prompt 1-7

He lay against the boulder on the secluded beach and looked out at the water. It was a cool fall night and the sun was slowly fading into the horizon. An orange hue reflected onto the lake and Jacob was taking it all in. He closed his eyes and listened. No traffic, no chatter, just the sounds of crickets and the occasional croak of a frog. He looked at his backpack that lay next to him, filled to the brim, heavy, but with enough to start him off. He had nowhere to go tonight, or anytime in the future. This was his rebirth. To be born again to live life differently. No more of the hectic hustle, and blind rush to work and deadlines. No more worrying about how the mortgage was going to be paid, or when his wife Jessica and him would find alone time. No more longing for free time. "No more," he thought, a deep emptiness pressed down hard on his chest. It was hard to find air. “My sweet Jessica, love of my life,” he choked. “There was no warning. One minute you’re here, the next you’re dead. And so begins his journey, without Jessica, without any responsibility, without all the people saying how sorry they were and pushing so hard to help. All he needed to do was be left alone. So here he was, living off the land, searching for answers within and from above. He reached into the front pouch of his backpack, pulled out his bag of weed and tapped some into his pipe.”This will help.”
Jacob awoke early shivering and having to take a pee. His hands shook as he stood behind the boulder he had previously slept on. Not a great idea he thought, but the absolute urgency of the deed made it a necessity. He watched as the pee steamed against the ground. The wind was picking up and the leaves were flying off the trees. He reached into his bag again and grabbed his downed jacket and a hat. He noticed that the leaves were just like snow, every leave was different. Fall was a colorful time and orange and yellow were definitely a prerequisite for every leave to have. He jumped up and down and waved his hands from side to side to get his temperature up. A movement in the water caught his eye. He looked at a broken tree near the movement and thought I could climb it and lean down to look closer. So he did. He dug his boots into the bark of the tree and carefully worked his way up. He remembered doing this as a boy and his mother always yelling that he should get down, he was going to fall and hurt himself. He never did fall. It wasn’t easy climbing this tree, the bark disintegrated and he had to slowly work his way to the down part of the tree. He made it to the flat area and looked down. Not too high, worst case he might break a few ribs or an arm. He bounced on the downed part of the tree and it gave little play. He maneuvered on his knees towards the movement and there seemed to be quite a bit now. As he got closer, he saw what looked like mini loch ness monsters circling around and jabbing at each other. He stopped and watched them. “What until I tell Jessica about this,” he smiled. Again his breath was taken away from him and the tears flowed. He placed his head down on the tree and hugged the tree. With his eyes closed, his tears worked like rain drops on the water. One of the mini monsters followed the ripples. Jacob yelled in pain as he felt his skin being punctured by the monster’s sharp teeth. He threw the water snake and nearly fell into the water. Regaining his balance he looked toward the other snakes, they had glided away. He could feel the warmth of the blood dripping down his arm. He stood up and ran back; he took the trip down like a fire man's pole, scrapping his hands down to a bloody mess. It hurt and he cursed at the incessant sting of the cuts and the bloody mess he was making.
He looked at his hands, bandaged tightly and felt the snug wrap on his arms and had to laugh. It was a great start to the day. The upside was that it had warmed up. He figured he should keep moving but right now he was living these words in his head,” You can come to understand your purpose in life by slowing down and feeling your heart's desires.” He found it online attributed to Marcia Weider, but that may not be the case. Frankly he didn’t care anymore, didnt know why he was wasting his time even thinking about who really said it, but he was. He was also still rushing. There was a cabin he knew about. It was his grandfathers and his grandfather was long gone. He hadn’t ever heard anyone else in his family talk about it, but he was interested. Well hidden too. If it actually existed he didn’t know. His grandfather was not too coherent when he was talking about it. The fishing pool was sore in his hand as he was brought back by the pole tugging. He slowly yanked up and began reeling in and he saw the fish scooting towards him. It was only 6 inches long, but he thought, one more and I’m good to go. It was beautiful and peaceful here and it did feel good to slow down like this. He never fished much before, but he could see why people did. It was really calming. His mouth was dry and he thought about how good a beer would taste right now. No beer. He reached again in his backpack and got his canteen and took a long drag. He closed his eyes in ecstasy as the water froze down his throat. He put another worm on his hook and slowly brought his pole back and then forth, releasing the line to whirl and glide through the air. He loved to just look at the water and listen to the occasional splash of the water. He wanted to strip naked and jump into the water, but it was icy and he was scared now of the water snakes. Anyways, he had always been fearful of the water, what was lurking underwater, and today did not help his little phobia. He reeled in his line and aimed for the spot where he had seen the snakes before. “Never had snake before,” he thought, instantly wondering what he’d do if he did catch one of the snakes. He pictured it hissing and whirling around. He reached back in his backpack, rummaging through it until he felt metal. He brought it out and said,” This will do.” He put the .357 Magnum revolver next to his leg and pictured himself shooting the snake. He worked the idea through his head some more and realized maybe just using the gun like a rock would work. There would be less mess. He figured it would all depend on the situation.
His hands froze in the lake’s water as he finished cleaning the last fish remnants off the metal pan. No water snake today. The entire process of making this fish, took some time. Inexperienced, he forgot to start a fire. The search for dry twigs and then bigger pieces to keep the fire going took some patience. He figured it took a good two hours just making the fire. Luckily he was smart enough to have brung matches. Then he had to skin and gut the fish and cook it. He remembered how his stomach was screaming at the smell of the fish cooking on the fire. At his first bite he closed his eyes and let the fish melt in his mouth. It was the best fish he’d ever had and he savored the taste and his accomplishment.
He looked at the discolored wrist where his watch used to be and laughed at his engrained habit to check the time. Everything was about time. As was going to become habit he was sure, the tears did their torrential downpour. He let himself plop down wherever he landed and let his body shake. He didn’t hold back or even try to. He knew that he had plenty of time and that brought plenty of reflection. He missed his wife.Wished they had done this together. They had talked about getting away, simplifying. But it was always another day. That day would never come. He scooted back near the fire and warmed his hands. He left the pan by his side to dry and reached into his backpack for a little help. He inhaled the pot and held it for as long as he could. He could feel the smoke burning his lungs and then he let it out.

