Living life in the Climbers' Shack (Sequel to What have I become?)

Chapter6- Disaster

Chapter6- Disaster

At the end of the parking lot I took out the map. Left was the way I had come from the night before and right was the way the map was highlighted. I consittered walking through the town using the map so that the group wouldn't catch me. I would get caught if they walked up behind me but, if I took the town way and showed up late I could always say that I got lost. Despite my logic I decided to take the back trail knowing no matter what this day would be an adventure.

The road led into a trail that was nice and flat at the beginning but led to a very steep hill. 'Steep hill' was an understatement; sure the hill was steep but it was also covered in mini horizontal rivers, eroded unlevel places, biker skid marks, that occasional mud hole that only looked dry and some animal droppings on mostly only the edges. I checked the map because this didn't seam right, what did they expect us to be, climbers? The map said take this trail so I continued on even though my body felt very heavy as I pulled myself up the hill step by step. The hill reminded me of an extreme version of what my dad and I used to mountain bike on. If he were here he would be telling me to walk faster, I wish he was here.

I expected a view from the top but there wasn't even one. I looked back at the "hill" I had just conquered and I saw a group of people; I reconised those people. Keith looked right at me, he looked so sad. I felt like he was saying sorry to me wich made me want to go see him but I knew I wasn't going to be able to walk that hill again.

I looked closer and saw that there was a fire behind the group. I ran as fast as possible to get away from the trees because the fire would spread quickly while burning them. I eventually was running across the country side and I figured I missed a turn the map wanted me to take. I guess at that point I wasn't worried about where I was subposed to be but rather how to save myself.

I began running beside several sets of train tracks in a clearing that went into trees again. I knew I would have to turn soon so I began walking so I could think. I thought of entering a nearby pond for safety; water was the opposite of fire after all. I decided against it because I saw ducks wich meant heavy pond sluge and it wasn't really nessary for me at this point to save myself by swimming in poop.

As I kept walking along I found out this was some kind of farm. I saw cows and then wondered if they were scared of the noisy trains that could pass by ever so closely. I was almost through, in fact all I had to do was pass these cows, sneak by the house, walk down the driveway and use the road to lead me out of the country. This was too good to be true, it was too easy.

I heard a voice so I hid behind one of the posts for the cow inclosement. I watched a boy quietly take care of the cows. He looked so sad but the cows didn't care; after all they gave the family milk in exchange for being taken care of so they weren't expected to care about him. He looked up and saw me peaking around the post. Because he he saw me for sure and doesnt look mad I stood up.

The boy was very pale: his hair and face were almost white. Judging by the little I knew, he looked shy and must have been around 15 or 16. Because of our ages, it felt a little wrong to feel the attraction I was now feeling. I knew my parents were six years age difference but, I wasn't sure if that was normal. This year my mom would be about maybe 53 and my dad would be about 47. I figured that they wouldn't be in a retirement home but, I wasn't sure.

He was very nervous when we talked, almost scared. I got the feeling that he wasn't used to talking to girls or maybe just people in general. He told me that he worked on the farm for his parents and everyday was the same long boring day. Mini trains kept passing by in the background.

"So I guess ... this is goodbye?" he asked.

"What?" I asked."Oh you thought..." I could see why he thought that I was going to steal a ride on the train. I must have looked very poor because I was covered in mud. My legs were brown from the hill's mini horizontal streams and ocassional puddles that only appeared dry . I even had mud stains all the way up my back from running.