Waterfalls

1

I woke up like every other morning, alone. No family to accompany me in my solitary confinement' this cabin in the woods. Just me and Mother Nature. I have been alone for four years now so it doesn't bother me all that much anymore. I've explored my surrounding area and have even fixed up the cabin myself when need be, but today I was leaving the comfort zone of my set perimeters and heading up over the mountain just southwest of my cabin. Heading to my "kitchen area" I grabbed all the non perishable food I would be able to carry along with my sleeping pack and clothes, and then headed out the door making sure it was secure so animals didn't get inside. I don't know why I want to make this trip I just had a feeling I should, and so I will because I mean what else do I have to be doing around here anyways.

I grabbed my bow and quiver of arrows and started southwest of the cabin using the compass that was once my brothers. I knew this was not going to be easy, the mountain was about five miles away and would take a day to three days to get over, so I prepared myself for about a weeks trip. Nothing I haven't done before, nothing I hadn't trained for. Being alone means you have to stay fit because your only chance of survival is to rely on yourself and if you slack off then you are just screwing yourself over. I had taken this path before, towards the mountain, so I had a somewhat designated trail which I marked both ways to ensure I knew how to get home. I left at about seven this morning so by time I got to the base it was about eleven, twelve o' clock. Pulling out some dried meat and my water pack I decided to take a short break to refuel and then I would push out about five to seven more miles to get where I was going as soon as possible. I was always told about "Indians" who lived around these parts but I've never seen or heard any so I wasn't exactly worried although I always knew to stay alert, Just because people were not present didn't mean animals weren't a threat.

* * * *

It was about mid afternoon when I was about three quarters of the way up and I knew I had to stop to sleep at least for an hour or so. Looking around I found two sturdy looking trees on a level spot to my left and decided I would set up a hammock high above the ground and tie my stuff up with me. It only took me ten minutes to set it up above about fifteen feet up so nothing would be affected by any curious animals that happen to stop by while I'm sleeping. Laying down I close my eyes then feel my body finally relaxing for the first time in hours, and I am soon consumed by sleep.

*crack* *wood splitting*

I woke up suddenly at the motion of the tree starting to move. Quickly I untied everything and re-tied everything onto my back and clasped onto the tree that was not falling and looked down to see what the cause was. it wasn't dark maybe six in the evening but I could see someone had hacked at the tree base with an axe or some tool similar to it. I started hopping from tree to tree, making my way up the mountain as silently as possible with the occasional rustle of branches and leaves. I hope they know I am not the one I said to myself as I made it to the last tree before having to travel on the ground. Scanning I made sure no one was going to ambush me before I slowly shimmied down the tree and then turned to sprint up towards the top of the mountain. I felt a presence behind me so I quickly withdrew my bow and an arrow and loaded it turning quickly and abruptly stopping with it aimed at my oncoming attacker. Behind the arrow head I first saw a pair of blue green eyes and then freckles, dark curlyish hair and a firm jaw. He looked well built to survive on his own and looked about my age, nineteen or twenty. I looked him dead in the eyes with my hazel ones, "Mind telling me why you tried to knock me out of the tree and are now stalking me?" I asked harshly not moving from my defensive position. "woah calm down you're in my territory" his low voice rattled in my chest a bit. "Listen I've been living five miles away from this mountain and I've never seen you before what's the deal? I was just trying to get some sleep, I have done nothing to you" I further notified. He just laughed, "Okay well my name is Enzo I've been here for about three years..." I just dropped my arrow from his face and started walking away. This dude really thought I wanted to sit and play "hi my name is"? He could kiss my ass for all I care. I felt his hand grab my arm "Um where are you going?" I snapped my arm away and told him not to worry about then continued up the mountain. I knew he was walking behind me still so I turned around." I'm just passing through I don't really need an escort." He just looked at me. "I don't think you know what's over there so I'm coming with" and just somehow I just knew he was not going to leave, so I just rolled my eyes and continued walking.

It took about two hours and him complaining three times before we made it to the top. There was only one problem besides whinny baby over here, the other side was a steep drop and there were thick trees that covered what seemed like a bowl-like shape in the Earth close to the bottom. Before I had the chance to turn around and wave off my follower Enzo, all I saw was him running at me followed by some strange creature and I knew where he was going with this and i figured at the last moment we were better off going over than facing whatever that was.