I looked ahead of myself, letting my feet do the work, for a moment. The trail seemed so distant and lengthy in front of me. The blue sky filled with scattered puffy, white like cotton clouds. The long grasses tickled at my legs, which were covered with nothing more than my shorts.
My boyfriend and I were on our annual hike to Clear Lake. An obviously attractive name for a beautiful body of water. Clear Lake was an icy cold from the glacier run off but after a 2 day hike up a mountain ridge it always seemed enjoyable and refreshing. The lake itself was surrounded by magnificently smooth boulders, which I was told, became so soft to touch from glaciers. The water was undeniably clear and inviting, covered by small pebbles at the bottom and little ripples on the surface.
On one side of the small,clear lake was a discreet beach away from the trail. But the lake itself was very discreet at the most people I would ever see is maybe 1 or 2 in a day. Todd, my boyfriend, and I lay on the beach the years before in each others arms. Watching as insects passed over our heads and the world turned while the cotton clouds moved from left to right. It surprises me that we are up here so soon considering the nightmare we experienced the previous year. I sighed and dared to reach back into my head and pull out the dreaded memories I had tried to neglect.
The night was young but Todd and I had been hiking all day. Our feet ached along with many other body parts. We built a fire and were up past the lake because we decided to explore a little bit further up, considering we both had some extra days off of work. The winter had been a cold one and there seemed to be little snow melting because the lake appeared low. I felt a chill descend through my body and my hair stuck straight up out of every hair follicle in my body.
Leaning back, I took notice to the moon and saw how crisp and serene the mountain sky was. I always loved looking at stars when I went camping, there are so many more to see to the naked eye. The milky way was so easy to see, it looked as though someone had accidentally spilt glitter on a piece of black construction paper. Just a long cluster of silver glitter strewn across the sky. Its hard to believe there are more stars in the sky, than pieces of sand on the earth.
I grew up in the city and you can never see many stars at all when all the lights light up the sky. Todd reached over and touched my straight brown hair then brushed his cold hand along my neck, a romantic move on his part. He never seemed to try very hard to be romantic or even unpredictable, for that sake. This annual hike was our romantic get-away. We both worked long weeks and never find too much time for each other.
The crickets made their unique, menacing sound which bellowed throughout the quiet scenery. “Hun, I think Im pretty tired. ” I let myself be heard. “Well, you think you are or you are?” he said flirtatiously.
“I want to go to sleep. Do you?” I didnt really feel like playing games. “No, Im gonna just stay up all by myself, oh and the crickets. Dont worry about me and my needs. Im just fine.
” He teased in a sarcastic tone. I couldnt stand the thought of going to sleep and our conversation ending like that. “Im too tired, come join me in a little while. ” I never let myself go to sleep when something ends on a negative tone or if someone is unhappy with someone else.
I always think if something bad were to happen to them or I it would end on a bad note. I absolutely cant stand that ides. “OK,” he said, “but dont think your getting away that easily. Well stay up tomorrow night. Alrighty?” with that flirtatious tone once again.” Yeah, babe.” I knelt down and searched with my hands for
