They woke up an hour before they were supposed to the next morning. Normally both of them were good at waking up when they’d decided to, no alarm needed, but this morning they got a different kind of wake up. Cat started stirring in response to something small moving around inside the tent but it wasn’t until Kass shrieked that Cat bolted upright. By the time she’d gotten her bearings Kass had already unzipped the tent and was half way outside.

“Oh my gosh! Kill it! Kill it!” she shrieked from outside.

Cat frowned in confusion and then grinned once she saw what it was that had gotten Kass all worked up. A small brown mouse had eaten it’s way into their tent and was now running around all over the sleeping bags.

Cat laughed.

“Did you kill it?” Kass asked.

“It’s just a mouse,” Cat replied as she moved slowly towards it and then grabbed it swiftly by the tail. It squealed and wriggled around wildly.

“I hate mice,” Kass told her as Cat emerged from the tent holding the little guy. “They’re small and disgusting and they carry disease. And their teeth can pierce flesh like butter.”

Kass stepped back nervously as Cat stood up. Cat took a teasing step towards her and Kass shrieked, turned tail, and ran to hide behind a tree. She peered out from behind it. “Throw it in the river.”

Cat frowned. She didn’t like the idea of throwing this defenseless little creature into the swirling depths of terror, even if it could swim.

“I’m pretty sure they can swim,” she told Kass and threw it gently into the forest the other direction instead.

“Nooo, what if it comes back?” Kass howled.

Cat shrugged then peered back in the tent. “We can plug the hole up . . . oh.”

“What?” Kass asked, creeping closer but still timid.

“Err, this might be my fault.” She pulled out the bag of marshmallows. There had only been a couple left at the end of the night and Cat without thinking had just thrown the bag into the corner of the tent. Now what remained of the marshmallows appeared to have little teeth marks in them. “I think he smelt the marshmallows.”

Kass approached cautiously and peered in the bag. She seemed relieved not to find another mouse inside. “You left food out?” she asked in disbelief.

Cat shrugged and gave a sheepish grin. “Oops. I’ll pay for the tent to be fixed.”

Kass sighed. “Now what? It’s almost five thirty, and I don’t really want to go back in that tent.” She wrinkled her nose.

“We might as well have breakfast now, sun seems to be coming up.” There was just enough light that they could see without the torches.

“I’m surprised that mouse didn’t come in earlier,” Cat commented as she reached for the pack to get some food out.

Kass froze and looked horrified. “What if he was?”

“I think we would have noticed him earlier.”

Kass seemed to relax a little at that, although she still seemed tense.

“What do you want for breakfast?” Cat asked holding up some packets. “Dried fruit, dried fruit, or dried fruit?”

Kass smiled and sat down carefully on the ground, with a nervous glance around before she did so. “I’ll have the salami,” she paused, “and a cigarette.”

Cat frowned. “We’re in the fresh air. I thought you quit.”

Kass smiled softly. “That just makes you want it more, and I did, years ago, doesn’t mean you stop wanting them though.” She picked up a stick form the ground, cleaned off the end, and then nibbled absently at it, twirling it between her fingers occasionally as if she were pretending it were a smoke.

“Ugh. I hate smoking,” Cat stated. She was glad Kass didn’t do it anymore.

Kass just smiled and chewed on her stick.

Cat handed her a bag of dried apricots and she put the stick back down.

“What made you quit?” Cat asked.

“Well, they are bad for you,” Kass replied with half a dried apricot in her mouth, “and expensive.”

“You still drink,” Cat countered.

“So do you.” Kass replied

“Barely ever.”

Kass shrugged. “Well you gotta enjoy life somewhat right? Find a balance.”

“Yeah I find drinking a depressant until I’m so shitfaced I can’t remember where I put my keys very enjoyable,” Cat replied sarcastically.

“I don’t drink that much,” Kass replied.

Cat looked at her skeptically.

“Well not often, and I’ve never forgotten where my keys are.”

“No, that’s more Amanda’s style,” Cat replied, absently poking at the ashes in last night’s fire pit with a stick.

“Well at least she enjoys it.”

“Enjoys it so much she tries drink driving.”

“That was one off thing and years ago.”

“More than one off.”

“When?”

“Before we met you.”

“Also years ago. She’s not so bad with her drinking now, and most people don’t drink like her anyway.”

“Most people still drink too much,” Cat replied. She raised an eyebrow at Kass willing her to challenge it. But Kass was tired of arguing and just shrugged instead.

They were quiet for a minute then Kass spoke up again. “You know it’s not really fair you taking jabs when she’s not here.”

“What are you? Her pet?” Cat asked slightly nastily. Then she got to her feet and walked off into the bush, probably to find a tree to pee behind.

Cat was obviously in a mood so Kass started packing up the campsite. It didn’t take long and she had it pretty much all packed up by the time Cat returned.

Cat picked up her pack. “Shall we get walking?”

