School life has exposed us to varieties of educational activities such as science lab reports, presentations, running for PE, and so on. The one activity I hated the most was roleplaying, which is mostly done in my favorite class, literature.
Now, I don’t have any problem with people watching me. Just don’t make me talk in front of them or else I will never get the chance to say my line, for I have already frozen to death.
There are two types of roleplay I have encountered throughout my school life. The prepared ones and the spontaneous ones.
Of course, I prefer the prepared ones. It gives me time to practice my line so perfectly in my mirror that I thought I could deliver my lines with dignity and feelings.
But when the time has come for me to speak in front, my whole body shivers with anxiety and it feels like there is a deep pit inside my stomach that makes me want to puke before I could say my line with a stutter and sweats dripping all over my face.
At least stuttering is better than freezing to death.
Yet, ironically, the best roleplay I’ve ever done was a spontaneous one. I was in seventh grade. My teacher picked the leaders of each group to choose a random short story piled up on her desk for us to roleplay. And being the smallest girl among my group, our leader assigned me to the role of a fucking gnome.
I looked stupid because they made me wear a paper gnome hat and clothes. They made themselves and taped the paper made clothes to my skin that hung on my body like I am a homeless person. But I was fine with that, for all I did was to stand and sway.
Today, as I looked at the seven wristbands, the long-haired man was holding. I thought that what we needed the most was a spontaneous roleplay.
A grand one wherein we play as the Donovan family. But this won’t work if I will just stand and sway like a gnome, because I am pretty sure the Donovan household were not fucking gnomes.
I looked behind me to see the others had already ordered their food with Luna’s card; I presumed. Luna was about to take a bite of her burrito when I called out to them from where Damien and I were standing.
“Hey, mom!” I screamed as I walked towards the cafe, leaving Damien with the long-haired man. All of them looked in my direction with Luna’s mouth still opened, eyebrows furrowed.
We will portray a family as of this moment, hence we need a father. I grabbed Luna and Kayden’s arm and dragged them in front of the long-haired man with Nico, William, and Erin following us behind.
Then I put on the greatest act I’ve ever done my entire life, “Mom, you forgot our wristbands inside.” I looked at Luna with a gritted smile as she looked at me with puzzlement.
“Say something.” I whispered to her with my gritted smile.
Luna let out a nervous laugh. “What?” she whispered back with a gritted smile too.
“Are you Mrs. Donovan?” All of us turned our heads to the long-haired man. At first, Luna just stared at the man, uttering no words until I elbowed her lightly in her ribs.
“Oh yeah! I am! I’m sorry I forgot our wristbands.” Luna laughed pretentiously at the man.
“And these are your children?” The man eyed us until he glued his glance to Erin and Damien.
I closed my eyes as I imagined facepalming my face in my head. I forgot that Erin was Asian, and Damien was a Black American.
“We’re adopted,” Damien and Erin said in unison.
“Oh, about that. I love children, but my husband here can only bear three. Because he has a hmm...” Luna trailed off, scratching her neck as I pray to God she can think of an excuse, “-problem with his... reproductive system.”
In surprise at what Luna said, I furrowed my eyebrows as Damien, Kayden and Erin looked in her direction whilst I heard a snort from Nico and William behind me.
“Okay... But aren’t the two of you too young?” the man asked, still not giving up on his suspicion.
“Well, that’s what you get when your dysfunctional husband takes good care of you.” Luna said, smiling.
“Yeah, got to treat my wife like a queen.” Kayden shrugged as I felt the four holding off their laughs.
“Okay, then.” The man finally let go of his suspicions and gave the wristbands to Luna and walked back inside the registration.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding while Erin, Kayden, Nico, and William burst into laughs as Luna slapped them with the wristbands she was distributing to them.
“Really? Treat my wife like a queen? Gross,” Luna said to Kayden before handing him the wristband.
“Oh, so having a problem with my reproductive system is not?” Luna just rolled her eyes at him and turned to me.
“And Ellie, this is ridiculous!” she handed me my wristband.
“At least we get to swim at the falls. This is going to be fun.” I said to her.
Fun? Really, Ellie? Looking back through it, we have already committed two crimes. Trespassing and now stealing identity.
Oh, Ellie Blythe, what an eccentric way to have fun.
Supposed to be, this trip should give us something memorable we could carry for the rest of our lives. By memorable, I mean not jail time for committing crimes. Oh God, please help us.
I walked towards the cafe and thumped my ass as I sat at our table and watched the four laughing and mimicking the three of us as they reenacted the occurrence a while ago.
That resulted in Luna having a red tomato face because of furiousness and Kayden, with gritted teeth, dragging the four by their arms, telling them to sit down and shut up. I put a hand on my temples as I shake my head.
This is going to be one heck of a disorderly family.
~~~
We finished our lunch as fast as we could and instantly we continued our trek, for we still have a two-mile hike before we reach the campground and Havasu Falls.
According to William, aside from the Havasu Falls, there are more falls on the site. And as we got farther from the village, the more we apprehended a surging sound of water from afar.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Navajo Falls,” William said, as if he was a tourist guide.
The surging sound became louder and right before our eyes, we saw a stream of water flowing moderately, hitting the rocks surrounded by it as few people swam with the current of the water. Beside it, the flowing stream of water cascades majestically on rocky ridges down to a turquoise pool.
“Based on my research, this magnificent falls in front of you was accidentally made when a flash flood tore through the canyon,” William lectured to us whilst walking backward carefully, “Mind-blowing isn’t it?”
“Son, I think you’re going to be a brilliant tour guide,” Kayden blurted out as he tapped William’s shoulders, still not over his roleplaying.
