It
was a jungle. I had a flashlight. I was looking for something. I found a
ravine, vass of green trees, and blue skies, and brown soil. My eyes were
amazed at the beauty of it. Exactly like a photograph. I close my eyes to let
the image singe it self into my mind taking a mental picture. We hack through brush only to get to the
cliff edge. We shimmy our way thought 2 feet earth. With our backs tightly
against the cliff we shimmy down it. Climbing, slowly, carefully, strategically
choosing our next step. We made it down to the bottom. As if in a blink of an
eye. They people following me keep changing. As if haunted by my past , demons
that I need to overcome. We come across a horrendous smell. I eyes begin to
water and I begin to asphyxiate. The horrid stench causing me to gag. I was
dying, literally dying, at this mysterious smell. I become disoriented as I
continue though the brush. I hear a trickle. A river! A river? That’s not on the
map I remember. My sense of smell is gone, my nostril hairs are killed by the
stench. A mixture of fish, salt, maggots, flies, manure, and blood. I reach the
water. A small stream about as thick as a piece of paper flows steadily though
the rocks and soil. I follow it up stream around a corner. As I walk I step on
rocks. The rocks slowly come loose and reveal more water. I was looking down at
my feet at the rocks. I stop leaping to catch my breathe only to see a more
steady stream of water. Calf high as wide as a 8 feet. It was sudden. Out of
the blue. Where did this come from.?i turn another corner and I see it. The
cause of the stench. I see huge boulders the size of a house al piled 2 stories
high. As if a cliff collapsed and the edge of it a pool of water about the size
of a car. The edge of that pool closer to me is a pile. A large pile. A pile of
hundreds of dead, red koi fish. Or salmon. Some trickle down stream. Against
the boulders inside the pool is a tiny stream of water sneaking its way past the
boulders. How quaint. I jump from rock to rock to get a better look. I land on
top of the pile of dead fish. I look to the tree line and there I saw you.
Asking me if I found it. I don’t know. What am I looking for?
“wait a minute! “ I yell back.
I try to get a closer look at the stream
poking through the boulders. As I look my foot slips inside the pool. I hear a
gurgling sound. The same sound you hear when you unplug the tub and the last of
the water is making its way down the drain. I can feel something building up, I
feel the earth tremble, no I hear it. What ever I did, its going to be huge. I
leap from where I am at to get closer to you and the tree line. *squish* my
right foot lands on the pile of fish. I don’t slip. I leap off my right foot
and extend my arm as you extend yours. But I am shoved in my back. Our fingers
brush each other. I see the look of terror as I am shoved away by the water.
Your eyes wide, skin pale, mouth aghast.
“no…” you whisper. I don’t hear it over
the cacophony of the water. But I see your mouth as they say it.
You yell my name, and again its drowned
out. I am body surfing the gush of water. The water has crested. This is my
chance. I turn my body to the right and reach. For something. Anything I can
grab onto. I see a yellow parking pole. I slap it. I was moving to fast and I couldn’t
grip the pole. The water level quickly rises. Or it is going down stream into
the ravine either way I can see it is going to drop. Theres a rock peeking out
of the side of the ravine. I am traveling fast and hard. But still on the crest
of the wave. I paddle to line up with the rock . it was flat and tall. Perfect
way to stop. The wave keeps growing. Soon enough I will be at the top of the
rock. I hope its flat. I time it right. I tuck my head down and position m body
to roll. The wave was 1 foot above the rock. So I tumble in the water on top of
the rock. I lay unconscious in the 1 foot of water that has no longer enough inertia
to move me. I lay motionless. Exhausted. Terrified. Grateful. Sore. Hurting.
Beat up. I turn to lay on my back. With my eyes closed I wheeze to catch my
breathe. I can hear the water rushing to my left down into the ravine. I smile.
I did it. I save them. Wait. Where are you? I yelled. But it turned into a
cough, my lungs hurt from the breathing. I turn to my side and I see you on the
other side of the river bed. Standing. In awe. In shock. In tears. I awake to a
warmth. Still in the 1 foot deep water. A warmness takes over my body. I feel
light. I cant move. Am I breathing? I cant hear. Cant see. Cant smell. Only
feel. I see you. Well not see but ‘see’ my eyes hallucinating you as I pass. I
don’t know whats going on. But its over now. Time to rest.
