As I approach I can hear her humming. I smile to myself. “Took you long enough to get ready.” I playfully chide as I let myself drop next to her, pulling my shoes from the door to me. I start to slide my feet in. “Says the one who woke up two hours after our initial departure time.” “Not my fault my body won’t let me goad it into waking up at unnatural hours, unlike yours.” “Ha ha.” Lilac mocks as she moves her head side to side with each “ha”. She ties her last knot and bounces up off the ground. In one clean motion she sweeps up both her duffel and the food bag and looks back down at me with another large grin. “Carolyn and Lilac on their next adventure.” She sweeps her hand out in front of her, now looking past me as I stifle a laugh. “Next stop, the moon.” With this her smile grows wider and with a 180 spin she unlocks the door. I believe she’s only half joking. “Meet you in the car!” A bang and bouncing footsteps follow as I smile and focus again on my shoes. After I finish I head out the door as well, making sure to lock it behind me. Lilac is already in the car, a small yellow buggy, parked parallel on the quiet street in front of our one story home. As I approach the car I see her tap the wheel in rhythm, and I can only guess she is still humming. The car ride followed similar antics. I’ve known Lilac since we were randomly paired as roommates freshman year, and ever since then she’s been a travel size sun. Spreading warmth everywhere she went, which was often on my heels whether I liked it or not. “So where do you think we’re going?” I’m snapped out of my daze with the expectant gaze of the girl next to me. She looks back at the road. “Well you made me pack multiple pairs of clothes, more than what we should need, so I’m guessing somewhere we could get dirty.” “Ding ding ding!” She pats the steering wheel with each word. “Anything else?” I see her holding back a grin, she really wants me to guess since she must be dying to tell me. I grin to myself, she’s the one who wanted it to be a surprise. “I can only guess, a hike? You’ve been super into fitness all of a sudden and have made me join you on your runs and whatnot. I’m guessing you’ve been trying to train me somehow. The only part I’m lost on is the fact we don’t have tents or really any outdoor gear.” I can tell by her sudden smile I must’ve been right. She glances in my direction then back at the road. “The hike we are doing won’t need any of that stuff.” Her smile fades at this and her eyes seem lost in thought. This isn’t unnatural for her, with her periods of blazing brightness she can just as easily retreat back into herself, I can only imagine thinking grand things. “Well whatever it is I can’t lie, I’m actually excited.” This prods her awake and her eyes widen at the road. “I mean I know you had to convince me but I think this will be good. You know, like what we used to do.” She nods and smiles, this time a small honest one. “That’s what I thought, I’m glad you think so too.” Her smile fades. Her eyes seem ages away. “It was time for another one I think.” I turn away from her back to the road. It’s laid out in front of us, the forest flanking on either side. We sit now in silence as Lilac begins to hum, this time a more solemn melody. Day The monotony of the straight road is suddenly broken as Lilac flicks on her turn signal. The soft clicks fade in and out, piercing the comfortable silence. “Almost there?” I look over at Lilac, her eyes shining in anticipation at the road. “Good guess, yeah almost.” The car slows and Lilac turns right onto a smaller road still lined with trees. Their branches overhang, letting the light catch them, scattering green across our path. I feel cozily enclosed by the brush and through the open windows I can hear it rustling in response. “It’s pretty back here.” I mention as I stare up at the sky, the brilliant blue flickering between the leaves. “Isn’t it? It gets better.” I immediately see what she means as we approach a small town, appearing in front of us as we climb up a small hill. I can see small cobblestone streets lined with quaint homes, and people milling about the main street, stopping at stalls and store front windows. “I wouldn’t have even known this was here, they’re perfectly situated.” I exclaim, gaping out the window. “Yeah, just look to your left.” And then I saw it. The forest surrounded us as we headed toward the town but opened up considerably when we entered. Hilly terrain replaced the trees, and straight out in front of us I could see small mountains rising in the distance. Looking to the left as Lily prodded I could see a glimmering sea of blue. The town was on the edge of cliffs that gracefully sloped into the waving ocean. “Don’t know if I’ve ever seen a town this beautiful.” Lilac grins at me and then back at the road as we finally enter the main street. We drive for a bit, past everyone enjoying the cool day before slowly stopping at the side of the road. I turn my head to see a hanging sign with the word “INN” carved into the wood. It’s another smaller building, only two stories, with a sloping grey roof and a brown cobble exterior. The door is a light brown wood with intricate metal work garnishing its surface, its handle a long ribbon of metal. “I thought we could drop our stuff here. Unless you want to carry it all on the climb.” I expected this to be sarcasm but when I looked over at Lilac I saw no trace of humor in her face. “No, no I think I’ll leave it.” “Alright then!” With a bit of a tone shift, Lilac quickly turns the key and the rumbling of the car stops. She slides it out and pops open her door. Grabbing her stuff out of the back seat she steps in front of the car and beckons at me through the window. I follow suit and when I turn around with bags in hand she’s already at the door, having a cheerful conversation with an older woman. The woman steps back into the home and holds the door