Friday, February 13, 3:33 AM. 2015

As I sank, I was submerged in darkness and slowly closed my eyes with surprising relief: That I never had to go back.

Sunday, February 8th 2015. Stiklen Residence. 9:55 AM

I awakened in my lousy existence because of a text I got from my

friend/crush, Izzy Efstdaseiu. Izzy was a white girl with a perfect life. She gets A’s in every subject. She was pretty, funny, and slightly pale, with long curly, light blonde hair, and a million dollar smile. It was 9:57 AM. I took my phone from my bedside table and read the text.

“Manny!! Today is the perfect day to hike! i already told beny and malcome to come. it’s gonna be at mt Nemo 12:00 pm. P.S, I know you got nothing better to do.”

I dragged myself out of my bed because of three reasons. One, Izzy is right. I have nothing better to do. I would’ve stayed in on a beautiful Sunday morning, sit and watch Peppa Pi–I mean, National Geographics with the british narrator. Two, I would’ve taken any excuse to be with her. Three, we’re probably going to get free food from McDonalds or something.

Sunday, February 8th, 2015. Blue Mountain Parking Lot A. 10:27 am

We arrived at Mt Nemo in Izzy’s car with only a slight delay, because we couldn’t find the entrance. And my best friend since kindergarten, Benyamin Wusabee, *Usually called Beny,* complained that his legs were sore.

“Ahh, man! I can’t feel my legs no more!” He exaggerated as he stepped out of the car. “Why didn’t we take more breaks?” He asked.

“‘Cause every time we took a break, you took half the days Malcome would have taken if he was allowed in the shower.” Izzy replied. She stepped out of the car too.

Beny was an extremely athletic person. On a daily basis, I would see him winning gold medals in sports. I, for one, am not athletic. No, scratch that, if incarnation was possible, my spirit would have given up on walking all together. Besides, if I tried, I would have been more athletic than a snail.

“Beny, it was only a fifty-five minute drive. Relax.” I said.

“Oh, flabbergasted me snicker me whimpers. I am deeply sorry if you had to wait for a depressed guy to finish crying and doing his business so you could go to the bathroom, m’lord.”

I chuckled, “You smelt nasty after that.” I replied. “Bro, I swear if you didn’t wear that cologne your dad gave to you, everyone would have avoided you like the plague.” Beny gave me the side-eye.

“Will you guys pipe down?” A voice behind me yelled. “I’m trying to sleep!”

I turned around to see my friend Malcome Efstdaseiu. I had barely noticed his existence and that he was coming with us. He barely ever spoke in the car ride. Malcome was still in the car, all groggy from the “very” heated commotion. But Izzy grabbed and yanked her twin brother out of the car. “Wake up, or I’m taking your Pokemon merch.” She said with a strangely happy smirk plastered onto her face. We all entered the trail that led to the very top of the mountain. Malcome tripped on some dog droppings and face planted as we all laughed. Izzy and Beny pointed out birds they had discovered. Izzy had seen a woodpecker, and a handful of cardinals, as Beny saw some robins and crows. I wasn’t really paying attention to whatever was above, for the pathway down below was covered with treacherous roots and stones waiting for some poor little Timmy to trip. I tried my best not to do said action, but I did about halfway up the mountain.

“If you could name your oven, what would you call it?” Izzy asked my other friends.

“Definitely Commander Adolf Montgomery Gurly Pop III.” Beny replied, instantly and with no hesitation.

“Where the heck did that come from?” Malcome asked.

They walked ahead of me, took a turn, and went around a wide tree and they were nowhere to be seen, due to the shrubbery.

“Wait up, gu-” I yelled, but then something hard and rough, a bit like sandpaper, thumped onto my head. Within a few seconds, my legs turned to spaghetti, my arms now seeming to turn into ashes as if Thanos snapped, my stomach began to churn, but I was spared from vomiting because my brain then shut down. Like some kind of emergency protocol. I was unconscious.

Sunday, February 8th 2015. Somewhere Up Mt Nemo. ?:?? ??

Darkness. My brain filled to the brim of darkness. The world seems to have perished. My eyes didn’t seem to want to do their job. But there was colour? Movement. I saw movement too. Shapes were appearing and disappearing, as if some kind of creepy peek-a-boo. I then started to see lions and an obese rats in parkas and tutus, doing some strange Tik Tok dance. I was guessing that it was caused due to a concussion, but who knows? I started to awaken from the sound of rustling in my pockets.

Monday, February 9th, 2015. Somewhere Up Mt Nemo. ?:?? ??

I was in the middle of a dirt path and I was flat on my stomach, and I saw two squirrels inhaling candy and energy bars I had packed in my pockets. It was nighttime. I climbed onto a tiny cliff, and saw some houses with the windows lit up. The moon was up, high in the sky. I thought it might‘ve been 3:00 AM or so. I had brought a watch and my phone, but I think those squirrels snatched it. Probably going to sell it on squirrel Ebay or something. But because of that, I had no idea what time it was.

The cool summer breeze made me grow a concerningly large amount of goosebumps and I had developed a decently, considerable dilemma; make a little shelter in the woods, or walk to civilization and get a hotel room. I chose to make a shelter because of my amazingly low sense of being athletic, I am gifted with the extraordinary ability of mathematics. I can know many days, years, hours, minutes, and/or seconds I've been around for, and I can know the time whenever without looking at a clock. Although, being knocked out for 7 hours is an exception. Now, because of this, I was estimating that it would take at least two hours to walk to a hotel. I gathered a large supply of big branches, praying I didn’t get poison ivy or touched a poisonous mushroom, and built a somewhat decent fort leaning against a birch tree. I climbed in the shack and then realised what is probably going to be the most tricky thing today: Sleeping.