Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
I literally yelped and ran toward the closest collection of trees, crouching down a second before the rain started. Luckily, Clara had warned me to take a tarp with me on long hikes, and I covered myself with it, pulling Rhodes’s rain jacket on too for extra protection. I was still sitting there when hail started pelting everything.
But I stayed optimistic. I knew this was just part of it. I’d gotten hailed on once or twice before. It never lasted long, and this time was no exception.
I started again, kept pushing, getting tired, but no big deal. It didn’t rain long enough for it to be muddy, but simply damp.
I crossed a sketchy section and the ridge that had tried to assassinate me last time, that I pretty much had to scramble over, and that’s when I knew I didn’t have much further left. I was almost there. An hour maximum. I checked my phone, saw I had service, and sent out a couple of texts.
The first was to Rhodes.
Me: Made it to the ridge. Everything is good. I’ll text you on the way back.
Then I sent one to Clara that was basically the same.
That’s when an incoming message came through from Amos.
Amos: Did you go do the hike by yourself?
Me: Yessss. I made it to the ridge. Everything is good.
I didn’t even get a chance to put my phone on airplane mode again when another message came through from him.
Amos: Are you nuts?
Well, I guess I might as well sit here another minute. I could use the break. So I texted him back, propped my butt on the nearest rock, and figured five more minutes wouldn’t kill me.
Me: Not yet
Amos: I could’ve gone with you
Me: Do you remember how miserable you were when we did four miles?
I took out a precious granola bar and ate half in a bite, peeking at the skies. Where the hell had these clouds come from? I knew they rolled in uncalled for, but….
Another message came through while I was chewing.
Amos: You’re not supposed to do it by yourself!!!
He was using exclamation marks.
He loved me.
Amos: Does dad know????
Me: He knows. I called him, but he didn’t answer. I promise I’m okay.
I finished off the rest of my bar in another bite, slipped the wrapper into a grocery store bag I was using for trash, and when I hadn’t gotten a response from Amos again or Clara, or anyone, I got up—my lower body crying in frustration from how tired it already was—and kept on going.
The next hour fucking sucked ass. I thought I was fit, thought I could handle this shit.
But I was exhausted.
Just thinking about the hike back made my enthusiasm disappear.
But I was doing this for Mom, and I was here and fuck if I wasn’t going to finish this. This lake better be the greatest thing I’d ever seen.
I kept going and going.
At one point, I caught a flicker of what I figured had to be the lake in the distance, shiny and mirrorlike.
But with each step I took, the clouds got darker and darker.
It started pouring again, and I took out my wet tarp and hunkered under a tree with it.
But this time, it didn’t clear up after five minutes.
Or ten.
Twenty or thirty.
It poured. Then it hailed. Then it poured some more.
Thunder shook the trees, my teeth, and my soul. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked to see if I had service. I didn’t. I ate most of the snacks I’d planned on treating myself to when I got to the lake to save time. I was going to have to get there and pretty much turn around and start heading back.
The rain finally turned into a sprinkle after nearly an hour, and the quarter mile I had left felt like ten.
Especially when the bullshit lake was the most underwhelming thing I’d ever seen.
I mean, it was nice, but it wasn’t… it wasn’t what I’d expected. It didn’t glow. It wasn’t crystal blue. It was just… a regular lake.
I started laughing; then I started laughing like an idiot, tears bubbling up in my eyes as I cracked up some more.
“Oh, Mom, now I get what the wave was for.” So-so. It was for so-so. It had to be.
I’d expected to find some people around, but there was nobody. Had they kept on hiking? The Continental Divide was miles out, branching off from a different trail attached to this one.
I laughed even more, again.
Then I sat down on a wet log, toed my boots off as I ate my apple, enjoying the crunch and the sweetness. My fucking treat. Whipping my phone out, I took a selfie with the dumbass lake and laughed again.
Never again.
I took my socks off and wiggled my toes, keeping my ears open for animals and people, but there was nothing.