Journey

JOURNEY

 

 

 

 I fell down. Hard.

Oww…

Rolling over on one side, I let my breath come out in ragged gasps. My hand reached over to my side where a sharp pain burned. I looked down at the swollen new bruise and glanced away in disgust.

How clumsy of me.

I stood up, shaking off the coarse dirt which clung tightly to my shirt and pants. Glancing at the ground, I noticed short patches of grass that were twisted and flattened because of my clumsy act. A group of flowers lay strangled and torn. My eyes traced back to the branch several metres above me on which my fingers had finally slipped and let go, exhausted from holding and grasping on for so long. It would take another good half hour to climb back up the tree. The sun had started to melt on the horizon and I gazed for a moment at the dark red-orange sky. A flock of birds flew across, their silhouettes creating black inked marks across the watercolour sky. The warm air felt gentle and soft on my skin. Occasionally, there was a light breeze that glided through the trees, slightly rustling the leaves.

I looked down again at the ground, my eyes scattering around for my bag. They found it a couple feet away from where I was standing, covered with a cluster of leaves. I walked over and picked it up, gently brushing the leaves off the bag. My stomach growled loudly and I knew it was past my usual dinnertime. I hope they got my note. My mind traced back to that morning, where I had been walking to the library to return some books. I had bumped into an old classmate, Gynn, from school. We had taken geography together last year. I remembered how much she enjoyed the outdoors. The conversations we had had always ended with her ranting on and on about the magnificent trees, the towering mountains, the animals, the birds, the flowers. Flowers. She loved them. She had numerous books about them, each of them filled with endless amounts of colourful illustrations about each and every flower there practically was.  A slight wind blew past and my teeth clenched tightly. It was getting colder.

I raised one foot and set it on the first branch. My hands were still sore, red with marks and blisters but I continued on, grabbing the branch above me. I moved slowly up the tree, shifting slowly from one hand to the other, one foot to the other. My thoughts wandered back to Gynn. She had dashed up to me with open arms, giving me a big hug. At first I hadn’t recognized her until she had called my name.

“Name of girl, Name of girl!”

Her voice was different from the other girls at school. It had an amusing tone, teasing and full of adventure. I recognized that voice the instance she called out my name. She was headed to the library as well so as we walked she chattered about her latest discovery. It was about the New Place. Everyone had heard about it. For years the government had promised it would be completed and soon, we would all have a new home, a new society, to live in. We, meaning the wealthy only. Others would probably stay in the crummy town we were all sharing right now. Another gust of wind blew by and I shuddered slightly, quickening my pace up the tree.

I had sat down at a table with Gynn as she came to the climax of her story. She had discovered where they were building the New Place. My eyes had grown double their size as she gasped out the words, “I know where it is…” At first, I thought she was joking, only telling a story to arouse my interest and have a laughing moment. But I knew that Gynn would never lie about her discoveries, especially the ones she said in a whisper. And she had whispered it out; the words quietly creeping out of her mouth.

“I know where it is…”

She had her head low, and motioned me to bend closer. I had still been shocked. No one knew where it was. Although everyone knew what it was, the government had promised that the New Place would be everything we could ever imagine; until then, they would not tell us anymore of its whereabouts. Of course, there had always been curious people who had tried to find the New Place. But they had always been caught. There was no way out of city without facing the officers. How then had Gynn found the New Place? I stared at her for the longest time, still trying to grasp the words she had just said. I wanted to yell, to scream, to shout, to ask a million questions about the New Place. What did it look like? How big were the buildings? Were there any libraries? My mouth opened to speak, but she motioned me to shut it. Her lips drew a firm line and my face formed a puzzled look. Her eyes darted around to see if any other people had heard about her discovery and had crept up close by, waiting for the next bit of information to spill out. But she found none. Everyone was minding their usual business; reading books.

“How did you get out?” I hissed, my eyes turning into tiny oval slits. I raised one eyebrow, forcing my question upon her.

She returned it with a grin and spoke quietly, “I found a way out. Away from the officers.”

