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Jennifer Lu, Group 3: Fiction, Hong Kong International School
eorgia’s POV
“
Piper, hurry up!” I squeal as I step on another icy stone block. Behind me she huffs and
hauls herself up, beads of sweat slipping off her forehead even in the icy cold weather
“
I,” She pauses to regain her breath, “need a break.”
I roll my eyes but stop walking.
“
We walked nine miles already” I state, a smile tugging at my lips. “Let’s get to eleven.”
Piper lets out a operatic sigh of distress but hauls herself up anyway. I grin victoriously.
By now, The Wall is isolated, not one human being besides us walked this far, especially on a cold day
like today.
“
But we need time to get back to the camp site.” Piper hints, warning laced around her words that roll
over me.
“
Yeah, yeah.” I wave her off, “We have enough time. It’s only six right now.”~
After another two hours of silence, Piper speaks again, her words full of irritation.
“
It’s getting dark.”
I look up at the skies and know she’s right. The pastel moon which gives a faint glow was now high up
in the sky, our only source of light.
“
We need to turn back, or we’ll have to spend the night here.” She motions toward the snow in sarcasm.
“
But we haven’t gotten to eleven miles yet!” I wail, my stubbornness overtaking common sense.
“
Look, it’s either we go back, or we freeze!” Piper explains with annoyance.
“
Hey, it was your choice to come along with me. If you weren’t up to the challenge, then you shouldn’t
have come!” I shrug, my anger now turning into adrenaline as I walk faster.
“
Well you could at least try to help me out!” Piper hints and my anger slowly dissipates and I replace it
with sass.
I whip around, “Fine, let’s go back. But you’ll never have the pride to say ‘I walked eleven miles on
the Great Wall of China.’ ” I roll my eyes and saunter back the direction we came, our shoulders nudging as I
pass her.
Piper’s POV
We’ve been walking for two hours by now, and it’s already ten. My eyes are fighting to stay open and I
have to force my legs to keep moving. Even Georgia seems to be struggling.
“
We’re never going to make it.” I sigh and gaze at The Wall, undulating over and under the mountains.
“
I’m too tired to go on,” she groans.
“
Well, we can’t just stay here.” I bite my lip and look around us.
“
We can sleep here, for a little while...” Georgia trails off, eyeing the ground hungrily.
“
What? Are you crazy!” I gape at her incredulously.
“
Only a little while.” She groans and flops down on the snow, her head tilts forward and her back leans
against a wall. Before I have the chance to protest, I can already hear soft snores.
Determining my choices, I concede and lie down beside her.
My teeth are chattering and my eyes are watering because of the howling wind. My throat aches for
water and my body yearns for heat. Even my thoughts are everywhere; though as the diminutive hands of sleep
slowly lace around mine and tug me towards her, I remind myself clearly, I was going to get out of here.
Georgia’s POV
I woke up to the light sense of stinging on my chin, my hand subconsciously rose to rub the sensitive
skin, though the feeling of a cold surface made my eyes grow wide open.
“
P-Piper !” I wail, shaking her body. Her back is facing me, shielding her face from my vision.
She groans and turns around, I gasp in shock at the sight of her.
Minuscule ice particles are forming everywhere; chin, nose, eyebrows, cheeks.
“
What?” She mutters, her annoyance palpable.
“
Look at me!” I wail, her eyes slowly flutter open, though when her azure eyes meet mine, they
immediately grow wide open.
“
You’re covered in ice!” She gasps, her hand flying to her mouth.
“
The same for you!”
G