A Special Place

A tale of a young couple's hike to a very special place, where a surprise awaits.

         Trees loom high overhead like so many outstretched arms reaching up from the forest floor and into the clear winter sky, and the crystalline evening air is bitterly cold. As Jeremy and Christine enter a clearing, the sound of footsteps breaks through the otherwise quiet scene. From this particular spot, one can overlook the entire valley, nestled between two mountainous peaks and shrouded in a blanket of fog. The farther of the two hills seems miles away, though the haze gives the illusion that the distance is farther than it is. As Jeremy breathes, he watches his bellowing breath tumble around in front of him, churning the stillness of the crisp air. He looks out over the valley below and smiles, as he always does at the view. Daylight is short, so they do not stop for long
         “Come on, it's just a little further up this way,” he says excitedly. Turning their backs on the view, they continue along the trail. Jeremy is taking Christine to a spot so far out of the way, he is sure that he is only one of a few who know about it. He has taken girlfriends past there as well, however he does not mention this to Christine, nor did he to any of the others. This place is special, and he does not want to taint it with the awkwardness of revealing that he has gone there on past dates.
         The footpath they are following is poorly maintained, reinforced only by passing hikers and the occasional bear or cougar that wanders up this way. The farther along it winds through the forest, the more deteriorated it becomes. After the viewpoint, where most people pause to admire the beauty of the scenic cascade landscape and then turn back, debris left on the forest floor by violent storms and aging trees obscures the way. With increasing frequency, twigs breaking under the weight of footsteps startle flocks of birds from their perches. This is an area where humans seldom tread, and far removed from the disruptions of casual city tourists and major logging operations, the forest seems to function in equilibrium. Fallen trees re-appropriated as nurse logs slowly birth future arboreal generations, and the small animal life, which feeds on the plentiful vegetation and insects, provides nourishment for the bigger game. The food chain is perfectly intact, with no species out of check. Jeremy notices it every time he comes. In the parks closer to town, frequented by weekend backpackers and picnicking families, humanity's footprint is well entrenched. Fallen trees are cleared before they seed new life, and the larger predators have been chased away, leaving the squirrels and raccoons to run wild, tearing into the trash by night. But not out here. There are no picnic tables, no garbage cans, no playgrounds, and no fire pits in which one can roast marshmallows or cook hotdogs. Out here, there is only the forest, and all it entails.
         The path dips sharply down into a steep gully, where the fading afternoon light does not fully reach. From its bottom, rays of the setting sun can be seen stretching out over the crest of the hill, but they do not flood down to the same depths the trail does; in this patch of the forest, night falls early. Jeremy can hear an owl calling from the tree tops, which are now farther away than ever as he and Christine hike deep into the ravine. Jeremy is careful to watch for any signs of big game.
         “Gotta watch out for bears. They like to linger down here. We probably won't run into one, but it's better safe than sorry, right?” he chuckles reassuringly. He is on guard for the entirety of their passage through the sunken stretch of forest, careful to scrutinize every bush that could be concealing a waiting predator. When they finally reach the other side, and are again climbing back towards the dwindling sunlight of the main path, he breathes a sigh of relief �" quietly, so that he does not come off as having been scared.
         The sky is streaked with bands of purple as the sun burns low into the hills. The increasing thickness of the trees boxes out more and more of the thinning light, but Jeremy fishes a small flashlight from his pocket, and soon the trail is again clearly visible in front of them. He knows they are close, but says nothing, and merely caries on intently. He has made the journey so many times that he could most likely do so now without the aid of the flashlight, but he keeps it on, for Christine's sake. Only a few minutes after the gully, the trail turns sharply up. Ahead of them, large boulders dot the way, strewn awkwardly here and there as if hurled from some higher place. And so they were.
         “This is actually a volcano,” Jeremy says, “Don't worry, it's dormant now, but when this mountain range was still being formed, it erupted all the time. That's why these boulders are scattered like this.”
