The first month was hard. I didn't come across any form of civilization and I wanted to stay near my water source. At the very least, I could take care of myself out here. My family had been doing it for generations. After the first few nights, I finally decided to just screw it and start building a more permanent campsite. The nights were cold and I needed a better shelter. My lean-to was only ever meant to be a temporary solution and I ended up making an underground shelter. It wasn't really underground, but it looked like it was part of the mountain side and the temperature inside stayed fairly consistent. At some point I made myself a nice setup for storing food and created a proper fire-pit with a makeshift grill and smoker. I made rope with roots and bark and I made a soft bed out of pine that was raised off the ground. I made a series of hanging pots up in nearby trees where I store my dried meat and herbs to keep it away from bears. I set up some snares and slowly started to create what I call home now.
Overtime, it seemed like I had been dropped in early spring as the weather warmed up a bit. That made it easier for me, since it meant I could build up a food supply for the winter and get enough furs for some clothing. I had built a shelter for firewood storing near my home and another for storing furs that were drying. At some point I found a very nice yew tree that looked to have few deformities. I cut it down and made 6 staves out of it to potentially become good hunting bows later on. I stored the staves with my furs to age.
Getting the salt was a pain in the butt, I am a day and a half's walk away from seawater from where I made my camp so when I went, I tried to spend three days there getting all the salt I can haul back. I can keep my trips down to about once every 30 days.
Near the end of summer, I made trapping pits to try and catch deer or even a bear if I was lucky. I made a survival bow but it wasn't good enough to take down big game. Winter was going to be harsh and I needed fur for clothes and blankets or I would freeze to death. The pitfalls took days to build since I had to do it by hand and the ground was hard pretty much everywhere. I only found one good place where I could dig it deep enough and I had to get creative with some of the drops scattered around my territory. I put warning notches nearby in case there was other people here with me. I wouldn't want to cause them pain in their afterlife. They also helped me remember that they were there. Eventually, I got 4 deer and one had a mountain lion caught. I was wary when I heard the snarls coming from the pit and one of my pikes had caught him in the back legs. I waited until he bled out before venturing down.
Tanning the hide was a long process. It took me 1 and a half months to tan all 5 hides and I had to put a lot of work into it since I didn't have bags of chemicals conveniently nearby. I had to make drying racks and spend ages scrapping and wear down the leather. Not to mention I spent days soaking them and drying them and then soaking them with bark as well. But I managed to have enough fur for another layer of clothing and the rabbits I had caught and skinned made nice gloves and socks. By the time winter came, I had enough furs tanned, I could make 2 blankets which was nice.
Eventually the first snowfall came and I was glad I had warm furs in time for it. By that point it had been 207 days since I had died and woken up in this purgatory. I hadn't spoken since those first few days. I hadn't seen any sign of humans.
Winter came and went. It was long and cold and I am thankful I didn't freeze to death or starve. By now, almost all of my clothes are made up of furs and I have some woven t-shirts and shorts for summer time. It had been so long since I had had any human interaction that I felt like part of the mountain. I felt one with my surroundings. I missed my old life but I enjoyed the freedom being here gave. I only wished I could share it with my boo.
Some more months passed and even my thoughts became quiet. When I did think, it was more in images and feelings than a strong tone of the English language. I became quiet. My footsteps became soft. My breath became silent. I could hear and smell a lot better than before. I could tell you when there was a bear nearby or deer. I could point out to you the mountain lion stalking its prey. I could point to the annoying squirrels in the trees and sneak up on the Canadian geese when they came through. I would've been at peace here if only I had the other half of my soul. If this is heaven, I sure hope that my boo gets placed here with me and he can tell me of what happened when before he died and if someone was able to come by and patch his heart back together. She would have to be something special and I'm sure I would love her. But until then, I would have to work without him. And while I didn't have him, I had a gaping hole in my heart.
And that hole ached something terrible at times. I'd never felt heartache before but this, this is something else. They say time heals all wounds but every day it is like I had just left him. There will be times when I see something beautiful and I will turn to see his expression but he isn't there. I'll move to share my meal with him, but he isn't there. In the early days, I would open my mouth to make a joke and he wasn't there. It feels like he is here next to me but when I see that he is not my heart drops and I feel an emptiness that is jagged. Like something had been ripped out and left the edges to harden.
But I can wait for him. I can wait years if I have to. I have my afterlife semi set-set up and it will work out. I'm sure of it.