Family Comes First
Bella Swan and her brother Riley were on holiday. In Tibet. They were climbing Mount Everest. It was a joke and a dream that had started when they were 10.
*Flashback*
Bella and Riley were sitting at the kitchen table with Charlie and Renée. It was snowing outside. The one time in the year when the family got back together. Charlie started to speak.
'So kids, what do you want to do when you grow up?'
Riley thought about it while chewing on a tough piece of turkey. He swallowed and his face lit up as he opened his mouth.
'I know I know! I'm gonna climb MOUNT EVEREST! It's gonna be so cool! Me and Bells are gonna see snow…and ice…and POLAR BEARS!'
'Don't be silly Riles.' Bella rolled her eyes. 'Polar bears live in the Arctic, not Mount Everest.'
Riley sulked. 'I don't care. I'm. Going. To. Climb. It. And you're coming too.'
Charlie chuckled and Renée ruffled Riley's hair.
'MUUUUM!' he whined. 'I'm serious!'
'Of course you are sweetheart. I'll tell you what, if you and Bella climb Mount Everest, I'll let you do whatever you want for 2 months.
'IT'S ON!'
*End of Flashback*
Bella smiled and looked around the small hiking lodge until her eyes rested on the sleeping Riley. She smiled wider. Riley was her twin, a minute older than her, and people said they looked alike. They had the same wavy brown hair and the same chocolate brown eyes. Long black lashes rested on his cheeks as he slept, and the mouth that was usually curved into a smile was at the moment peaceful. He was taller than she was, and muscular for his 18 years. She turned and started to get dressed in the many layers of clothing necessary for climbing the mountain. Once she was dressed, she walked over to the thick window and gazed out onto the mountain.
The ground was covered with a deadly layer of ice, with fluffy white snow resting on top. The sun shone down through a sky devoid of clouds, illuminating the snow, creating an almost blinding glare. If she looked further up, she could see the rocky outcrops dusted with frost and the deep crevasses that tricked a climber into falling into them. Despite the warmth of her clothing, Bella shivered. She turned back to the log-lined cabin and looked at Riley sprawled across his bed. But he wasn't there.
She blinked and glanced around the room. No one. Her heart started to beat a frantic rhythm in her chest as she slowly looked into the bathroom. Nothing. By now she was hyperventilating and the room had actually started to spin. She had always been a person prone to worry, with frequent panic attacks. Where was Riley? Where was her brother? WHERE WAS HE? A creak from the floorboards behind her alerted her to something and she spun around in time to see Riley jumping through the air towards her.
'WAZZUP!'
He collided with her and they crashed to the floor.
'BELLS, YOU'RE LIKE THE MARSHMALLOW MAN! AAAHH! RUN!'
Bella sighed as she untangled herself from Riley. He may have been eight years older since they first began to plan this expedition, but he still acted like a ten year old. 'Jeez Riles, stop messing about would you? You could've broken something serious!' Riley stopped laughing and glared at her. He started to open his mouth but then closed it and glared at her through his eyelashes. 'Nuh uh Riley, don't you dare give me the silent treatment.' … 'Aaah, fine, whatever, have your childish tantrum, but doing that won't help us get to the summit.' She stalked off and began packing her crampons and pickaxes. Riley slowly got to his feet and grabbed his clothes before going into the bathroom and slamming the door.
Bella sighed and sat down on her bed, running her hands through her mahogany hair. Riley could be a pain sometimes but she just couldn't stay mad at him. She'd have to apologise to him for snapping but she'd truly been worried. She'd started packing her equipment while thinking; after two weeks up here she automatically packed it without thinking. When she was finished she went and packed Riley's stuff too and then began to make their beds. Riley still hadn't come out of the bathroom and she started tidying up while she waited. She picked up laundry, piled up dishes and generally rearranged until Riley came out yawning. He stopped and looked around in amazement.
'You did all this? How the hell do you do it? Wow, we have a stove? I never noticed before!' He eagerly bounded over to the stove and began repeatedly opening and closing the door in the belly of it, laughing to himself as he did so. 'You never noticed before because you chucked all your laundry on top of it Riles,' Bella smiled fondly. 'So…we're cool?' Riley shut the stove and walked over to her. 'Of course we are, why wouldn't we be?' he asked, puzzled. He honestly hadn't been mad. Bella sighed with relief inwardly and smiles as she bumped shoulders with him lightly. 'Well, we should get going. Don't forget your goggles!' Riley rolled his eyes. 'Yes, Mom! Jeez.' Bella stiffened but seemed not to notice and walked out of the door, slinging his pack over one shoulder. Bella followed him and locked the door to their lodge before starting up the narrow track that led to the summit, their goal.
Yesterday they'd reached the fourth and final camp before coming back to base camp, so today was the day when they finally reached the summit, the topic of most of their conversations for the last couple of years. Only when they'd turned 16 had they seriously considered actually the climbing the mountain that they'd played at conquering in their spare time. Many times they'd tied the duvet to the headboard and 'struggled' up the 'mountain' before finally planting a flag on the headboard and declaring Everest belonged to the Swans. But when they'd looked it up out of curiosity and found that once they were 18 they could climb it legally, they'd started pooling their money. It had been hard when they'd found out how much it cost for the equipment and plane tickets, but they hadn't given up, Riley even foregoing the opportunity to go on a vacation with his friends, instead using the money to buy the tickets.
Bella was suddenly jerked back to the present by Riley capering about in front of her face. 'Helloooo! Anyone home? We need to use the grapplers and crampons and whatnot!' She blinked and saw the ridge just past 1st base. It was practically vertical with jagged outcrops of rock and ice, the snow glinting in the light. Bella knew that it looked beautiful and deceptively solid. She also knew that if she fell she'd crash through the ice to a wintry death. But still… she grinned as she appraised the ridge. Of course, she'd climbed the ridge 3 times previously, but some ice had melted and then frozen, creating a dangerous overhang and several more jagged lumps of ice. It was a challenge that she intended to conquer.