TEEN: - Ongoing A Day from Heaven, the Dream from Hell, and a Memory for Eternity-Personal Narrative

[AiedailEclipsed]

The Day from Heaven, the Dream from Hell, and a Memory for Eternity
By: CRS
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That day was like another day on our Westward vacation, I had woken up to the arctic tundra called a room; as my dad liked things cold, he kept the room as such, but I was fortunate enough to have considerably warm covers. Even then I had never thought about what that day could hold other than the dreary rock formations of our first park of the day; Capitol Reef Nation Park. Resigning myself to the day ahead, I pulled back my innumerous blankets and greeted the day and the cold.

I, for lack of a better word, sprinted to my bag in the corner of the room, and grabbed a set of clothes and ran to the bathroom and the safety of a heater. I quickly twisted the knob on the wall to turn the heater on full steam. I just sat down for a moment observing the features of the rather uninteresting room; some floral wallpaper, a waste bin with a picturesque snowy mountain scene on it. After a few moments, the bathroom seemed to warm up considerably, so I decided I had best get through of my morning rituals before my mom or dad got up and wanted the bathroom.

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After driving for some considerable amount of time, I asked where we were. My dad responded with a hollow reply of “We’re almost to Capitol Reef.” I though ahead to all of what this park could contain. A rock here, a bush here, the usual probably, boy was I wrong…

We drove for a bit more until we came to the welcome entrance to the park. We of course had to get out to go get a guide book and take some pictures, all usual especially with my mom who had to take a picture for everything. I looked around the small wildlife exhibits within the museum-like complex, it was all very fascinating. Each exhibit held a small ecosystem like diorama with several beautiful animals: coyotes, hawks, snakes, and smaller creatures. When we learned of the gardens kept out back we decided to tarry a few more minutes and visit the unique gardens that teemed with plant life.

The gardens there were so beautiful; we strolled through them leisurely and noticed each fragrant blossom and unique plant. It was if though God had came down and worked here cultivating an island of life within an ocean of death. The colors astounded us as we hadn’t seen colors other than various hues and shades of orange and red if several hours. When my parents had finally decided that we had spent enough time taking in this beautiful cornucopia of life, I grudgingly left.

As we kept journeying through the park, I was subdued by the dearth of life, and hardly spoke a word. I solemnly took in all of the details of the rock formations as we took pictures of them. Hickman Bridge, Cassidy Arch, Checkerboard Rock, we saw them all until we finally came to Chimney Rock.

It was here, that forever my existence should be scarred with the memories of that day, that hour, that minute, that moment. We had stopped to take pictures of Chimney Rock, when in my subdued state I glanced over to the other side of the road and into a semi-deep gully. I am sure that my face paled beyond comparison, and my eyes dilated in fear, for I had seen a dead man. I unleashed a scream of pure and unbridled terror; he was there just down into the gully. My parents having not noticed what was wrong scrambled around worried that I had hurt myself or something. When I asked, I could not speak, I only pointed.

My mom gasped, and only my father acted upon his own will, he calmly got out of the car and walked down to the body and felt its neck. It wasn’t until later that I knew what he was doing, but he looked around and started at the sight of something that I couldn’t see. He walked quickly back up, got into our car, and started driving. I was still in too much shock to understand what half of what was going on around me, but my dad said that we needed to find a ranger station or something.

I shouldn’t like to go into the details of what else happened, but my father took them back to the site and showed them the scene. When he came back, we drove, we just drove. After a while I tentatively asked what had happened. He said that it was an accident, and that the man was not the only one dead, a young woman was found dead under a decimated truck (presumably theirs.) The rangers’ best guess at a solution was that the couple had slept on the side of the road in their truck, when one morning (we never knew how long they had been there) they went to leave and their truck became stuck. They had given it too much gas when the truck zoomed forward and plummeted over into the gully ejecting the man from the car and crushing the woman. My dad said, however, that I shouldn’t trouble myself with such things.

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That night, as I got ready to sleep, I was terrified as was only an impressionable ten year old that had just had a terrifying day. I finally embraced the open arms of night and succumbed to sleep.

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It was night, out in the desert; I was at Chimney Rock. I looked around confused asking myself “Why am I here?” I finally looked around when I noticed that a truck was alongside of the road. I just sat there for a few minutes puzzling over why I was here until the head lights blazed on and the engine roared to life. Whoever was driving was gunning the engine for some reason but getting nowhere. And then I remembered, what my dad said about the accident. “No!” But my voice didn’t work; it was only a whisper in the wind compared to the steadily increasing thrum of the engine. Finally, the truck almost flew forward and propelled itself over the side of the gully.

It all happened in such a blur that I didn’t notice the man getting ejected from the car and landing spread-eagle and broken on the side of the gully. I walked down into it after a moment, but never got very far before an unearthly mist took form over the body, and another shortly join him. They floated up the gully directly towards me, but I did nothing not because of courage or bravery but because I was frozen in fear, terrible fear. The black specters had almost reached me when I blinked my eyes to keep tears back, when I noticed that I was back in our hotel room.

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That night I learned to never let my imagination run away with me as it could only lead to sorrow and fear. But other, than that I like to think that God had sent us there and that he let us see those people. Who knows how long it could have been until they had been found?

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~Aie