open. My friend nods at her with a smile and continues inside. I stop at the bottom of the few steps leading straight up to the door. The woman looks at me and smiles but doesn’t beckon me inside. I tighten my grip on my bags and bound up the steps crossing into the home, smiling and thanking the woman. She closes the door behind us and waltzes to the low counter in the back of the small room we are standing in. Behind the counter are many small shelves and to the left of the counter I see an entrance into what looks like a dining room. A grand spiral staircase is to our right, made with intricate patterns of wrought iron, and somewhere above light filters through and bounces down its curves. “Here for a room dear?” My attention returns to the woman. Lilac looks back at me and patiently smiles. “Oh yes we are, if any are available,” I tell the innkeeper. “Of course sweetheart, you’re always welcome.” She turns around and picks up a large ornate bronze key off a hook and hands it to Lilac. “Third floor, room facing the ocean. If you need anything don’t hesitate to ask.” I smile again and follow Lilac up the stairs. Each step reverberates with a thud throughout the staircase. We finally arrive at the room and as the woman said, the ocean is clearly visible from the slightly ajar window. I can see the waves padding the beach from here. “Aww man, it’s so nice up here!” Lilac exhales loudly and plops back first onto the bed nearest the window, letting her bags hit the carpeted floor. There is another twin bed next to hers with a little table between them. They are the only furniture in the room barring a floor lamp in the opposite corner, emitting a golden glow. I join Lilac by sitting on the edge of my own bed. “Yeah I honestly wasn't expecting any of this at all. How did you hear about this place?” Lilac flips to the side facing me and rests her head on her palm, propping herself up by her elbow. “I heard about it from our neighbors, I’ve never been here myself. But I knew from how it was described it would be amazing.” “No kidding. It’s basically a paradise.” I let out a soft laugh. “This isn’t all, the rest doesn’t begin for a bit later though.” She closes her eyes again, still facing me. I linger on her use of the word begin but decide to move on. “So we aren’t going to hike right now?” Her eyes open slightly to respond, the exhaustion evident in them. “Not right now, we have time to rest.” At that she returns to her back, stretching her arms and legs out from her body like a snow angel. I don’t waste time in deciding to rest as well, especially if we will be hiking later. I can feel a breeze through the open window and hear the faint wash of water on sand intermingled with chatter and laughs from the street below. I let myself drift to sleep. Evening “Hey Lilac, it’s about time.” I feel the gentle brush of her fingertips against my shoulder as I come to. I open my eyes to see her eyes above me, a small smile already playing on her lips. “Quite a wake up call huh,” I groan as I gently push her arm away. She laughs. “Very funny, come on, get up.” I glance over to the window to see the sky a bit darker than when we had left it. It’s blue, just not as bright. I rise from the bed, still wearing my clothes and shoes, and join Lilac near the door. “Do I need to take anything?” She is bent over the small food bag, seemingly taking count of the items there as she answers me. “Only if you want to, but you don’t need anything. I’m just carrying the food.” I glance over at my bag and shrug. I don’t think extra pairs of underwear would come in handy anyway. “Alright! I think we are all ready.” Lilac swings the bag onto her shoulder and looks at me. “Yeah I’m all good. Let’s get going then.” “Great, just follow me, we are going to be heading over to the ocean.” I smile at this. Those cliffs were too pretty to ignore. I had been hoping we were going somewhere near there. I follow Lilac out the door, down the stairs, past the woman at the counter who waves and wishes us a good evening, and then outside. The air is considerably cooler but still a bit humid. Almost like being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold night. Our feet hit the cobble in tune, not speaking only due to our observance of our surroundings. People are still out and about, I can see in the distance children playing in the trees, couples picnicking in the hills past the town, families down at the beach under the cliffs. We continued our stroll through the town and turned to head toward the water. The cliffs were magnificent, grassy and flowery with a fantastic view of the ocean below. Small sailboats glided across the water in the distance as I stared at the glossy surface. Lilac’s finger breaks my view. “We are going right up there.” She’s pointing past my face at the highest cliff, the base on level with us before it begins to climb upwards, stopping after about thirty feet, its edge resting right above the water. We reach the cliff and climb up near the edge, stopping a safe distance away, neither of us are fans of heights. Lilac swings the bag onto the ground and pulls out a soft blue blanket. She lays it on the ground before sitting down, gesturing to the space in front of her. I move around the blanket and sit too, just as she starts pulling multiple goods from her pack. She made my favorites and hers from college. Chicken and dumplings in a glass platter, potato salad and corn chowder in ornate little bowls with plastic covering the top, and finally a golden apple pie. She also pulls out two plates and silverware. “Oh Lilac, it's amazing! Thank you so much. I can’t remember the last time I had these.” She grins in response. “Me neither! That’s why I wanted to treat us. Dig in!” I needed no extra cues as I took my plate from Lilac and started placing servings on it. We sat, talked, and ate with the chorus of waves as the background. When we finished Lilac