“Swimming you mean?”

However, Cat had already started walking. She hoped by just getting going Kass would be less likely to question it.

Kass grabbed her own pack and jogged to catch up with Cat’s swift and long strides. “Hey Cat!” she yelled between breaths. “It’ll be much faster if we wade across.” She narrowed her eyes. It was like Cat was deliberately trying to get out of earshot. “You know if you don’t want to I could just go across by my . . .” she trailed off as she realized Cat had stopped walking and was looking at something up the river. A bridge.

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“That wasn’t on the map.” Kass said breathlessly as she finally caught up with Cat.

Cat turned to her with a smirk. “What were you saying about swimming?”

“Well I guess we don’t need to get wet after all. I wonder if this one’s closer to the main trail than the other bridge.”

“Come on, let’s go,” Cat said, her mood now much more chipper. She started walking again.

“It looks a bit worn, I wonder if this is the old bridge,” Kass observed once they reached the point where it crossed over. The bridge they had walked across on their way in had been new, clean-looking, solid wood with mesh placed along the floor planks for grip. In contrast, this bridge was a swing style held up by frayed ropes and with large gaps between each plank so the user had to step from one to another in single deliberate steps. A couple of planks were missing.

Cat had been happy when she’d initially seen the bridge but now she had doubts. The thing looked like a disaster waiting to happen. “Do you think it’s safe?” she asked.

“One way to find out.” Kass replied “You know we can always just wade . . .”

That was all the prompting Cat needed to step up onto the bridge. It swung precariously under her weight but it seemed to hold. She took a step forward which brought her just above the bit where it crossed from being above land to being above water. The bridge wasn’t high. If Cat had wanted, which she really didn’t, she could have bent her knee and dipped a foot in the water. She hesitated at the edge wondering how long she could stand here before Kass started questioning her. Probably best just to get it over with.

She took a deep breath and took another two steps out. The bridge swayed. She was out far enough that she could feel a slight breeze blowing above the water. It felt colder out here. The sun hadn’t yet managed to warm the earth or the air.

She took a few more steps. Slowly and carefully but without pause. She kept her eyes high and fixated on the other side. As long as she didn’t look down she could do this.

As long as she didn’t think of all the things that might be under there in the water, waiting to grab her by the ankles. Waiting to pull her under and hold her down.

She kept moving and she didn’t stop moving. She was almost two thirds of the way across when the rope snapped.

Cat plunged straight down, into the water. Her first instinct was to tense up as the water pushed in, surrounding her, covering her face and head.

She sank, frozen in slow fall for a moment before her feet touched the bottom of the river. She kicked out and found herself pushed out through the surface. Her toes just dragging along the bottom, sure footing slightly out of reach.

The river was deeper than Kass had estimated, at least in this section. It was almost as deep as Cat was tall and getting any kind of purchase on the river floor would have meant Cat’s face would have been under water.

Cat was forced to drift with the current and struggle to keep her head up. She knew the basics of swimming, at least theoretically. It was just whenever she was in the water she tended to completely forget everything and to make matters worse her pack was pulling her down. She needed to get rid of it.

She struggled to get one arm out of her pack but the movement tended to push her body forward and her face dangerously close to the water. She cried out, and then she found her prayers answered.

She felt herself suddenly pulled out of the water by some invisible force. Now she hung in the air unstably. She felt herself drop sharply towards the surface again but seconds before she crashed into it she was thrust high up in the air, almost above the trees.

“Kass!” she yelled. The woman’s telekinesis was about as precise as a five year old flying a remote control helicopter.

Cat felt herself falling again and she closed her eyes bracing for the impact. It never came. Once more she was stopped inches above the water. Then she rose again, thankfully not as high as the first time. Another small drop. Cat’s feet dipped into the surface of the water then pulled out again. Suddenly she was pushed to the side, across the river. She went flying, just a little too hard, into the trunk of a tree. She landed hard on the ground and rolled towards the edge of the river bank.

With a grunt and some very fast reactions she reached out and grabbed some branches to slow her slide down. She breathed out a heavy sigh of relief as she managed to stop herself with only her feet hanging, from the knees down, out over the water.

She pulled herself up to a more stable position and sat there quite dazed for a moment, regathering her bearings.

“Sorry,” Kass yelled from across the river.

Cat looked over at her, lips terse, eyes narrowed.

Kass shrugged and gave a sheepish and very apologetic look.

Cat relaxed. At least she was out of the water, she still had her pack, and she didn’t appear to be anything more than bruised from her flight into the tree. She removed her pack and sat it in a secure position where it wouldn’t roll down into the river.

Cat shivered. The water itself hadn’t actually been that cold but now she was out, the lack of direct sun and the slight breeze made for a chilly combination. Hopefully the sun would be a bit higher soon and things should warm up. She grabbed her long black hair and pulled it over one shoulder. She gently wrapped her hands around it and, moving slowly downwards, she squeezed the water out.

