I loved exploring coastal landforms. It may seem boring to you, but to me, it spoke volumes to see evidence of the earth's earlier days. This time, I found myself in the Pacific Northwest, one of the areas of the United States where precipitation is almost a daily occurrence. I carefully examined all the types of rocks, taking note when I found unique varieties of igneous and metamorphic types. I had my GPS with me, but I really wasn't paying attention to where I was. That was the first mistake. The second mistake was not even looking up to see the bear that was stalking me.
Well, I looked up. But by then it was far too late. I looked the bear straight in the eyes. That could possibly be considered my third mistake. I was thinking that this situation might be funny if it wasn't actually me who was about to get mauled.
I tried to be rational. That proved to be quite difficult as I could not even hear my own thoughts over my pounding heartbeat. There was something about making noise around bears and there was something about backing away very slowly. I had a feeling that backing away slowly was the better choice in this predicament.
With every step that I took backwards, the bear followed me. I was desperately trying not to panic, but the adrenaline began to kick in. The bear approached me even closer now, coming within 10 feet of me. It growled at me, which I assumed was bad. Very bad. I turned to run.
I heard the bear begin to charge. I thought about how no one would even know or care about my fate; I would die alone in the woods and literally become a part of nature. Fascinating for those who love science, but not so fascinating when you yourself become the experiment. I tripped and fell in my panic. This wasn't going to end well.
All of a sudden, I heard a cry of pain from the bear. I got up and turned around, only to find that there was no bear at all. I was not insane, I determined, so the bear must have run away. I wasn't the one who scared it, though. I watched as a shadow appeared, coming forth from the distant foliage.
Anything that could frighten the bear was considered bad in my book, so, understandably, I was scared beyond belief now. The figure continued to come towards me when I realized it was, in fact, a man. I was really beginning to question my sanity now.
"Are you all right?" he asked me.
No reply on my side. I couldn't form the words; for some reason, I couldn't do anything at the moment. I'd never suffered this condition before. Was I just scared?
"I'm taking that as a no. Let's see, are you still breathing? Your heart is beating? Yes, that's good to know," he said as he began examining me. I was still frozen, but for more than one reason now.
He was beyond handsome; every feature of his face seemed absolutely perfect. His eyes were a beautiful shade of gold, which went nicely with his blond hair. Besides all of this, he smelled absolutely wonderful. I decided that I was definitely not sane, which helped me to appreciate the moment more.
"All right, I guess you're in shock right now. I'll have to get you out of the woods now; it's starting to rain. Why were you even here?" he continued.
"Uh… urgh," I said. Obviously, I still could not speak a word. Why was he asking me questions? He even knew what my condition was, which surprised me, considering he wanders through the woods.
"It's all right. You can explain later." With that, he picked me up. He was very cold, I realized. Or maybe it was me who was cold. All I knew was that I was getting very tired. Did he just give me a tranquilizer or something? I couldn't tell… I drifted off to sleep in his arms.