63 Days

Solo was moving quickly. I began each morning with a stretch and a walk down to the small creek that was at the bottom of my hill. I knew people were watching me across the valley, in the hills, on the top of mountains…somewhere.
After Challenger and to this day, I will be at home or [...]

When I got home from Challenger in the summer, my family thought I looked radiant, I thought I looked like somebody else. I asked permission of my parents to do everything. Mother may I go to the bathroom? Mother may I open the refridgerator? Mother may I walk to the mailbox with you? They thought [...]

Morning slipped in quickly and the sound of the jeep shook my eyes to an awake state. I sat up fast and wondered if I’d slept in but the sun was barely creeping over the hills in the distance. The jeep rounded a corner in the distance, but not so far that I couldn’t see [...]

Today, April 19. I am feeling great loss. I’m sad, I want to write the next part, but I can’t. I will tonight, tomorrow for sure.
The clouds outside the window look dark and full, but they aren’t raining. Don’t the birds know that I don’t want to hear them singing? The sun shines, trying to [...]

The sizzle of water beginning to boil on the insides of an old charred peach can sounds like a swarm of gnats. The tiny buzzing almost roars in your head until you realize that its so loud because there isn’t another sound around you. Being from Las Vegas and Southern California, I’d heard background noise [...]

The sun was warm as I opened my eyes. The clouds were leaving to the east, and this the bluest sky I’d ever seen. Birds were chirping and I sat up to see what the wind had done to my little haven.
There were tracks in the sand. Footprints. They led from the entrance of the [...]

The evening crept in and with it came the cold. The wind that was blowing the storm away tore into my inlet, bouncing off of the back walls and circling around, digging deep into my bedroll. Sand whipped itself into every crack and crease, smoothing out footprints and filling in my firepit.
I [...]

M&M’s taste like heaven when you’re looking at a bag of raw rice and oats. The candy shell peels off in tiny chips that hurt your jaw they’re so sweet. Chocolate is like heroin for a starving teenager, and I was the happiest damn junkie in the desert at that moment. I’d separated them into [...]

I saw the jeep coming toward me before I could hear it. This made it worse I think, because silence can hold your fear to you and there’s nothing to distract it. I could make out two heads inside. I was sure one was Murdock, but who would the other one be? I got down [...]

Day two of “solo” began with a start.
SNAP!
Something was in the brush around my camp. I listened carefully, but all I could hear was silence. Then it moved again. I slid down into my blanket even deeper and waited. Whatever it was, it was only about 20 feet from where I was laying and I [...]

“So, what the heck am I going to do now?” I asked myself, outloud. The camp was a pretty good sized area, perhaps the size of a basketball court, but there was a 20 foot high wall of red rock that came around 3/4 of the place, kind of in a horseshoe shape. The big [...]

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Thanks guys.
Alli

The jeep slowed to a crawl as we climbed up and down canyons. Bone dry natural washes served as our road, and as we rounded each bend I could see where the last flood level had been, marked on the wall with a white calcium line. The jeep was noisy, but not as noisy as [...]