REPOSTED ON MY PROFILE.
Matthew hears the man's voice on the radio and knows he has to get to that boat. Months out in the wilderness and on the run, he's sure this is his only - and perhaps last - chance. The girl in the mall might change his mind.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Going down was exponentially worse than climbing up. Despite his lack of fear at the dumb and dangerous in his youth Matthew still froze the first time he reached the tops of those tall oaks and realized he couldn't get back down. He was unable to move even a pinky finger. He cried and cried until his dead come with a ladder to get him.
It was embarrassing because all of his cousins had to watch but he was back up in the branches the next week. The dumb and dangerous did little to faze him. Still he remained apprehensive on every journey downward.
Now was no different.
The tree was dangerously tall. Haphazardly reaching towards the sky. It was still slick from the sprys that spat on Matthew's head that morning so he descended cautiously, very aware that at any moment he could slip and break his neck on the way down. And it was a very long way down.
He hugged the trunk. He hugged the branches. He even hugged himself when he finally made it onto the lowest, thickest limb of the tree. And he was still at least ten feet up.
Taking a moment, Matthew lowered himself onto a squat. The branch was solid under his feet. He had no thoughts of terror now as he looked down and considered whether a jump from this height would break his legs or not.
He was tired. The rough bark was starting to chew at his palms. The last thing he wanted was to grip more of it on his way down.
Still a jump from this height might break his legs. It won't kill him though and that was thought even.
"Am I sure I should go looking for this mystery ship?" he asked something, still looking at his peeling palms. Jump or not he wondered. "Do I even believe that there's somewhere safe out there? The whole world is supposed to b-"
The radio in his pack, nestled safely against the base of the tree ten feet down propped on an exposed root, belched a screeching white noise.
Matthew startled. His foot slipped from under him. With only a moment to think Matthew pushed with the other because a fall from this height could probably break his legs and slammed himself into the tree trunk. He gripped and held, morphing his fall into a slide and the skin of his hands into ribbons. It probably saved him a lot of hurt but that didn't make it hurt any less than it did.
He landed butt first. And hard. It could have been his head but nothing was broken. Scrambling stinging hands and knocked knees he closed the distance to his backpack and flipped it over. Everything he owned fell from its depths, except the thing he wanted the most.
He gave it three more shakes.
The first brought forth nothing. The second, his toothbrush and rusted but trusted can opener. The third finally revealed the radio.
Matthew grabbed at it before it could land in the mud and muck.
Shaking, he touched the screen and turned the volume up.
