XXVII
The flash from the camera erupted like it was being fired out of a 10-gauge shotgun. Further away than she could see, something bolted into the underbrush. All she heard were a few twigs snapping and then nothing but silence again. She trudged forward. The path illuminated by the moon and star light but she was still seeing spots from her camera flash. ”I may as well be using magnesium powder.” she muttered to herself in the all-encompassing darkness. She kept moving forward, attempting to make it back to her car. She had fallen asleep earlier that day whilst on a hike. She had not realized how tired she had been of late. Her life was moving non-stop at work and it had felt good to come out to the mountains for the day to get away from it all. She kept walking for another hour or so before she realized how exhausted she still was. She found a soft pocket of grass under an oak tree and laid out a small blanket she had packed in her knapsack. Lying down under under the stars, surrounded by nothing but trees and stone, she fell asleep in the wild. As our ancestors once did. As many of us have forgotten how to.
