Fiction

Draft 1:

Let the adventure begin. Lia was only nineteen years old when she decided to take on the trip of her life, hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Lia has done her research, she has loved hiking ever since she was little. She knows just about everything to do with the PCT.

Hikers on the PCT can use a combination of pathways when hiking through the three states. They can use the trails, roads, and the open country. There are known to be four founders of the PCT, Catherine Montgomery, Clinton Clarke, Fred Cleator, and Warren Rogers.

Lia has trained for this moment and is prepared to do anything. This has been her dream ever since she found out about the PCT after reading Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cherly Strayed. She wants to climb as many mountains as she can, and today is the day, where the adventure begins.

***

If you looked at Lia you would see that she is always wearing the same jewelry. She always has tons of rings on, she has a watch on at all times, and many many bracelets, but only on her right wrist. She loves to wear necklaces too, but she doesn’t always wear the same ones everyday.

Lia also keeps a few things in this little pouch with her no matter where she goes. If she’s at school, out shopping, or even just watching the stars, she always has the pouch with her because everything in the pouch is her goodluck charms. She has a penny, a four leaf clover, a fortune, a note, and a picture of her parents. She keeps these with her at all times and she still adds to the collection if she thinks she needs to. Lia doesn’t tell a lot of people about the pouch, and that’s okay. It’s not a secret, she just doesn’t have anyone to tell. She told one girl freshman year of high school, but that didn’t go over so well, but I think that’s a story for a different time.

Lia is bringing her pouch of luck on her hiking trip with her incase she finds more things to put in it, as well it is her pouch of luck for a reason, and she would be crazy if she didn’t bring it with her to the mountain. Both her parents are avid hikers so they are all going together. The three of them have been training together for the PCT for the past two years, and they finally think they are ready.

They were planning to go on the hike once Lia turned eighteen, but something came up and they had to postpone the trip. Lia was so upset that they had to change the date of the hike, but in the long run it wasn’t as bad as she thought because they ended up getting more time to train and it will definitely be helpful once they start the hike.

Lia and her parents thought about when the best time for them to start hiking would be, they all agreed that mid April to early May would be the best for them compared to late June and early July. They all prefer to do it earlier rather than later because they’ve already had to postpone it once, they don’t want to wait any longer then they should have to!

***

It was the day, the day of the hike to be exact. Lia and her parents stayed at a motel near the PCT so they wouldn’t have to drive as far the morning of the hike.

They woke up bright and early ready to take on the PCT. As they were leaving the motel Lia did one last scan of the room to make sure anyone didn’t forget anything. She pulled out her pouch of luck one more time to make sure it was all set. This is when Lia realized that she was on her way to the biggest hike of her life!

She decided to read the note in her pouch one last time before they set off. Her parents gave her some space as they saw her reading it because they know who the note is from. After reading the note Lia pulls herself together and starts walking towards her parents.

“Are you guys ready to do this?” Leah asks her parents.

“I’ve never been more ready,” her dad says.

“Let’s do this thing!” Her mom replies.

Lia takes a disposable camera out from her pocket and snaps a picture of her and her parents before they start. They all start walking towards the entrance of the PCT, they check in and they finally start the hike.

Lia and her parents have been walking all day, they did take a few breaks here and there. They decided that they would keep walking for about another hour or so and then they’re going to start pitching their tents to go to sleep. Lia is a few feet ahead of her parents, they holler to her,

“Hey Lia!” her mom yells, “we should stop soon to start pitching the tents.”

Lia is frustrated because she knows she should stop before it gets to dark out. But she also knows she could keep hiking for much longer,

“Can we just keep hiking for a little bit longer?”

“Lia we should really start pitching our tents.” her mother responds.

“Look how nice this spot is for the tents, it’s nice and flat and there aren’t that many rocks,” Lia’s dad tells her.

Lia realizes that they are right and that they should stop for the night. She turns around to walk back towards them.

Mezzo:

***

It was the day, the day of the hike to be exact. Lia and her parents stayed at a motel near the PCT so they wouldn’t have to drive as far the morning of the hike.

“Are you guys ready to do this?” Leah asks her parents.

“I’ve never been more ready,” her dad says.

“Let’s do this thing!” Her mom replies.

“Hey Lia!” her mom yells, “we should stop soon to start pitching the tents.”

Lia is frustrated because she knows she should stop before it gets to dark out. But she also knows she could keep hiking for much longer,

“Can we just keep hiking for a little bit longer?”

“Lia we should really start pitching our tents.” her mother responds.

“Look how nice this spot is for the tents, it’s nice and flat and there aren’t that many rocks,” Lia’s dad tells her. Lia realizes that they are right and that they should stop for the night. She turns around to walk back towards them.

