"NIGEL!" Sydney stopped, shock quickly overtaking her. For what seemed like an eternity her body refused to move, her eyes fixated on the spot she had last seen Nigel.
Zach came up to her, he had managed to secure a now grieving Amy. His heart sank as he realized what happened, there was no way either one of the them could have survived the fall. In all his years of taking people into these mountains he had never lost anyone until now. He gently placed a hand on Sydney’s shoulder not sure of what to say.
Sydney felt a hand touch her shoulder. For one brief moment she hoped it was Nigel, and what she had just seen was an illusion. As she turned and saw Zach, her hope shattered. She walked, as if in a dream toward the edge with Zach, not wanting to see what lay below. Syd closed her eyes briefly before glancing over the edge, she was barely able to see Mark’s body, dried brush and stone obscured her view.
"I don’t see him." she dropped to her knees looking down the cliffs wall, her heart racing madly, maybe he had been able to get a hand hold, or landed on a ledge. "Nigel, NIGEL! can you hear me." The only answer she received was the wind, he was nowhere to be seen. Her heart told her he was still alive, but her mind made her face the cold reality of the truth. Nigel was dead.
"I’m Sorry." was all Zach could say as he gently pulled her back from the edge.
"No...Nigel.....NOOOOO!" her voice ragged with pain as she succumbed to her grief in Zach’s arms.
This was her nightmare come true, she had given into her feelings for Nigel and she was happier than she had ever been. They were opposites in many ways, but that’s what made things fun. Nigel was sweet, funny, caring and she knew he would never hurt her. She couldn’t bring herself to think of him in the past tense. It just couldn't end like this, not after everything they had shared.
Unbeknownst to Syd two other pairs of eyes had been watching the deadly events of the day unfold.
Nigel had felt pain and warmth at the same time explode in his side quickly followed by the terrifying sensation of falling. Without warning he felt a jarring impact as he landed on a narrow ledge. Panic overtook him as he felt momentum of his fall start to roll him off his precarious perch.
From what appeared to be out of the rock face itself, two hands reached out and grabbed him, pulling him back towards safety. Startled, Nigel looked up and found himself staring into to face of an old man, who some reason looked vaguely familiar. The world began to spin around him as the older man pulled him into an irregular shaped crevice. Nigel thought he heard Sydney’s voice crying out his name as his world faded to black.
Go to Part Twenty-One.