William gave him a disgusting look, “Shut up, father,” and walked towards the streaming water.
As much as we want to dive in, we couldn’t since we were not yet in our swimming attire and our bags were still with us. So we just sat by a rock and dipped our feet as the warm water ran through our skin.
As everyone was busy with their feet on the stream, I caught sight of Erin standing by a cliff that gives an aerial view of the cascading water from the stream. I changed into my sandals and walked towards her.
“You okay?” I asked her as soon as I was already standing beside her.
“Oh yeah, I am fine. It’s just that this is too breathtaking, considering it was from a flash flood. It made me think that maybe such chaotic things like catastrophes can have beautiful outcomes too,” Erin answered back to me.
“Hm... Maybe,” I said, nodding as I looked below to see people chilling at the pool with their inflatable.
“And I think I am already picturing the same today. If it wasn’t for that catastrophic car accident, I wouldn’t meet Nico and, through Nico, I wouldn’t meet all of you. But today you are all with me and this must be so far the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me ever since,” she continued as I looked at her, squinting my eyes from the sunlight.
“Nico told me about what happened to you. I hope you won’t get mad at him for telling me. But I wish the same for you, that after that catastrophe you’ve been through, I hope you can find your beautiful outcome to it,” Erin continued.
What Nico said about Erin was really true. This girl has an astonishing view of positivity, despite having to experience the ample devastation of life at a very young age.
I looked back at the cascading water, “Now that you have mentioned it, having to accomplish this travel bucket list for my dad with all of you was so far the most beautiful outcome I have ever come across right after my dad died.” I put a hand around Erin’s shoulder as she leaned her head on mine.
“I am glad I helped,” Erin said through my shoulder.
~~~
The Havasu Falls come first before the campground. That concludes the roaring sound of water echoing in our ears as we hike until we stand above the Havasu Falls.
In awe, we watched how the water from the Havasu Creek surreally plummets down the 95 feet waterfalls down to the blue-green pool below.
We all stood by the cliff to get a better look at the pool and Luna, as someone who is afraid of high places, cried a warning for us to move away as her voice resounded in the background.
Kayden looked behind to Luna. “C’mon, it’s not that bad here,” he said, reaching a hand to Luna. “Take it. I will not let go of your hand, I swear.” Luna looked at me as if to give her a sign if she could trust Kayden. I nodded at her as she took a deep breath and her shaking legs found their way to Kayden and took his hand.
Kayden led the closed-eyed Luna to the cliff safely as the force of the water falling caused her hair to fly at her back.
“It’s okay, open your eyes,” Kayden commanded Luna as she opened her eyes slowly. “Beautiful, isn’t it? It is just like the Ferris wheel at Santa Monica,” he continued as he looked at Luna’s face, still holding her hand.
Luna let out a deep breath and opened her eyes. “Yeah, it is. It’s beautiful.”
“Do you think they are still roleplaying?” I looked beside me and saw William eyeing the two suspiciously.
“I can’t tell.” William put a finger on his chin and shook his head.
“I mean, the way Kayden looks at her, that was not the first time I saw someone looking at Luna that way, and that didn’t end well for her.” Curiosity sprung up in me when I heard what William said.
“Why? What happened?” I asked him.
“It’s not my story to tell. But if ever Kayden brings that kind of Luna again, I swear to God I am going to beat his ass up so badly,” William said, peering into his eyes at the two.
“That’s so sweet of you, William,” I told him and he just shrugged.
One thing I learned from the cousins was that no matter how two people argue or disagree with each other, if both were bonded with love and care, there will always be a soft spot for them in your heart.
I think my mom and I were like that. It’s just that we are too heartbroken by dad’s death that it made it hard for us to show each other our love and care. And maybe being away from her for a while is a good thing, considering I am slowly learning how I can mend my relationship with her through these people I am with right now.
The trip to the campground comprised bridge crossings under a rapidly running stream.
When we finally got to the vicinity, we settled our tent near a picnic table beside the running river bed. Considering we were seven people, they decided that the three of us girls will take the tent and the guys will use their blanket as a hammock and tie it at the tree branches near our camping place.
As soon as we finished settling in, we rushed to the comfort room to change into our swimming attire, and right after, we excitedly hiked back to Havasu Falls.
Erin and Damien were the first ones to get into the pool screaming with excitement and the rest of us followed.
The blue-green pool was more beautiful way up close and as soon as I dipped my feet into the water, its cold water greeted my skin, sending a refreshing feeling to my entire body after all the heatwave the sun gave us in the past few days.
We dived and swam in the pool, savoring the chilliness of the water. For the next following days we will meet our blazing companion again, the sun.
The others climbed a rock not too high to jump at a five-feet pool and encouraged Luna to do it too. Yet, in her fear of heights, she declined and reclined at a rock at the pool.
I climbed the rock twice, holding on to its rough edges before I let go and dropped my body at the indistinct sound of the water below the surface and swam my way to Luna to offer her some company.
“Falling doesn’t look bad at all, doesn’t it?” She asked me as soon as I was beside her.
“What do you mean?” I asked her back as I saw Nico jumped from the rock.
“Most people say that falling is such a destructive thing. Because when you fall, you get broken in the end. Yet, look at how ravishingly this waterfall falls from its creek. It’s too breathtaking to destroy you. “
I took that as a hint of what William mentioned about Luna a while ago, and I assumed it has something to do with her past love relationship.
“Well, isn’t falling in love a beautiful thing, too?” I asked her, but before she could answer back, Damien swam towards us.
“Guys, we have a Kayden situation there,” Damien said breathlessly.