Forty-One

We finally make it to the waterfall two days into our trip, which is what I almost did right into it.

I’d been staring at my feet so long, trying to shield my eyes form the blinding sun as much as possible, that I didn’t notice the others stop and step off of the trial until James grabbed my backpack and pulled me to a stop.

“Careful,” he says as I come to a stop. “You almost fell in.”

“Fell in what?” I grumble as I look up for the first time in hours.

“This!” Annie exclaims as she throws her arms wide.

Looking past her, I make out a large open area about twenty feet below us with trees, tall grass and bushes surrounding a rippling lake with a waterfall at one end.

“How do we get down there?” I ask her as I take it all in. After the dry dirt of the past few days, the greenery was a nice sight.

“There’s some steps carved into the cliff wall over there,” Georgie answers as he points to some steep steps. “There’s also a rope we can climb down or-.”

“We jump!” Annie yells as she th