CH. 1: HOLD ON!

Authors: Lucy and Lakaren

Summary: A cliffhanger.

Disclaimer: We own the characters in the first chapter - but we do not take credit for any characters thereafter.

Warning: Adult Language, No LOTR Characters in the first chapter. READ IT ANYWAY! It's good. Please give us reviews! Good or bad, we care not. (Please don't burn up the board with flames, though.)

On to the Fic.

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"OH-MY" Beck threw her knapsack to the ground and flopped down next to it, "GOD!" She heaved and wheezed trying to catch her breath. Her black hair sprayed out behind her head where she lay. The sun shone down on her Cherokee features, and her eyes squinted as she looked about.

"Oh stop it. We can eat now, at least," Rae replied, as she slung off her pack as well. She knelt beside it and un-zipped the front pocket.

"Is that the sound of food?"

"Yes." Rae said as she pulled two items from the bag. "Slim Jim?" She grinned and pushed a lock of her short auburn hair back behind her ear.

"Son-of-a-bitch! I climb my ass up here with you and you brought fuckin' Slim Jims." Beck whimpered then. Rae knew she was a vegetarian. She stretched her arm to reach her own bag. Too. . . far. . . She whimpered again. Granola. . . bar. . . "Hey, get me a granola bar," she finally pleaded.

As Rae tore the top off of her Slim Jim, she complied, and moved to Beck's backpack. "Here, whiner." She tossed the bar to her friend and moved back to sit by her own bag.

"It's so nice up here," Rae commented, looking about. The air was warm, and the birds had been singing all morning as they climbed to the top of the Peak.

"What?" Beck asked, struggling to breathe and unwrap her food at the same time. Her black hair was matted with moist grass and dirt as she lay there. The air was moist and there wasn't a breeze, as there had been on their journey up.

Rae stood and walked to the edge, leaning on the fence that over looked the great river below. "Never mind," she muttered, admiring the view.

"VICTORY IS MINE!" Beck shouted as the un-wrapped granola bar met her mouth.

"Shh. . ." Rae turned quickly, "listen," she didn't move.

"What?" Beck replied, chewing happily, "I don't hear anything."

"Exactly. . . that's really odd. . . Where'd the breeze go? I can't even hear a bird singing."

Finally, the lazy teenager on the ground sat up. "That is odd. . . ." She looked about, and crumbled the wrapper from her food and placed it back in her bag. She stood, having regained a steady breathing pattern. Journal clutched in hand, she joined her friend at the edge.

Rae turned once again to look out at the water but gazed upwards instead, nearly in shock. Her deep brown eyes studied the heavens. "Look. . . ." she gestured upwards. The clouds that were rolling in from the west met the woods of the opposite bank and cast an ominous shadow over the trees. As they drifted nearer, they began to swirl. Rae could see that their color was an eerie gray-green.

The two adolescents stared in awe, the sight before them stunningly menacing.

"It wasn't supposed to storm today, was it?" Beck asked, feeling a shiver run down her spine.

"No." Rae stated plainly, and as she spoke, a gust of wind blew up from the cliff below. Her auburn hair was swept back from her face, and soon both girls were staggering backward.

"What the hell?" Beck shouted, as they scrambled for their packs. Sarcastically, "Oh, damn! Time for lunch!" she yelled. She was quieted, however, by a deafening clap of thunder.

The muddied earth beneath their feet began to shift. Past storms had softened the topsoil that covered the rocky cliff. The two hadn't shouldered their packs before a torrent of rain began to pound down. They could hear the river below stirring and churning under the storm's wrath.

The wind began to pick up, blowing mercilessly as the ground shifted once again. To steady her pack, Beck reached behind her, so as not to fall over; when the book she'd gripped in her hand escaped her grasp. The lightweight diary swirled through the air, and smacked into the guard-fence at the edge of the cliff.

"Damn it! My journal!" She exclaimed, scrambling after it.

Rae stood by, nervously watching her friend move to the cliff's edge. The ground shifted once again, and she moved her legs to steady herself.

Another foul gust pushed the journal threw the opening between the two slats that had caught it.

"Shit." Beck moved closer to the earth, crouching down to reach under the fence. With one hand she leaned against the post and stretched forward to go after her precious writings. "Come 'ere!" She called back to Rae, "I can't reach it!"

Rae reluctantly moved towards the guardrail, and crouched down next to her friend. "What am I supposed to do?" She asked, noting how far the book had blown.

"Hold on." Beck grinned as she threw one leg over the rail. Terrified, Rae grabbed onto the back of Beck's knapsack and held tightly to the straps that were laced about it. "You're an IDIOT!" She yelled, but her voice was muffled by the gusting windstorm.

"I'm a dedicated idiot!" Beck stretched down, bracing her feet on the fence, and letting her support lay in the hands of her best friend/anchor.

As her fingertips grazed the binding of the journal, a final gust blew it over the edge. "NO!" the girl cried out. "God. . . ." she closed her eyes, defeated. Rae's eyes saddened as she saw her friend fail, but her arms didn't falter. "Get back over here, it's gone," she insisted.

Beck's green eyes watched as the book sailed down into the water and she bit her lower lip with anger. Reluctantly, she leaned back and maneuvered to climb back over. She lost her foothold, as the mud slid once more. . .

The fence gave way, and Rae leaned back, holding tightly to Beck's bag. "Holy shit! The fence is going to slide off the cliff! Move your ASS!"

Beck clung to the rail with her arms behind her, instead, and slowly moved her body around the wavering fence.

The rain pelted down, her vision was impaired, for, the rain had covered the lenses of her glasses. She failed to grasp the bar in time. Rae now had a hold of Beck's left arm, but if was no use. The huge pack of equipment on her back caught the wind and began to pull her over the edge. The winds seemed to be working against them. No matter which way they moved, they were in a constant struggle.

Beck's foot slipped. Then the other. The fence finally gave way under the weight of the two, and the sliding sludge underneath. As she slipped further, Rae dug her heels into the mud but to no avail. Shins. . . thighs. . . waist. . . . Beck was now dangling over the cliff's edge.

"Hold on!" Rae turned with one hand to reach for the fallen fence.

"No, I planned on letting go!" Beck screamed.

The Peak finally gave to the storm's pressing power. The fence slid over the cliff as a necklace would slide from a table. Giving up all hope, the two clung to the fence and each other as they began to descend to the water some 200 feet below. . . .