“Remember how we used to do this all the time in college,” he laughed, talking aloud to his wife. He lay back on his boulder and reminisced with her, and talked about the day. He lost track of the time jumping back and forth from laughing and crying. It started getting darker. “It looks like I’m not going anywhere today.”

The fire was getting lower and although he didn’t want to, he excused himself and searched for more fire wood.
“I’ll keep the fire going and then I’m going to sleep. Honey, visit me in my dreams.”
He thought about his grandfather and his description of the cabin and it wasn’t anything to dazzle you about, but it was refuge and that was what he needed right now. His grandfather had said he had painted the trees with purple circles to help guide him to the cabin. It seemed to be so. He’d been walking for most of the day and he was feeling the strain of the backpack. Clearly, this wasn’t thought of too carefully. Most of the climb had been uphill and he imagined himself falling all the way down. Seeing a plateau brought relief as he pushed himself to that spot. Energy bars, nuts and canteen water would be the foods of the day. He took off his backpack and rested against it, looking around him at the view. He took it in slowly and pulled out the simple map his grandfather had made. It looked like another day and he’d be at the cabin. He was proud of himself, it took him more time, but as he climbed the mountain he had picked up twigs and different size woods to make the fire tonight. He went to work on the fire and this time he got better at it. Thirty minutes later, he was warm, and thinking about the cabin that his grandfather assured him had all the glass windows intact, wood was sound, a solid metal roof that didn’t leak, but really echoed the rain, and a lucky feather nailed above the inside of the front door. He drank from his canteen and ate very slowly his energy bar and nuts. He found it amazing how quickly he filled up with so little food. He was giving his body time to register when he was full and catching the numerous tastes from the food. It amazed him how good it was. It was like the sex his wife and he him had. They seldom rushed that, and when they took their time and pleasured each other slowly and let it build, there was nothing better. The release was glorious and with both of them spent, they would cuddle and quickly fall asleep. The tears started again and he let them flow. He closed his eyes and welled himself to breath. In his mind he kept repeating, “It’ll all be okay,” until finally his crying stopped and his body stilled. He then talked with his wife until he fell asleep.
He climbed and worked his way up to the cabin, talking with his wife the entire way. Even out of breath he forced the words out and made his way to his final destination. When he made it to the cabin, he felt speechless. In reality he didn’t really think there was a cabin. He hadn’t thought much further than finding the cabin. Now what he was going to do or how he was really going to survive.He rummaged through the cupboards and there was a good deal of canned food. He looked for expiration dates, but didn’t find any. The cabin was filled with cob webs and the dust had really accumulated. A beat up sofa, a small wood table with an old radio were the amenities. No electricity. No running water. A big fireplace with wood stacked up inside the cabin and out. It was enough for now. “Let’s try and figure this out,” he laughed talking to his wife.“Here’s my slowing down phase sweetie.”’ He opened a can of pork and beans, sat on the front cabin steps and took in the ever descending night. There was a lot more sounds rustling around him and he ate quietly. “Scary honey,” he whispered.

