Mountain Time

As we travel up to the summit of Pike's Peak, I wish time would stand still. It makes my heart ache knowing that I won't be able to see the beauty surrounding me or watch my child experience it, for the first time, ever again. My thoughts are interrupted by my very excited 6 year old little boy.

"Mommy! A bear!" Cole shrieks as he points out of his window towards a big black bear. Knowing I can't stop long, I pull to the side as far as I can so we can snap a few pictures. As I unlock my phone to open the camera, I glance at the time. One-thirty on the dot... The same time we started driving up the mountain highway, over twenty minutes ago.

"I think my phone isn't working right up here. Let's snap a few pictures and then find a spot to pull over so I can restart it." I hand my phone over to him and watch as he is mesmerized by the wild bear venturing down the path next to us. The bear comes towards us slowly and walks in front of my car, stopping to look me dead in the eye before moving to the other side of the mountain. Her, or his, eyes are almost human-like and it sends a chill down my spine.

"Let's get going, Cole." I say as I shake off whatever feeling is deep in my gut. We proceed to the next look-out point, far enough away from the bear to make sure we are safe. I let Cole out of the car and we take in the view while waiting for my phone to restart. Once he becomes antsy to continue our trek up the highway, we climb back in the car.

"Huh." I say when my phone still shows one-thirty for the time. I check the clock on my car and it shows the same. Must be the cell service, I think to myself.

The remainder of our drive is not as eventful, but the scenery makes up for every second spent without seeing anymore wildlife. Snowflakes start to fall as we reach the summit and Cole is just as thrilled as I am to see the little white flakes. It is early summer and neither of us knew what to expect from the Colorado weather. The small flakes turn into large flakes though, and I start to worry about the drive back down. We park the car and walk into the visitor center, hoping to find someone that can give us some guidance on what to do next.

"Are you finding everything you need, miss?" A deep voice asks from behind us. As I turn to see who is asking, I crash into the wall of a man who must have been standing just inches behind me. I apologize and look up to see the most incredible featured man standing before me. He has the brightest green eyes, his face is perfectly covered by a full dark beard and his arms must be the size of tree trunks.

"Mom, it's rude to stare." I hear Cole say. Leave it to that kid... he's always pointing out the obvious.

"Excuse me. I am so sorry for running into you. I was just looking for someone that knows a bit more about the weather than I do." I say while blushing. I can feel his eyes on me and I look up to meet them, thinking to myself how familiar they look. Most of my family has green eyes, including myself, maybe they remind me of someone I know.

The man reaches for his phone and glances at it before sticking it back in his pocket. "It looks like you might be stuck up here for a while." He says right before a woman approaches and I overhear pieces of their conversation.

"Justin, the highway is shut down due to the weather system that just moved in. We need to work on getting the folks left up here to the lodge as soon as possible." The woman says quietly.

Cole reaches for my hand as I start to panic. Feeling his little hand in mine usually quiets my mind, but not this time. We weren't prepared for anything like this. I checked the weather multiple times, packed enough snacks and water to get us through the day and planned on being back at our hotel in time for dinner.

"Now what?" I say to myself. Justin, whose name I have just learned by hearing the woman say it, must have heard me. He turns to me and asks if we need anything from the car. Then, tells me that he will be taking us and some other visitors to the nearest lodge to wait out the storm. I can hear his words but my head is spinning and I need to sit down. We walk to the nearest chair and I plop down with Cole beside me. Justin disappears.

I am not sure how much time has passed when Justin returns. My phone still shows the same time that it has been stuck on since we started today's journey and my mind cannot process why that is happening. Or why anything else is happening. So much for the rest of our vacation plans, now we are stuck on this huge mountain with a bunch of strangers.

"Miss, I'm sorry I don't know your name, we need to get going. Is there anything I can help you with before we leave?" Justin asks.

"Amanda, and this is Cole." I say pointing towards my son. "We obviously did not plan for this but I have a few items in my car that we can take with us." He extends his hand as if to shake mine. Instead, he pulls me from my seat and starts leading us towards the doors. I look down at Cole who is tagging along without a care in the world. Snow, mountains and wildlife... he is never going to want to leave.

