At the Very Top

Here we are at the top of the mountain. The very top. We made it. And what of the mountain lion you ask? He’s still here. In fact he is less than a foot away from us, starring at us deeply in the eyes. Trying to make us squirm.  He is so close to us that Olivia can’t even raise her hands to shoot hearts for fear he may pounce. “I could kill you now if I wanted.”  He explains dryly. “Wait, you can talk?” Olivia inquires. “Yes I can talk. Does that surprise you?” “A little bit.”  “Well, I can talk. I can do other things too. Such as rip both your throats out in one swift move.” We both cringe. “Yes, that’s right. Tremble. Know that your lives are insignificant. Know that I have the power. Know that I can devour you. Make you disappear. Make you nothing more than a memory, or simply a rumor if I wanted to.” As sinister as this creature is, I feel a smirk on my face. I try and hold it back, but I can’t. The mountain lion sees me grinning and this infuriates him. “ What is so funny?” He demands. “Nothing, you just remind me of Salem’s Lot right now.” I say, still smiling. “Salem’s Lot?” “It was a vampire movie based off a Stephen king novel by the same title.” I explain casually. The mountain lion squints. “ I don’t understand the relevancy.” He says. I sigh. I don’t know why I just assumed that the bad guy would automatically get my reference. Too obscure perhaps? I prepare to give him a winded speech. “Salem’s Lot was a decent film. It was entertaining, but in my humblest of opinions the problem was the bad guys talked too much.  I mean there is a scene where the hero could have easily put a steak through the vampire’s heart in the time it took him to explain something.”  The Mountain Lion takes in all this information. “ I take it you’re not a fan of dialogue driven movies or good character development?” He says.  “No, I enjoy that stuff. But I think if you have it too dialogue heavy, it tends to get kinda boring.” The Mountain Lion thinks for a moment. “ Would you rather watch something like Transformers, where shit just blows up?” He asks. I shake my head no. “That’s the extreme opposite. You can’t have too much action either. Plus the special effects are a mess. It doesn’t feel real to me.”  Olivia, who this whole time has been standing in bewilderment, interrupts our film discussion. “What the hell is this?” “The girl is right, I have a job to do.”  The Mountain Lion leaps into the air. I quickly draw my sword. It just barely touches him. Not enough to draw blood, but enough to throw off his mound so that he does not land on us. However, amongst the chaos, I lose my balance and begin to fall backwards. Olivia grabs me by the cape, but it rips off in her hand and I continue my fall. Still holding onto the sword, I plunge it into the side of the mountain. I am stopped abruptly and breathe a sigh of relief. My girl is alone with a mountain lion and I’m hanging on for dear life. Guess this is the excitement I was looking for.