High Hopes

The Beginning Of Something New

Gerald smacks his alarm clock and slowly raises his back, with a groggy moan, he gets out of bed. He opens his curtains and stares off into the morning sky, scattered with fluffy cotton clouds and a cobalt blue sky and smiles happily.
He grabs his clothes, pulls up his trousers and buttons up his shirt, letting out a hopeful sigh. "New day equals new me, so let's forget the past and move on".

He waddles down the stairs and eats his breakfast while he switches on the TV, hearing the static before changing to the news channel making him sigh with boredom but that soon changes when the news reader starts talking.
The woman in the TV clears her throat and starts talking "Welcome to CCD News, I'm Kathy Marion with today's news at 6, our first story comes from the islands of Tropen with a man in his mid 30's by the name of Barton Aarons has died early yesterday morning after attempting to climb Mt. Alton, he suffered major blunt force trauma after his head being bashed by the rocky mountain side while falling 80 feet down to the town or Grenden below" the volume dims from Gerald's hearing as he hears a knock at his door, looking confused to who could be knocking at his door.

He slumbers towards the door and looks through the lens, a middle aged man with a black winter jacket and joggers stands idol impatiently tapping his feet holding to what it seems to be a clip board with a few sheets of paper on it and a pen in his other hand.
Gerald opens the door and looks at the male figure in the door.
"Hello?" He asks not looking interested in the slightest.
"Morning good sir, I'm here to portray to you the new and improved head gear for biking and skateboarding, are you interested in buying and trying out our newest products" the man stands confident looking at the bored expression on Gerald's face.
"no thanks, I don't really use bikes or skateboards"
"oh OK, have a good day my good sir" the man walks away and into his car before driving away in the snow.
Gerald closes the door and goes back to watching his TV, he sinks himself into the sofa and gets indulged in what he's watching.
Hours goes by and Gerald jumps up with determination glistened in his eyes.
"Screw it" he says grinning
"I'm going to climb Mt. Alton and I will be Successful no matter what!" he grins grabbing his coat launching the coat rack across the floor towards the backdoor and darts out the door forgetting to lock it, leaving a trail of foot prints in the snow behind him.

****

Gerald pants as he continues to dart towards the Mt. Alton Lodge crunching the soft silver snow beneath his feet with every step sound he gets closer and closer.
"I'm so close don't stop now, just a bit longer"
He pushes the door open letting the warm air hit him in the face hard as he walks in banging his feet against the dark oak planks that the lodge is made of knocking all the hardened snow off his boots.
"nice and warm in here, I'll spend the night and set off in the morning"

Gerald walks through the warm empty lodge and flicks on the light switch, with a click the orange tinted light sprung to life making the Lodge feel even more warm from the colour of the light.
He makes his way towards the dorms with no soul to be found, he shrugs it off and has a look around getting a feel for the place, after knowing where the exits and toilets are he walks around finding the hiking gear he needs for the hike up Mt. Doubton.
"alright I have goggles, warm shit, a flashlight and food"
He lays in bed looking at the oak wood ceiling humming his favourite tune thinking of the rough trek he's going to be having tomorrow.
Gerald sighs "let's get some rest, long day to come ahead"
He falls asleep.
Several hours later he wakes up letting out a loud groan.
"What was that dream, a fish like thing was just staring at me"
He shakes his head and throws the covers off him then sits up and stretches his arms yawning as he rubs his eyes letting his eyes focus on his surroundings.
He picks up his phone and checks the time.
"half 4, I should leave in 20 minutes"
He stands up then flops down onto the floor from getting up too fast, he looks out the window glancing over at the tall mountain looming over him as the sun rises beside it shining through the window with a dark orange like glow giving Gerald a warm feeling of determination to reach his goal.
He smiles as he pulls his shirt over his head and turns and looks at the photo of his dad he has placed on the bed side table
"this is for you dad, hope you're proud in me following in your footsteps" Gerald smiles as he kisses his hand and places it on the top of the picture frame.
"I love you dad, only if you was here to see me now"
He look up to the sky and smiles giving a moment of silence to the recent passing of his father that devoted his life to mountain climbing, A tear trickles down Gerald's face remembering all the times he had with his dad as a child, he looks over to the mountain that loomed over the cabin.
"Let's do this!"
He grabs his coat slinging it around putting it on and swings his bag over his shoulder feeding his arms through the straps and tightens them then swings his front door open letting the cold wind stab him making him shiver.
"here we go"
He steps outside and locks the door with a padlock he found when scavenging the cabin last night and treads through the snow towards Mt. Alton.

-End of Chapter One-

If you liked this Chapter and want more, please comment.