True Luna

Chapter 1

The afternoon sun casted shadows of the power lines providing sparse shade. The area around had been cleared of the thick cedar trees but that didnt stop the long grass to grow tall all the way up to the woods that surrounded. Worker trucks needed to get through from time to time, so there was a dirt road, if you could call it that, it was just 2 dirt lines for tires with little rocks. I could only assume to keep things from growing. Since there were no plants, it was just dirt which today was a bit muddy. Not thick mud, but enough to coat your shoes. Which interestly enough is a positive sign. The mud showed that the recent rain hasnt allowed the trail to dry up enough, meaning the rocky path we would soon come upon would be too slippery for bikes to go down.

This part of the greenbelt was like a secret oasis. Hidden behind homes in a booming neighborhood with a school down the street. To anyone driving through, you would have never known the tall power lines peaking over the homes led to a creek was the hidden heart of the city. Anyone in Austin knows of the Barton Creek Green Belt but not these back trails only accessible from behind my parents home. It was the neighborhoods best kept secret. Many could only get here by mountain bike, but the public entrance was a little farther down the road. The main purpose of this back entrance from the powerlines was for the neighborhood to have a less crowded entrance to Sculpture falls. Although, I learned taking a left rather than a right to the popular swimming hole led to a whole new other world.

I first found all these back trails when I was looking for a new place for my morning runs. Going in the same circle around the neighborhood just was not doing it for me anymore. The creek had been here for centruries cutting different paths through the limestone which gave me endless places to explore.

I know what they say, never go off the trail but is it really going off trail if nature made it instead of man? I never strayed too far from the creek which I know would always bring me back. I guess you could say the creek was my trail. I never wandered into the thick woods that it surrounded.

This greenbelt is a well known spot in my city, where me and my friends have gone plenty of times before. Although, today I would show them one of my secret swimming holes I had found.

I had not taken anyone down before to any of my hideaways. I prided in having a secret escape. I always had a place to retreat to, where I could go where no one would find me. I decided I wanted to share apart of it with Zach. This spot specifically. The water was cool and clear. I just wanted to share it with him. I told him about it and he thought it would be a great outing with friends for swimming and fishing. Different than just going to hang out downtown or at a park.

As we walk the wide powerline path, I glanced around at my friends who had joined me. Zach is ahead of me, his usual confident stride setting the pace. I watch him from behind, his broad shoulders tensing as he adjusted his pack. He was always like this, eager and wanting to be the first to assess the situation. It's something that drew me to him in the first place two years ago. It is what led him to being one of the best on the football team and doing well in school. His strength and dedication is what earned him respect. He is active and constantly trying to beat some weightlifting goal. He was also passionate and competitive which drew me to him but was also an issue time to time. His rage would get take hold of him, like he couldn't control it. But that's also what made him so good at sports. His anger would deter many people, but I wasn't bothered. I knew I was one of the few people who could calm him down.

I was quite the opposite of Zach. Im a much smaller stature, quiet and have to work a bit harder to do well in school. Math and science just dont come easily to me which put me in lower classes than my friends. I wished I was smarter so I could be in the same classes as my friends rather than just see them in the hallway. They were all in classes together which seemed to make them closer.  Zach and Elyse had every class together. Also, Elyse is a cheerleader so she went where ever the football team went. My sports seemed to change every year between volleyball, cross country, track and soccer. I could not really decide what my sport was, my small stature really causes a lot of hurdles within sports. I was strong for someone my size, I was fast for someone my size. I could keep up with the best athletes but would never be them. I really just tried anything but cheer. I was not flexible and flipping in the air just seemed like a disaster waiting to happen. Honestly for someone my size that would be a preferable sport, but I did not have a graceful bone in my body. So between flexibility and skillfully uncoordinated, cheer was out of the question.