Hills

I’d heard a lot about these hills, these “endless, rolling hills” on the other side of the country. Of course I didn’t believe the stories at first; I thought that was all they were: aggrandised stories told by attention-hungry fools to any poor soul who was polite enough to listen. That was until fate brought me to them.

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I went on business trips often, choosing between them and a stuffy office was never a difficult decision, at the very least I could usually find a new bar to drown my sorrows in and regale my woes. Anyway, it was one of these trips that had me driving late on a rainy night on some back-country road as I followed my GPS to the hotel I’d be staying at. I yawned, and my attention left the road for a moment, just a moment, which was all it took for me to drift off the road. In a panic, I jerked the steering wheel to the right, rushing to re-centre myself as the car swung back and forth across the road.

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In my blind, tired panic I swerved back and forth until one last hard left turn took me over the barricade and tumbling downhill. The car spun and crumpled, throwing me around inside as I tried to avoid a concussion… or just about any damage for that matter. The car tumbled downwards into a thicket and at last rested between two trees.

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Dizzy, I stumbled out of the car and leaned against the first tree I came to, vomiting up the meal I’d gobbled down at the service station an hour-or-so ago. I went back down to my car and grabbed my phone. No service. I started back up the hill I’d fallen down, hoping to find a way back up, but the wet mud on the already steep slope made getting back up impossible. Was it that steep on the way down? I thought, but I disregarded the thought and moved away from the car, hoping to get a signal as I went far enough.

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Slowly, I made my way through the dense forest, hopefully checking my phone for a signal but getting nothing. This continued for hours as I trudged along, phone in hand and getting wearier as I went. Time crawled by as each step started to ache, until eventually I saw a clearing ahead. With renewed vigour I ran towards it, thinking I’d found my salvation and glad I’d finally escaped this unfortunate situation.

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Relief turned to despair as I saw what lay ahead of me.

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Hills, as far as the eye could see. Rows and rows of hills stretching into the horizon with no sign of civilization. I sank to my knees and stared across them. I couldn’t think, I could barely breathe, I felt like I wanted to cry but I just stared on. In the distance, clouds rolled in, blocking the setting moon which further shrouded the endless hills in darkness.

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With not much choice, I stood up and pressed on.