The trip to the lodge is a very slow moving one. Snow has fallen fast and it has to be several inches deep already. I have to admit, it's a beautiful sight to see. As we approach the lodge, the view becomes even more incredible. The log cabin style building is tucked away in the trees, smoke is billowing from the chimney and the snow has painted the perfect picture all around us. I pull Cole into my lap so he can see out of the truck windows and point towards the lodge.

"How do you feel about getting to stay here tonight?" I ask. His eyes light up as he throws his arms around me.

"This place is awesome, mom!" He says and my mind settles a bit... At least this trip will be memorable, I hope.

Justin opens the door of the truck for us and helps us out, along with the other guests. He grabs the few items we brought with us and leads us into the front door of the lodge. We are greeted by a lovely woman, who welcomes us with open arms. She ushers us to a family room with a fireplace and brings over a tray of hot chocolate. Cole doesn't hesitate and grabs a mug, over-filling it with marshmallows before he gulps it down.

"Slow down, bud. You wouldn't want to ruin dinner. We have chicken and noodles cooking if you're hungry." Justin says as he walks into the room. I can feel him near me before I see him. Something about his presence has my stomach in knots. It could be the fact that I have avoided most men for the past six years... or it could be the fact that he is so damn attractive.

"You're staring again." Justin states as he folds his arms over his wide chest. My cheeks are immediately on fire.

"I'm so sorry. Have I met you before?" I ask. He shakes his head.

"No, I don't think you have." And he walks off.

We are shown to our room by one of the many employees of the lodge. The room is beautifully decorated and has the most amazing view. I lean against the window to take it all in until I hear Cole unpacking his bag of toys that we brought from the car. He seems completely unbothered by the situation and that is just fine with me. I sit down on the floor with him to see what all he has brought and he scoots over into my lap with his dinosaurs in tow. With his head resting against me, I close my eyes and lean back against the bed.

Being awoken by a screaming child isn't my favorite way to wake up, it happens more than I would like to admit. Pure panic comes over me as I frantically try to figure out what is going on in my groggy state. I don't remember falling asleep... The last thing I remember was Cole climbing into my lap. I find Cole at the window, pointing and shrieking loudly.

"More bears, mommy!" He says. I look out the window to see two big black bears walking alongside the creek that runs behind the lodge. They slowly walk beside each other for a ways and then one bear ventures towards the lodge while the other crosses the creek. We watch in amazement as the bear comes towards us. Just as Cole steps away from the window to grab my phone so he can take pictures, the bear looks up as if it knows I am watching. I stare as it walks closer and see the same eyes as the one that crossed in front of us earlier. What are the odds, I think to myself. Cole returns to the window to snap a few pictures and the bear walks off towards the side of the lodge.

"This is the best day, ever. " He exclaims.

I look at the clock again. Something weird is going on... everywhere I look, it says it's one-thirty. My phone, my car and now here. The bear, the eyes, the man that seems so familiar... Have I landed in some alternate universe? I shake my head and laugh at myself. There's no way. We decide to go to the dining room and check in on dinner, we're both starving and haven't had a real meal yet today.

The amazing aroma coming from the dining room fills our noses as we walk in. A long wooden table is filled with a variety of foods, one being the chicken and noodles Justin mentioned. The woman that greeted us earlier comes out of the kitchen carrying a tray of warm biscuits and smiles as she sees us.

"Please sit down. The other guests should be down shortly and there is plenty here for everyone." She says. Cole and I pick seats with a window view and I can see Justin coming up the front steps as we sit down. He opens the front door, kicking snow off of his boots and hangs up his coat. His eyes meet mine and I feel like I can no longer breathe.

"His eyes." I say out loud instead of to myself. The woman serving our food chuckles.

"Everyone loves those eyes. Green, like the trees in the forest." She states. And here I am, cheeks on fire again.

