I would like to say thanks to the people who read the first chapter, and for the positve feedback, I really appreciated it. No copyright infringement is intended to the film '127 Hours'. Here is the second chapter...

12:30pm, the next day...

Eric had drove all the way home, he didn't need to think twice about staying there, not after what Jackie said to him. Eric hit the steering wheel in frustration so many times on the way home, he wouldn't admit some of the stuff Jackie said was true. But Eric had grown a habbit of just sliding stuff under the carpet, this is how he got into hiking and canyoneering; no would judge him, he could be left alone for as long as he needed to. It was now Friday, and the Eric didn't have to work until Monday, and going home would get his mind off of things as always. He finally parked in front of his condo in Nevada, he thought once he got there he would feel rainbows in his chest, but now it felt tainted since he had been back to his real home in Point Place. Eric sat in his truck, he didn't want to be here, he didn't want to go back to his old home in Point Place, Eric chuckled as the expression; 'Between a rock, and a hard place' actaully applied to him.

A light bulb went off in his head, as he had the idea to go hiking, like he always does when he is bored, but most of the time it's for fun. He made plans to go to this place in Utah in about 2 weeks. He had read about this 'au-natural' hidden pool right there in Utah's Canyonlands, Eric had only read about it on purpose. He wanted to have that great feeling of seeing something for the first time, especially when it comes to an hidden pool, and he thought it was very much worth it. So Eric decided that his plans for Utah would be pushed forward to right now. It felt good to in charge of his own schedule.

He reached for his glove compartment and opened it for his flashlight, he grabbed and switched the light on, he peered in the back to see all his equpiment was still in there in the truck bed from his last trip, his backpack was in there as well, he was grateful he hadn't forgot it at his old home, he was surprised he did, since he was in such a hurry to get out of there. He estimated he would be in Utah in about 8 hours, he would get there at about 8:30, make camp in his Bronco and sleep there. Ready to go in the morning. He put his Bronco in reverse and headed to Utah, making a fatal mistake of not letting anyone know where he was heading.

1:56pm, Point Place, Wisconsin...

Jackie opened her eyes, she had fellen asleep in Eric's bed last night. She didn't sleep much last night, she thought Eric would have come back after a while but he never did, and casue of all the stuff on her mind. "Eric's back in town for like, 3 hours, and already makes me feel like crap agian!" Jackie thought to herself, she raised herself up, she glanced at Eric's alarm clock and it read 2:00. She couldn't even process how late it was, she always woke up early. And she was late for work, she was supposed to open the record store like 5 hours ago! And there is no excuse for being that late, there would always be a good lie if she was 15 minutes late. She then calmed herself as she seemed to forget she owned the place, and since she was so uptight about the store, one late day wouldn't run her out of buisness.

Once Jackie got up and stretched, she went downstairs to head out to work, she rushed down the stairs, to see Red on the couch watching some WW1 documentary, Red seemed alarmed by Jackie's prescence.

Red shifted to face her, "What are you doing here? I thought you left for work already!" Red stated.

Jackie stopped, "I know, I overslept. So I gotta go, I might come by later, okay?" Jackie replied, rushing through the swinging doors to the kitchen, Red waved it off and went back to his movie on TV.

Once in the kitchen, Jackie noticed Kitty just sitting at the table, Jackie approached her, "Are you okay?" she asked.

Kitty looked up, "Oh, I don't know where Eric is, I thought maybe he went out in the morning for something. Did you see him this morning?" Kitty asked, she appeared very concerned, and Jackie felt guilty.

"Uh, well I...spoke with him last night." Jackie replied, knowing that 'spoke' was the farthest thing from what actually happened.

Kitty suddenly was worried, "What happened?" Kitty asked.

Jackie didn't want to give riddles and whatnot, so she just decided to say it, "I didn't know Eric was spending the night, so when I woke up, I went upstairs to sleep in his room. And he was in there, and I yelled and said I didn't want him to be here at all." Jackie stated, more nervous then ever.

Kitty sighed, "Jackie, just tell me what happened between you two." Kitty replied, Jackie stutterd as how to explain it.

Kitty noticed this and decided not to go further, "Okay, Jackie. You don't have to tell me now, but I still want to hear soon. And I want you to fix this with Eric, you two are adults and shouldn't be acting like you're in High School." Kitty said, Jackie's body language seem to say that she was grateful.

There was then a awkward pause, Kitty did her trademark laugh, "I'll go do the laundry!" Kitty said as she got up, Jackie just laughed and then didn't want to think about anything else but getting to work. She would put everything else behind her until after work, she would call Eric and apologize later.

5:00pm, Grooves, Point Place, Wisconsin...

Jackie sighed as she stood behind her counter, she knew buisness would pick up at night. Dumb kids would come in hopefully looking for some music for some party they were heading to. But right now, no one was in here store. Why is it that everybody else had plans? She looked around for something to do, maybe clean up, but she had already done that earlier. Soft music played in the background as she glanced towards the phone, a thought that she should call Eric right now and apologize, she strangely knew his number by heart, even though she almost never called it. She would always look at it, sitting by the phone ready to dial it, but could never bring herself to do call him after what happened. This was no different, as she put it off again.