He went inside and started a fire. It took no time at all. The wood was dry and quickly started with the flick of a couple matches. He tried the portable radio and it was playing old time big band music. He brought that with him to the couch. “You always loved this sound,” he said to his wife. He closed his eyes and imagined her here with him, dancing.

“There’s someplace I want to take you tomorrow,” he whispered, “If it’s really here, you’re going to love it.”
He fell asleep with a smile on his face.

He awoke from the battered couch and immediately jumped up to go on his next adventure. He quickly ruffled through his backpack and found a smaller carrying back for some trail mix and grabbed his canteen.

“This is all we will need sweetie.”

He was out the door and jumping from the porch. Reaching into his back pocket he found his grandfather’s directions to the next special destination.
“I can’t wait to show you this,” he said charging forward. He was a man on a mission and his arms pumped back and forth as he powered his way through the trail. His sweat dripped from his face from the increased activity and the day was unusually warm making the dripping faster. It felt good and his spirits were up.

“I can’t wait to show you this.”

He looked at his map again and accessed the area around him. “Isn’t it beautiful out here?”

He looked up and began to sprint up the mountain. He reached the top, heaving and wheezing, his hands on his knees he looked down and saw what looked like a glimmer of water. His grandfather had said, once he got down the steep downward path, he should be able to hear the surprise and then find it.

He worked his way down carefully, not wanting to fall. The whole time he kept repeating, “I can’t wait to show you this”.

He got to the bottom and he did hear his hidden surprise. He worked his way through the thick forest and right below he could see the water and hear the rushing waterfall. He slide on his butt down to the next flat spot and took a look at the drop off down into the water. “Remember how we talked about making love underneath a waterfall. This would have been perfect and very private.”

He thought about stripping naked and jumping in, but he kept his clothes on. He wasn’t sure how he was getting back to the cabin, but right now the only thing he wanted to do was feel the water and check out the waterfall.

“We’ll talk about this later sweetie” and he jumped off the cliff, soaring in slow motion through the air. He felt a wonderful calm. The world was silent. The only thing happening was him going into the water. He imagined how deep he would go into the water and how good it was going to feel as he slowly emerged back up to the water’s surface. When he hit the water, it stung. The next moment, he felt himself rushing downward. It happened so quickly. His head hit a rock and blood poured out. Had he jumped a foot further out, he would have plunged deep into the water, but he didn’t.
The water turned red and he floated up to the surface. He was face down and unconscious. The water entered his open mouth. He could hear children laughing. The sound was so familiar and he took it in. He felt no fear. His body filled with the cold water and he soon remembered what the sound was. It was his laughter. He remembered his grandfather playing a tape he had recorded of him and his best friend laughing when they were seven. His grandfather said there’s nothing like a child’s laughter.

He felt himself floating towards the blinding light. “Everything is going to be okay,” he heard his grandfather say. It was bright like this for awhile. The brightness faded and there was just a small glow everywhere.

He saw his grandfather standing in front of him. His wife appeared behind his grandfather smiling. He ran to her.
Word count - 611