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Flash Fiction Travel
I press up from my toes, stretch my arms wide, and
plunge into the warm caressing water beneath me. I feel
my feet brush the smooth floor then allow my body to
become lifeless, floating as if one with the natural hot
spring. My hair floats around my face, allowing my ears
to hear the heartbeats of the boulder-like rocks on the
banks of the stream. There is a perpetual thundering
noise in charge of the sea life surrounding me, created
by the waterfall I just repelled off.
I lay there drifting, with my eyes open to the sky above
me. I see flashes of the sun through the enormous trees,
with leaves the size of what should be clouds, draping
over the spring.
Suddenly, shadows drift over the water’s surface and I
view others getting ready to dive into the depths. I
notice a little girl with brown hair, bulging eyes, and
knees that can’t stop shaking as she peers at the drop
before her and clings to her father in fright. He is a
man of confidence, assuring her with a huge grin to jump
in with no fear. I smile at the scene and water seeps
into my mouth, reminding me that I don’t have gills to
stay under this long, so I decide to emerge. When I
breathe in air, I hear a shrill scream followed by a
wave of water splashed onto my face. I rub my eyes and
hear a menacing laugh, coming from a teenage boy who
appears to be her brother, at the top of the fall.
Swimming on my back to the shore, I laugh as I watch him
fall to his knees, cracking up at his successful push.
When I climb ashore, I decide to take the long way back
to our hut, since I have yet to explore the other sights
of this rainforest.
There is a crackling of branches when I hear monkeys
hollering to one another at the highest part of the
trees. I long to scale the trees and swing, vine to
vine, as they do, so that I could truly see the beauty
laid out before me.
I journey on through the rainforest where I smell the
fresh pollen of hibiscus flowers, feel the dense
moisture of dew, drip onto my forehead from leaves
overhead. There are bugs, all sorts of colors of the
rainbow, and butterflies fly about with no recognition
of the lizards waiting to prey on them for dinner.
I, tentatively, approach the end of my path where I have
to cross over a swaying bridge that creaks with every
step I take. My heart races with each foot forward
because there are wooden planks missing at random. I can
jump off waterfalls, but put me on a swaying bridge and
my mind is erased of courage.
I finally make it over the bridge, when I see my family
preparing our meal for the night. Everyone is relaxed
and well. At the table, we dream of staying here
forever.
Tourists Swimming in Falls, La Paz Waterfall, Near Magia Blanca Nature Reserve, Costa Rica
Photographic Print
McCoy, Aaron
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