Thursday photo prompt: Yearning #writephoto

Sue’s Rules:

Every Thursday at noon GMT, I publish one of my photos as a writing prompt.  If you know where the photo was taken, please keep it to yourself until the challenge is closed and I usually share something about the place during the round-up.

Use the image and title provided as inspiration to create a post on your own blog… poetry, prose, humour… light or dark, whatever you choose, by noon (GMT)  on Wednesday each week,  and link back to the prompt post with a pingback to be included in the round-up.  There is no word limit and no style requirements, except to keep it fairly family friendly and not passionately political.

All posts will be featured in the round-up on Thursday.

For visually challenged writers, the image shows a channel of water flowing out to sea, with the sun reflecting on the water.

Never Hike Alone?

By Teresa Smeigh 2019

Randall was tired of walking. Judging by the clouds he felt he was about to be caught in a storm. The sun peaked out here and there. He had been walking for what seemed like hours and yearned to cross the channel of water to get to the other side, but the longer he walked the closer he came to the sea. He would never be able to cross here safely. He should have crossed earlier while the water flow was much smaller. More like a stream than this cascading water he was walking beside now.

He walked this route before, but the water wasn’t this erratic and strong. He lost his hiking partner a few hours ago and couldn’t quite remember the way himself. He depended on Darien to lead the way. After their argument, Darien had stomped away leaving him all alone. At least he had thought he was alone.

As he got closer to the sea he could see a figure flopping around in the water where it was rougher. He stared in horror. It was Darien. He was bloodied as if from a fight, but then the body rolling over the rocks could have produced that effect. He looked worriedly around. Nothing seemed amiss. However, Darien would never have gotten caught up in the water by accident. He was an experienced hiker and swimmer, and they had been this way before, although he couldn’t remember the way and that is why he ended up on this side of the water heading out to sea.

He heard a noise that sounded like several horses and some men talking. He became more afraid. He slid off his pack and decided to risk crossing over the water and getting to the other side where there were trees to hide in. He didn’t know if they had spotted him or not. He was halfway across the water when he felt a pain in his back. It had to be an arrow. He was getting weaker and soon he could no longer fight the rush of water to the sea and his body bounced down to join Darien’s. He saw the arrow in Darrien’s back just before he lost consciousness.

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Tessa –

Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses, also a devout Christian

Author – http://www.finallyawriter.com (this blog contains my old work mostly although occasionally I do add something new here), new work is mainly on this blog http://www.tessacandoit.com