6:01AM. 00:00:00. The industrial world had disappeared behind the fog. With North Face wrapped tight around his layers of shirts, he stared up into the path. The trail began with one sign, the only thing pointing him in the right direction. Once he’d passed that, it was just him, his boots, and the trees. Knowing that, he did all you can do when faced with the scene, he walked.
7:01AM. 00:01:00. Things were going smooth as they do in the beginning. It was routine, clockwork. The stomp of the hiker’s boots ticking as the seconds do. The first bead of sweat pooled at his forehead, trailing down his face as a slug would. The fog was making it all humid, enough to take off that outermost jacket. But it was nice. He could feel the branches brush against his skin now, saying hello.
8:01AM. 00:02:00. A bit more of an uphill trot. And the ground only seemed to get muddier the further he got. A bug’s utopia. He looked down, a small worm inched across his boots as he walked. Along for the ride now.
9:01AM. 00:03:00. It had only gotten damper. He knew it was morning now, but the sun’s rays couldn’t penetrate the fog. And while it was much lighter out, he couldn’t feel the warmth on his skin.
9:46AM. 00:03:45. He had just made it through a narrow bit of the trail. The ground he pulled himself up onto was spotted. Mushrooms and fungi called this section home. The air smelled earthier now, the musk of the forest. The trees up here were taller too, almost as if he had discovered a new layer underneath the mud. To his left, a scarlet red top with white spots all over. To his right, taller caps with a greenish tint towards the bottom. He pushed on, and it seemed the mushrooms were here to stay.
11:31AM. 00:05:30. This hike was becoming routine. More of the same uphill climb, more of the same mud on his boots. It felt serene. Each tree he walked past he noticed a new detail he hadn’t before. He compared the bark pattern on each one to the one before. He had begun to notice the dew on the leaves, there was tons of it now thanks to the fog. And that worm from a couple hours ago was still on his shoe. But while the worm got to relax, he got tired. It was almost nonstop but he wasn’t a machine. As if an angel answered his prayers, a stump. The first one he’d seen all day, teeming with moss and a cloudy white mushroom growing from the side. Finally, he sat.
1:31PM. 00:07:30. He had been moving now, for quite a while. It was step after step through the foliage. He thought he was seeing things. Little black flashes darted in the corner of his eyes. Was the fog making him paranoid? Were there spirits in these woods? There weren’t, but when a salamander slithered up onto a rock just off the path he realized. He took a minute to look around and saw the lizards. It felt like hundreds of them were running around. The reptiles had made their way onto the path, they surrounded his boots. They were scurrying in all different directions, and the hiker watched in awe. It was majestic.
4:31PM. 00:10:30. The light crawled down the horizon until a deep orange glow fell behind the last of the trees. It was dusk now. Just as soon as his new friends had come, all the lizards had tucked themselves away in the brush. All except that worm on his boot. Alone now, he trudged forward. As the light faded the fog only got thicker. There was a spot on the trail where it seemed like the fog wasn’t clearing up. It only got heavier as he neared. Without a beat, he pushed through the cloud. With each step came a bigger wheeze, a struggle to breathe. He walked, he fought, he couldn’t stop in the cloud. Breathe in, cough out. Finally… he was free. He burst out of the fog and waited. He looked back and it still floated, but he had made it through. And he kept going.
9:31PM. 00:15:30. Sweat flowed across his skin. He had been moving for quite a while now, still powering on. He had no idea if his feet hurt because he just couldn’t feel them. But it felt like nothing had moved in the forest for hours. It was so still in this little corner of the Earth that he was unbothered. That was until he heard something snap. A twig? He snapped towards the sound and saw grass for the first time in hours. The soil beneath him was still muddy as ever but on the edges of the trail pillows of green had erupted. In the middle of it, a stoat. He looked up at the hiker with his marble eyes. They both breathed in the same misty air, each catching their breath. In a second, the stoat scurried back along. The hiker did too. As he continued on, more stoats popped up along the side, each moseying on through their lives. Soon a couple squirrels did too, and then some bunnies, and then a few small birds. The flora had been complimented by its fauna and the hike was now brimming with life.
10:31PM. 00:16:30. The animals were still there, but he couldn’t see them anymore. The fog had seeped much closer to the path, he could barely see anything outside of the dirt ahead of him. He could hear the creature’s noise through the clouds. They were loud, and only got louder. It seemed like the calls would never end. As he walked through the cacophony of sounds, the fog only drew nearer. It was closing him in, enveloping him like the animals before.
11:01PM. 00:17:00. Torture. Each step felt like it added ten pounds to his pack. He frantically looked around for something, anything, but all he could see was the fog. It crackled in his lungs like a fire as he inhaled. It was too much. He had walked through so much fog before, hell, he had been walking in this for forever. What happened? Everything had been so nice earlier, things were beautiful. The mud felt like it was gluing his shoes to the ground. He couldn’t tell the difference between sweat and condensation anymore. He looked down at the worm, it was doing just fine. So why wasn’t he? It all became too much to handle. Every hiker has their breaking point and the branch had snapped by now. With no willpower left, he collapsed onto a tree. He was far off the path now, but he was done. This was it.
Hello dear one. He looked down. The worm. It was like he could hear it.
Are you ready?
“Ready for what?” he thought.
Ready to go.
“But why? Wasn’t everything so beautiful?”
It was. But it can’t all stay beautiful forever.
He thought about it. About the trees, the bugs, the mushrooms, the stoats, the lizards, the ground, the fog.
Goodbye, world.
His lips pursed to push out the last of the air in his lungs.
“Goodbye.”