We eventually set our tents up, we had some food and then we went to bed. I had a hard time falling asleep so I opened my pouch of luck. I took everything out and I saw the note. I guess now is a good time to tell you what the note is.

It was freshman year of high school, Lia was walking into class when she saw her best friend Abby.

“Hey Abby,” she yells.

“Lia, hey what’s up,” Abby yells.

“Do you wanna walk to our lockers together?” Lia asks knowing she’ll say yes because they are right next to each other.

“You know it,” she replies.

They get to their lockers and Lia opens hers up, a note falls out. She bends down to pick it up. As Abby starts to ask what it is the warning bell rings and they say goodbye to each other. Lia starts walking to science class with the note in hand. Once she arrives to science she sits in her normal seat next to some of her friends.

She decides to open up the note, it’s from Abbys boyfriend Jason.

“Dear Lia, I know this may be weird and I didn’t know how else to tell you, but I really like you Lia. I know I’m dating Abby but if you want to I wanted to break up with her and date you. You just make my heart so warm and you always bring a smile to my face.”

And it was signed by jason, it also said to meet him behind the bleachers after school at 3:00. I fold the note back up and think about it in my head. I have never thought about Jason like that. I knew I had to meet with him and explain to him that this wasn’t going to work.

School gets out and I head towards the bleachers, I don’t see Jason but I see his best friend Stwert, also known as my crush.

“Hey Lia, I know you’re probably looking for Jason but something came up and he couldn’t make it,” Stwert says as I see him holding a piece of paper.

“Oh okay, I guess I’m just wondering what this note is about?”I ask him hoping he might have a clue.

“Yeah about that, one of the guys just did it as a joke, it means nothing. If you wouldn’t mind just switching this is the real note you were supposed to get,” he hands out the piece of paper.

I switched with him and as I start to say something Stwert starts talking, “So just read this when you have a chance, I gotta run but I’ll see you around,” he says this and starts walking away, to fast for me to say anything.

I decided to open the note and read what it says. As soon as I did I folded it back up and started walking home. That was the day everything changed.

Revised draft:

Let the adventure begin. I was only nineteen years old when I decided to take the trip of my life, hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. I have done my research, and I have loved hiking ever since I was little. I know just about everything to do with the PCT.

I have been training to hike the PCT for the longest time and I am prepared to do anything to complete the hike. This has been my dream ever since I found out about the PCT after reading Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cherly Strayed. I want to climb as many mountains as I can, and today is the day, where the adventure begins.

***

Lia also keeps a few things in this little pouch with her no matter where she goes. If she’s at school, out shopping, or even just watching the stars, she always has the pouch with her because everything in the pouch are her goodluck charms. She has a penny, a four leaf clover, a fortune, a note, and a picture of her parents. She keeps these with her at all times and she still adds to the collection if she finds something lucky. Lia doesn’t tell a lot of people about the pouch, and that’s okay. It’s not a secret, she just doesn’t have anyone to tell. She told one girl freshman year of high school, but that didn’t go over so well, but I think that’s a story for a different time.

My parents and I were planning to go on the hike once I turned eighteen, but something came up and we had to postpone the trip. I was so upset that we had to change the date of the hike, but in the long run it wasn’t as bad as I thought because we all ended up getting more time to train and I know it will definitely be helpful once we start the hike.

My parents and I thought about when the best time for us to start hiking would be, we all agreed that mid April to early May would be the best for them compared to late June and early July. We all prefered to do it earlier rather than later because we’ve already had to postpone it once, so we didn’t want to wait any longer than we should have to!

***

It was the day, the day of the hike to be exact. Lia and her parents stayed at a motel near the PCT so they wouldn’t have to drive as far the morning of the hike.

They woke up bright and early ready to take on the PCT. As they were leaving the motel Lia did one last scan of the room to make sure nobody had forgotten anything. She pulled out her pouch of luck one more time to make sure it was all set. This is when Lia realized that she was on her way to the biggest hike of her life.

“Are you guys ready to do this?” Lia asks her parents.

“I’ve never been more ready,” her dad says.

“Let’s do this thing!” Her mom replies.

***

We have been walking all day, we ended up taking a few breaks here and there. But we all decided that we should keep walking for about another hour or so and then we are going to start pitching our tents to go to sleep. I was a few feet ahead of my parents, they hollered to me,

“Hey Lia!” my mom yells, “we should stop soon to start pitching the tents.”

I was a little frustrated because I knew that we should stop before it gets to dark out. But I also knew I could keep hiking for much longer,

“Can we just keep hiking for a little bit longer?”

