The wind picked up as I crept back to the others. It seemed to echo my own cries. I dreaded what would be waiting for me back at the cliffs edge. For all I knew Liv and Matty had pulled Franky back up and at this moment they were all sitting around, moaning about my stupidity and complaining about how cold it was. But somehow I doubted it.
The branches scraped at my skin as I pushed through the last of the trees. I didn't even notice the bloody scratches along my arms and the rips in my beautiful dress. My beautiful dress that Franky made. The trees gave way to a deserted scene. I stumbled into the clearing, looking around and calling out to my friends. For a moment I dreaded that perhaps Liv and Matty had fallen over the edge as well. But then I saw a figure running along the left side of the cliff towards me; it was Matty. "Mini! Mini over here!" he waved at me, "Liv found a way down the cliff. We have to go." He watched me as I ran over to him. He grabbed my hand when I got closer, squeezing it tight. I felt that he understood my fear, that he didn't blame me, not too much.
"I'm so sorry" I gasped. "Is it...is it bad? I just can't...please...tell me."
Matty's hypnotising eyes stared deep into mine. "We need to go down there Mini. It is bad, yes. But we need to know. You need to know."
I nodded and squeezed his hand back. Maybe he did care about her as much as I did after all. We ran along the cliff edge until we saw Liv. She took in my appearance in one quick glance and without a word.
"There's some stones here. We can use them to get half-way down I think. Then we might have to climb the rest. Will you be okay?" I had a feeling that question had very little to do with my physical ability to scramble over some rocks, but I nodded anyway, feigning ignorance. With that Liv disappeared over the edge and Matty waved me to follow her. I hitched by skirt up, tucked it in and grabbed a protruding tree root, lowering myself down.
The climb wasn't as hard as we thought it would be. Once we got half-way we realised that the rest of the descent was riddled with rabbit tracks, so we just followed one of those. Eventually my feet hit more level ground. I looked up to see Liv holding her hand out to me. Noticing my hesitation she smiled encouragingly. Once completely free of the cliff I rearranged my skirt and looked around. There were large boulders scattered through the valley and a small creek running quickly.
"Hey Liv, Matty" I called. "That creek, do you think it's the one that came out in that village, what-it-called-ford?" Matty looked to where I was pointing.
"Probably. Maybe that can be out path out of here. Because I don't see us climbing back up the cliff too easily" he said. None of us made any comment about how exactly Franky would have been able to climb back up the cliff. Following Liv we wove our way round the trees, back towards our point of origin. As we approached my panic came back stronger than ever. I knew that the chances Franky was even alive were slim. Looking up at the cliff face I felt a rebellious tear trickle down my cheek. Angrily I brushed it away. Some small part of me still believed that thinking bad things could make them happen. I was so focused on controlling my rampaging thoughts that I almost didn't realise that in front of me Liv had stopped. She turned to face me and Matty.
"It's just up here I'm sure of it" she said. "Mini, do you want to stay here?"
I bit my lip nervously as I looked at her. After all this and she was still being a good friend. But if Liv could do it for me then I could do it for Franky. So I shook my head and took a step forward. Liv and Matty mirrored my action, unconsciously reaching for each othe'rs hand.