The Beginning of a Hero

   A dim light flickers against the cold stone walls. Smoke and embers dance from a nearby fire, filling the small cottage with an orange glow embraced in a smokey cloud. Paintings of men in battle amongst foreign symbols along the stone flare into view. Each with their own story; great wars, births of heroes and downfalls of evil are depicted from the ceiling to the floor. Crouching next to the fire, a young woman dressed in rags stirs the embers as a hog roasts over the flame. She hums a gentle melody to herself as she prepares dinner.
   Across the room, hidden behind a table filled with scrolls and books sits an elderly woman. Her face and arms covered with similar markings on the wall, the quill in hand scribbles across a paper as she screams; "No! No. No. NO! This can't be!" Mumbling an ancient language the drawings on her papers begin to appear on the wall. Skulls, flames, war, death begin to take over the other drawings. "The end is coming" the elder woman slowly breathes out as she drops to the ground.
   Rushing to her side, the young woman tries to bring her back to a sitting position. "Another vision Grandma?"
    Shakily looking at the wall the old woman replies in a hoarse voice, "Darkness is coming. A world burned black. Dark shadows cover the land; nowhere to hide." Leaning forward, she adds a star to the top of the painting. "There is a light! A child... your child." Looking at her granddaughter with soft eyes she begins to smile before her face returns to a panicked expression. "Quick! You must leave. He is coming."
   A loud knock raps on the front door; giving her grandmother one final hug, tears fill her eyes as she quickly sneaks out the side door. Jumping on a black stallion in the stables she rides away as fast as the horse can carry her. Heading up the hill near the cottage, she leaves her home and heads towards the Sacred Forest.
   A scream pierces through the valley, turning back, she catches a glimpse of her home being engulfed in flames. Three men dressed in black climb on the backs of wingless dragons and begin to head in the direction of the young woman. She kicks at her horse and races through trees, dodging branches as the wind runs through her chestnut hair. It was the last time she ever looked back.
   By nightfall, she came across a small inn on the edge of the forest. Cold and wet from the heavy rain that welcomed her she desperately hoped they had an open room. After settling her horse in the stables, she pushed open the heavy door leading to the tavern.
   The tavern was filled with men singing to lively music, drinking their money away and betting whatever remaining coin they had on their strength in an arm-wrestling match. Familiar scents of meat cooking and beer filled the tavern's thick air.
   Approaching the counter, a young man with curly brown hair turns from the bar to face her. His face had flour on the cheek and his eyes were a deep watery blue. Wiping off the sauce on his hands with an old rag he places it in the front pocket of his apron. "What can I get you?"
   "Just a bed for the night."
   "We're full for the night, but you look like you're freezing. You can come stay at my place for the night if you want. I'm just finishing my shift."
   She nods and he places his apron on a hook by the door before leading her to his cottage. A small shack behind the inn.
   Early the next morning the young woman wakes to a rooster crowing nearby; quietly she makes her way out. At the door, she turns back to the man sleeping and whispers a final goodbye. The morning air chills her breath, the dew on the grass cold on her bare feet. She climbs on her horse and begins her journey before the sun peeks over the horizon.
    For the next several months the young woman covers a lot of ground. Only stopping when she needs to. Almost at the end of her journey, she comes across a small red cottage on a mountain road. With the harsh winter winds blowing sharp ice against her skin and her now large stomach bringing pain to her back she trudges through the snow to the door. Asking for shelter from the couple whose lives there she is greeted with open arms.
   "Quick! Bring me a bowl of warm water and a towel!" Orders the lady of the house to her husband. "She's gone into labor."
   The next morning, the lady of the house holds up the new baby; handing the child to the young woman, she whispers; "It's a girl."

