It was a cold, miserable mid-October day when Cheryl decided to go for a hike. The Steel coloured skies mirrored her mood perfectly. Cold drizzle left her face feeling cold as she walked up the hill.

Cheryl normally had a sunny disposition, but today was not the day for sunshine and rainbows. Last night had been an utter fiasco... She had been on her third date with a man that she had become very attached to, a man whom had led her to believe that she was the one for him—and at the last minute he had bailed on her. No explanations, no apologies or rain checks, nothing.

She took a moment to gather herself. Dammit! Nature was supposed to be therapeutic, wasn’t it? Everything about today seemed to sympathize with her. The rain-stained birch trees that were surrounding her swayed their naked branches as if in mourning, while the yellowed leaves that had fallen to the ground whispered their condolences to her as they were picked up by the wind, and the drizzle was quickly threatening to become a steady torrent of rain in solidarity with her. But nature seemed to be whipping Cheryl up into a greater frenzy than she had previously been in. She had gone from low simmer to high broil in a matter of hours.

Or was it the other way around? Had she whipped nature up into a frenzy instead? Her mother had always sworn that granny was a witch!

Wasn’t there supposed to be a full moon tonight? Maybe Cheryl could pin all of her recent bad luck on that.

“Oh shit!” Cheryl looked up with a grimace. Not only was it beginning to rain buckets on her head, but it was growing darker by the second. Cheryl was dressed in the proper hiking attire, but hiking boots paired with a windbreaker were hardly what she would deem appropriate for a storm. I knew I should have checked the weather before I left!

She turned around and nearly slipped on the muddied trail. Luckily she had her walking stick in hand. Cheryl was able to save herself from a nasty fall.

It was also lucky that she had slipped, or else she wouldn’t have noticed the rocky outcropping further within the birch grove. There was what looked to be a rocky overhang. She could wait the storm out there.

With a loud sigh Cheryl made her slow way to shelter. Her boots caught on errant roots, and she tripped on several rocks. Thankfully she didn’t fall. The ground was soft due to the thick carpet of leaves. Cheryl wiped her hand before crouching down and looked at her surroundings. Truly, it was beautiful. It was such a shame that she had allowed something as silly as man ruin her time out here.

She let out another sigh and crawled beneath the low hanging rocks.

Author's note: Pound for Pound is freely available to read on Tapas, but if you wish to support me you can purchase it for 99 cents on the Kindle store.