A Water Drop In Time

Short story about finding hope and peace in a place untouched by time.

We were hiking up the side of a mountain, Nathan and I, just trekking along and letting the world melt away into a vast forest thriving with everything beautiful in this world. Life, death, hope, and despair can all be found in this seemingly endless maze of trees, in every form possible. You never really know what it is you're looking for when you go to disappear in the wilderness, but you can always find something to take back.

It's a funny thing though, because when you go out of your way to find something, you almost never do. Only when you let your mind go elsewhere, occupy it with different thoughts, do you find what you were looking for; whether it's simply a relaxing hike or the meaning of life. When we set out on this trip we had nothing more in mind other than to disappear from the busy world.

As we began the trail to the peak, I just sat there and took everything in. The sound of the wind as it blew through the trees, the rustling of animals just living their life, the smell of leaves and nature itself; it was all so soothing, so... intoxicating. I glanced over at Nathan and we set off, turning our heads left and right, pointing out the wonders of nature. We didn't say much past "Hey, look at this!" and we didn't need to either. Words were almost meaningless here because we came to lose our worries and problems, to become one with the Earth.

If you think about it, truly everything is meaningless in such a place. Things that kept us from living our life, the worries of the day disappeared and life was full of hope and good. As we continued on the sound of rushing water surrounded us and we took off towards the source, feeling renewed in energy.

We didn't expect to find much, just a small stream and maybe a few fish swimming by but we found much more. We pushed through a wall of tress and came upon a small clearing, and it was beautiful. There was a river leading down the mountain side, being fed water from a small pond. An elk was on the other side and heard us walk up and after looking at us momentarily, not deeming us a threat, returned to drinking. The clearing was pure green, everything blossoming with life, from the flowers and trees to the critters that scurried along. I turned my head and looked upstream and saw a raging waterfall splashing into the pond. I threw off my pack and shirt, and proceeded to charge into the waterfall with Nate.

Time is a funny thing, and much more complicated than we realize. It isn't a straight line, it doesn't go from A to B and nothing else, it is so much more. I stood there in the waterfall with Nathan, water gushing over us, the waterfall roaring in our ears. As I looked around I watched the water drops splash and remain airborne. I was able to touch them, change their direction. Time had all but stopped.

We were in paradise. Here there was no life or death, no love or hate, without time it meant nothing. Everything meant nothing, the feeling is indescribable. The world was at peace, there were no wars, no hate, no discrimination. The good of the Earth and the creatures that called it home were plain as day, and as majestic as a clear starry night when you're surrounded by hundreds, no, thousands of stars, able to see the entire galaxy. We didn't find the meaning of life, our fate was not told to us; instead we found a place at a standstill, where time had no meaning. We found hope, love, peace, and tranquility. We found serenity within a water drop frozen in time.

Author's Note

An attempt at a different type of writing, be nice :)

Reviews

[Inject Positivity]

This is so vivid, I loved how you have created a kind of serene scene in the story through your descriptions... Your descriptions about the setting of the story was fantastic, and I loved how you kept a peaceful intensity throughout the story... A story to attend peace of mind...

Sincerely
Dhiman

[Shannon]

This is beautiful. Romantic. Still hint of the fantastical!
Remember when I hassled you before to describe, not tell us? You have most definitely done that here!