Once upon a time in my childhood days I had a favorite hideout in the evergreen forest. There was a gigantic boulder as a backdrop, which perhaps had been deposited there during the iceage. It was hard to tell. It was, during my peek active visiting times, adorned with lichen as if it had pigmentation problems. I didn't really care. It was beautiful to me, rock solid and had my back when I sought its stalwart comfort.
Childhood morphed into teen years, then early adulthood and rarely did I seek solace but one day, feeling particularly depressed, I bushwhacked through the overgrown path, almost missing my boulder haunt. It was so good to be back, like meeting up with an old comfortable friend.
The birds, squirrels, and deer, having heard me coming, gathered and greeted me, as if I'd been a celebrity making a comeback after many years out of the limelight. They twittered and tweeted, scolded and looked at me with doe-eyes, as if to reprimand me for my extended absence and neglect.
Nevertheless, after carving out the overgrowth and arranging "my stage" with the machete cuttings, the green foliage surroundings embraced my soul once again. The forest animals gathered round, like an audience, expectantly.
It was as if it was their job to jot down my outpourings. The squirrels poised with acorn 'notepaper', paused their chatter; the birds, some lit on my shoulders and hands, pecking my birdseed offerings, others happily hopped at the scattered seeds on the organic, emerald flooring. The deer munched on newly discarded leaves from my pruning and trimming.
Soothing, is what is was. A slight breeze drifted by, just like the old days, bringing sweet, pine-of-the-forest scents and of musky earth. I sighed, "Why hadn't I come more often?" Slowly, stress squeezed and oozed out, the squirrels began scribbling, the birds momentarily halted their eating and cocked their wee heads at me, while the deer chewed more foliage and shook their heads up and down in agreement.
"Yes, let it all out," they seemed to say.
When I was done, peace reigned. Exhausted and drained, I slumped over and fell into dreamless sleep on the makeshift bed of grass and leaves.
No wonder this had been my favorite place.
(480 words)
~ERC November 2022~
NOTE: This is a Descriptive Essay written as a challenge by high school students to write within a certain time limit on a chosen topic. The words highlighted had to be included along with whatever else was written. Word count had to be between 350-500 words. Hopefully it passes muster.
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