Short Stories

[Seven]

"This is my life now. I have climbed this hill and now I will die upon it." 

"Shut up. We've only been hiking for twenty minutes." 

My lungs heaved from the constant trek upwards. My calve muscles burned and cried in pain. Sweat uncomfortably formed and poured from everywhere on my body. I sagged over as I sat on the large rock at the top. My best friend of almost 12 years say next to me looking almost comfortable, if it wasn't for the slight sheen of sweat on her forehead or the uneven spurts of breath that left her. 

"How's your chest feel?" She asked me. I patted my chest and layed back on the rock. "It's fine right now. No pains or anything." I answered. 

I suffered from asthma... have all my life. The pain was there in my lungs but it wasn't anything serious. I basked on the rock a few more seconds before deciding to take in the view. It wasn't too bad. You could see the hills and all the trees as they were beginning to turn colors with the changing seasons. 

"Hey," She paused to look at me. "You know this isn't the top, right?" She asked amused. I groaned and layed back down covering my eyes with my arm. It was sticky with sweat and I immediately removed it. "Your kidding?" I whined. 

She just laughed and got up, grabbing my arm and attempting to pull me up to. "Oh, come on Jess. It's not that bad. You're doing great!" She encouraged, yanking my arm a little harder. I huffed and let my body relax, so I was just dead weight. 

"But, I don't wanna, Chelsea." I muttered. She huffed and waved my arm around. Then she grinned evilly making my belly flutter with a wave of nerves. In one swift movement, she had a piece of skin pinched between her fingertips. 

I shot up with a screech of pain and my free hand connected with her wrist, yanking her fingers away. "You freaking b-" I was cut off by her loud laughter. "At least you're up now." She tried to reason. I frowned and rubbed the reddening place where she had pinched me. "God, you're so abusive. Why do I put up with you?" I complained, as I moved to follow her up the trail. 

She didn't answer and just continued on as if nothing had happened. 

I sighed and looked around me. We passed trees that all looked the same to me. Birds chirped in the leaves and I tried to spot them as they flitted between branches. As I was watching the local fauna, Chelsea had stopped ahead of me without a warning. I ran right into her back. 

"Oh! What-" Her hand was out towards me telling me to stop. I looked past it to the trail ahead of us. A coiled rope of venom and persistent hissing sat poised before us on the trail. Chelsea's foot was just a couple inches from the copper head that dripped death. Her body shook with terror, but her muscles were paralyzed with terror. 

"Chels.... stay perfectly still. Do not move a muscle." I advised quietly. I watched as the forked tongue of the devil slipped in and out between it's scaled mouth. A hiss puffed from the coiled snake. "I'm going to try and grab a stick so I can move it. Just don't move, ok?" I moved slowly away, towards the side of the trail. 

The Copperhead swiveled it's head in my direction in a fraction of a second. I froze as its  hiss reverberated in my ears loud and clear. "Chelsea, move now. Quick!" I snapped. Chelsea leaped away from the snake that turned in a swift movement to look at my best friend who was now a safer distance away. 

I glanced towards the side of the trail, where a bunch of limbs and sticks lay scattered. The snake was holding Chelsea with a dark stare. I slowly reached down and grabbed the biggest and longest one of could grab and brought it before me defensively. The snake turned and stared me down as I raised the dead piece of wood. 

Chelsea flinched and the beast twisted back to her. I brought the end of the limb down on its head in one quick swipe and began to repetitively whack at it. The snake turned and writhed on the ground as I tore up dirt hitting it over and over again. Chelsea was sobbing in the back ground, but I kept going until the Copperhead quit moving. 

I paused and poked it making sure it was dead. I then threw the stick back to the side of the trail and grabbed Chelsea in a tight hug. She sobbed into my shoulder and I felt my own eyes prick with tears. "It's ok." I soothed quietly. She began to quiet down after a few min

I smiled a little and held her at arms length. "I told you I had a bad feeling about hiking."