When She Fell

In her childhood, she was daily watching people going up and down that big mountain, the biggest she had ever seen. She was amazed of its huge shape and she admired its natural beauty; She had always dreamt that one day she would be one of those climbers, trying to reach the peak. Far out of her window, she counted how many climbers came and left; Some made a return in days, some in weeks, some in months, and some seemed never returned; perhaps, they stayed at the peak or she was just not paying attention when they returned. Her dad was however once one among those climbers. Too bad, he never took her along to that mountain and (she knew that) he never would. He said, one day when she was big enough, she could and she would just do it all by herself. He might have been right then.

That day... she never forgot; the day when she left home, taking the journey to go up that dream mountain for the first time. It was one finest day; the sky was clearly blue and the sun hurtlessly shone. She went alone but she carried her dad support along, she was not afraid at all. She took her first steps excitingly, confidently...

The first days she made it quite easy. The mountain was much bigger than she saw from her window, though. She had to stop from time to time for resting. During these stops she met other climbers; they seemed friendly and fun, and she easily got along with most of them. She enjoyed their accompanion and she liked her journey even more. When morning came, she was on her own again. She continued her journey just like the others. One by one, very slowly, they were out of her sight. They didn't wait, nobody did to strangers, we all know that. She just hoped that she would see them again in the next stops and they would create another crazy night.

Days gone, weeks ran fast. She opened her diary, which kept all her secretly and unsecretly daily stories, told and untold. It was then in the 8th week of her total journey. About two months long she left home, about 8 weekends she skipped hanging nights out with her best friends, about 53 stops she made, and about 85 new acquantainces she could memorize. She went out, ready to continue. She looked around, gazing for a while. She breathed in and breathed out; the air felt so fresh. She looked up and she could see the peak very closed. It would probably take another week to reach it... she smiled, proudly... Yes, she almost made it!

She was much more enthusiastically than before, she climbed up unsteadily fast, she kept looking high, she made less stops, she was so impatiently to be on top. She was careless and ignorance, she gave up some sleep-hours for speeding up the journey. She was too excited... too excited that she didn't see the night almost came. She was too arrogant to admit that she needed some rest; her back ached, her legs trembled, her stomach starved. She should have taken the previous stop because it took another 4 hours to the next one. Puff... Noway, she wouldn't walk back, she just proceeded. She was tired and she lost focus. She didn't see a stone, she lost her balance and she almost fell. Luckily the stone was not big, pufff... A-a, she was not that lucky; the ground was so slippery from yesterday rain; she stepped onto it and she lost a secure footing; she tried to gain it back with the other foot but it was too weak to support a balance; she slided and fell...

She fell... more and more down.

She landed somewhere silent and empty. She looked around, she saw no one and she heard no crowd. She looked up, she missed the peak. She didn't know how far she fell; it was so quick and it was really painful. She moved her fingers, they're fine; she saw some blood coming from her knee, but (thank God) she could move her legs still; she didn't try to lift up her body though, she laid down instead with face on the ground. She didn't cry, she didn't even scream for help; she knew it would be helpless. She was just thankful that she was still alive and complete. She was tired and she let herself fall asleep.

She was awaken the next morning by sunlight; it was a warm dry morning. She felt tired still a bit, she didn't move. She was thinking how it had happened to her. She regretted not to stop earlier, she wouldn't have felt so tired by now otherwise. She cursed that stone standing on her way, she wouldn't have stepped onto that slippery spot otherwise. She blamed the rain for making it hard for her and of course the sun for not drying it fast. At the end she felt fool herself. If only she had stopped... if only that stone hadn't been on her way... if only it hadn't been rain... if only if those had stopped from happening, she would have been by now somewhere even higher than the place where she fell. Somewhere near top.

It seemed that the fall had taken away her energy. She could just lay down there, hoping that someone would find her. Just hoping, didn't know for how long; that part of the mountain was quite remote, no living house nearby, no people passing by. She could cry out loud all day but no one would hear, no one felt her pain. She needed help, she needed a proper place to rest, she needed food; someone would help her but (she realized) she had to find that someone. Hardly visible, there seemed like a house in a distant. She should have gone there, she hesitated for a while. This was not good, she realized that; she had to stand up and tried to move a step towards that house. Hesitating, she rised, she felt her back aching. She walked... slowly making one step after another towards that house. She forgot about reaching the peak for the moment, she just wanted to have some proper rest. She needed to call home, parents must have been waiting for her call. She waited until she reached that house.

It was a modest hostel, the owner was an old couple living there. She was lucky to have the last room. The woman was caring enough to offer her aid bandage, to give her drink and food; she felt fine. She called home right afterwards, she heard parents so excitedly talking from the other line. She told them about the fall, but she didn't tell them how bad it was. As always. She never shared her pains to her parents indeed. She didn't want to make them worry, they had enough worries she thought. She just said, it turned out okay now and she was safe there in that little hostel, she might have needed more time to rest. Yet, she even didn't know herself what she would do next; should she have returned home or let her dad pick her up or continued her journey to that dreamy peak. She wanted still to go to the top. She would be able to view other villages, seas she never visited; she would be carving her name on a big rock; she would enjoy staying there for as long as she wanted. She could still but she didn't think that she was able to do it now. She felt tired and she fell asleep.

She woke up late afternoon the next day, feeling much better after 23 hours sleep. She had no idea what made today better than yesterday; it was just perfect. She took shower, singing loud, dressing up, going out for hunting meal. She passed the living room, where she found the landlady. She greeted her enthusiastically: 'good day!' She told her that she was going to prolong her stay for another couple of weeks. Yes, she decided to stay in that little hostel.

She had decided, she would still climb further up until she reached the top... she would! And she would do it later slowly and very carefully, she would (hopefully) not fall again. This was her last promise.