Human

I pulled each leg forward; kept hoping each step would be my last. I'd never wanted to stop so badly in my entire life. I swear, my bones hurt. I kept my eyes cast down, focusing on the changing layers of rock. The pattern bumbled from red to strange shades of grey and green, but my eyes caught and focused on the deep mocha color of Satheesh's calves.

Left foot, right foot. I ignored the burning in my thighs. 

I watched his muscle ripple as he climbed in front of me; sliding his feet on the smooth sandstone where mine quickly followed. I took three steps to his one, his stride twice the size of mine. I struggled to keep up. Satheesh was weird. He was possibly the strangest man I'd ever met. His smile never left his face, except for the rare occasion when he looked down and his eyes glazed, the fear overtaking his normally positive mindset. The canyon bed we had just climbed out of had a 1300 foot elevation gain, only one hundred feet shy of the height of the Sears tower. And Satheesh, was afraid of heights. 

In a strange way, Satheesh is everything I'm not. A black male, standing at six five, he's over a foot taller than me. I admired him for nearly all his qualities. We hiked the red rocks by day, and sought refuge in the sandstone arches at night and everything was utterly beautiful to him. The canyons, a clear morning hike, our thoughts, a floating piece of garbage on the horizon.... it didn't matter. Satheesh would say to me, "Woulda you look at that! Leea, Life is a great adventure." He was very right, but I could help to suppress a laugh when he was overcome with fascination by my Camelbak. 

"The vater is just right there!" He rushed to show Logan, who was not quite as enthralled by it's majesty. 

We had the same process each day after our hikes; set up camp, get a fire going, then relax our tired bodies. Tonight, the fire cast a comforting glow as we watched our shadows play a flickering game of tag. We huddled for warmth- standing closer to one another than any other circumstance might allow, since Utah nights are below freezing and we had to keep the fire small. Satheesh's body was pressed close to mine on the left, his warm skin radiating heat while Logan stood, slightly more distanced, on my right. As I stared into the flames, listening to the pop of wood- the only sound amongst the silence, Satheesh slinked into my peripherals. He was crouching, bending his knees, hoovering at my eye level. I could mostly see his teeth and his eyes, and I allowed him time to give me a huge grin, then returned the favor. He whispered so that only I could hear,

 "D'ey wanted to see what life was like, from your point of view!" He laughed. 

Somehow, no matter what he was saying, there was a needed exclamation mark at the end. 

His comment ate me up though; made me think, like most of the things he said. Maybe it's a Malaysian thing, but everything he uttered seemed to be profound. 

Silence resumed again, and I don't think any of us spoke until the fire was completely dead and the smoke rose out towards the stars.