“Lia we should really start pitching our tents.” her mother responds.

“Look how great this spot is for the tents, it’s nice and flat and there aren’t that many rocks,” Lia’s dad tells her. I realize that they are right and that we should all stop for the night. I turn around and walk back towards my parents.

We eventually set our tents up, we had some food and then we went to bed. I had a hard time falling asleep so I opened my pouch of luck. I took everything out and I saw the note.

***

It was freshman year of high school, and I was walking into class when I saw my best friend Abby.

“Hey Abby,” I yell.

“Lia, hey what’s up,” Abby said once the two reach each other.

“Do you wanna walk to our lockers together?” I asked knowing she’ll say yes because our lockers are right next to each other.

“You know it,” she replies.

We get to our lockers and I open mine up, a note falls out. I bend down to pick it up. As Abby starts to ask what it is the warning bell rings and we say goodbye to each other. I started walking to science class with the note in my hand. Once I arrived to science I sat in my normal seat next to some of my friends.

I decides to open up the note, it’s from Abby’s boyfriend Jason. It said that he liked me and wanted to break up with Abby and be with me. It also said to meet him behind the bleachers after school at 3:00. I fold the note back up and I thought about it in my head. I have never thought about Jason like that. I knew I had to meet with him and explain to him that this wasn’t going to work.

School got out and I headed towards the bleachers, I don’t see Jason but I see his best friend Stewart, also known as my crush.

“Hey Lia, I know you’re probably looking for Jason but something came up and he couldn’t make it,” Stewart says as I see him holding a piece of paper.

“Oh okay, I guess I’m just wondering what this note is about?” I ask him, hoping he might have a clue.

“Yeah about that, one of the guys just did it as a joke, it means nothing. If you wouldn’t mind just switching, this is the real note you were supposed to get,” he hands me the piece of paper.

I switched with him and as I start to say something Stewart starts talking, “So just read this when you have a chance, I gotta run but I’ll see you around,” he says this and starts walking away, to fast for me to say anything.

I decided to open the note and read what it says. As soon as I did I folded it back up and started walking home. That was the day everything changed.

***

I woke up to birds chirping and the bright sun peeking through my tent. I heard my parents tent unzip and them get out. I motivated myself and got up, we had something to eat and then we got ready for the day.

We walked for several hours with only a few breaks to drink some water. We stopped around 12:30 to eat lunch and get a break from walking. Around 1:00 it was not hot but not cold, it was perfect, all I wanted to do was start walking again but my dad’s knee was acting up. He’s always had a knee problem and this is what I was worried about when we decided to do this hike. A few minutes later I couldn’t sit there anymore, I had to start walking again.

“Mom can I talk to you for a second,” I say as I motion her my way.

“I know you want to keep walking darling but it isn’t safe for you go by yourself,” she said patting me on the shoulder.

“Mom I’m not a kid anymore, I’m nineteen years old,” I reply.

“But you didn’t train to go alone – “ I cut her off.

“I’ll just walk to the next rest stop and wait for you two there, does that work?” I respond crossing my fingers behind my back hoping she says yes.

“Fine, as long as you promise to wait when you get there,” she gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

We told my dad the plan and I said goodbye to the both of them as I threw my bag on my back. I start walking, the next rest stop was about 30 – 60 minutes away from where we were, if I didn’t take that many breaks I should make it there in a decent time.

Now that I was alone, I had time to think. All I could think about were my friends Jason, Stewart, and especially Abby.

***

After I read Stewart’s note I went straight home. As soon as I got home, I went to

my room and read the note again. How can this be real, is it real or is it a joke just like the last note?

“I can’t believe my crush likes me! Stewart Faith likes me!” I screamed a little, but just enough so my parents couldn’t hear me.

I knew I had to call Abby, when I picked my phone up there was a text from Abby asking if she could come over because she needed to talk to me. Once she showed up she looked upset and she had a note in her hand.

“What’s wrong Abby?” I asked.

She hands me the note “Would you care to explain what this is?” She responds aggressively as she handed me the note. I read it and it’s a note from me saying that I like Jason – which obviously isn’t true.

“Abby do you actually believe this? That isn’t even my hand writing,” I say

“Well Jason seems to be pretty upset by it,”

“So you’re going to take Jason’s side, the boy you have dated for 4 months. But you’re not going to take the side of you best friend who you’ve known longer?” I question her.

I then explained to her the note about Jason and Stewart, but she didn’t believe me because I didn’t have the note from Jason. She still didn’t believe me and we ended up getting in a huge fight and yelling at each other. She stormed out of my house, I cried for the rest of the night. I didn’t know that would be the day my best friends wouldn’t believe me, and never spoke to me again.

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