THE TRAIL
He walked along the muddy path. It meandered a little, but was on the whole straight and focused forward.
He sighed.
This was definitely not the environment for sneakers, particularly worn out ones with holes in the soles.
He winced as cold wet mud yet again squelched up through to the sole of his foot. He could well picture his soggy stained socks and water wrinkled feet by the time he got home.
He sighed. If he got home.
He looked around him as he made gingerly steps, avoiding as much of the squelchy mud as he could. Dense brambles seemed everywhere around him, they even grew across his pathway, as frequent tripping and snarling over extended vines proved.
He cursed continually as he was snagged time after time by brambles. It was as if they knew where he was going, knew what he was after and were determined to either stop him with a fall on his face, or at least battle with his progress.
It was eerie here. It wasn't silent by any means. The wind blew, birds chirped and sang, he could even hear the rattle of traffic in the distance. It wasn't the eerie of silence, it was a different eerie, one that sat there patiently, waiting. For what? Him it seemed.
He snorted. Idle imagination. Too many books, movies, TV.
He stopped. Here it was. A smaller, but just as muddy trail off to his left. Smaller, but just as muddy, if not more so.
He sighed, rolled his eyes and struggled along the trail, feet straddling the small trail.
"Mud, bane of my life" he mumbled under his breath.
But the trail ended quickly and he came out to his destination. A wide expanse of densely packed, densely green moss. It was soft, padded and gentle under his feet, a blessed relief after the sucking oozing mud of the trail. He got to the middle of the space and stopped.
Trees, bushes, scattered bricks and walls from buildings too old to know what they could once have been.
He sighed, but now in a half-contented way. Here he was to wait for Gabriel, he was sure this was the place. He turned around in a circle. Yes, this was the spot. He just needed to be patient and wait.
