Saturday, November 8- the Day of the Hiking Retreat
Simmons Mountain. It's never looked as dark as it is right now. Then again, it is only six am. David, Brandon and I spotted the mountain five miles away at a gas station. All our supplies was in the back of Brandon's 1995 red Chevy truck. All the way until the campsite, we jammed out to some music and sang along. Finally, we made it to the camp site and parked at the bottom of the mountain. It was hiking time. 1,500ft altitude, and we had to make it to the peak. We started to head up and I looked at my watch to check the time to measure how long it takes us. My watch read '6:27am.'
"So, you and Lucy are a thing now, aren't you?," asked David as we started to walked up the trail. "Umm, it's Lucy and I, and no, we're just friends. However, I'm hoping she'll be my prom date. She probably will say 'no' though." Brandon piped in and said, "What did we tell you last time you said that? And what happened? Exactly, she came to our table and asked for you to help her with Marine, and YOU got her to go to Frew's with you! I think you have a good chance."
The trail became steeper and rockier. "We've been walking for an hour....should we take a break?," asked David. "Nah, we should make it to the peak before dark, and we're only 1/6 of the way there," I replied. We continued to walk. "How's Taylor?" David replied, "She's pretty good. I have already asked her to prom and she already said 'yes'. I'm pretty excited. You know, since we didn't go last year." Brandon cut in, "How did you ask her?" "Well, she loves the lake, so, I took her to Lake West and put flower pedals in the shape of the words, 'Prom with Me?', and, well, she said yes." I looked down at my watch. They both noticed me looking at my watch and asked, "what time is it?" I told them that the watch read '11:37am'. Brandon asked, "Can we take a break now?" I responded, "Ugh, fine. Only for fifteen minutes. We're only 1/3 of the way there and it will already be about nine o'clock tonight when we reach the peak." We sat for fifteen minutes and some more in silence other than the sounds of water and nature.
"C'mon now," I said, "it's been a half an hour now. We need to start heading back up the mountain. It's only going to get darker!" David didn't like the way I was 'controlling' the group and replied somewhat angrily, "Who put you in charge?" The tension was rising and Brandon knew it, he spoke, "Guys, let's just calm down and start hiking a bit. Louis is right, we need to get there before dark." We walked in awkward silence as tension was already high and neither of us wanted to make it raise even more. I pulled out my camera and took pictures of the beautiful nature such as a blue-green salamander on a brown tree trunk or the view of the other mountains looking out through the trees. It was amazing.
Time really goes by fast when you're hiking because we had already been hiking for 5 hours and it was already 5:07pm and we must've been going pretty fast because we were only about another half hour away. The silence ended and the argument seemed childish by now. "So, we heard about David and Tiffany, do you have anybody, Brandon?," I asked. "Not really. There's this girl in Asheville I met, but I don't think she's into me like that. I think I've been friendzoned," he responded. David spoke up finally and said, "Why do you say that?" "She's a nice pretty girl and all, but she didn't ask if I had a girlfriend or anything, nor did she even care about me personally. If she cared, she would've asked about my school or something, you know? It's just a little odd," as Brandon changed the subject, "Anyway, how much longer 'til the peak?" I answered, "probably another fifteen minutes, tell us more about your mystery girl from Asheville." He replied hesitantly, "Well, her name is Heather, she's a junior at Everton High, a brunette, about 5'1", and she just turned seventeen. She plays volleyball for Everton and is already being recruited by NCU-." David cut him off, "Ooo, D-1 School, nice. She must be pretty good then, right? It's not like she stinks, ha." Brandon said back, "Ha, no, she's pretty good."
There it was, the mountainous peak of Simmons Mountain. She was a beauty. You could see all of Asheville from here. "Wow, we made it!," David said. "Yep, we did. It took eleven hours, but we're here, and that's all that matters. Now, let's set up our campsite, I'm tired." We all were tired and wanted to go to bed, so, we set up our campground. The tents were set up next to the fire, at a safe distance of course, and the bags next to the tents. "I'm going to go find some firewood, anyone want to come with me?," I asked. "Nah, I'm good," replied David. "Same here," said Brandon. So off I went, into the mountainous woods of Simmons Mountain....alone.....in the dark.
