The next morning they boarded the school bus which would take them to the Airport. They were going to the Hinggan area for this trip.

All of them were brimming with excitement and so they hardly got a wink of sleep in the flight . A few kids took out decks of cards while there were students who couldn't sit still, there were fist fights that broke out for no reason at all. 

The Teachers and the Air hostesses got headaches trying to control the hyperactive kids. 

By the time they arrived at Hinggan and boarded  another bus to reach the forest, they were so tired that most of them fell asleep without their knowledge. There were a few who fought their sleep but could not maintain it for long and followed suit soon enough.

The bus came to a halt with a screech making the kids jolt awake. The bus had stopped near a lush green forest. Its woody incense was from centuries of snapping branches crashing to the forest's floor.  The air was fresh and light. They were miles away from the pollution of the city and right into the lap of mother nature.

They walked further into the heart of the forest. Finally, they came to a halt right in front of a huge rift.

"How do we cross it?" A girl craned her neck while looking into the dark endless rift .

"Silence everyone" The sound of the homeroom teacher boomed over the voices of the scared and excited kids. "I hope you all are aware that we have to cross this rift to reach the other side". 

The kids ignored the teacher as they chatted away.

"Do you see that bridge," the teacher continued "You'll have to cross it."

A narrow bridge stretched across the rift. It had no handles  or ropes for support, it barely had a foot's width and looked old enough to break with one step on it. The students gulped and took a step back when they saw it.

"This bridge is called Xiácháng," A teacher informed.

"Zia what?" Zaria gave a confused look. 

"It means narrow strips. Now go ahead and remember not to fall," She gave a weird smile as she ended the sentence.

All the kids continued staring at the bridge but no one dared to approach it.

"Get moving " The P.E teacher gave a shout.

The kids hesitated but slowly stepped onto the bridge one by one.

"Do you think someone can find our bones if we fall from here." Zaria joked.

"Why are you saying that ," Xian screamed with her eyes closed.

"Shhh.. do you want everyone to fall," Zaria asked "And open your eyes. Don't worry we won't fall."

Just then a boy in front of them fell,  for some time they could hear his scream and then everything went silent again. A shiver ran through all the kids and they started moving forward quietly without making a sound. 

Xian held onto Zaria's shirt as they moved forward.

"We don't have any hope left . There must be something wrong, the teachers brought us here to get us killed." Xian mumbled as she moved along.

"Can you leave  my shirt." Zaria chuckled " Do you want to take me along with you even in death."

"I can't go on anymore my legs feel numb." Xian's hand shivered as she spoke.

" Xian it's only two more steps . I am already on the other side." Ateel pointed out.

"How the heck will she notice that when her eyes are still closed, I don't even know how she managed to cover this much distance like that."

"Zar everyone's not like you. Stop being so mean. Your jokes are not funny," Ateel stretched out her hand as Zaria took the last step.

"I am doing stress control here." Zaria sulked.

At this point, Xian opened her eye's but didn't leave Zaria's shirt until she was safely on the other side.

"I will never come back here, I am not going to attend any trip the school holds," Xian said clenching her dress tightly.

"You're not alone in that " Ateel gave her a smile. " Now let's go have lunch."

Zaria held Xian's hand as she gave a bright smile " See we all are alive isn't this more than enough. For now, let's not cause problems and we can investigate later."

Xian nodded and let Zaria lead her towards the stalls the teachers had set up.

Most of the kids could hardly eat cause of the trauma they had received.

And there were a few who had broken into tears. 

"Eat up fast, you guys have one more thing to do." the kids trembled as they heard the P.E teacher's voice. "You all are 17 or 18 by now, so show some backbone." His voice rang through their heads.

"Aren't we on a school trip ?" A girl at the end of the group asked .

"No questions. We are the ones who make rules here, since you talked back you will be the first one to try out the next activity," The girl passed out as the words left the teachers lips.

Everyone saw this and grew quieter.

"Form groups of three" the teacher commanded.

The students did the bidding even though they wanted to cry.

Zaria, Ateel and Xian stayed together and Xian hid behind Zaria the whole time with her face almost touching Zaria's back.

 Ateel's mind wandered around thinking of ways to handle Xian and Zaria's case. She didn't have the slighted bit of worry about dying. ' Just protecting Zaria is enough' Is what she thought.

As for Zaria, she was humming a tune as she stood there waiting for the next command.

"How can you be so calm," Xian asked her eyes moist almost on the verge of crying.

"If I die I die and if I live I live. So why, bother about such things. It's just that my mom wanted me to live." Zaria said 

Xian turned and looked at Ateel.

"I don't care as long as Zar is safe and I know that these small things can't harm him. And if something ever happens I will protect him with all I got." Ateel replied.

"What if you can't save him?" Xian asked as she frowned.

"It never crossed my head," Ateel responded after thinking for a bit.

Xian looked at them with puzzled eyes thinking to herself 'How weird can they get.' But the weirdness had a different kind of  appeal to it. Wasn't this one of the reasons she had maintained her crush on Zar till now.

"Do you all see that river and the waterfall" a short and stout teacher asked trying his best to be as loud as possible as he gasped for breath.

"Go and take a seat Mr. Ah " the sports teacher said "I will tell the rest."

"I will leave it to you Mr. Fan " The teacher named Ah moved towards one of the chairs kept to the side and sat down.

"So you kids stay attentive" Sir Fan gave a loud shout. "each group will be given a boat and they have to row it upstream if you guys don't use enough strength you might fall off the waterfall and die. Now go and board your boats."

The kids dragged themselves to the boats and boarded them. All of them started rowing, but no matter how much they rowed the boat refused to listen to them as it headed towards the waterfall.

"Zar, use some more energy or we will die if this continues," Xian screamed as she continued muttering a prayer.

"I am using as much as I can. So can you shut up ." Zaria's hands felt like they would fall off any second now.

The waterfall grew closer and closer, and the boat seemed to have a conscience of its own.

No one knew what to do anymore ........

A/N: Sorry guys this chapter might make you all frown, but I have my own problems to handle. So please forgive me and point out the edits this chapter might need. I don't mind harsh words so go ahead and just let me know my mistakes.

********* ( very important ) I'll be dedicating this chapter to Swibells for her awesome review . She deserves more then this so people could you take a look at her works and  see if you like them :)