I woke up to the distant sound of crows, or it could have been some other type of bird; I had no idea. The light that shone through the thin tent's polyester fabric gave the inside a blue tint. As I sat up and my sleeping bag fell off my torso, I got goosebumps from the cold.

I unzipped my tent and got out so I could stretch and shake out the minor aches and pains from sleeping on a hard surface. There was a small sleeping mat within the small pack of equipment I was given. It was better than sleeping on the ground, but not by much.

After stretching, I looked around. The tips of all the tents and small bushes in the area had a light dew coating. I involuntarily shivered, and it expunged the remnants of the cold still affecting me. As I returned from relieving myself, Melody walked around her tent from the other direction.

"You ready?" she asked with a huge smile.

"For what?" I was already learning to be wary when she asked vague questions.

"To go fishing, duh," she said while rolling her eyes as if I should have known what she was up to.

As if on cue, Victor came trotting around the tent from the same direction Melody had come. He had two fishing poles in one hand and a small red box in the other. He had a massive grin and seemed to be bouncing with excitement.

"Uncle Enzo said the path is clear down to the river. I thought since you seemed surprised by it last night, we could go check it out, get some food and have some fun," Melody said. "So, what do you think?"

"Uh, sure, I guess," I said, then looked down with a bit of shame. "I don't really know how to fish, though."

"Don't worry. I would've been surprised if you did. You've been at that camp for so long, you probably would have forgotten how even if you did before. What's most important is we have fun."

I nodded and asked if I needed to grab anything. Apparently, Melody had been up for a little while before I was and had taken care of everything. She had a separate bag with additional supplies and even some food for breakfast and lunch. After throwing the bag on her shoulders, she turned and led the way straight down the hill.

Since we were going downhill, it didn't take long to make our way through the surrounding trees, bushes and rocks. Once we broke through the tree line, my feet hit hard pavement. I was surprised, and as I looked around, I noticed we were on a relatively well-kept road that stretched off in either direction, following the curve of the mountain.

The road even had double yellow lines painted along the path. I instinctively paused and looked both ways. Melody noticed me stop even though she was in front, and she flipped around while continuing to go in the same direction.

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"Don't worry, no vehicles come down here. For some reason, this part of the road looks nice, but if you go around either of those bends, it looks completely different." She said, seemingly guessing what I was going to ask. "I think it's due to the river."

She paused and raised her forefinger into the air, and we all listened to the roar of rushing water. She stopped walking at the edge of the road. "The river sounds close, and it is, but not as close as it is in other areas. It floods a lot just after spring. Luckily we missed the flooding when we came here, so we didn't have to deal with it, but it's still a pretty strong current."

It didn't take much longer to get to the river, and she was right about it being a strong current. We stood atop a large boulder that hung over the water a little. I could feel sprinklings of the frigid water as it splashed up from the force of impacting the rock.

Melody and her brother set their gear on the rock and began preparing the fishing rods. She ushered me closer and started to explain everything that she was doing. The hooks had already been threaded with the fishing line, but she quickly taught me how to do it.

She mentioned that the ground under the water was rocky, and the hooks often got caught under them and broke off. Victor opened up the small box he carried down to the river, and I discovered that was where all the bait and extra hooks and weights were kept.

Once all the fishing poles were set up, I was shown how to cast them and where to do it. She imparted some basic knowledge about the fish in the river that would help me reel them in. After hooking myself, then hooking Melody and finally a tree on the side of the river, Melody decided to cast for me. I didn't mind since it let me get to the more fun part, catching and reeling.

A few minutes after she cast the line and seemed to fiddle with the pole, moving it left and right in what I assumed was an attempt to get the line to where she wanted, she quickly thrust it into my hands. The pole immediately started to pull away, and I almost lost my grip on it. Then, as I leaned forward to secure my grasp, the rod was jerked forward again, and I almost fell off the rock. Luckily, Melody noticed and pulled me back. I got my balance back and a good grip on the pole, but Melody didn't remove her hand from my shoulder.

As I struggled with the line, she gave me pointers on when to pull on the line, when to reel it in and when to let some of it out if it got too tight. A few times, I was glad for her arm on my shoulder as I was almost pulled into the water.

It seemed as if the fight against the fish lasted for hours. Once I finally reeled the fish in, Melody and her brother kneeled at the edge of the boulder with a large net to scoop it up. By then, my arms felt like the muscles had all been ripped off. My two companions scooped it up, the pressure was released, and I unclenched my jaw, which I hadn't known I'd done.

Victor sat on the rock, straining with the net and leaning back into his sister. Melody was simultaneously grabbing the net and holding on to her brother. Both siblings struggled to lift and move the net with the writhing fish. One glance and I could see why; the fish was massive and took up most of the space within the netting.

"A little help would be nice," Melody grunted through gritted teeth.

I rushed to help, and after a moment, we managed to move the fish up and away from the water to a spot it wouldn't be able to flop back to the river. We all fell to the ground with our energy expended. The fish, still in the net at the center of our triumvirate, was silver and shone with a multi-colored pattern when the sun struck it at different angles. It looked as if it was half my body length if stretched out and at its thickest was about a foot in diameter.

"This fish is huge," I exclaimed. "I must be some kind of record for a fish in the river. What do you think?" I looked at Melody and her brother.

"No, I'd say that's pretty normal," Melody replied, and her brother just shrugged.