neatly gathered everything and placed it back in the box. I got up and she then folded the blanket and put that back as well. At this point the families had packed up from the beach and everyone was heading back to the town. I could still see lights on and people roaming about but it was quiet where we were. The sun had slid further down on the horizon and started to turn the sky orange. Lilac was standing on the edge of the cliff. I walk up to her side, she’s smiling with an all familiar glint in her eyes. “Remember when we first met Carrie?” At this she smiles in my direction. I exhale sharply and look out at the sea now. “Of course I do, how could I forget. I come in and you’re on your bed seemingly contemplating something awful. When you saw me you bounded up to me and immediately asked what I thought about the color of the walls. After that you regained composure and introduced yourself. I knew from that moment you would either always annoy me to no end or be the most interesting person I had ever met. I believe it turned out to be a mix in the end.” Lilac lets out another soft laugh and smiles at the ground. “I remember meeting you too. I abhorred those walls and wanted to know if you agreed. The surprise on your face instead took me back to reality. I’ve always appreciated your ability to do that.” I look over at her and she takes my hand in hers. “I’m glad I met you Carolyn.” I lean my head on her shoulder and look back out at the sea. “I’m glad I met you Lilac.” We stay like that as the sun further retreats behind us. The sky opens up in a multitude of colors. My eyes widen as the pink splotches darken, leaving ribbons of blue parading throughout the sky. Lilac releases a quiet exhale, she must’ve been holding her breath. There is a bottom band of royal blue on the horizon, directly above the ocean. From here it looks like mountains, its peaks dissolving into the pink that shrinks and grows as the sun shimmers on the opposite horizon. “Can you see it?” I somehow know she’s talking about the mountains so I nod in response. I lift my head and Lilac pulls her hand back. “Want to go back to the field? I don’t love being on the edge of a cliff so close to the water.” Lilac sheepishly looks down with this but I nod in agreement. “No, I feel the same way, especially as it’s getting dark.” We walk back toward the town, to more level ground. Lilac suddenly stops and turns back around. “Now we can hike.” This surprised me. I knew that Lilac wanted to hike but I thought maybe she just meant that short distance to the cliff. But now she looked up expectedly toward the sky so I turned and joined her. I can’t really explain what I saw next. From the sky down to our feet fell a glittering mountain. What I saw on the horizon suddenly seemed to connect right to the solid ground in front of us. Lilac turns toward me again. “This is it.” I look upwards. It stretches far into the sky, its peak only created by the pink surrounding it. I reach out my hand. I brush its surface. It feels like snow but it isn’t cold. I can easily grip it in my palm. I open my hand and the flakes sprinkle out. I look up again. “You mean, up there?” Lilac nods. “But it’s your decision.” I take turns looking at Lilac and looking at the mountain. I laugh. “You mean you drove me here to decide if I wanted to climb or not?” When I looked at Lilac there was no laughter in her eyes. “Yes.” I look again at the mountain. It’s shimmering peak is inviting. The colors spread across its surface like a watercolor painting. It’s not too steep and could easily be walked up. The only issue is the distance. “What do you want to do?” I glance at Lilac. At this she frowns. “I don’t know.” But I can see from her eyes she’s lying. To say they were longing would be an overstatement. It was more a look of belonging as she stared up at the summit. Not an urge to go up, yet still a gentle desire. She’s dependent on my answer. “If you don’t want to, we can go back to the inn, that’s why I had you pack everything, and then we can hike on the other mountains here. But if you want to...” She trails off. I join her in looking up again. The sun continues its descent and the mountain shimmers more and more. I believe my eyes would portray what Lilac’s did. When I look at the mountain I don’t feel it as a looming presence, more of an inviting one. I feel a patient pull from its peak. One that wouldn’t haunt me if I decided to walk away right now, but would welcome me if I did decide to make the ascent. I knew what my decision would be when I first set eyes on that sunset. “I want to go up,” I decide. Lilac smiles at me and wraps her arms around me. “Why haven’t you come here before?” I squeeze her tighter and feel her chest move against mine as she laughs gently. “I don’t know, I felt like you needed me to get here.” “You’re right. Thanks for waiting.” At this we pull apart. I start to walk up the shining surface laid out at my feet, I can still see the grass through it. Lilac follows me but soon overtakes me as we come up to the first peak, about twenty feet up from the ground. She scales it then turns and reaches her hand down for me. I grasp it. Night The sun left us long ago as we continued up the summit. All we can see now is the shimmering snow in the light from the rising moon and stars. We are very close to the highest peak at this point. Lilac is still in front of me. She makes it up there first and disappears from my view. I see her hand pop back into vision, so I take it in mine as she pulls me up. I feel solid ground beneath my feet and see nothing but darkness. Not an unfamiliar and frightening dark, more like closing your eyes at a party. Obviously you cannot see anything but you know you are surrounded by light, by everyone you love, and are safe. That’s what this darkness felt like as I stood there in silence. Then I felt warmth. Light. And I could hear someone humming nearby.