The sound of broken glass as the intro of the song 'The Message' by Grandmaster Flash, broke her out of her daydream, as it played over the speakers. This song stuck out to her more as it was a damn good song, and it was one of Eric's favorite songs. She laughed aloud as she never thought he would be one to like rap, but this song would stick on you. She thought it was ironic that this song had to play, right when she was thinking of Eric. Jackie considerd this some sort of sign she just call and apologize, she sighed as she picked up the phone and dialed his number, it felt weird actually dailing his number.

The line rang and rang, she tapped her foot as she waited, she suddenly heard a quick beep, Who doesn't have a greeting message?, Jackie thought.

"Hey, Eric. It's me...um, I didn't want to do this over a message, but I wanted to say I was sorry about what I said last night. It just came out all at once. Just, I don't know, call me when you get this...bye." Jackie stated as she hung up the phone, she knew she should've left a better message. The song enterd her ears again as she listned to the lyrics;

It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder

How I keep from going under

It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder

How I keep from going under

She laughed and would just have to wait until he called back, she just wonderd when that would be, if he ever did.

8:41pm, just outside Canyon Lands, Utah...

Eric traced his finger along the map of Canyonland, Utah. He found the road he was supposed to take, it appeared to be a dirt road. He turned his Bronco onto the dirt, and saw a sign that read: YOU ARE NOW ENTERING CANYONLANDS. He pulled out his camera and snapped a picture, he liked snapping pictures of anything that was even vaguely interesting.

He sped down the road, he turned the radio on,'The Message' was on, he turned it up of course. After following the signs that had arrows pointing to where he wanted to go, he arrived at a site where other cars seemed to be parked. He was still tired as hell, he was now in a area called Arco del Oeste, which was the rest area closest to Robbers Roost, which was his area of interest where the pool was. He got out of his car, got situated in the truck bed for sleep.

9:20am...

Eric woke up at 7:30am, and couldn't get out of his truck fast enough, he felt like a kid on Christmas morning eager to open his presents, only in this case he had to find the 'Christmas Tree', which was to walk about 10 miles to find Horseshoe Canyon, where the pool was and probably other great things were. Right now he was about an hour away from Horseshoe Canyon. He walked up a hill, which was all rock, much like everything else, pushing his legs up the hill. Once at the top, he could pretty much see everything for at least 4 miles, it was amazing. He breathed in and felt his lungs weezing, he reached into his shorts and pulled out his inhaler, and inhaled his medicine, and held his breath like he was suppose to. Eric knew he got Asthma from being out in these canyons, but occasionally stopping to puff his inhaler in was more then worth it. He exhaled and felt his lungs open up again, all was good in the world at that moment, or whenever he went hiking.

He slid his backpack off his shoulders and reached in and pulled out his canteen, it was full, so he wasn't concerned about running out. It was early and he had another bottle in his backpack as well. He took a large gulp and put it back, he jogged down the other side of the hill. Eric continued walking into the canyon he stopped as he saw a slot canyon down the hill about a hundred feet away, he thought this looked close enough to what his directions described it as, he descended downhill towards the opening of it. His sense of momentum is established again and it's clear he's moving downhill, into the fissure of the rock. Without warning his feet suddenly slide forward from under him and he skates/snap-kicks trying to keep his balance on a floor of scattering pebbles left there by a flood. There's a flash of the sky and dazzling sunlight. Only his arms and the proximity now of the walls prevent him from falling on his ass.

Eric exhaled, "Easy Eric, easy." Eric said trying to assure himself. He keeps moving, descending still, but a little more circumspect. Eric keeps descending, the canyon walls growing taller and closer, into the narrowing slot canyon. A dry waterfall, many months since it's seen rain. A drop of maybe 12/15 ft with no obvious climb down. Way beyond his reach and jammed into the walls of the canyon is an enormous S-shaped log, sand bleached and wind dried it looks like a massive reptile making its way down the canyon. Beyond it, Eric can see his route down disappearing into narrowing darkness.

A couple minutes later, Eric was deeper in the slot canyon. To reduce the drop he scrambles down clinging to the edge, pushes away and drops the final 6 feet or so landing in a fine cloud of sand. Nothing to it, second nature.

Eric walked up to a another steep drop, he sees another log and reaches out to grab it, and made sure it was somewhat stable enough to support his weight for him to get down to the other now had a frim grip on the log and, much like monkey bars at a park, he quickly jumps down to the other landing. He snaps the log now arching above him well out of reach.

He looked up, "Won't be coming back this way." Eric stated.

He is now very deep in the slot canyon. He spins and continues, seeing the first huge chockstones, the size of vans, their noses buried in the floor of the canyon like unexploded bombs. He easily scrambles over one and around another-tight fit but he's skinny enough to slide through.