Again my eyes grew. She had found a way out? I tried to think of a place in the whole city where she could’ve gone out.

“It was quite easy.” she whispered suddenly, her voice breaking the silent atmosphere.

Of course it was. Everything was always easy for Gynn. Nothing was ever that much of a challenge.

The firm line on her lip bent open slightly and then shut as if she was trying hard to form the write words. She stared hard into the depths of my eyes. There was the hint of excitement, and I eagerly waited for her response. It felt like hours before she finally spoke her mouth suddenly opening a small gap.

“I’ll tell you how to get there.”

I had nearly shot off my seat. My lips formed a smile at that memory. If it weren’t for my two hands bound tightly to the seat of my chair I would’ve rocketed off, probably waking every absorbed reader from their literature dream. By now I was so eager to learn how to get there; I jerked my head forward and asked in the lowest voice I could possibly make, “Tell me. Now.”

Gynn smiled and pulled out a rough sketch from her pocket. My eyes shot down at the paper as she straightened it out with a book. She explained to me, her finger pointing to the small diagrams.

“It’s not that hard to get there”, she had said, “Follow the diagram clearly and carefully. It’s just south of the shops.”

“How far south?”

“Well, it’s pretty far. You’ll need to camp over night to reach the place”, her hand twisted a strand of hair as she spoke, “The points that I circled on the map are key points along the path. If you spot them, you’ll know you’re going the right direction.”

I looked down at the paper, my eyes darting from key point to key point. Gynn had circled a large rock labelled ‘CLIFF’ and a number of trees, each labelled with a number.

“I put a green mark on the trees and the cliff”, Gynn added, “Follow those. The cliff will be easy to find.”

“You marked them just for me?” I questioned. That seemed a bit too nice, since we both hadn’t talked much after geography.

“Well I figured I’d need some guidelines in case I planned to go there again,” the playful tone in her voice dominant as she spoke.

“Will it be safe to go?” I had asked. Not that I wouldn’t go if she had told me it was dangerous. It was far too exciting to leave behind. I would go no matter what.

“It’s. Quite. Challenging.” Gynn paused between each word. She smiled slightly and added, “But I’m sure you will do fine.”

Of course I will, I had thought

We had chatted a bit more, what I would need to bring, how long it would take to get there. Then I was gone, racing home to pack for my journey. It hadn’t taken long to pack. I had grabbed a bunch of clothes, the ones that still lay on my bed fresh from the laundry. I packed a bunch of utensils I thought would be necessary for the journey, some food to eat a long the way and then I was ready. I scribbled a note saying I’d be away for the night at a sleepover. And then I was off.

My mind drifted back to the present. I looked down, surprised at how far up I had gone, much further than before I had fallen. I looked ahead. The sun would be gone in another half hour or so and I had to be quick. I squinted, my eyes blinded by the egg yellow sunset. I could make out a rocky surface a couple of trees away. My hand tore into the bag around my waist and hastily searched for the map. I pulled it out and quickly looked down at it.

“The cliff will be easy to find”, Gynn had said.

Shoving the map into my pocket, I looked ahead again. That had to be it, the cliff. It was only a few trees ahead.

The trees were close enough to reach for, they were practically intertwined. Good. This would be easy. I hope. I reached out and grabbed a branch, my hands feeling for support. I placed my feet on the branch but it suddenly creaked, a loud groaning noise cracking the silence. I froze. Quickly I lifted my foot off the branch and returned it beside my other foot. Suddenly I realized it wouldn’t be as easy as I had thought. I would have to jump, and it would be up to my hands to keep me from falling down again. I knew if I fell my journey would be pretty much over. Out here, who knows when someone would come to find and rescue me. I shuddered at the thought and kept my eyes straight. There’s only one shot. Don’t screw up. I gripped my hands around the branch. I breathed in, closing my eyes. And I jumped.

My body banged hard against the tree. My face twisted in pain, but I didn’t dare let go to feel my sore thigh. Almost there, Just a couple more to go. I shuffled around the tree, clasping the trunk tightly.

