Over the Mountain

CHAPTER 1: MOUNTAIN

CHAPTER 1: MOUNTAIN

“Wow. Our house is only near the mountain,” I exclaimed as Dad parks the car outside our small two-story house.

“It’s beautiful, right?” Mom asks and I just nodded.

I want to open my mouth and answer Mom verbally, but my attention was already captured by the beautiful and tall mountain in front of me. It feels like it is just inches away from that I reach out my hand on it as I can touch from where I am. City life is way different from where we are right now.

When Dad and Mom told me that we will be going to move and settle here, I felt mixed emotions. I love city life and my friends are there. My teachers who always give me three stars are also there. I am close with all my classmates and teacher that is why I feel a bit sad when Dad announces that from this day, we will be going to live here.

When Dad said that our house is near the mountain, my imagination begins to create different beautiful images. But seeing the mountain up close now, my imagination just become a small piece of the picture. The scenery in front of me is way better than what I imagined and the sadness I felt when we left the city suddenly vanishes and was replaced by comfort.

“Hey little brat!” grandma called me, and I immediately pouted at her but when she opens her arms, I become a bolt of lightning to exit the car and embrace her.

“Grandma! Why is it that you are not getting old?”

“Oh, still playful huh? You want chocolate peanut or marshmallow?”

“Both!” I exclaimed and everyone laughs.

After greeting grandpa, I run back on the car to help Mom and Dad lodging off our things, but Dad told me to just roam around and appreciate the place, so I followed him. Grandma and grandpa’s house is located at the mountain’s foot together with the other houses. I can’t say that this is a village because houses are a bit farther from each other. But who knows? Maybe they just love distance.

From the back of the house, I can see the breathtaking view of the mountain. I lift my hand again, touching the mountain through the horizon. Just by looking at the mountain, the emotions I had when we left the city is already nowhere to be found. I couldn’t believe that grandma and grandpa have this kind of view every time they woke in the morning and sleep at night. This is beautiful. But I’ve heard a lot of stories that mountain is dangerous. I put down my hand and place it on my chin as I think about if the mountain in front of me is dangerous too.

“Aha!” I shouted when I realized that I should ask grandma and grandpa. I was about to enter the house when my eyes caught grandma outside our front yard talking to a boy which looks older than me.

I pointed my feet to peek at them, but I was already later because the boy is already turning his back on grandma. I crossed my arms on my chest and pouted my lips while my brows are in a straight line as I wait on grandma. When grandma spotted me waiting for her, she raises her left brow and tilted her head on the side. If I am a brat, so with grandma. I could still remember that grandpa told me that grandma was always being punished by my great-grandfather because she is also hardheaded way back before and a total brat. Now, I know where I inherited my brat attitude.

Instead of stopping in front of me and asking why I was waiting for me, she just passes over me and poke my forehead before laughing. As we enter the house, grandma and I are in chase. I complain while grandma is just laughing at me.

“Who is that boy earlier, grandma?” I ask when we are all in the backyard, enjoying the view of the mountain.

“He is the grandson of my friend,” she answered before fixing her seating arrangement. “Do you know that he lives there?” She then pointed to the mountain.

“Don’t bluff me, grandma,” I said.

“Am I bluffing? You don’t believe me, don’t you?”

“Hmm, it’s just that…it’s the mountain, grandma. And according to the stories that my teacher had read on us, animals are the only ones who live in the mountain.”

“That’s only a story, mochi,” she said and mentioned my nickname which she made. “But in real life, there are also people who live in mountains. Thousand years ago, people used to live in the mountain more than in town.”

Grandma continues to story tell me some historic stories about people living on the mountain. When I told her that mountains are dangerous, she just laughed at me told me that mountain becomes only dangerous it’s being treated badly. As grandma continues to talk, my eyes were glued to the mountain in front of us. The wind of the nearing sunset embraces us, and I giggled because of that. I couldn’t believe that from this day on, I will be able to witness this kind of scenery.

Mountain is just mountain. Nothing flashy design like the ones in the city—which is a mall, but I know that I won’t get tired of looking at this beautiful mountain. Because it sent comforts on me every time my eyes landed on it. As a kid, maybe I don’t still know the importance of having this kind of view and scenery in front of me, but I could already feel inside me that I will be going to appreciate it with all my heart.

Mountain…mountain will be my first friend here.

“So, it’s true that the boy earlier lives there,” I ask and point out the mountain after grandma finishes her storytelling.

Grandma nods at me. “Yes, mochi. He lives there. They live there.”

“They? With his family?”

“Not only his family. But many of them live there,” she said and smiled at me. “If he goes down and visits, here again, I will introduce you to him so you could be friends.”

“Do I have to be friends with him?”

Grandma pokes my forehead. “You have to be friends with everyone. Tomorrow, you can roam around outside the house and have a tour of the village, be friends with the neighborhood, okay?”

“Yes, grandma. I will tour around the village and be friends with the neighborhood,” I answered.

But instead of the village, I end up standing on the mountain, looking at it closely and being bewitched to enter it. But before I could even take my first step to enter the mountain, someone suddenly pops out from the mountain and startled me. I almost stumble on my own feet and lands on the soil but the person who popped out from the mountain was able to hold my hand, pulling me to get back on my feet.

The wind of the mountain blows the leaves as well as my hair, but it didn’t stop me from staring at the person in front of me who saved me from falling on the ground. He then looks up and I just found myself following what he did. I look up and found the beautiful scenery of the leaves dancing because of the wind.

“Beautiful…” I mumbled.

“Yeah, beautiful,” he repeated so I look down and find him looking at me.

The way he looks at me is the way how I look at the mountain for the first time. It was very…appreciative and solemn. He is looking at me like the way I look at the mountain. Full of…admiration…admiring its real beauty.