This is the scariest thing I've done in a while. Not only CAN'T I see, but I CAN hear. I heard wolves and owls and bats and all kinds of creatures, even some I was unsure of the identity. Finally, I came across some wood. I picked up as much as I could when I heard a clinging of some kind of rock. I looked down and saw a glowing, shimming green gem. I picked it up in awe. What was I holding? It is the strangest thing I have ever seen. I put the mysterious mineral in my pocket, picked up the wood I set down, and headed on back to the campsite.
"Guys, look at what I found," as I picked out the rock. "Whoa, what is that?," I was so in awe of the gem, again, that I lost track of who said that, "I'm not quite sure, but it's a heck of a rock." I placed it back in my pocket. David started to ask, "Now, what's up with you and Lucy?" I asked naively, "What do you mean?" Brandon blurted out, "Oh you know what he means. C'mon, just answer the question." I responded finally, "Oh alright. She was forced to take her pop quiz on Thursday, even though it was only her second day, so of course she failed it. She asked Mr. Flarone if she could retake it and get a better grade since it was only her second day. She made a seventy-something, so I finally asked if she wanted me to help her with her studies." Brandon asked confusedly, "Mr. Flarone wouldn't let her retake it?" I replied, "Nope, he wouldn't let her retake it. I asked what she thought of it, and she wishes she could undo---" I was cut off, but not by someone.
Blue streaks of light flashed and spun all around me. "Where am I? Where am I?," that's the only question popping into my head, "where am I?" It was like I was inside a tunnel of blue lights, and it rotated.
Finally I opened my eyes after they were closed due to the intensity of the moment. Then, I heard David's voice, "Dude, wake up. Seriously, c'mon, we're going to be late." "Going to be late for what?," I asked still have asleep. Then he replied, "You know, the camping trip is today." I got up immediately and looked at my watch, '6:27am', the exact same time it was this morning before we left for the mountains peak. "How did we get on ground level again?," I asked. "Again?" Brandon questioned. I looked at my watch again, except this time for the date....Saturday, September 8. The day restarted. That doesn't make any sense to me, how did it do that? I'm reliving my Saturday. I felt pressure in my pocket, the only difference from now and 'this morning' when we left the first time. It was the gem.
We headed up the trail, them not knowing we did this already. "So, you and Lucy-," David started but I stopped him, "No! We're not a couple!" We all stopped, David and Brandon looking at me confused, "How'd you know what I was going to say?" Brandon cut him off and stated, "Déjà Vu." If only he knew... Then I realized, they do know! Or, will know. No, I mustn't tell them a thing about this now magical mysterious mineral, this gazing glamorous gem, raging render of a rock. I have to keep this to myself. How though? How did the gem know when I 'wanted' to redo? Was there a delayed reaction from finding the gem, or a specific term/phrase I said? What triggered the time jump?
The 'second time' heading up the mountain was a lot more awkward, slow, and quiet due to the fact that I had nothing 'new' to say. Finally, we made it at 6:02pm. The top of Simmons Mountain. We started to talk again, and David asked for the second time, "Now, what's up with you and Lucy?" I stated, "Mr. Flarone wouldn't let her retake the pop quiz that she wanted to redo since it was only her second day and she failed, so, I told her I could help her with any more marine work." Brandon asked, "and she's okay with that?" The time of the last time jump was about to occur so I started to cover my face from seeing the blue lights again. Two minutes after the designated time of the first jump, I looked up to both of their faces in confusion. "Are you okay?," they both asked. "Yeah, I'm fine, I just have a headache now. Wow, that was embarrassing. Ha." Brandon said, "Yeah, ha, if only there was a way for you to make us forget that happened haha." I replied, "Haha, yeah, I would totally undo---"
Here we go again. At least I figured out the trigger word, 'undo'. Blue streaks of light all around me again. It's not so bad the second time.
"Dude, wake up! We're going to be late!" I got up and said, "Yeah yeah yeah, we have plenty of time." We all got out of the 1995 red Chevy truck, and headed up the mountain. Even more quiet, silent, and slow than the first two times. I was so tired from climbing this mountain three times without any sleep that I told them to set up the tents and that I was just going to go to bed, and that's exactly what happened.
Finally, Saturday, September 8, was over.