“You coming across?” She yelled to Kass.

Kass seemed to be considering it. “How deep is it?” she yelled back.

“Almost over my head.” Which meant it would be definitely over Kass’s given there was more than a 10 cm height difference between them.

Kass nodded. She still seemed committed to wading across anyway as she eyed up the best section to cross at. Eventually she picked a spot but before wading in she took her pack off.

“I’m gonna see if I can keep this dry.” she yelled across. “So watch your head.”

Cat nodded and placed a tree between herself and Kass just in case.

Using her telekinesis, Kass levitated the bag roughly off the ground and shot it across the water in a kind of triangular arch, aiming for a section of the bush away from where Cat was. It went higher than expected and landed in the bush some distance and a little further downriver from Cat.

Mostly satisfied Kass returned her attention to crossing the river.

“This would be easier with two of us,” Kass yelled back.

Cat didn’t see how but she also didn’t really want to talk about the ins and outs of water crossings. Plus, Kass was a pretty good swimmer. Cat did wonder at her keeping her shoes on though. She watched Kass wade across, hoping the woman knew what she was doing because there was no way Cat was jumping in there to save her if she got into trouble. While she waited Cat stripped down to her underwear, wrung her shorts and singlet out, and hung them over a nearby branch. She did the same for her socks.

Kass managed to get about a quarter of the way across before the water hit her chest. A few steps after that the bottom dropped away quickly. She dove forward and freestyled the rest of the way across. The current pulled her downriver so her entire crossing was more like a diagonal than a straight line. She stepped out of the water, grinning, and shook her head like a dog. Given the short length of her hair, that pretty much did the job of drying it. She hiked up river to meet up with Cat, feeling somewhat refreshed by the early morning swim.

She found Cat, in just her underwear, pulling things out of her pack in an attempt to dry them.

“Geez your sleeping bag’s soaked,” Kass observed.

Cat gave her a narrow-eyed look, one that just dared her to mention pack-liners, but Kass kept her comments to herself.

“Did you find your pack?” Cat asked.

Kass looked in the direction it had gone. “No, I think it’s somewhere that way.” She walked off to find it, leaving Cat to continue with her drying process.

Kass found her pack in some bushes at the base of a tree, not too far away. By the time she returned Cat had finished hanging everything up and was sitting down, still in her underwear, and staring out across the river.

Kass eyed the faded scars that crisscrossed Cat’s back. Marks her abusive father had left when she was young.

Before she could help herself Kass blurted out curiously “You ever think about finding your father? Paying him back for everything he did to you? And to your mother?”

Cat jerked around to look at her. For a second she seemed lost for words, angry even, but a moment later she turned back to look out across the river and answered softly.

“I used to. And then I realised that it just gave him power over me. He can’t hurt me anymore and there’s nothing I can do to change what happened to my mother. He’s nothing. I don’t even know where he is. By the time I got back from Paradise he was gone.”

After high school, Cat had left Little Rock and spent time in a city that for many did not live up to its name. But for Cat it had been a refuge. She’d taken up a mechanic’s apprenticeship and gotten herself blissfully lost in the world of street racing.

“Anyway that’s all in the past.” Cat stood up and grabbed her clothes back off the nearby tree and got dressed again. She looked around at the rest of her things. “What do we do about the rest of this stuff?”

Kass shrugged. “We could leave it hanging here and come back. We’d have to cross the river again but I could get the packs across.” She hesitated. She hadn’t missed the way Cat acted so hesitantly around the water.

Cat was usually so bold and fearless but the water made her seem more like a helpless kitten, and she obviously didn’t want to talk about it so Kass didn’t ask. Amanda and Indi probably would have prodded until they’d gotten the story out. Amanda probably already knew. But Kass didn’t like to push boundaries too much. She tried to recall the last time she’d seen Cat swimming and realized she couldn’t. How had she never noticed this before? Even when they went to the beach, Cat always stayed on the shore and read a book under cover of an umbrella. She’d always just said she didn’t want to get burnt but maybe there was another reason?

“Maybe we should just go around,” Kass suggested then added, “which means we should probably pack this stuff back up again.”

Cat nodded. Kass didn’t miss the slight softening in Cat’s posture.

Kass helped her pack everything back up, including the wet sleeping bag.

“Indi had spare warm clothes in the car,” Kass said as she pulled a soaked jersey down off a branch. “I doubt she’d mind if you borrowed a few.”

“These will probably be dry by the end of the day.” Cat indicated the clothes she had on, “but yeah some thicker stuff might be nice for later.”

“And the sleeping bag . . .” Kass paused trying to think of a solution for that.

Cat shrugged. “It’s warm weather, I’m sure I’ll survive without one. Shall we?” she slung her full, now much heavier, pack over her back and waved her hand in the rough direction they were to walk. Kass led the way.