Himalayans

The journey up the mountains was an uncomfortable one. On the narrow dirty track, the four wheel drive vehicle rocked on the bumpy road. Inside, Micheal looked out of the mud splattered window, up at the mountains. There was a bus ahead of them, filled to the brim with passengers. The bus climbed slowly, excruciatingly up the dirt track. On the left, the mountain fall away steeply. The dirt track had only space for one vehicle, and their vehicle, powerful as it was, was stuck behind the bus.

Even then, he could not quite believed that he was in Nepal. He had spent his whole life dreaming of coming to Nepal. Over the last few months, he saved and stinted on every single penny, finally scrapping enough for the trip. 'Hey, check out the view!' Micheal turned to see Kate talking to him. He smiled at her and nodded. 'Beautiful, isn't it?' Kate, his travel companion for this journey, stayed at the same hotel he stayed at. He had met her the night she arrived. In their hotel, the other backpackers would gather nightly to discuss anything to pop fiction to philosophy. The two of them both came from Britain. Micheal could not help but be attracted by Kate's gregarious company. Like Micheal, Kate had a passion for the outdoors. Like Micheal, she had her own views about the world, and an insatiable wanderlust that made her want to travel the world to discover it. It was a spontaneous decision to drive into the mountains. One of the backpackers staying at the hotel wanted to visit the Tibetan monasteries, and see the monks. Micheal and Kate wanted to go along. They decided to hire a local guide and also a vehicle to take them into the Himalayan Mountains and into Tibet.

He looked out of the window, in the direction as Kate. They had climbed quite high into the mountains. Stretched out before them, the majestic view of the Himalayans Mountains stood, shrouded in greyish clouds. Pillars of light filtered through the dense cloud cover to illuminate the stone giants beneath. Micheal glanced at the passengers in the front seat. The Nepalese guide was driving the vehicle, keeping his eyes on the road while Max, the guy who came up with the idea of visiting the monastery was snoring. Micheal noticed with disgust that a thin trickle of drool could be seen at the corner of his open mouth. Just then, a commotion ahead caught his attention. Micheal looked up to see the Nepalese guide shouting in a language he could not understand. Even Max had been forcefully dragged from his nap. A cracking sound on his left distracted him; Micheal turned to see a large crack in the glass next to him. He glanced out of the window and saw pieces of rock rolling down the mountain on his right.

'It's an avalanche,' he thought with horror, as more rocks and pebbles struck their vehicle. Suddenly, the vehicle he was in came to an abrupt stop. The bus ahead had also come to a stop. Micheal turned back to the front and saw in slow motion, a gigantic boulder rolling down the side of the mountain. It struck the packed bus on the side, and its momentum was enough to push the bus off the dirt track. In his vehicle, Micheal could hear echoes of screams coming from the bus within, as it plunged down the mountainside. Two minutes later, the avalanche stopped. As the last rock came to a rest against their vehicle, Micheal opened the door and climbed out. He edged towards the end of the dirt track to look for the bus. Scanning the mountainside, he spotted the bus lying about fifty feet down. In the distance, he could see that on the side where the boulder had hit the bus, a big dent appeared. He bowed his head and gave a moment's mourning.

When he looked up, he was surprised to see figures climbing out of the bus. As he looked on incredulously, Kate and Max had come up besides him. Excitedly, Micheal turned to them. 'They're alive!' He shouted excitedly. Both Max and Kate looked at him with strange look on their face. Both took a long look at the bus before turning back to him. 'Look!' Micheal exclaimed. 'What are you talking about?' Max was clearly agitated. 'Can't you see? They survived the fall,' Micheal could not understand Max's agitation. 'We have got to help them.' At that, Micheal was about to start down the mountain when Max's strong arm pulled him back. 'Are you alright, Micheal?' Kate asked in concern. 'No one could survive that fall.' The Nepalese guide had come out of the vehicle, and joined them at the side of the track. He saw then arguing on the mountainside and got curious. When he saw the bus, he started to talk rapidly and gestured wildly with his hands. The three looked at him in puzzlement, wondering what it was that he was trying to tell them.

'Dead people... not alive...' he struggled with the English language. 'What?' Micheal asked. 'They're climbing out of the bus.' 'Ghosts...' Their guide finally found the right word. At that, Micheal froze. It suddenly dawned on him why the guide could be right. There was no way the passengers in the bus could survive the boulder hit and the fall. By then, the figures were getting quite close. Micheal could see that their heads were bloody, and some even lost a hand. There was a look about them that told Micheal that they were not alive. 'Let's get out of here,' he could only mutter, as they headed quickly back into the vehicle. When the vehicle drove away from the spot, Micheal kept his eyes firmly fixed on the road.