The Trail: A Short Story

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“DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!” Their voices thundered in my ears as I cautiously peered over the cliff’s edge at the churning, foamy water below. I felt as if the entire world was urging me to jump, when in reality it was only a small group of shivering boys. I looked up at the tropical blue sky and listened to the palm trees whispering in the wind behind me, it seemed so peaceful and calm in comparison to the agonizing dilemma I was experiencing. Taking a deep breath of pure determination and willpower, I made up my mind. This was happening. No going back. I took a few steps back, careful not to slip on on the muddy, algae covered rocks in my trembling state. I glanced one last time at the seemingly endless drop off calling to me from a few short …show more content…

One thing I learned about Hawaii very fast was that it was very very wet, especially for an Arizona boy. Everywhere I stepped on this trail there seemed to be a puddle or a patch of mud that sucked you in like quicksand. As I hiked up the trail I could feel my feet squishing into the ground with every step. However, Hawaii easily makes up for it with its stunning beauty. Everywhere I looked there was green: green trees, green vines, green plants, green lizards, green bark, green everything. It’s a very stark difference from Mesa. As we climbed higher I could hear the ocean roaring below us. At the top, the trees suddenly disappeared behind us, giving way to muddy, sharp lava rocks. About twenty feet from the treeline the ground dropped off into a steep cliff that fell straight into the ocean below us. I ran to the edge and carefully checked to see how high it was. I felt relief rush through my entire body as I realized it wasn’t nearly as high as I had imagined. For some reason, I had been picturing something along the lines of base jumping off Mount Everest or skydiving from 20,000 feet into the ocean. In reality, I was only about thirty feet above the water. It was pretty high, but I had jumped off higher before and I knew for a fact that I would be