Rimi glanced around, her eyes darting nervously over the treeline. She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself against the uneven ground beneath her feet before deciding what to do.

Then, with a sudden burst of energy, she scrambled to her feet and made a desperate attempt to run, her legs still trembling from fear and exhaustion.

"Rimi, please! Don't leave me here!" Mairo's voice cracked with panic as another chunk of earth crumbled away beneath her. The root she clung to creaked ominously, small pieces of bark flaking off under her desperate grip.

"I have to get help, Mairo! I have to!"

"The root is breaking! Please, please don't go!" Mairo's words dissolved into a sob. Her legs kicked helplessly in the air, searching for any foothold against the sheer cliff face, finding nothing but loose soil that cascaded into the trees below.

Rimi's heart felt like it was being torn in two. Mairo's pleas pierced her like arrows, but she knew staying would mean watching helplessly as Mairo fell. She dug her fingernails into her palms until they bled.

"Just hold on, Mairo. Please hold on!"

"Rimi!" Mairo's scream echoed through the trees as Rimi finally turned and fled.

The forest blurred around her as she ran, branches whipping her face, roots threatening to trip her feet. But she didn't slow down. Mairo's cries grew fainter behind her, yet they seemed to chase her through the woods, spurring her forward even as guilt and fear threatened to choke her.

"Don't let me be too late. Please, Allah, don't let me be too late." She prayed.

Her lungs burned like fire, but she pushed herself harder, harder, until finally – like a gift from Allah himself – she spotted a familiar figure on the pathway ahead.

She nearly stumbled into me, gasping for breath, her words tumbling out in broken fragments. "M-Mairo... Mairo... fall... cliff." The urgency in her voice sent a chill down my spine. Without a second thought, I let the crops I'd just harvested slip from my hands, scattering across the ground, and sprinted in the direction Rimi had come from, my heart pounding in my chest.

The sun dipped behind the canopy, casting long shadows that twisted like claws, and I could barely keep my mind from imagining the worst.

When we reached the clearing, my stomach twisted into knots. Mairo's hands were white-knuckled around a root that jutted out from the gaping edge of the pit. Her legs dangled over emptiness, feet searching for something—anything—to find purchase on, but there was nothing but air beneath her. The root creaked ominously, thin threads snapping one by one, and I felt the ground shift slightly under my own feet, threatening to pull us all down into the abyss.

I took a quick, deep breath, forcing myself to stay calm. Panicking wouldn't save her. her. "Mairo, hold on!" I shouted, sharper than I intended. Rimi quickly translated, and as Mairo's wide, fearful eyes met mine, I could tell she was losing strength.

Rimi hovered nearby, trembling, as if afraid even her presence could tip the balance. I looked around frantically, searching for anything that could help.

Then I saw it—a thick ododo vine twisting up a nearby iroko tree, the kind our grandmothers used to weave ropes, strong enough to hold anything. It was our only chance.

Quickly, I rushed over, yanking at it until it came free. It was thick, still green and full of life, which meant it was strong. Strong enough, I hoped.

I tied one end of the vine around the trunk of a nearby tree, testing its hold to make sure it wouldn't snap under our weight. Then, I knelt at the edge of the pit, looping the other end of the ododo vine around my arm. "Mairo, listen," I said, forcing my voice to steady. "I ...throw this ...to you. You..catch ...tie around waist. Tight, very tight. Understand?"

Rimi translated.

Mairo nodded frantically, but I could see her hands slipping. There wasn't much time left. I tossed the vine, and it dangled just inches from her grasp. "Grab, Mairo!" I urged, inching closer to the edge..as Rimi yelled the translation.

For a terrifying moment, she hesitated, as if she couldn't gather the strength to reach for it. But then, with a desperate surge of will, she let go of the root with one hand and seized the vine. The root she'd been holding finally snapped with a sharp crack, but she was already secured.

"Good, good!" I encouraged, my heart slamming against my ribs. "Now tie ...around your waist. Hurry!"

