Last Man in the Frozen Canyon

The caws of the crows echoed through the canyon walls and the frost stiffened in the morning freeze that comes before dawn. Today marks my second day in this desolate canyon that seems to be occupied by me alone. My bones shivered and muscles quaked throughout the long night. My leg was terribly wounded as I got separated from the rest of my men. Now, it is only me crawling along this bitterly cold canyon. Going up was not an option but I thought to myself I may be able to crawl down and out. The mission was clear; survival. If I could but crawl out of the canyon I could seek refuge at the village that sat upon the canyon's exit. But for the time being shivers and shrieks through my spine would be the only company I had until light.

Such a forsaken place surrounded me for such a forsaken man I’d figured as the early light of dawn began to make it possible for me to move. Each arm cramped with sharp pains with each movement forward. I hardly noticed the sky above or the songbirds singing along, each only a detriment to my objective. It seemed me and those annoying sounds echoing above were the only things left in this canyon. And the crows cawed everytime my arms would drag me forward, those wretched beasts waiting to devour my soon to be corpse. My hope of making it out of this canyon somehow dwindled by the minute.

After dragging myself along for all of the morning I’d stopped in a place where the view of the canyon opened up, a small creek trickled nearby, and luckily enough for me a few dried twigs and branches. I also noticed below was a draw that seemed to go down with a slope gradient milder than anything else I’d seen. I had enough strength to strike my flint and start a small fire. One last resting place before I make my escape from this frozen hell. As the fire caught an involuntary wicked chuckle forced its way out of my mouth. My soul felt enlivened. It was time. This was going to be my last push for survival. I knew I’d need all the energy I had so I took out the last of my canned meat and hardtack to enjoy a last supper of sorts. The little heat I got from the fire wasn’t enough to make the chills go away but it was enough to keep my fight alive. As I scarfed down the hardtack I knew to take my time eating the canned beef and though I always despised this food before I now would have you know it may have been the most delightful meal I have ever had. I couldn’t keep myself from fits of laughter and smiles as if I was in the company of friends and family. A new determination emerged as I scarfed down the last of the canned meat and the little fire of twigs dwindled to ash.

Though I looked up to find a new menace. I could see clouds forming and moving my direction and knew that the sun that came out today would be short-lived in a place so damned as this. And before I’d realized it my arms were already working me down the draw and out of sight of my place of momentary refuge. My only goal was to get out of the canyon. I crawled and I crawled and it seemed it was getting me nowhere, everything had looked the same as when I’d begun. The shadows of the canyon walls were dark and deep and the snow began to glimmer in the darkness. The sun had moved on and out from the canyon as I could see the fog was rolling in. The movement of each arm sent a new shiver throughout my body and the aches of a man who was spent were setting in. As I drug myself along the canyon, it was growing steeper by the inch.

The fog had set in, a deep and heavy fog that from a distance looked mysteriously beautiful but as I laid in it the whole canyon became a muddy nightmare. Sleet soon followed and each movement of my body was accompanied by a quake and felt like an intolerable chore. Down, I must go down! I told myself. And the dirt below my body began to feel so warm. A euphoric heat pulsated through my bones and the soothing sensations of heat came from the ground. So I began to dig. Yes! Yes! I thought, to get down I must dig and there is the heat!I’d dug so deep in I was finding roots but there were no plants around. I was ever more convinced to dig my way out of this freeze. But the ground so comforting and warm was starting to loosen and elude me.

A rumble started in the distance. Then the vibrations of the mountain shook below me. My fingers and toes clawed into the dirt and each hair stood to its heights. Everything, the whole world felt as if it was coming to me. Then something hit me and I flew through time and space. I saw the universe pass me by and all went black. Flashes of green, red, and purple lit up the sky like mountains cast across the universe.

I too was now in a new place. I must've fallen thirty feet or so. I awoke to uncontrollable convulsing throughout my legs. By the time my body was through I was in so much pain I could no longer move. My eyes stared at the stars above and realized it was the auroras that I was bearing witness to. I sat in agony throughout the night watching the most beautiful of shows; you would’ve loved to have seen it. After a few hours I’d regained the use of my left arm. Each flash of flight in the sky seemed to awaken some new part of me. The colors of the auroras inspired me with thoughts of you and revisioned strength. After another hour or so my right arm came back to me and I began to crawl again. It seemed like I’d crawled another mile before reaching a hollowed out part of the canyon which had enough room for two to lay down in. And it was here that I was sure I’d die. I watched the auroras with a glee in my heart determined that I wouldn’t wake up another morning.

But sure enough in the rays of the sun making its rounds my eyes opened once again. The morning was so peaceful and the sun sparkled along the snow like glimmering diamonds were cast about the canyon floor. I heard a chickadee in the distance singing its winter song. My body felt light as a feather. The morning was peaceful as could be. I went to crawl out of my hole in the canyon and as I did so I felt something buried in the snow. A golden locket. Inside was a painting of a woman and child as well as a lock of her raven black hair. I smelled the hair inside and my thoughts returned to you Maria. I clamped the locket tightly and gathered enough strength to keep crawling in hopes that I may find this other lost soul in the canyon. I dragged myself along for sometime until I found a log. Not that the log was anything spectacular but it seemed like a good place to take a rest. So I crawled up to it and clambered up until my back rest upon it.

I could have never dreamed of a vision of this kind. All the small channels and streams connected here into a large river and the roars of its rapids had hardly been slowed by the winter frost. The arctic blue hues of the water is only befitting for a place such as this. I’d remembered you gave me this journal that I’ve kept in my coat pocket since that day I left, to document my expeditions and I neglected its being done until this moment here. My thoughts are comforted by this canyon, with its songbirds, and ever resistant stream. With the way the sun sparkles off the ice and the auroras glow at night like some faded dream. My body feels warm now despite its ravished state, an elusive euphoria will decide my fate. But I know I am not alone and it is you my thoughts are comfor…