Page 73 of Valley Girls
“You all right?” Caroline called.
“I’m good.” Rilla’s brain saidgive a thumbs-up, but her hands gripped the rock rebelliously.Just having an emotional meltdown.
“Take your time,” came the reply.
It took another minute to work up her nerve, but she couldn’t get down and she couldn’t go on without facing it. Just do it.
Jump.
2. 3.
Jump.
She still couldn’t do it. Slowly, she inched to the edge, blinked at the open space below, and walked off.
Her stomach leapt into her throat. The whole world soared as the wind hit her face. It felt for a moment or two like she was flying. Soaring through the Valley in clear light and transcendent space.
The granite block rushed toward her. Oh shit. She threw her hands and feet out, instinctively trying to lessen the impact. “Arfff,” she huffed out, whole body slapping the block. Her hands scrambled to hold. Rilla looked for her feet and let her hands go blind, shoving her toes into anything that seemed like it would hold her. Her body was still swinging. Still wanting to go back the other direction. For a second she started to tear away. Without thinking, she grabbed on to the gear Caroline placed. And stopped.
Rilla exhaled. Her elbows scraped the granite. Her stomach muscles clenched tight to keep her feet on the wall. She took a second to catch her breath and stood.
Feeling the pressure of wanting desperately for Caroline not to get tired of her, Rilla pushed upward. The rope slid through the gear above her, clinking gently against the stone. Up. Shift. Push. Just as she fell into a rhythm, her hands skittered across blank granite. The arête was smooth and had no cracks.Argh. She re-adjusted her grip and tried not to panic.
Out of the corner of her eye, a bit of the brown rock moved.
At first, she blinked in confusion, thinking she was seeing things.
It moved again, becoming three-dimensional as it lifted off the granite.
A spider.
What the fuck? With her heart in her throat, Rilla forced herself up on the tiny little divots she wouldn’t have trusted two seconds ago. Desperate to get away from the ambling spider, she practically ran up the wall, screaming through her teeth.
“Are you okay?” Caroline asked.
“Spider!” Rilla squealed, shivering. It was below her now. Somehow. But she was dripping sweat.
The climb from there to Caroline was the hardest she’d ever worked to move on the rock. It wasn’t even remotely pretty. Nothing like the way Caroline moved. But all she had to do was try. Just try.Failure was a friend.
Another deep breath, and she set to work the piece of pro—a cam—out of the crack as she cleaned the route behind Caroline.
“Is it stuck in there?” Caroline called.
“Yeah,” Rilla said.
“Try wiggling it back up.”
That loosened it enough so that Rilla was able to work it out and clip it next to the first piece she cleaned.
Don’t drop it. Don’t drop it. Putting all her mind on the piece in her hand and not on the hundred feet of empty air below, she clipped the piece to her sling and breathed. One more hurdle down.
“Okay?” Caroline yelled.
“All good,” Rilla replied. Caroline was probably sitting up there bored stiff and wishing she’d done anything else.
Rilla got back to climbing—and it continued to suck. She pulled on one of the bolts, which hurt and was not at all the hold her desperate, sweating hands wanted. She slipped off multiple times. Made wretched noises. Wanted to cry. Cursed. Scraped her wrists and elbows. Twisted her legs into weird positions. But, in the end, she crawled even with Caroline on a gravel-strewn ledge. Sweating and shaky-limbed, her arms and legs throbbed.
“Did you say a spider?” Caroline asked.