Rimi translated.

As Mairo fumbled with the vine, I heard more of the earth crumble above her. If she fell now, we would lose her, and I knew it. "Rimi, hold ...vine with me!" I commanded. She snapped out of her daze and rushed to my side, grabbing the length of ododo vine with both hands. Together, we braced ourselves, ready to pull with every bit of strength we had.

Mairo called out in something I didn't understand, her voice shaking but determined.

"Alright, on three, we pull you up. One... two... three!"

We heaved with all our might, and I could feel the vine stretch, taut and straining, as it bore her weight. Mairo's feet scrabbled against the loose dirt, kicking up pebbles as she tried to help us.

For a moment, I feared we'd lose her. My arms burned, fingers screaming in pain, sweat stinging my eyes. But as I blinked through the blur, I saw it—Mairo inching her way up, hand over hand, her face twisted with effort but not giving up. Slowly, she came closer, her hands climbing higher up the vine, until finally, her head was level with the edge. I reached out, gripping her wrist with all my strength, and with one final pull, Rimi and I dragged her out of the pit and onto solid ground.

The three of us collapsed in a heap, panting, limbs tangled and trembling from the effort. Mairo's face was streaked with dirt, her eyes wide with disbelief that she was still alive. We lay there for a moment, catching our breath, the relief washing over us like a wave. But anger surged from nowhere.

Without warning, Rimi burst into tears, her body shaking with sobs that she had been holding back.

Anger surged through me, hot and blinding, as I looked at Mairo and Rimi. It bubbled up from somewhere deep inside, drowning out the relief I should have felt. I couldn't stop the words from pouring out, my voice sharp and raw. "What were you thinking, coming out here? Do you have any idea how dangerous it is? What if I hadn't been here in time? What if it had been a wild animal instead?" I was shouting now, my hands gesturing wildly, the fear that had been trapped in my chest now escaping as fury.

Rimi's sobs grew louder, her shoulders shaking. She took a step forward, hands trembling as she tried to speak between ragged breaths. "Stop, please," she managed to say, but her voice was drowned out by our shouting, leaving her words lost in the storm of anger. I could barely hear her over the rush of my own anger.

But Mairo, she didn't shrink back. Even though she was still shaking from the ordeal, her eyes flashed defiantly. Her jaw was set, her lips tight with stubbornness. She stood up straighter, her chin lifted, and suddenly she was shouting back at me. I couldn't understand her words, but the tone was clear, the sharp edges cutting through the air.

I glared at her, my frustration flaring hotter. "You don't get it, do you? You almost died!" I yelled, my voice cracking. "Do you even understand how bad that would have been?" But she didn't back down. She fired back in her own language, her words fast and sharp, and I knew she was just as angry as I was.

We stood there, shouting at each other, our voices mingling, colliding, like two storms crashing together. I caught a hand gestures, enough to understand that she was perhaps defending herself, that she was just as furious that I was treating her like a child. And I couldn't stop myself. Every fear, every worry that had been suffocating me since I saw her dangling over that pit, spilled out as rage.

Mairo's face was flushed, her eyes bright with defiance. She shouted louder, her words sharp and fast, her hands slicing through the air. Even though I couldn't understand her, the way she pointed at the cliff, then at herself, made it clear—she wasn't going to be treated like a child. I didn't know if we were cursing each other, or if we were just screaming to let out the fear, but it didn't matter. The words didn't matter. It was the feeling, the raw emotion that we shared, even though it was tearing us apart in that moment.

Rimi's sobs were a constant background to our shouting, a painful reminder of how close it could have all ended differently. But I couldn't stop, and neither could Mairo. We hurled our anger at each other, each of us too stubborn to back down, too afraid to admit how much we had been scared.

The forest seemed to close in on us, the trees looming like silent guards, their shadows stretching darker and deeper, as if the woods themselves were holding their breath, waiting for the storm between us to end.

But, no one, and nothing in the forest, dared to step between us as the confrontation raged on.

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