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A Welcome Home

The changing colour of fall leaves, a cool breeze, a quietness that can only be found away from civilization, things that would put you at peace if you liked the outdoors.

As my boots squelch in the mucky forest ground, I can't help but resent my friends more with every step I take as I yell to them "So did you all just invite me to ditch me here", no answer, go figure.

I shouldn't be surprised, it wasn't my idea to spend the day hiking in the middle of rural Vermont, but my friends know how to play on my emotional side, and it was hardly a challenge for them to convince me.

"Come on, we hardly get to see you anymore!" Sam said, as Liam piped in "Yeah, you owe us a good adventure, your college friends get you for like eight months of the year."

To their credit, they weren't wrong. Since moving to school I've been slacking on keeping in touch with them or anyone from back home. I've just been distracted recently, I haven't even had the time to call my family much, which I know my mom is especially pissed off about. I mean I would be, imagine raising a kid for eighteen years just for them to forget about you when they moved away, sounds like a treat.

The rustle of leaves nearby snaps me out of my little pity party as a shiver runs up my spine. I don't get scared that easily, but something about being in this forest alone gives me goosebumps, I can only imagine what it would be like at night. The tree canopy already does a good enough job at blocking out most of the sun, you could easily get lost in here for hours in the dark.

"Riley hurry up, Liams way ahead of us", Sam's head pops around from a bush not too far ahead, startling me a bit, as he shouts back at me.

"Alright give me a minute, go ahead. It's not like we're in a rush so tell Liam to slow down and I'll catch up to you guys", I see Sam's eyebrows furrow as I yell back to him.

"What are you talking about, I'm not going to leave you, Liam is crazy. I don't even know where he is right now, but I'm sure he'll loop back to us eventually." Sam says as his voice lowers from a yell to a normal volume as I approach. Although a normal volume to Sam probably sounds like shouting to anyone else.

Ever since I've known the kid he's been the loudest person in the room, one of the nicest guys I've ever met but if you ever bring him home tell your family to wear earplugs, there just doesn't seem to be a noise control on him.

"Ok, ok I get it, I'm not here enough, you want to spend as much time together as possible, guilt me for it more why don't you. You know I'll be back home for good when I finish college, that's only like three years away," I say as we continue to walk, scanning the horizon for Liam.

"You say that now, but just wait, do you even want to come back? You could stay to do grad school after, move to a new state for a job, don't pretend like you won't have options. So when we get time with you, trust me we'll use it all," he says, with what I can only assume is a tinge of bitterness.

A silence between us grows as I think about it, he's not wrong. I haven't put that much thought into it, but do I really want to stay here forever? There's nothing wrong with Vermont, but maybe that's why I'm bored of it. I haven't really lived anywhere else before.

I shake my head and look up "Now's not the time to be thinking about that, let's just have fun while we're all still together. Or at least you and I, until we can find where the hell Liam went", I say, not denying what Sam says.

We walk for about another five minutes before finding Liam sitting on the side of a fallen tree, overlooking a ravine "Oh there you guys are, I thought you'd gotten lost or something", he says standing up and looking ready to run off again.

"Dude, slow down, we're not in a rush to get anywhere, where are we anyways, shouldn't we be heading back soon", I try to say convincingly, knowing Liam is probably not hearing a word as he's staring into the ravine.

"What do you think is down there?", Liam says.

"I don't know probably nothing", Sam chides in, likely seeing the same stupid look on Liam's face of a bad idea forming, but before either of us can say anything else he takes off running.

"Last one to the bottom is driving us home!"

With hardly a few heartbeats of delay I see Sam fall into the trap as he begins to follow Liam running down into the ravine. "See you at the bottom", he yells before I can think of what to do.

Well, this is a terrible idea, but there's no way I'm driving us all home either, and I take off right behind Sam.

I start running, trying my best to jump from rock to rock on the hill, avoiding the patches of wet leaves and mud so I don't slip down the rest of the way. From what I can tell while rushing down, there's nothing out of the ordinary about this ravine. All I can really see are a blur of red, orange and yellow from the fall leaves on the trees and ground. I've never been under the impression that I'm the fastest of our friends, but there's no doubt in my mind that I can beat Sam in a race.

About a quarter of the way down the hill I catch up to Sam and pass him, yet as I look up I can't even see Liam anymore, he's probably at the bottom looking around already. As I move I can feel my heart pounding, I've nearly slipped three times, each time making my heart beat a bit faster. I try to focus on not falling, but the sound of Sam behind me snapping twigs under foot only adds more pressure. I'm tempted to look back, but know I would lose too much ground if I did that. As I get more cautious with my steps Sam gets closer and closer gaining on me, I can nearly see him in my periphery as I run a little faster to stay ahead. We're nearly down to the base of the ravine when I hear a thud behind me.

Instinctually I turn my head around to see Sam right behind me sliding down the hill feet first with his arms flailing looking for something to grab. He must have hit a patch of mud. I grin and almost stop to laugh before realizing he's not stopping, and the closest thing he's got to grab onto is my leg as he takes me out with him. I hear a laugh before he says

"If I'm going down I'm taking you with me."

I do end up smiling at this, a smile short-lived once I realize the only thing stopping us from sliding the rest of the way down is a giant boulder near the bottom of the ravine.

Panicking I try to dig my fingers and shoes into the ground to get some traction but with Sam's hand still on my leg all I can grasp is dirt. I'm not able to stop us. As the boulder gets closer I brace myself, spinning slightly to try and crash into it with the side of my shoulder and not my legs. As we get closer I close my eyes for a second getting ready for impact and then feel weightless.

I open my eyes for a second and see nothing but darkness, I feel like I'm in a dream, I can't feel Sam's hand anymore, did I just die?

Then I feel an impact, and know I'm still alive. I hit something hard as pain shoots through my body and I continue to fall even faster than before, my limbs hitting rocks and getting thrown around. I try to see where I am, but can't, my eyes haven't yet adjusted to the dark, I try to feel anything as I'm falling, to get a grasp of what's happening. I've got no clue, I'm waiting for the falling to stop, I feel the adrenaline pumping through my body and can hardly feel anything anymore. My heart pounds at my chest, this might be how I die, I feel ... then the world goes blank.