Douglas

She drops her head onto the tattered grey steering wheel, an unsteady breath escaping between chapped lips. The autumn breeze lazily drifting through the cracked window of her car brushes against slumped shoulders, but she doesn’t notice. Her eyes are focused on the thin layer of dust behind the wheel she rests her forehead on. Small, minuscule particles gently rise into the air. Riding the gentle wind that came down from the mute giants surrounding her tiny car.

A strong breeze makes its way up and over the dense population of Douglas fir trees into her car again. It catches the stray strands of her honey-colored hair, causing them to dance along her exposed cheeks. She blinks once, instantly reminded of what she’s doing here. Her wrists tense up as she pushes her weight against the dash to sit upright. 

Heavy eyes look out onto the empty asphalt road, half-heartedly searching for something important she can’t quite remember. Something important. The thought floats across her half-awake consciousness like the wind in the trees. A gentle, almost playful caress briefly passing by to say hello to an old friend. 

“Something important,” she mutters as she pulls on the beige door handle with her left hand. She pushes the door open with her head bowed down in relaxed concentration. Her sandal-clad feet hit the unsettled dirt with a soft thud before she gets out of the car. She takes a few steps forward, coming closer to the road she parked her car by almost an hour ago. Stiff arms rise above the jeans and t-shirt she threw on that morning. Cold hands tightly clasped together, she reaches high above her head.

She balances on the back of her heel, stretching her back and cracking her neck before she turns around. Light plumes of dust are kicked up as she makes her way to open the passenger side of the car to grab a grey sweater thrown on the firm leather seats.

“Man, it’s cold up here,” she grumbles to herself as she wrestles the oversized sweater over her head. Soft cotton settles over her shoulders and she closes the door with her right foot before shoving her arms through the sleeves. She settles the hood of the sweater over her head and turns back to the road. 

The sight of the wide, moss-covered Douglas fir trunks fills her sleep-addled brain with faint reverence and purpose. Why does that name sound so important? She pauses for a moment, reflecting on her ignorance, before looking at both sides of the road and jogging across to the firs. Heart beating and mind beginning to wake up, she slows down to a walk and looks at the tree blocking her path.

Neon green moss covers the base of the trunk in thick patches. Soft and spongy to the touch, the moss erratically grows over the hard dirt-brown bark. She lightly presses her fingers to a patch of moss that made its home in the cracked bark of the fir and cranes her neck up to look at the seemingly never-ending height before her. She begins to rock back and forth, her balance thrown off by the dizzying difference in height between herself and the fir.

“Beautiful,” she whispers to the silence that surrounds her. She brings her hand away from the tree and takes one step back, a small smile on her lips. “This place is gorgeous,” she says while looking at the base of the tree again. “You know who’d love this,” she asks herself with a chuckle. “My beautiful So-'' She stops. Lips parted, a small breath coupled with sudden realization escapes both mouth and mind.

“Where…” she begins to ask herself while turning about in a circle. Knitted brows and a small frown adorn her tanned face while strips of green, brown, and black flash across her vision. Her feet land pointing towards her car; On unsteady feet, she races back to her car and opens the door. She bends her back forward and reaches across to the passenger seat to grab her phone. Leaning out of the car, she puts in her password and looks through her notifications. 

Mail (5) 

Message (1)

Missed Call (3)

REMINDER: Get groceries on way back home (4:30)

LIVE: Recording by Lizza

“Okay…” she says under her breath while looking through her messages and missed calls. “Two missed calls from mom and… something from Lauren.”

‘Honey, it’s mom. Let me know when you get up to the spot okay?’ (2:12)

‘Hi sweetheart, it’s mom again. I’m guessing you guys made it there okay. Give me a call when you get back into town. Love you.’ (3:37)

‘When are you guys gonna be coming back to the apartment again? I wanna make lasagna for dinner bruh.’ (2:54)

She looks at the time, 3:53, and sighs. “I must have taken a longer nap than I thought. Almost two hours, whoops.” She turns her phone off and puts it into her back pocket and slowly backs up against the driver’s seat door. “Two hours. Maybe an hour in and an hour out. That’s how hiking works right…” Her eyes find the rooted firs on the other side again. Slightly narrowed, mildly curious, she trains her eyes to catch the slightest hint of movement among the dense forest.

“I guess I’ll just wait. It can’t take too long to get back to the car.”

Bracing both of her hands against the door, she pushes off the door with a slight huff. She pads softly to the back of her car, grabbing her phone on the way over, and hops on top of the trunk. Placing her phone to the right of her, she pulls her hood over her head and lays against the rear windshield. Another breeze comes by, brushing her nose. She turns her head to the right and watches narrow branches topped with broad, green needles dance with the passing wind.

She blinks once… twice… suddenly finding it easier to keep them closed than open. She sighs and shifts her head to the right, wrapping her arms around her torso and closes her eyes. 

“Hey! Hey, Lily!! Oh my god, you’re finally awake. I thought you’d still be asleep by the time I got back,” a chuckling voice calls her way, gradually getting closer and closer. Her eyes open, a little red-eyed, and she turns her head towards the familiar voice. 

“Sophie… where the hell did you go? I thought you said you were gonna go check out something down the road. I’ve been out here for like two hours man,” she says with a crooked eyebrow at the smiling figure looking down at her. 

“Yeah, I did. And then I saw this bird. So I followed it for maybe… five minutes and came back up, but you were knocked out by the time I got here so I was like ‘oh, I’ll go on a little walk until she wakes up.’ Except I guess it wasn’t really a little walk,” she said while shrugging. Her girlfriend looks down at her with a sheepish grin, “Sorry.”

The two women look at each other for a couple of seconds before she sits up and jumps off the trunk. Walking towards her, she wraps her arms around her girlfriend.

“It’s okay. Just leave me a text or a note next time, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Mhh, then let’s get home. Lauren’s making lasagna.”