         As their path leads them up above the tree line, the expanse of the forest below slowly becomes visible in its entirety. Jeremy turns back just in time to see the last of the sun vanish on the other side of the valley, leaving only the faintest glow as evidence that it was ever there. In its absence, the air chills further, and Jeremy soon realizes that the cold is cutting through his winter clothes. He knows the region well, and the clear sky and cold air are raw ingredients for snow. On the horizon behind them, he can see clouds. A sudden turn of weather could jeopardize the whole evening.
         “It's getting kind of cold - guess we should step up the pace,” he mutters, trying not to sound worried. The clouds seem to hold their place and Jeremy and Christine continue towards their destination, which Jeremy only really knows. With every passing minute, they come closer and closer. Jeremy can hardly contain his excitement. “I really can't wait for you to see it,” he says, “I think you're going to love it.”
         The place they are nearing has been special to Jeremy for as long as he can remember. As a child, him and his mother would escape here from their Olympia suburb on weekends, and hike a little further in each time. It was the only reprieve either of them got from home. When Jeremy wasn't at school, he spent his time in his bedroom with the door firmly shut, trying as hard as possible to block out the sound of his parents fighting downstairs. He would try to convince himself that the noises were something else, but each sound was telltale. Every scream and every breaking vase or picture frame told a story that Jeremy wanted desperately to will away as fiction, but each night, the sounds would come anew. On their weekend hikes, he would always try to muster up the courage to say something. He wanted to tell his mother that they should run away and live somewhere else and be happy. But he never did. Instead, they both left their problems at home, and tried simply to enjoy their special time together. When his mother passed away, Jeremy continued making the trip alone, every weekend.
         Jeremy is running short of breath, but knows that the hike is nearing its end. Up ahead, what remains of the now poorly defined path disappears over a crest in the hill. This is it. Despite his exhaustion, Jeremy is now just as excited as he always is to be once again at this spot, and to finally be able to share it with Christine. The anticipation is killing him. At long last, they pass the crest, and there, nestled in a small nook in the side of the hill that seems almost hand crafted, they have reached their destination. Jeremy stops instantly and gazes wide-eyed out at the view, awestruck by it as he always is. Christine is speechless. “We made it!” Jeremy says, “Isn't it amazing?”
         The moon illuminates the landscape in front of them in a brilliant blue glow as it climbs higher and higher in the sky to fill the void left by the departing sun. Far off in the distance, the light twinkles on the gently rippling surface of the ocean, over which a lone freight boat slow glides. Jeremy knows that from the other side of the mountain, the one which they have ascended, much of the radiance of the view would be lost to the glow of the nearby city, or lingering beams of twilight, but not on this side. Facing east towards a new expanse of forest and the water, the sky seems to hold more stars than there are room for, each twinkling on and off against the night. The scene is immaculate. Jeremy has hiked other mountains and seen other similar views, but nothing that has ever truly compared. The view before them now, from this mountaintop, is perfect. He and Christine are motionless in its presence, neither of them breaking the serene silence.
         They stay there for the longest time, basking in the beauty of this place to which Jeremy has brought them. Finally, a light gust of breeze grazes the mountainside, and Jeremy shivers a little.
         “I'm really glad I could bring you here. I just can't think of anywhere better, you know? I wish I could stay here forever” he says, “But it is getting kind of cold. Guess it's about time I start heading back.”
         Nearby sits a small boulder that looks recently moved, and it takes only a gentle nudge from Jeremy's foot to shove it aside, revealing a dugout containing a small shovel. He slouches his shoulder and lets Christine's lifeless body fall to the ground. She lands with a thud on the frozen dirt.
         “I always mean to make it up here before it gets this cold. Frozen ground is so hard to dig in,” Jeremy laments as he picks up the shovel and begins to churn up the icy ground, marking for the new hole only about a foot from the last one. “But it's already freezing by the time it gets dark. C'est la vie.”
         With that, he begins to dig. Jeremy is already thinking about heading home and climbing into bed. Tomorrow is Friday. In the morning, he will wake up bright and early and head off to work, where he will eagerly count down the minutes until the week is finally over. Tomorrow night he'll hit the town, like he always does on Friday night, to find a new date. He'll work his charm, ask her out to dinner, and she'll fall for him. By next Thursday, he will be back on the mountainside, just after sundown, admiring the view.