Bob pushed the branches away and looked around. Somehow, someway, he’d found his way back to the Black Hills, and his favorite campsite. The clearing in the forest was almost perfectly circular, and there were a few stumps around the middle which made perfect seats for a campfire. Bob walked into the middle of the clearing and looked in all directions. The sounds of the forest filled his ears, and a wave of calm washed over him. The calm was quickly broken by a loud scream, followed by a large growl. Bob ran towards the scream, but the trees almost seemed to thicken as he got closer. Bob pushed through, but his world was becoming a blur. A blur of trees.
Blood.
Trees.
Mountain Lion.
Trees
Sunlight.
Leaves.
Marta.
Trees.
Blood.
Suddenly, the blur of images evaporated. Bob opened his eyes. He was looking up at a blue sky, with one small cloud. Bob’s eyes shifted to that one cloud. It was the first cloud he’d seen all day. He wanted to reach out and pull himself onto that could. He wanted to float above all this. He longed to float away from Aberdeen, from Michelle, from Phil, from Mokoto, from the police, and from everything he was remembering about the Black Hills. The cloud slowly drifted out of his line of sight. Bob took a deep breath and turned his head. His neck didn’t hurt, and Bob was starting to feel less worried about his landing. Slowly he wiggled his fingers and toes. Bob took another deep breath and sat up. His body didn’t ache, but his hands were smarting. He looked at his hands and saw numerous nicks, streaks of dirt, and grass stains. His pants looked about as bad as his hands. He slowly stood up and dusted his jacket off. He checked his pockets and found his cell phone, along with some gum and old receipts. He looked back at the railroad tracks. The train was almost out of sight. He walked towards the pink-hued rocks around the tracks and spotted his sunglasses. Squinting his eyes and gritting his teeth, Bob reached down expecting his glasses to come up in two pieces. The glasses remained in one piece as he lifted them from the rocks. Bob put them on as he walked towards the spot that should have been where Phil landed. “Phil? Are you alive?”
“Uhhhhhhhh” came a voice from some tall grass. Bob walked over and found Phil on his back. Phil was wincing and moving very little.
“What have we learned today Phil?”
“Shut up.” Bob offered his hand to help Phil up, and he took it. Phil brushed off his arms and stood up. He walked five steps away from Bob, then turned around and came back.
“How was your landing?”
“I think the Romanian judge won’t give me a ten, but other than getting the wind knocked out of me and my back hurting, I’m fine. How about you?”
“I think I blacked out for a few minutes. I remember the ground rushing up to my face and then I was on my back.” Bob looked around in every direction. “So, now what?”