The River

     As he fell, he waited for the icy water to surround his body. Through the air, he felt the weightlessness of gravity pulling him towards the water's surface. On the river shore stood a group of friends, laughing, drinking, smiling and filming each other. In the air next to him, a girl. Her hair a dark brown with red highlights in the sunlight and beautiful waves that were about to be ruined by the water.
     Just as quickly as his foot had left the cliff, it was entering the cold river water. A brief glimpse of the group of friends on the shore followed by darkness as he went under the water's surface. Bubbles of air crawled up his body, trying to escape back up to the surface. Beginning to kick, he joins the rising bubbles of air to the top. Surfacing he regains his breath and looks to the girl by his side.
     Smiling and laughing she brushes her now wet hair out of her face and runs over to the group of spectators on the shore. The group plays back the video on a blue smartphone, the jump has already been immortalized on the internet.
     The rest of the afternoon is spent repeating jumps off the cliff. Some are simple, some include tricks and some jumps become competitions, but all give the teenagers the adrenaline rush that keeps them repeating the same jump. When the sun begins to set, the group begins to gather wood and logs, placing them in a fire pit near the shore. The rest of the night is filled with music, s'mores and more drinking until the sun comes up the next morning.
     The following morning the group of teens wakes up covered in ashes from the still-burning fire. Lightly brushing off the soot they begin to clean up and pack up their gear. Today they would be hiking to the next campsite.
     While the others woke up comfortably covered in soot, the boy woke up still wet. His curly hair dripping water and his skin cold from not drying off. His clothes still heavy. The fire was warm, but not enough to dry him off. He called out the leaving group to wait for him, but they didn't hear him. Frantically he looked for his dry clothes... his sleeping bag... his tent; all gone.
     Had he eaten breakfast this morning? Dinner last night? He couldn't remember. He calls out to the group again, but they're out of sight now. Still wet, he sits as close to the still-burning fire as he can, with hopes to dry off.
     Still wet, he hears voices in the distance, another group comes to the campsite.
     "Hey! Want to go swimming?" A cheerful voice shouts. The boy nods in agreement.
    Soon the waters are filled with a new group, this time they looked about college-age; only two years older than the boy.  The pattern repeated, an afternoon filled with swimming, jumping, and video filming, followed by a night of togetherness around a fire. Again, this group packed up and left the boy behind; still wet.
     For years the boy was struck in the same loop. Joining a group for swimming and campfire fun, to be left behind, and never being able to get dry. Until she came.
     A beautiful blonde girl. The last of the melting snow crunching underneath her hiking boots. Her pack was light and it became clear to the boy that she was traveling alone. She came to the edge of the river and crouched down to clean her face.
     After setting up a tent hidden in the trees she started a fire, gathered water and began to sketch in a small leather journal as she waited for the water to boil. Her sketchbook was filled with small sketches of flowers, trees, and natural scenery.
     With her water boiling now, the girl begins to make her dinner. A breeze brings a cold chill into the campsite; she knows she needs to prepare for a cold night. She was prepared for the cold, but she wasn't prepared for the rain that would come in.
     As she slept, a heavy rain came through the area. The girl woke up to her tent filled with ice-cold water. Panicked she desperately searches for dry clothing. Her tent begins to move as the ground underneath slides into the river.
     In her fluster of movements she unexpectedly finds herself outside the tent; standing on the shore as everything washes away. Cold and wet she looks around to plan out her next step.
     "Did you go swimming?" asks the boy.
     "No, my tent got washed down the river." she replies.

Settling in Before the Quarantine

WTF

   For the recent turn of events in the world, I thought it best summed up in this meme of J-hope from BTS.
   This past month I've settled into my hometown routine of work and school. This week I just finished up my winter term classes online with spring term also looking to be online.
   Before the social distancing rules were put in place I was able to work on several events. The first was the annual Daddy Daughter Dance. With a decoration theme of 50's drive-in. The fathers of the town bring their daughters all dressed up to this dance once a year. I got to help with planning, a little bit of decorating and working the door during the event. The next event I got to help with was our first Life Outdoor Show. It was my biggest project for the month of January and February, having spent those two months reaching out to countless businesses in hopes that they might want to be a vendor at our very first show. In the end, there were around twenty vendors for the show. It seemed to be a good hit for our first year and we've already begun some basic planning on next years show.

Daddy Daughter Dance

   After the Daddy Daughter Dance and the Life Outdoor Show, my two biggest events were over and I was looking at some downtime before another big event. On Monday nights I started to work as a gym attendant for our Rookies Soccer program. I even got to coach a little bit. My favorite activity, that all the children seemed to enjoy was teaching them to "protect their penguin eggs". I would demonstrate by holding the soccer ball with my feet and waddling with the ball between my legs. Whenever I wanted the children to stop and listen I would just shout out to protect their penguin eggs and they would all stand with the soccer ball between their feet. Sadly, I only got two Monday's of this fun before we had to cancel all programs.
    Last week I also started working at Dickey's Barbecue Pit again, but now I am wondering how long I'll still be able to work with the recent decision to close all restaurants in Oregon.
   For now, I'll be working as planned for as long as I can.

Madi

   For my personal life, I have taken up dog sitting.  I spent a week watching over this beautiful Newfoundland, lab mix and an Australian Shepard. It was up in the mountains so we got to spend a lot of time playing in the snow during the day and binge watching The Untamed at night.

   When I'm bored I have also taken up some more arts. Sketching or taking photos, but also more exciting, I've decided to take up writing and am currently working on a novel. I want to work on more writing, maybe some short stories, but I haven't decided where to start or how to go about it; but maybe you'll start seeing some short stories pop up on here! Any ideas or themes are welcomed recommendations if you want to see
something!

21

   Lastly, I just celebrated my 21st! The day of my birthday, I actually had to work and study for a final, but the Monday after I went out to dinner with my dad at my favorite restaurant in town and had a fiesta bowl with my dinner. Luckily I made it the day before the restaurant closure!

   For the time being, I'll be working, taking online classes and hoping that the BTS concerts do not get canceled, since I bought tickets for two concerts!