Brian is 13 living with his mother after their parents got divorced because his mother demanded it. Only Brian knew why and that was because her mom was having an affair with another man, do to the fact that Brian's parents are divorced he goes to visit his father in Canada. Brian gets on the plane and heads north to visit his dad, on the way the pilot teaches Brian the basics of flying for fun, but suddenly the man has a heart attack and Brian takes the controls before they can crash and keeps the plane in the air as long as possible until he makes a crash landing in a lake in the Canadian wilderness with only the hatchet his mother gave to him before leaving the airport. Brian now faces the wilderness all alone and has to survive until he is rescued.
After eating a full course meal found in the planes survival pack for the first time Brian felt as if he could survive here for as long as the rescuers took to find him "Safe..." he said to himself, "I'm finally safe," he thought to himself as he walked back to the ridge that he had come to know as home since his adventure in the Canadian forest. "Adventure," he thought to himself, this was the first time he hadn't seen the plane crash as the horrible miss fortune it truly was, but no more if this was his fate he was going to have to embrace it so Brian headed into his house. Once their Brian layed down and watched as the sky darkened through the doorway and felt his eyes got heavy than Brian fell asleep.
Seven Years Later
Brian awoke to the sound of a squeal coming for the other side of the lake where he had placed his traps. "Yes!" he said aloud to himself as he ran around the lake wooded spear in hand. Once he arrived at the trap he notice the animal in the trap for the first time, there's no way the trap should have held it, but in the trap was a brown bear cub, Brian quickly released it knowing its mother would be upon him soon having heard her child's cries for help. Brian watched as the cub took off before resetting the trap and heading back to the other side of the lake to check his fish traps, he now had tons of them around the lake and he had even been pulling the traps during the fish's breeding season so the fish could repopulate.
Brian was now twenty and still stranded in the Canadian wilderness but he had no fear in him even with the fact that was no one was looking for him and he was now thought to be dead and he would never be found, but Brian didn't mind he was home and he no longer had to contain the secret because the secret died with him when the plane crashed, " I'm free," Brian said aloud first in a mumble but than in a yell, " I'm free!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. He no longer concealed the thing that drove his parents apart the one thing that got him stranded here in the first place he was finally free. Brian walked to the first fish trap and took out the fish that were good for eating and let the others go free, he continued this process for an hour checking trap after trap until he had a twenty fish good for eating, Brian carried them in a pack he had woven out of sticks back to his home where he prepared them for breakfast, he placed the meat over the fire and put the extra guts and flesh back into the pack and headed to bait the traps. Brian walked to trap after trap dumping the bait into the traps until he'd make yet another lap around the lake and arrived back at his home to find the fish done he picked them off of the sticks they were cooking on and sat down by the lake to eat. Once done Brian decided to get to work he went to the south side of the ridge and pulled out his hatchet, it was now rusted but was still functional. Once he arrived at the south side of the ridge Brian began to work on the addition to his home, he had been at it for almost a week now cutting down tree after tree, while cutting a very thin tree Brian swung hard enough to cut the tree down in three swift strikes but he wasn't prepared for the tree to give that early and the hatchet caught his leg creating a gash that let blood rush through down his leg, Brian dropped in pain and grabbed his leg remembering hearing something about putting pressure on wounds. After a few minutes of testing his leg he determined it was not as bad as he first thought and began to cut more trees until he finally had enough wood, " That should do it," as he admired the ten oak trees he had cut down, they were not that large but big enough to give Brian a hard time dragging back to his house. Finally, Brian dragged the last tree back to his house and began to work on the addition six trees laid side by side tied together by vines and other plant life, " Now for the hard part," Brian said aloud. First he had to dig four holes deep enough to ensure the four trees that would go into them wouldn't fall over in the wind, after Brian had put all four trees into their spots he started to think of a plan to hoist the roof up onto the four pillars that each stood about seven feet in the sky.
After intense trial and error Brian finally had an idea he was going to attach three woven vines into one rope and pull that rope over a tree hanging above the four tree, the hard part was getting the rope over the branch, to do this Brian had to climb the tree with the rope in hand and then climb down. Brian began to scale the tree grabbing limb after limb hoisting himself up until he reached the branch that overhung the four pillars he then pulled the rope over the branch and he began to climb down, once Brian arrived at the base of the tree he began to pull on the rope with all his strength and weight, pulling with his arms and leaning as far back as possible, and slowly but surely the platform began to rise until it was just over the top of the four trees he then released the rope and the platform fell onto the four trees, " Yes!" Brian yelled the roof was in place and the trees underneath were holding. Brian hadn't even noticed the sky darkening until the setting sun hit the tree line in the distance, as the light of day faded Brian walked into his house and ate a few gut berries and layed down to go to sleep exhausted from the work he had done that day.
The next morning Brian awoke to an unpleasant surprise the cut from the previous day was now bleeding again and was causing him much pain, Brian pulled up his pants leg and revealed the gash, " Oh my god," Brian said to himself as he vomited over his shoulder, the gash was now a mixture of colors black and red from the dried blood, purple and blue from the bruise because of the impact from the hatchet and green because of what he figured was an infection to the cut, there was also nats and other bugs feasting on the dead skin but the worst part of it all was that the cut was bigger than he had first intended Brian could now see that the cut stretched from the top of his kneecap to his mid-thigh. He reached for a stick he used for hikes and used it to pull myself up and began to limp out of his house and to the lake where he brought himself to put his leg into the water and instantly felt all the nerves in his body explode with pain and agony, " Ahh!" Brian screamed trying to calm himself down enough to think straight. Once he had calmed down enough Brian reached out a shaking hand to the gash and began to rub away the dried blood. The pain began to subside and he pulled himself out of the lake and went to the forest to find a leaf and vine to make a makeshift bandage. Once Brian found the required materials he bandaged his wound to keep it from bleeding and to keep the bugs off. He then proceeded to make his way back to his house and laid down exhausted from pulling himself around with one leg and two arms for almost an hour. The pain was excruciating and was showing no sign of subsiding anytime soon, the infection was not as bad as he thought the skin around the cut that was visible was healthy looking but the closer it got to the wound his skin began to die and look sicker. Suddenly something hit Brian, " Oh my god, " he said aloud to himself as he came to the realization that he was cut by metal and it wasn't clean, the hatchet had cleaned multiple fish, cut down trees, started fires, and was very rusted. Brian was now twenty and hadn't gotten his tetanus shot since he was ten, he would have gotten one this year but due to his situation, he figured there weren't going to be any doctors nearby. Brian sat under the ridge letting the thought work through his body until finally it hit his brain and he said aloud to himself, " I'm gonna die."
