The Climb Part 1

As the darkness fell upon the mountain, it became darker hues of purple with shades like indigo, boysenberry, raisin, wine, and jam. The moon was out and allowed my eyes free rein over what lay ahead of me. It looked magical as the darker shades beamed under the full moon. I had just spent the rest of the evening paddling my way across the small river that led me to the entrance of the mountain.

This was it. I was about to climb this mountain. And as I looked up, I couldn't deny the fear rushing down to my legs. This was going to be a very hard task. I sighed and looked at the trickle of water draining down the rocky slopes along the rough, grassy patches.

There laid a valley, so shallow, the water smoothly slid along its gray stone bottom.

I took a deep breath and drank some of the water. The mountain seemed like a tremendous task, one that was impossible to climb, but I had to, so I started. At first, I saw no roads, so I hooked myself into one of the pockets alongside the mountain, securing myself just like the old man had shown me, and started messing around with the length the further up I advanced.

My hands burned from the rope and my arms ached, as it seemed that I hadn't even reached a quarter of the way up when it felt like I was struggling for hours. Had so much time passed? My reading of time felt witlessly vacant.

The ache settled in my limbs with a fury not easily removed. Such was the job ahead of me. It was going to be a hard job, and that I was sure of. Sweat drained constantly into my eyes.

I used my eyelashes to disrupt and constantly wade off the wet results of my efforts. My breath came out in rapid sports, and my jaw each in agony as I tried to pull myself up. I allowed myself to hang off the side of the mountain by the rope and contraptions that held me up.

I needed a resting spot with how much pain I was in, but as I looked around, there was none to be seen.

The mountain was steep. There were no inlets big enough for me to lay my body on. My eyes flicked around in growing distress. When I looked down, and perused the stretch to the depths of where I started. A plan should have been made, for my choices were dismal right now. Going forward was my only option now. My mind ripped me with negative insults at my lack of sense. My breath stabilized and my body cooled standing up here.

I looked up, training my eyes, I saw an outreaching ledge high above me. That looked like my best option. Hopefully, in the linear stretch of this mountain, I can find maybe a notch that was being hidden before that ledge.

Arms shook, and I closed my eyes, breathing in heavily to prepare my body for this. The longer I stayed within my mind, the darker it got, the worse my feelings raged against the cage of my small light. Then it broke, the bars burnt under the fiery of my depression.

I could feel tears gathering in my eyes. It was like a fire in a dry forest. My boundaries were gone, for nothing was left. I couldn't see how I was going to make it to the top in time.

In fact, it seemed like even if I had seven more days, I still wouldn't get to the top. My head hurt. I was nauseous and exhausted. I took out a piece of meat and drank some more water. I needed sleep badly and sleeping while hanging off the mountain didn't seem like a plausible option, but my body gave me no other choice as I felt my eyes closing desperately.

A piece of the mountain that fell off cut my sleep short and hit me in my face. I woke up in a panic as I tried to adjust to my reality and remember where I was. As my eyes focused, I remembered that the moonlight had illuminated a path for me, one I hadn't seen why I had climbed this far, on the other side of the mountain. There was hope. I forgot about that. Back home, everyone believed in me, everyone loved me, I forgot that. Giving up was not an option, and I had to not fall here. I just had to get around to that place and I could probably rest on that path or trek to find somewhere more promising. I was injected with energy.

"Thank you," I whispered as I adjusted my rope and hook to crawl my way around the mountain, adding more blisters to my hand as I made my way closer to the path where I could finally let my feet hit the ground. I was getting closer and closer. How had this gotten so near within my sight? It felt like forever before, but now it felt so easy. Or was I dreaming? Guess it doesn't matter now, because before I know it, my fingers dug into the earth and pulled me along the very spiked surface of the mountain.