The archive of the forgotten

the mountains before I met you

I have never met him. But in a few weeks I will, we are going to walk over the mountains here. Everyday we sent a new letter to the next resting place of the other. My peter, I cannot wait till I meet him on the middle of the path. I have never told him about it. I take a deep breath, it feels like I am wearing a sweater that is tight. I hope that I will be able to meet him before my lungs give up.

I take out my letter for today.

Dear jeremy,

Here we stand than. At the edge of really knowing eachother. If everything goes according to plan the track to the middle will take five days. I hope everything will go to according to plan, if not we wait for eachother in the cabin there. As we promised we will wear the rings we sent to eachother. I will also be carrying a sprig of propbably withered edelweiss. I hope you are just as excited as I am. I can imagine everything about you but your touch. I hope it doesn't feel foreign when we see eachother. We've been friends for how many years now? Five or so? I think even more. But you are the number guy. So I will leave you to it. So we will both begin tomorrow on nine in the morning. I hope your path will be beautiful. I wish you the best of luck my sky!

Have a goood first day and don't rush!

Your Peter

I cough the same dry cough that is a reminder of the fact that I could be dead at any moment. Why haven't I told him? Pulmonary fibrosis.... before i was diagnoes I had never heard of it. Why haven't I told him? I curse myself. I do not know, he is one of my dearest friends. Why would you keep your sickness a secret? I do not know. I think I am ashamed, or I wish i was healthy. Both of those reasons are valid but not very smart. I tie my shoes a little tighter and start to walk into the beautiful forest that will lead me to him. That will lead my to the last thing I still need to do before I die.

I shake the thought from my head and "Kane!" My Viszla runs towards me and I pet him on his head. He is my emotional supprt dog. I named him Kane and his middle name is nine, I though it was funny to have a dog who's name was litterally canine.    

I feel very optimistic as I strap my backpack on my back. I need to stop myself from skipping before I remember the letter I need to read today. I am going to meet him! In just a few days I will be able to say that I really know him!

My dear, Peter.

I hope that I will not make spelling mistakes this time. Because writing it by hand makes it harder to correct them. Anyway, only five days and I will be able to hear your laugh. Together at last. I think this mountain thing is an magnificent idea and if you are reading this it means we both agreed with going through with it. You've known me for six years and 158 days. I would like to say how many days but I will keep that till I can really tell you that with my voice. So as we promised we call the other when we arrive at the next point of rest. I hope you remember my number. Otherwise you'll find it on the back of every letter you receive. I hope that doesn't sound condescending but I do not want to write a whole new letter. So we'll just go with this!

I hope we'll see all kinds of animals, I hope we see the life of the mountain, I hope we see flowers and other kind of nature. I hope we see snow and extraordinary views. I hope we enjoy every step we take, I hope we will both think every drop of sweat we produce is worth it, I hope we'll lose our breath to the extraordinary heights and the magnificent beauty of the mountains!

I will see you there, that is for sure.

Your Jeremy   

I have a bright smile as on my face as I start to walk. The gravel under my boots makes a satisfying cracking noise everytime I put a foot down. "Great day for hiking isn't it?" A passer-by says. "Yes, thank you" I say. "Want a companion?" he asks, I am not sure why. "No thank you, I will meet my companion on the way." I say. "That is peculiar" He says, I chuckle. "We will meet in the middle." "That is quite a good idea."  I nod as I put the leash on my belgian malinois. It is a former army dog but he retired, he was my father's dog in the army and now that my father is dead he is mine. He is extremely strong and kind. I hope he'll like kane, Jeremy is always talking about Kane, I chuckle. It is a funny name, I must say that. My father named the dog Odysseus, I am not sure why but I quite like it. I take a deep breath and oddyseus and I are on our way. We cannot wait to see our friends!

Two friends, both of them walking towards eachother. Hoping they will finally see the person they trust most in their life. The one that has been consuming their dreams. The one who has been keeping them up. The one they have talked to for hours on the phone but they have never see the face. They're such different souls and still both of them miss the other while never really knowing them. But do they care they do not know the other's face? Not even a little bit.  

Jeremy and Peter are desperate to meet eachother. The first time they will meet face to face. But jeremy has been hiding something, why? he doesn't have a good answer either. He prays that it won't be the cause that he will never ever see his best friend. Before they meet eachother they both meet interesting characters while slowly getting to know the beauty of the mountain which Jeremy is familiar with but for Peter it is exciting and new. Will everything go to plan? Will they be able to meet the other?    

Btw the picture at the beginning is actually one I took while on a trip in the Christmas holiday