The next tree wasn’t so bad. I had grown use to the banging, knowing it would be too hard to avoid it. It took a while to reach the last tree before the cliff, but I didn’t care. As long as I hadn’t fallen down. The cliff was large and rough. It extended far off into the distance. Gynn had told me to make camp on the cliff.

 “It would be safer,” she had said.    

The sun was almost gone. A small yellow curve peaked out behind the cliff. The red-orange had turned to a dark brown. I knew it would be dark within a half hour so I quickly unpacked my bag. Pulling out my utensils I worked quickly to pitch a tent and make camp. Was it safe? Surely it would be. There wouldn’t be any animals around here, would there? Gynn hadn’t mentioned any animals. Bears. They’d probably live somewhere else, or at least I hoped so. I brushed away the thoughts and continued to fixed my tent.

The sun was complete gone now. Blackness overtook the sky like a cover being thrown over a basket. I found a flashlight in my bag and propped it up against a rock. The tent was finished now. Grabbing some food out of my bag, I quickly stuffed it into my mouth, half swallowing and half chewing at the same time. The sky was pitch black now. Without the flashlight I’d probably wander off the cliff. The air was cool and breezy. I crawled into the tent and unrolled my sleeping bag. A blast of cool air whipped through the tent, the flaps fluttering furiously. I gasped and quickly curled into the sleeping bag, huddling closely to my pillow.

I was tired. It had been a long day, ever since the morning; meeting Gynn and now on an expedition. My eyes wanted to shut, but I forced them open. The thought of animals living around still scared me and I didn’t dare fall asleep. Yet. What if they came? Could the smell me? I had learned that wolves could smell food from far away distances. Would I become food? My mind wandered around, juggling thoughts, terrifying me more and more. What if a bear came and found me? I could scream, but no one would hear. I struggled to stay awake as my thoughts carried on.

Then something else entered my mind. The New Place. It would be wonderful. It had to be wonderful, the government promised it would be. I couldn’t wait to see it. What an excitement it would be; to see it before anyone else had seen it before apart from Gynn. I’d walk through the future streets and homes. I’d search for the library. It would be magnificent, I could almost picture it in my mind now. It would be wonderful, no, it would be perfect.

I wasn’t even afraid of bears anymore. I almost forgot about them, forgot about their existence, forgot how they looked like. All I could see now was a library. A large, vast, enormous library, with never-ending shelves stored with books. Books about everything there possibly was to read about, from history, to science, geography to fiction. Poems to fairytales, novels to documentaries. I’d go there everyday afterschool just to read. Never mind checking out the books, the library back at home was already like my home. I smiled at these thoughts. Bears and other animals seemed in a far off distance, somewhere behind a closed door. Tomorrow would be another big day. My eyes gave way and shut, but I didn’t even bother to try opening them again. I’d search for the library first thing. I’d run in and –    

I drifted off to sleep.

Author's Note

Anyways to improve?
How is the writing?

Reviews

[Anna Writes]

the way you write is just amazing! great chapter, i can't wait to read what's next...:)

[juwinahaftner]

This is beautifully written, and very inspiring. You should think of a title that is mysterious, but elegant, simple, yet sensuous, etc.... (im losing myself again). I hope that you will NOT scrap this project, and keep writing. Also, I agree with the first comment: the ending is a tiny bit repetitive. Also, you never mentioned the main character's name... I hope that you'll introduce her. or him.

[Radical Dreamer]

Very impressive writing. At first it seems like a regular day but then it turns into this magnificent story. The way you hint at admiration and love are very well intertwined between an idea at something much bigger. I like this story because it revolves around something grand that is not quite understood and one of my favorite lines is, "No one knew where it was. Although everyone knew what it was," I could not have said something confusing more perfectly. My only suggestion is to look into how you add extra thoughts into paragraphs. An example is, "Of course it was. Everything was always easy for Gynn. Nothing was ever that much of a challenge," I thought you could just take out the last sentence and it could still work. Seems a bit repetitive to use that last sentece. Anyway this is a great story and I was kept entertained the entire read through. I plan to read this again.