“The forest spirits sing in unison as they welcome a new inhabitant to their domain…”

-anonymous

I hate this game! I smash my desk many times as I lose against newbie players. I wonder where all my skill went, spending thousands of hours on this game I thought I would become good… Yet, I was suddenly playing as if I got this game yesterday. Looking at the clock, I realize that it’s already twelve! I sat down at 8:16 but it feels like it’s been 5 minutes! Well, time to get breakfast, or should I say lunch…

Once I get dressed and brush my teeth, I go downstairs to make some cereal. I use the same bowl, same spoon, and same cup every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Since I only need one set of plates, I use only a single set of plates. Now, I’m not a cook, but I still love to make the perfect mix of cereals for breakfast. Now that I have eaten my cereal with some orange juice, I get into my shoes on to go on a morning drive.

The speedometer shows 50, 60, 70, 80, … 100! I love driving like this. It gives me almost a better dopamine rush than gaming would, well of course it does, my life is on the line! Mostly I ride on scenic country roads which, A: have a low amount of police officers, and B: Have low traffic which mitigates the chance of a crash. And yet, I still miscalculate this risk as I nearly crash swerving out of oncoming traffic.

My car swerves into a ditch and crashes right into a tree. Now I wasn’t driving on any normal rural country with houses littered around it every now and then; I was driving on a road about 3 hours away from any human life form, except for myself. of course. Oh, and if I didn’t mention, the people that lived nearest my location, are probably murderers.

I took a chance to look around, I probably drove all day without realizing and now it was dawn. The light shone through the hundred-year-old fir trees and illuminated the road around me in patches. The ground was littered which patches of moss and the occasional fern; I noticed deer feeding on grass in the distance. Birds were singing melodies in the early morning breeze. The fresh crisp smell of Washington’s wildflowers caressing my nose hairs…

This would have been a beautiful place for a camping trip if only I wouldn’t have been stuck here all alone on the brink of insanity! Wait Mark! I need to think straight If I want to survive. So, the last time I ate was 5 hours ago when I got a Big Mac with Cola. Which means, finding food and water would be my priority. Then if I need to stay here over-night I need to find or build a suitable shelter. Ok then, to find a good water source I think we would need to hike further up the mountain until I find a lake. And while I’m getting there I might as well look for some berries to eat.

The hike upwards was treacherous. The loose rocks provided awful footholds on the almost 45-degree slope. Meanwhile, the hill evened-out and came out to a beautiful valley that had a cliff-face on one side, which surprisingly housed a beautiful cave that looked as if no one inhabited. But the main part of all, there was a gorgeous lake in the middle. On the north side of the valley there was an extensive forest leading out of the valley. While on the other side there was the steep hill which I used to clobber up here.

By the looks of it seemed to be about midday. Now even though I found some berries on the way here, I was still extremely hungry. So, I decided to build a trap to try and catch a rabbit. Once I set up the trap I went and collected firewood along with materials necessary to build the shelter. Once I came back to the cave, I set aside the firewood and began building the outside wall for my new home. Once that was done, I set up a bed using old pine tree needles and moss.

By now, it was already nearing sunset, so I decided to check on the trap. I caught something, but it was only a baby bunny (since it was spring aka the mating season for rabbits), so I decided to let the poor thing go. Now that I was foodless – but not waterless I went to get a drink from the lake. The lake

water was freezing because of the high altitude, but I liked it like that. It was very nice and refreshing. Once I got back to my shelter I laid down and fell into a deep, deep sleep.

When I woke up in the morning, I remembered all that happened the previous day which reminded me that, I was in fact, hungry as hell. So, priorities first, I went and peed in a bush, then checked on the trap. And lucky me I caught a rabbit. I went and prepared the fire taking the rabbit along with me. The way I decided to cook the rabbit was to take the skin off with my pocketknife and then grill it over the fire while turning it at a slow rate.

Even though I didn’t have any spices on me right now I demolished that rabbit quicker than a lion would. The crust just crunching in my out while the juices bathe my taste buds in liquid diamonds. Once I was done, I licked my fingers cleaner than a cat would its kittens. Micheline or not, this was the best meal I have ever had in my life.

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