Chasm

Prompt - Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

As she lay down in the chasm, Alexis came to a dark realization. She may not make it out of this situation alive. No one was coming to help her. They didn't know she was here. She lived alone. Her few friends were all happily settled with families of their own and while she still talked to them from time to time, the gaps between conversations were long enough that they wouldn't have cause to worry if they hadn't heard from her in weeks. Her father had passed away. Her mother had Alzheimer's and barely remembered her these days. She was not on speaking terms with her brother. Her colleagues at work weren't familiar enough with her hobbies to know where she would be.

Alexis hiked these mountains fairly often but she tended to change up her route. There were miles of trails to search. Today she had stupidly decided to try one of the riskier routes. This trail wasn't frequently visited by hikers. She had picked it intentionally. She preferred quiet hikes to herself. Things were going routinely for her until she slipped on one of turns and tumbled off the slope landing to the side of the trail. As she attempted to dust herself off, the ground beneath her gave way revealing a sinkhole underneath her.

She hit the ground with a thud and lay there immobile. Even after the pain died down her body didn't seem to want to respond. Eventually she forced herself to attempt to sit up. Glanced around the hole she had found herself in, It was obvious that it was deep. To exit she would need to climb at least 60 feet to the top. Alexis doubted that was within her abilities. She was a hiker not a rock climber. As she attempted to stand up she felt her right leg pulsing. If it wasn't broken... it was at least fractured. She leaned back exhausted. She could see the sky through the opening above her. It would be dark soon and she would be stuck there. As she contemplated dying, her life seemed to flash before her eyes. Maybe it was from the pain or despair in the moment but she began to hallucinate. At first she saw her father shaking his head at her in disappoint, then old classmates, the popular girls from high school, old teachers, former co-workers who had gone on to have successful career, her ex boyfriends... all of them were taunting her telling her that she should die there. Their voices echoed throughout the hole. Try as she might she couldn't shut them out. She wondered why she was even trying to. They were right after all.

"That's it huh?" A voice rang out above the others. "You're just going to give up?" Alexis looked up to see her mother... well not really her mother. Her actual mother hadn't spoken to her clearly in years. This was a vision of her mother in her prime; The way Alexis still envisioned her.

"I didn't raise you to be be a quitter. What happening to the young woman who pushed herself though college while working part time? The woman that hiked 200 miles over the course of a summer."

"It is too hard mom." Alexis said. "I can barely move anymore."

"Life is hard" her mother said. "Nothing comes easy. That doesn't mean that it is not worth fighting for."

It was a line her mother said often. One that Alexis had forgotten about long ago.

Alexis opened her eyes to find it was morning. Forcing herself to her feet and ignoring the pain in her leg. She mustered all her will power and began to climb. It was a painstaking impossible task but she eventually reached the top.

It turned out there were other people on the trail that morning. She was found by the side of the path and helped to a hospital. She was going to be all right.

The End

Word Count: 668 Words