Part 43 (1/2)

Deep down I feel a spasm of fear, which I ignore. It'll be fine. The important thing is to think positive. I'll just keep climbing. I can do it!

No, I can't, comes a small voice inside.

Stop it. Think positive. I can do anything I set my mind to.

My legs are all shaky, but somehow I force myself to my feet, wincing in pain as my shoes dig into my blisters again. Right. Just keep going. I'll get to the top-and maybe that's where the welcoming party is. And those hot drinks they were talking about. Yes. It'll be fine- Suddenly there's a distant rumble of thunder. Oh G.o.d. Please, no. I look up, and the sky has darkened to a menacing gray.

A raindrop hits me in the eye. Then another.

I swallow, trying to stay calm. But inside I'm a mush of panic. What do I do now? Do I keep going up? Do I go down?

”Hi!” I call out. ”Is anyone there?” My voice echoes round the rocks, but there's no reply.

More raindrops land on my head.

I don't have anything waterproof. I look around the stark landscape, hollow with fear. What if I can't get down? What if I'm stuck up here in a storm? I was so desperate to tell Jess we were sisters. Now I just feel like a fool. I should have waited. Luke's right. Why can't I wait for anything in life? It's all my own fault.

There's another distant rumble of thunder, and I flinch in fright. What if I get struck by lightning? I don't even know what the rules are for being outside in a storm. It's something like Stand under a tree. Or maybe Don't stand under a tree. But which? What if I get it wrong?

Suddenly, through my agitation, I'm aware of a kind of chirping noise. Is it . . . an animal?

Oh my G.o.d.

Oh my G.o.d. It's my mobile. There's a signal up here! There's a b.l.o.o.d.y signal!

With shaking fingers I unzip my Angel bag and grab my flas.h.i.+ng mobile. Weak with relief, I see the word luke on the little display. I jab frantically at the green b.u.t.ton.

”Luke!” I say. ”It's Becky!”

”Becky? Is anyone there?” The line is crackling, and he sounds all fuzzy and distant.

”Yes!” I shout, as raindrops start falling harder on my head. ”Luke, it's me! I'm lost! I need help!”

”h.e.l.lo?” comes his puzzled voice again. ”Can anyone hear me?”

”Yes! I can hear you! I'm here!” With no warning, tears start streaming down my face. ”I'm stuck on this awful mountain and I don't know what to do. Luke, I'm so sorry-”

”The line's not working,” I can hear him saying to someone else. ”I can't hear a b.l.o.o.d.y thing.”

”Luke!” I yell. ”Luke, I'm here! I'm right here! Don't go!”

I bang the phone frantically, and the words battery low flash at me.

”h.e.l.lo?” comes Luke's voice again. ”Becky?”

”Luke, please hear me!” I cry in desperation. ”Please hear me! Please . . .”

But the light in the little screen is already fading. And a moment later the phone goes dead.

He's gone.

I look around the desolate mountainside. I have never felt more alone in my life.

A gust of wind blows a flurry of rain into my face and I realize I can't just stand here. I have to find some kind of shelter.

About six feet above me is a kind of ledge sticking out, with a cl.u.s.ter of rocks on top. One of them has an overhanging bit which maybe I can crouch under. The mud is all wet and slithery, but I dig in my heels and grab on to anything I can find, and somehow scrabble up there, grazing my other knee as I climb.

G.o.d, it's quite high up. I feel a bit precarious. But never mind. If I don't look down I'll be fine. I firmly take hold of the overhanging bit of rock and am trying to edge underneath without slipping over . . . when suddenly I glimpse a flash of yellow.

Bright yellow. Human-waterproof-climbing-gear yellow. I don't believe it. There's someone else on the mountain. There's someone else! I'm saved!

”Hi!” I yell. ”Halloo! Over here!” But my voice is carried the wrong way by the wind and the rain.

I can't see whoever it is properly, because the overhanging rock is in the way. Very slowly and cautiously I maneuver myself around the lip of the ledge until I have a better view. And then I see her clearly.

It's Jess.

She's on the slope below, wearing a yellow cagoule and a backpack. Some kind of rope thing is attaching her to the mountainside, and she's digging carefully at a rock with a metal knife.

”Jess!” I shout, but my voice sounds hardly bigger than a squeak above the wind. ”Jess! Jess!”

At last her head turns-and her whole face contracts in shock.

”Jesus Christ! Becky! What the h.e.l.l are you doing up here?”

”I came to tell you we're sisters!” I shout back, but I'm not sure if she can hear me through the buffeting rain. ”Sisters!” I yell again, taking a step forward, cupping my mouth. ”We're SISTERS!”

”Stop!” shouts Jess. ”That ledge is dangerous!”

”I'm fine!”

”Get back!”

”I'm OK, honestly,” I call. But she looks so alarmed, I obediently take a step back, away from the edge.

And that's when my shoe slips on the wet mud.

I can't regain my balance and I scrabble frantically at the rocks, trying to hold on to anything, trying to save myself, but everything's too slippery. My fingers close round the roots of a shrub, but they're wet with the rain. I can't get a proper grip.

”Becky!” I hear Jess's scream as the roots slip out of my desperate fingers. ”Becky!”