Tchk. Tchk. Tchk… And so on and so forth. It was two o’ clock, four minutes and thirteen seconds and counting. And the ticking of the clock drove Chara mad. This was the night, or morning rather, that they would leave forever. They were burning with anticipation, but procrastinating. They knew they wanted to leave. Needed to leave. But the prospect of abandoning everything they knew was terrifying. Even if home meant misery, it was a known misery. Beyond the village was entirely unknown to Chara. There was no telling what awaited them beyond…  Chara dug their nails into their leg. No. This would not discourage them. It did not matter if they died in the wilds. Anything to escape this wretched life.

Chara quietly opened the window of their room, looking over their shoulder at the door to their room. It was closed, but there was no doorknob, as Chara’s parents had removed it. Chara grabbed their backpack. It had a set of clothes and some water. A bit of food. Enough for a couple days. Hopefully enough to get to any place else. They gingerly clambered the open window and fell to the soil. Walking backwards, looking at the house, Chara takes a deep breath. This was it. They would be free, one way or another. Almost the moment they finish the thought, they turn around and run towards the forests at the foot of the mountain.

Chara could run at their initial pace for 3 minutes before they needed to slow down to breathe. That was fine. They were well away from sight of anyone in the village and they now walked through the tall wild grasses and steeple bushes of the outskirts. Chara continued walking, feeling a strange sense of relief from their solitude. Nobody was watching them. They were alone, their peace unmolested in the night. The crisp and cold invitation of nature would shield them from the village. Chara, in this place of unknowns. In this place where they knew not what food would be available or what water they may find in three days. Where the path ahead may harbor beasts who stalk and hunt. Here, not home, Chara felt… 

Safe

It has been two days and this feeling of safety has fallen aside and been supplanted with panic and desperation. Chara was running out of water and they had already eaten all of their food. They stood halfway up the mountain. Short of breath with sweat on their brow. Chara abrasively questioned their own judgment in climbing the mountain. “What was I thinking? What am I doing here?” they thought. And yet, they trudged on. There was no use going down, they were already so far. Chara’s thoughts raced and wandered and they remembered tales they had heard in the village of people who had climbed the mountain. And how they were never seen or heard from again. “Good.” Chara thought to themself. Chara knew that they no longer cared if they died. Here on this mountain they would carve freedom into the stone of their demise. A delirious energy overcame Chara’s body and they ran up the mountain with reckless abandon, letting their backpack and what supplies remained fall to the wayside. Every footfall from Chara’s stride stung the mountain with their determination. Chara’s eyes were locked forward as they made their ascent. They pushed through any shrubs or foliage in their path, unwavering and unstoppable.

This would be Chara’s downfall.

A root catches Chara’s foot as they run, causing them to stumble uncontrollably with their momentum. Directly before them was the gaping maw of the mountain. The object of the tales of missing climbers. Before they could combobulate their sense of direction, Chara had slipped past the edge to be swallowed whole by the pit. “No!” Chara exclaimed almost instinctively, as they had been acutely torn from their manic adrenaline rush. Chara plummets into the darkness.