Justin takes the seat across from me and begins serving himself. He looks up to see me watching him, winks, and starts up a conversation with Cole. They swap stories about the outdoors and what their favorite sports teams are. I eat my meal in silence as the two of them carry on like old buddies. My son always amazes me with how he can talk like a grown man but still be the gentle, innocent six year old mama's boy. They spend the entire time talking to each other while I fight a battle inside myself, trying to figure out what is going on here.

We are stuck on a mountain and my mind is getting the best of me, that's all it is.

Once we are all done eating, I ask Cole if he wants to head back to our room to get ready for bed. He throws his head back in disagreement, of course.

"Why don't you get to bed, if it's okay with your mom, we can go exploring tomorrow." Justin says to Cole. I hesitate... But nod my head after a few seconds. He feels safe, oddly, but I will stick close by and keep an eye on them when they do venture out. I mouth a quick thanks to him over my shoulder as we go back to our room.

There isn't a TV in our room, which we don't normally watch a lot of, but it would be nice to have a distraction right now. Instead, we find a book in Cole's bag and read it on the bed. Cole snuggles up to me as we read and before I know it, he's asleep. I'm grateful to have a bit of silence and eventually fall asleep with his head on my shoulder.

I wake from the strangest dream, my heart is racing as I sit up in the bed. Cole is still asleep next to me so I quietly sneak away to the bathroom. As I look in the mirror, I notice a scratch on my neck. In my dream I fell through some trees down the side of the mountain and the only thing that stopped me was a bear. Not just any bear, though... It was the same bear we had encountered twice that day. The bear with the familiar eyes. I run my fingers over the scratch to make sure that what I'm seeing is real. And it is. I lift my shirt up to reveal more scratches and cover my mouth to prevent myself from screaming. How did this happen? I was asleep.

I sneak out of the bathroom, check to see if Cole is still asleep and head out of the room. I take off down the hall towards the front to see if I can find someone and am stopped dead in my tracks by Justin walking in the front door. I back down the hallway, hoping he didn't see me.

"Amanda... are you okay?" I hear him ask. I let my body sink down the wall and I begin to cry. Something is happening here and I can feel it in my bones. I hear Justin coming closer and I cover my face with my hands, to hide my tears and hopefully myself. Unfortunately, I can't make myself invisible and he scoops me up off of the floor with ease. I don't argue, kick or scream... I just let him carry me. He opens a door, sets me onto a bed and crouches down in front of me.

"Can you please tell me what is going on here?" I plead.

He doesn't offer an explanation, he just says there's something he wants to show me and walks to the window. This man just opens the window and climbs out. I rush over just as he disappears outside. I lean out of the window and look down at the ground to see where he has fallen and there's nothing... he's gone. Frantically, I look for him and yell his name. The trees right next to the building start to rustle and I expect to see him walking out, although I would have no idea how he got there without leaving any footprints. Instead, a big black bear walks out from under the tree and I inhale... but never exhale. I should scream for help or do anything other than stand here, but I can't move. Not even as the bear approaches the window. I am frozen.

I am nudged back into existence and when I look down to see the eyes of the man I have just met today looking up at me, confusion and terror washes over me. It can't be him... this isn't possible. I back away from the window, sit down on the edge of the bed and begin to hyperventilate. And then I faint.

"Wake up, Amanda." I hear Justin saying. I blink a few times and open my mouth to scream as his face comes to view right in front of me. He quickly hushes me and says he will give me space as long as I don't scream. Then, he backs away and sits across the room from me as I stare at him, trying to find words. I have so many questions.

"How?" Is all I manage to spit out.

"This is who I am. I can shift from man to bear and back. I didn't know how to explain it, or if you would believe me, so I thought I would show you. That probably wasn't the best idea but now it's done. When I saw you coming up the mountain, I knew from the second our eyes met that you belonged to me." Justin explains as I sit silently.

So, he continues. "I took the storm as my chance to get closer to you. I knew it was coming in and that you would get stuck but instead of finding a way to warn you, I let you come right into it. I could have shifted back... Anyways, here we are. There is one thing I can't explain, though. If you haven't noticed, time has stood completely still since you arrived on this mountain."

"This isn't real. I need to go check on my son." I say as I stand and move towards the door.

To be continued...