Chapter 9 - I WENT BACK TO THE MOUNTAIN
Seven years passed before I returned.
People thought I was insane.
Maybe I was.
But Glacier National Park had become something in my head larger than geography.
It was Brandon.
Fear.
Snow.
Death.
I wanted it to become a mountain again.
Lucas came with me.
Seven years old.
Curious.
Talkative.
He knew a simplified version.
His father had hurt me before he was born.
His father was in prison.
None of it was Lucas’s fault.
Daniel Mercer came too.
The rescuer.
He had remained part of our lives.
Not as romance.
He was married.
Two daughters.
His wife, Sarah, sent hiking snacks.
That seemed right.
We did not go to the exact ledge.
Park officials did not need a trauma pilgrimage interfering with safety.
We went to a nearby overlook.
Summer.
No ice.
No storm.
Wildflowers everywhere.
Lucas stared at the mountains.
“This is where I almost died?”
My chest tightened.
“You almost died in lots of places.”
He looked horrified.
I laughed.
“Kidding.”
“Mom!”
Then he became serious.
“Were you scared?”
“Yes.”
“A lot?”
“More than I knew a person could be.”
“What did you do?”
I thought.
“Breathed.”
He frowned.
“That’s it?”
“Sometimes that’s enough for the next ten seconds.”
He considered that.
Then ran toward Daniel to ask about helicopters.
I stood alone.
Looked toward the snowline.
For years, I believed surviving meant defeating Brandon.
It didn’t.
Brandon could disappear from my mind for weeks now.
Sometimes months.
May you like
Survival meant my life became bigger than the place he tried to end it.
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