The slot is now just 4ft wide and as he stops to look at massive tree logs jammed at strange angles high above him and silhouetted against the blue cloudless sky, he drinks deeply from his water bottle. He had some of his favorite songs playing in his head. He pumps the air - it's like the canyon in Star Wars and he's Luke feeling the force. One set of chockstones leads to another and he rapidly negotiates them like an obstacle race - until there's one the size of a big refrigerator which has been stopped by the walls 18 inches from the floor.

Over or under? He drops to his belly and squeezes underneath, rucking the sandy floor in front of him. He's halfway, his chest rising out the far side when suddenly he can't move. He pushes but nothing. He reaches back with his hand and releases a part of his rucksack strap that's snagged. He squat-jumps out and brushes off the sand. No panic - a nothing moment.

Now it's steeper. Eric is now 60 feet below ground level, but he isn't worried. He was pretty sure he was heading the right way. He uses his legs, back and natural body weight to body walk along and down the towering walls. Eric's now moving towards a final chockstone below him jammed in the gap. The way he's thinking: it's about the size of a bus wheel and used as a platform will help him and reduce the 10 foot drop and get quickly down into the next section.

Eric kicked the rock fiercely to make sure it's solid enough, "Yep." Eric confirmed. And across he steps onto it. It holds.

As before, he squats and clambers down the back side of the stone to reduce his drop down. Just as he dangles there's a scraping sound, small but close, too close and the stone judders towards him, pulled by the torque of his weight on his side, rotating. Instantly and instinctively he lets go and drops. Like he's trying to detach a mine dragging him to the sea floor. But it follows him down, somehow he's released its latent energy. Eric watches the chockstone follow him - not looking where he's going.

His arms rise to protect his head but his eyes remain open.

It grabs his left hand and flings it against the left wall. He pulls it away as the rock ricochets against the canyon and careers towards his right arm which he raises, to compensate for withdrawing the left, and to protect his head. The rock smashes the right hand and wrist against the wall and drags it down the remaining distance. Like a cheese grater it tears the skin from the back of the hand and the forearm, decorating the wall. Eric is powerless to stop its force and he lands on his feet allowing the rock to jam in front of him with his left hand held against the canyon wall by the stone. All this happens too quickly. Eric can hardly register what's happened as everything stops.

Silence. He's standing behind the rock. Like he's in a line for a bus. Like he's shaking someone's hand. A hand shake with the canyon. Silence.

Eric then had all these feeling come roaring at him, adrenaline, searing, roaring pain and panic. "Fuck!" Eric shouted. Pulls and pulls, yanks until his shoulder will dislocate, but nothing moves. Sweat, anxiety flaring, hot pain. "Shit, shit, shit, shit..." Eric said panicked. Pushing with his left hand desperate to reverse the action; so simple to undo the moment, to reverse gravity for a split second and pull his hand out... nothing. Again and again thrusting up with knees, thighs, pelvis, left arm, head,

neck... nothing. Then slam upwards, harder than ever as though he's run at it from a hundred yards and it's a door that will surely burst open.

"YEEARKGG... UNNNHHH." Eric groaned, desperately trying to dislodge this boulder. Air exploding out of his lungs. And then a quiet hollowsound of the boulder shifting fractionally. A howl of Phenomenal pain, "No, no, fuck." Eric mutterd.

He reverses the fraction and collaspes in sweat and blood, knees bleeding, good fingers lacerated. But he remains upright, attached. Unable to physically collapse. Eric grabs his orange shirt and wipes sweat away and goes to drink. He hula-hoops out of his backpack to get access to his water, gulps down 3 full throatfulls - stops mid 4th and backwashes as much as he can into the bottle, "No, no more water." Eric said quickly. He caps the lid tightly and drops it into his pack.

"Relax. Stop. Come on, now." Eric calmed himself.

He examines the boulder at each point he can reach, stretching and contorting to see into his crushed and wretched hand where his thumb is visible above and his little

finger below. No matter how much he touches them, there is no feeling. He prods up and down to see what feeling is left and where it stops. Comparing left hand to where the right hand is trapped to measure the width of his right wrist - now smaller than the width of his little finger on his righthand. He can barely get the little finger of his left hand inthe gap. We reverse back on him at each contortion. "How the hell do you get your hand trapped in here, god dammit!" Eric shouted. Eric knew his hand was dying.

He reaches up and touches the trail of blood, hair and skin left on the canyon wall as the rock pushed him to where he is. Looks under boulder, no blood - check.

Eric looks above for the first time, "HELP! HELLO! DOWN HERE!" Eric screamed. Miles and miles away, it didn't matter, no one could hear his cries for help. The expression he used earlier in his head when he didn't know where to go didn't apply then, Between a Rock, and a Hard Place, applied to him now.

Thank you for reading this chapter, and I hoped you liked it. Next chapter will be up soon! Please review! I like to know how I'm doing.