The rest of the day seemed to fly by Brian he didn't check any of his traps he just sat in the house all day thinking about the idea of after all these years he was thought to be dead he would really die and that would be the end of it, he would die in the same place as he supposedly did seven years ago. Brian wrestled with this thought all the way until the sunset and he finally fell asleep, but his sleep provided no safety for Brian the dreams that hit him were reenactments of the day he crashed into the lake, over and over again he relived that day until he finally woke up from pain screaming into the night, " Why!" He screamed over and over again until his voice had left his throat and was now sitting in the dark alone as all the sounds of the wilderness had gone silent from the screaming, not even the crickets dared make a sound. Brian layed back down afraid to fall back asleep so he lay there all night feeling the physical pain in his leg and the mental pain from the nightmares that kept hitting him over and over beating him into the ground with such force that he couldn't do anything but break down into tears, as he lay there they ran down his face and onto the floor, and that's when he heard it.
He had heard this sound before but it was something he hadn't heard for over seven years the sound of another voice,
" It's beautiful out here," a woman said,
" Yes, it is," a man replied,
Brian tried to get up but stumbled from the cut in his leg, he tried yelling but nothing came out as he had completely lost his voice from screaming, " I have to make noise, " Brian thought to myself in a panic, but how. Then it hit him the hatchet he reached for his belt and pulled the hatchet out and started to hit the blunt part against the wall of the ridge striking the rock over and over, again until finally, the couple appeared in the doorway looking scared yet curious,
" Are you alright," the man asked in a quiet voice,
" Yes, " Brian tried to say to the man but it was barely understandable, as Brian's voice was lost from the screaming and from finally hearing the voice of another person besides his own.
" Why are you here?" The woman chimed in sensing there wasn't any danger,
" My plane crashed here seven years ago," Brian spat out through the pain in his throat.
" Brian? " The man said as he exchanged glances with the girl.
" How do you know my name? " Brian replies is a quiet voice.
" Brian Robeson... "
" How do you know my name! " Brian said now yelling in a harsh voice as he used the wall to pull himself to his feet,
" You've changed so much, " the man said, and that's when Brian saw the scar on the man's chin the same exact scar that his father had gotten while playing with Brian when he was younger.
" Dad? " Brian said as water filled into his eyes.
" Yes! It's me! " He replied rushing over to his son as he reached out and hugged Brian, the first hug Brian had since his mother hugged him before he got onto the plain. At first, Brian just stood their eyes wide open stiff as a board with his hands at his side, but steadily he brought his arms up and hugged his father. Both men broke down into tears as they pulled away looking at each other.
" You're taller," Brian's dad said with a little laugh, Brian had missed his dad's sense of humor and it was great to hear his dad still had his corny jokes.
" We should leave soon before the other members of the group wake up and noticed we left, " the woman said,
" Yes, we should, "
" What group? " Brian asked,
" We are sightseeing the Canadian wilderness and Jill and I decided to check out the scenery at night against the group's wishes." Brian's dad replied.
" Well thank god for that, " Brian said,
"You got. " Brian's dad said before Jill cut him off saying'
" What's that? " Pointing at Brian's leg, " He needs to get to a doctor now," Jill said again not even noticing the full extent of the cut. Brian's dad looked down at his son's leg and saw the gash and almost had the same reaction as Brian when he had first seen it.
" We need to get out of here. " Brian's dad said and that's the last thing Brian remembered before blacking out.
The next morning Brian awake to a much different setting than he was used too he was in a hospital bed, with flowers and his hatchet on the table to his right, he was alone at least that was the same but he had been put into different clothes and felt an actual bandage on his leg along with stitches. Brian stripped away the covers over his legs and pulled his pants leg up revealing a truly amazing site the cut was clean and no longer was surrounded my dead skin. That's when a doctor walked in,
" Good morning," the man said,
" How did I get here? " Brian replied surprised to find he had his voice back.
" Once you blacked out from the shock of seeing your father he brought you here, "
" Oh, " Brian said in a quiet voice,
" Yep, he was here almost all night watching over you during the procedure and then he went home to prepare for you, "
" To prepare for me? What does that mean? "
" You're scheduled to go home today, " the doctor replied. Home Brian thought, he knew the doctor didn't mean Brian's home he meant his dad's home, the home Brian had come to know was in the Canadian wilderness, not the home his father had built after the divorce, but Brian knew he couldn't go back and this was going to be his life so, Brian finally after seven years let all of it go he, all the struggles he has faced, the secret, the pilot dying, all of it he let it all go and he now felt all the weight of these events lift off of his shoulders. Later that day Brian's dad and Jill returned to the hospital,
" Ready to go? " Brian's dad asked,
" Yeah, " Brian replied as he got out of the hospital bed and walked to the door to meet his father and Jill.
" Let's go home, " Brian said as they walked out of the hospital, " Let's go home."