Author: shearo25

By Shea Robards

Word count: 750

A vast open space, barely touched by man, yet disrupted even so. Dam’s on opposite ends slowing the natural flow down in the ravine. 

Tress, great and small, as far as the eye can see. The ledge looms as I approach. So far down I stare, thinking, such a hight could kill thousands.

My father calls me back from death’s edge. Though, I know that he only cares for my well being, I long to keep looking down. I wonder, what would I find down below?

Would the coyotes view me as a threat? As a treat?

Would I be able to survive the days trek? Or would I only be able to survive the hour?

All these thoughts, in the microsecond it takes for me to see across the great expanse before me.

~~~

Climbing back up to high ground, I ask if we could go down again together someday? My father glances back at me. “Maybe when you’re older.” He says this with a small gleam in his eye. 

He continues on, but I stand still. Looking back again at the great expanse. 

When I’m older.

That will be the day.

~~~~~

“That will be the day!” I yell as my sister tries to beat me to the house. Her, thinking she could win. Me, knowing I would instead.

“How are you so fast?” She questions as I sit down on the grass, backpack at my side.

“Because I know how to keep pace, unlike you!” I reply along with a shove to her shoulder.

Lying down, I look up to the sky. Remembering the day in the great expanses presence. The cloudless blue openness reminds me of the ravine, the trees, the slow water dripping its way through the gorge. 

That will be the day.

The words echo like a cave’s walls. Over and over until all that’s left is the faint sounds of the dripping water off the stalactites onto my face, down my chin, then back to the earth.

~~~~~

The pouring rain reminds me of the day in the redwood forest. The tallest trees seem to touch the sky. The feeling of insignificance spreads throughout my chest as I realize how little I am in this great big world. 

Looking up, I glimpse the sky at the tip of the trees. 

The bright blue blinds my dark brown eyes. 

And as I glance back down, I feel the first drop of the storm hit my back. 

Standing, frozen in place, I spread my arms and welcome the cool feeling of nature’s purest treasure. 

I’m drenched in seconds. 

Long strands of my hair hang in my face as I watch the water run down to its ends, onto my arms, down my legs, to my socks. 

Seeping into my shoes. 

The squish sound that appears after, brings a smile to my face. A memory long forgotten, resurfaces as I step further into the rain. The weightless feeling of being in the presence of nature brings peace to my burdened shoulders.

Gazing upward again, I see the sky. 

Dark and gloomy.

Unlike what it once was only moments ago. 

The trees sway as the wind rocks them back and forth.

But still, they stand tall. 

Tall and vast. 

Just like the ravine. 

Just like the cloudless sky back home.

The connection is waning as the rain slows. 

The connection to the trees, to the rain, to the ravine.

To all the life that surrounds me. 

The memory.

Boom!

The thunder.

As loud as a bass.

Boom! Boom!

It makes my heart race.

Boom!

Like a dream no one can stop, it grows.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Forever the sound will ring.

Forever.

The sound will ring.

Laughing. I look back again at the sky. The blue peeks through the gray.

“One day I will climb these trees. One day I will reach the vast sky.” I say aloud as I realize what the vastness finally means. The opportunity it represents.

~~

I spot an owl then. On the lowest branch, of the tallest tree. 

It stares at me like I’m the first being it has ever seen. As if it were the first time it opened its eyes. 

“One day, I will see what you see. One day I will look down and gaze at a being for what will feel like the first time.” Facing back up at the sky, I feel a surge of energy, and the feeling of openness captures me once again.

“That will be the day.”