I've never gone zip lining before. I might as well do it before I head home. There was a scheduling for one in the afternoon so I thought there couldn't be any harm in doing it, I'm in one of the most beautiful places anyway. I just didn't wanna deal with the over hype of everyone else in the group. I get annoyed easily.
It didn't look fun or scary when I would see it on TV. It was like driving a car for the first time. It gets you to point A to point B and looks cool but once you're in the act of doing it, it doesn't do much for you. A temporary thrill as it were.
Now I find myself getting secured on the harness. My mind has wondered so much the line went rather fast, my train of thought is one of the way I also deal with people or situations I shouldn't have to. A train that goes nowhere though.
"Are you ready kid!?" the instructor shouted at me a little too close for comfort. Geez I think he spat on me too, but I guess I was about to be sent off. I think he read my straight face because the next thing he said was "don't worry kid, you'll have the time off your life"
And like that I was off, it started off slow. Looking down the line I couldn't make out the end of it. I started picking up speed. Unusually fast, is it really supposed to go this fast? The surrounding becomes a blur of motion. What were once trees are just green trails. I didn't know I was at such a high elevation starting off. I'm starting to see different colors now. Blues and purples zoom past me as I pick up more and more speed. To the point where I can't make out objects anymore, simply colors.
I don't believe what I'm seeing.
I look over to my right and make out an image or visual in the array of motion, it's when I was 3 and hid my crayons behind the couch. That is me right? It looks like me from our home movies. I look left and see me graduating elementary school with my best friend Byron.
Is this what happens when someone goes so fast? Their life flashes before their eyes or something? Suddenly I fine myself experiencing passing love letters in algebra class.
This is not a day dream. And I'm not passed out. I still see the zip line and the harness I'm strapped into. But what I'm seeing is omniscient. As if it's not my own memories but memories of me. I just passed my high school prom night. I literally see it move pass me as I turn my head back.
I see all the fights I had with my parents, bickering back and forth when it didn't really matter. I don't understand. I feel myself picking up more and more speed.
The milestones in my life are breezing passed me. Where I can catch one for a couple seconds. My acceptance letter to college. My leaving for this very vacation. My.. Wedding?
I don't know who that is, she's beautiful. No! It's gone.
My kids being born, taking their first steps. Going to kindergarten. This has to be real, it's not a dream it feels so tangible. Then it hits me
I'm zipping through time.
Literally. I'm traveling through my own time line. I see myself growing older, no, no, no. I can't be going this far. What happens if I get off this zip line? Will I be in that specific point in time? What's at the end of this? Where am I landing then?
Looking left and right it's just moments of me getting older and older. I look down at my hands and they're not traveling with the time as far as I can tell. I myself am not old but if I cut myself off now will I land in that moment!?
Looking at the end of the line the zip line is still in sight but it leads to a bright light. Only whiteness. I can't die now. I have to cut myself off. I have the knife I can reach from my jeans pocket. I can hoist myself to the main line and maybe, just maybe let myself free.
Why did I take those past moments for granted? Why did a selfish person like me get something as great as a family. A wife and kids I probably don't deserve. Would I still be who I am knowing that good things are to come? I grow old with my wife. Watch her die before I do. Oh god, someone shouldn't know what the outcome of their own life should be.
I muster enough strength to get to the line and try to cut the rope. The speed is too much for me. Looking behind me, I'm passing out. I can't... I can't stay awake. Darkness surrounds me as a narrow tunnel of a decrepit version of me looking back at me is all I see. All I see, is black.
