Once upon a time, my friends and I went exploring. At night.
It was 8 pm on a Sunday night and I had just gotten back from the gym (wow can we just appreciate the fact that I actually went to the gym). I had listened to One Direction (RIP) the entire time that I had been at the gym and I was PUMPED. Sooo, when I ran into some friends in the knuckle (the common area in the dorm), I stopped and chatted with them. They immediately told me that they were waiting on one of their friends to show up, so that they could go on an adventure (they actually had no idea where they were going yet). As I laughed, they invited me to come along, and I agreed (because what else are you supposed on a Sunday night?).
When their friend showed up, we headed off, and our adventure began. Well, technically, our adventure began after we sat in parking deck for 10 minutes, picking a place to explore. We finally picked a destination– the Vulcan. (The Vulcan is the world’s largest cast-iron statue, and it’s pretty magical when you go up onto the city viewpoint at night and look at the city lights.)
Jamming in the car to some old songs, we made it to the Vulcan in no time at all. Once we got there, we raced up to the top of the Vulcan and scoped out the city. Wow. It was so beautiful. I had so much love for my new city and my heart overflowed with so many emotions: gratitude, love, joy, and hope. Gratitude and love for my friends and family that had helped me get to where I was that day, joy for all the fun I was having, and hope for the beautiful city I was seeing.
After about 30 minutes and wayyyy too many jokes about the floor breaking, I was ready to be back on the ground and not 50 feet in the air. However, when we got back down, we weren’t ready for the night to end. Thus, someone suggested we check out the trail that went around the Vulcan, and we all agreed wholeheartedly.
As we made our way through the trail, everyone laughed and joked around. (I focused on not tripping.) When we had walked for about 10 minutes, we decided to head back, because we didn’t want to get too far into the trail. On our way back, two of my friends suddenly stopped, and frantically gestured for us to be quiet. Me being me, I hadn’t noticed their motions and I was still happily chattering away and not tripping. My friends quickly smacked me (almost making me trip), motioned for me to stop talking, and pointed at a dark shape on a rock.
At first I thought that I was looking at a strange looking rock. Then, I realized that the weird shape was a person. EVERYTHING SUDDENLY MADE SENSE. I nodded knowingly at my friends, and then realized the gravity of the situation. One of my friends started, took a deep breath, and then quickly pushed us to move. He set a quick pace (I tripped), and soon we were back at the parking lot. He hurried us into the car, and then explained. The person sitting on the rock had been wearing a ski mask and had suddenly stood up from the rock. This was confirmed by my two other friends.
That’s when I started freaking out. We could’ve been mugged, or worse. After a couple of hyperventilating breaths, I calmed down a bit, and agreed with the boys that we needed icecream. When we made it to Wendy’s, we all cautiously got out of the car, looked around, and made our way inside. Later, after a chocolate frosty and some good conversation, my heart stopped trying to beat out of my chest and I began to relax.
So that’s my story. That’s how I almost died. What’s the moral of the story? Don’t go hiking at night š .
See ya soon,
Emily
ABOUT THE PICTURE: I apologize for my outfit and non-makeuped face. I had just gotten back from the gym :’) . It’s the memory that counts, right?
Deng It! 