The trail was rested. It looked more like a path than an actual trail now. JC hadn’t been back in a long time. Too long in her opinion. Not long enough in everyone else’s. Her friends had stayed away while she was “coping” but she knew the truth. They just didn’t want to be a part of her life in its current miserable state. No one would willingly throw themselves into misery if they didn’t have to. She didn’t blame them for that. She did blame them for suggesting that she needed to stay home. They didn’t know what she really needed. The trail. The hike. The freedom. It was her only relief.

It was called the Bridge 27 Trail. The journey on it was medium level difficulty. During the summer, crowds of people flowed over the bristles and derelict leaves. JC picked the coldest day she could find on the forecast for her hike. Brisk would be a nice way to describe the air. She stood at the trail head. A single railing split the road from the trail. The heat from her cars engine invited her back but she’d already crossed the threshold. And plus, the world on that side of the railing she’d been dealing with every day. She deserved a break.

Her first steps crunched in the frosted dirt. Each foot sending echoes down the trail ahead. JC looked through her breath. The way ahead extended forever. In her head she knew what awaited her. Bridge 27 might have been born along with the trees. It was as beautiful as anything around it. It was hard to believe that humans could have built something so pure. But maybe all they did was birth it. The forest raised it, the weather nurtured it, and the waterfall watched over it. She’d made it to the bridge a handful of times but usually ended up on random side paths. She didn’t fear getting lost forever in the woods. Having to come back on the other hand, that was different story these days. The trail continued straight on for a half mile before turning into switch backs. At the top of the switch backs was the first viewpoint. It peered through the tree line and gazed over up at the mountains.

JC never skipped it and she wouldn’t stop again until she’d reached a much higher elevation. It was the last stop before she went all in. Looking out at the mountains she started to leave behind the hell that was her real life. A small flicker of pain reached out and grabbed onto her though. Her mother’s face flashed in her eyes. Not the mother that raised her and cared for her. That one was gone. The wrinkled shade of a life that she saw, was her mother now. The one that didn’t laugh. It was amazing the things cancer could take from a person. The things people never thought about losing. Like laughter.

JC shook the vision from her eyes. If she cried the tears would freeze to her face, and she hated crying in general anyways. She took a last look out at the mountains. Something was different about them this time. They looked off kilter, crooked almost. She decided it was just her eyes and then continued on.

Born Jessica Canter, she took JC as her name because Jessica was too girly and girls got picked on. JC decided at an early age that she was a hard ass. When kids pushed her, she punched back. When they punched her, she would pick up a rock and pelt them in the head. Her mother raised her by herself and made it clear early on that they were alone. No one was coming to save them, so they had to save themselves. They had to fight. And fight they did. Until something came along that hit harder than they could hit back.

The curves of the trail kept rising. She had passed by multiple turnoffs that lead to great views. The one she had on her mind was a doozy though. It peaked far over the woods below. The river would be clearly visible. To the left there would be another viewpoint in the distance. The bend of a trail that she would reach in a few hours’ time. She always pictured the view before she got there. It never disappointed. Never strayed far from her expectations. She appreciated that about it.

Her heart started to thump louder. The workout was coming on strong now. She climbed up a few wooden steps that were planted in the ground and found herself in view of the ridge point site. The sun had found a gap in the clouds and was peeking around the trees. More a white cold light than a warm yellow, it was inviting all the same.

The view kept its promise. It stunned and it smiled at her. The woods below, the crashing call of the river. Her eyes pivoted from right to left before stopping on the other viewpoint in the distance. Someone was standing at it. They were looking back at her.

She couldn’t make out any facial features at long distance but she could feel their eyes on her. The figure in the distance stood frozen, like it had been waiting for her. She looked back with her patented “What the fuck are you looking at?” gaze. The figure raised a hand and reached out in her direction. They held their hand out for a second and then walked back onto the trail, not going onwards deeper into the trail, but back towards the middle, towards the bridge. In reality the Bridge 27 trail continued on long past the actual bridge. It went deep on into the mountains before looping around and connecting to a different trail. That had been the second odd occurrence of the day for JC. Like everything else in life, she wouldn’t let it deter her. The viewpoint was behind her like the rest of her life.

Dead leaves adorned everything. The beauty they held might have been lost on those who only hiked in the summer, but they were the reason JC hiked at all. The cycle of life in the woods never strayed. Its consistency comforted her. The real world, with its city lights, packed bars, car accidents, and maze of mall shops could hide the truth. If you stayed involved in it all for too long you might even forget what season it was. It was also unpredictable. On the trail she knew was too expect. All the twists and turns always exactly where they should be. She never worried that all the trees would just suddenly fall over around her. Nature worked together to keep everything going. Humans missed that memo. They had a tendency to get sick. Most times there wasn’t anything anyone could do about it. Winter, fall, spring, summer, it didn’t matter what season it was. When you were dying, you stayed dying. JC wished people could be like the trees. Die a little in the winter, live a lot in the summer.

As she pushed her way up the incline she kept her eyes high. The openness of the woods was her favorite part. The natural light flowed over everything. She smiled, a rarity. The air didn’t have the stale smell of dead skin cells. The light contained no electric buzzing. JC couldn’t feel death out in the woods. There were no hospital waiting rooms on the trail.

She was three quarters of the way to Bridge 27 when things started to change. Much like when she was looking at the mountains, something was off. The trees were shorter than they should have been. The forest had gone quiet. Her footsteps now silent. The ground was free of frost. Somehow the temperature had raised. Not just a few degrees, but almost ten. She stopped in the middle of the trail and looked around. She shut her eyes and opened them. The differences stayed. It was like it had all happened in a single moment. She checked behind her. The trail was still hers. But it was far back. She felt like it was time to head to her car but she’d never stopped that soon before. She needed to get to the bridge. She needed to see the waterfall. She walked further along the trail that was no longer hers and prayed that the bridge would still be there.

With each step JC could feel the sick world she’d been trying to get away from claw its way deeper into her. She knew that all the feelings she feared were behind her, at least distance wise, but that didn’t stop her from slowing down. Her steps took less distance with each forward motion. The bridge was just around the next bend but JC had all but stopped. The breeze hit her with a scent of spring and something else familiar. It smelled like home. She’d accepted the fact that this wind didn’t come from the winter that resided over her when she’d started. She didn’t understand it, but had to believe it. Riding the comforting fragrance of the breeze she took the last few steps needed. The bridge came into her view. Someone was waiting for her. At the closer distance she could tell it was the same person that she’d seen earlier. Something about the way they stood called out to her senses. The hairs on her neck raised. They might have known before her eyes did. Her eyes figured it out soon though. The rest of her was still processing what was in front of her.

On the bridge was her mother. She was looking at JC with her long lost smile. She beamed with life. Somehow, she was there. Somehow, she wasn’t sick.

TO BE CONTINUED