Richard jerked his head up gasped for breath. Coughing, he laid it back down sideways and gulped in air. He didn’t move for a long time – he just laid there, breathing.
After a while, he looked up. He was lying face down on a rather large slope, looking up towards the top. He started to look around, but he suddenly realized he had a terrible headache, so he laid his head back down, closed his eyes, and rested.
Eventually, Richard felt well enough to look around some more, so he propped himself up on his elbows and took a good, long look around.
He was in a large crater, about halfway down what he figured was the eastern slope. Why he didn’t see it coming, he couldn’t say. It must have been one of those optical illusions where the one edge was higher than the other, so he simply couldn’t see it until he was in it.
Richard rolled over onto his back and lay there, thinking about his dream. He couldn’t place the tree, but the woman he immediately knew. Oh yes, he knew her. Her name was Madeline. He sighed. Madeline. A name that as beautiful as the woman herself.
Madeline worked in the same office as Richard, on the same floor, but on the completely opposite side of the building – quite a distance away. Despite this distance, she would often visit Richard’s cubicle during her breaks. Richard never completely understood this. Perhaps more accurately, he understood it a little, but he didn’t know what to do with it. Sometimes, he would go visit her in her office, but not as often as he would like. He always had a strange blend of excitement and fear when deciding if he should go visit her, and the fear (which he also had a hard time understanding) frequently kept him from going.
Richard’s mind turned to the group campouts he sometimes attended. A lot of them were organized by people from work – many of whom were outdoor freaks – and sometimes he would tag along, although he never really knew why. One thing that he liked, though, is that Madeline often went to them as well. Another thing he liked – although it, too, boggled his mind – is how she would always try to sit close to him, even if it took her away from her friends. Not always right next to him, but always close.
Richard sighed again, and smiled.
After a moment, he sat up and looked around. He started. It had become quite dark while he had been laying there! He couldn’t see the sun anymore, only a glow from the horizon. The darkness didn’t bother him too much, but what did was the line of dark shadow separating the the fading light from the darkness. It lay across the surface of the moon and was moving over the crater, heading directly for him!
Richard sprang to his feet. The sudden movement intensified his headache, but he ignored it, and began to run up the hill to the top of the crater. Stumbling and panting, he reached the top and stopped just as the darkness overcame him. He fell to his knees and gasped for breath. He could see the light being absorbed by the darkness, further and further in the distance.
He forced himself to stand up. He wasn’t afraid of the dark, but he had watched the nature channel enough to know how quickly it would get cold at night in an environment like this. He felt a chill, and he crossed his arms for warmth. He would have to find some sort of shelter quickly if he was going to survive the night.
