| 08/19/1999 23:20 CST The Hike. |
The flames leapt in the fire pit as the two huddled closely.
It was now dark and by any guess it was about 9:30 in the night.
They had lit the fire with the last dry match they had in their packs,
tomorrow would be a cold day for them. Their equipment was wet from the rain
and finding dry wood was becoming harder by the hour as the rain persisted.
They huddled close under the make shift shelter they had constructed under
a large pine tree. The woods were strangely quiet on this night,
just the soft white noise of the gentle rainfall on the branches of the canopy above.
It had been seven days since they left on what was supposed to be a three day hiking trip
in the mountains. They had packed for four days, knowing the hike would be hard and they
would possibly be sent off course, but they expected to be back in four days at most.
They both figured their navigation skills were good enough that if they happened to
get off course they could make their way back on the right track within a few hours.
However, bad weather combined with tough terrain had made it difficult to navigate
and they had found themselves lost in the middle of nowhere.
Yet, in the strangest sense, these two weren't lost at all. They had found each other,
and had freed themselves from the unbearable feeling of being alone.
The rain fell more steadily as the two silently listened. Soon they both began
to fall asleep, relying on the other for support and warmth as the fire faded
away into the dreams of night. As they drifted off into an even deeper sleep
they found themselves forgetting about the cold and the rain, only thinking
about each other and how perfect it felt to be together. They laid there
throughout the night, motionless, each dreaming of the other.
The morning came all to quickly, or so it seemed. The two awoke to find even
colder conditions, as indicated by the snow which fell in the place of last
nights rain. They both knew that dry wood would be almost non-exsistant
now that snow was covering everything. However, all was not lost, as
they had found a secluded spot the night before that had been just large
enough to store and dry their equipment, but unfortunately hadn't been
big enough to sleep in. They gathered their things and got all their gear
on again and silently headed out in search of food, but even more in search
of an exit - or at least the next place that they could relax and create
another shelter to spend the night at.
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