Never Have I Heard

A picture of tree covered mountains in the background. There are lots of dark clouds in the sky. In the forfront the terrain is very rocky.

Photo by Daniel Smith on Unsplash

The wind blew so wickedly I was barely able to squint so I could see where the hiking path was. I had never been caught so off guard by the weather. This storm just materialized out of nowhere. There I was trying to make my way back to the trees. I figured I would at least have a little bit of a buffer once I was out of this clearing.

The rain seemed to come at me sideways as I stumbled over rocks. Only 100 more feet to go and I would be somewhat safe. Then I slipped on a wet rock landing hard on my right side. Pain from my shoulder to my hip pulsed through my body and blood started running into my right eye. As I laid there trying to maneuver to my left side I heard the words “Stay, just stay”.

Never have I heard anything so certain in my life. I was both terrified and puzzled at the same time. I tried once more to turn onto my left when the words, “Stay, just stay” were heard again.

I breathed deeply and closed my eyes. I prayed to a God that I had not spoken to in years, I prayed to be kept safe in this storm, I prayed for the pain to subside, and I prayed to see clearly again. Then I started counting to 100. I don’t know why I decided to count, but when I reached 82 it felt like the storm was lessening. I continued counting. It was when I reached 100 the wind had quit, and I could feel the warmth from the sun on my face.

I opened my good eye, as my right one was wet and swollen. I could see the storm had moved on. It was only as I began to look around and gather my bearings was I able to see where I had landed. A good two feet to the left was a 30 foot drop onto jagged rocks. I inhaled as I began to panic. If I would have moved, I surely would have gone over that cliff. I wouldn’t have even known it was there.

It was at that moment, the sun shined so brightly on me that I had to raise my hand to shield my good eye from the light, and I bowed my head and said, “Thank You!”

Nicole Barden 4/27/2021

Originally published in Illumination on Medium

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Helping to Make Sense