“Closed Trail. There ain’t any closed trails to Mike Jones,” He said to himself, pulling his jeep over into some high grass at the end of a gravel road. 

                Mike jumped out, quickly grabbing his I-Phone music player from his console. He almost forgot his snack until the silver of an energy bar caught his eye before he closed the door. He walked around the back of his mud splattered Jeep pulling the Trek Mountain bike from its place on the rack. The entire back side of the Jeep was covered in bumper stickers. He stopped to admire his favorite. It was the one his girlfriend begged him to cover up, ‘Hiking’s for People that drive in the Slow Lane.’ 

He mounted the bike and started to pedal through thick brush off the roadside. Cracking twigs and tall native wild plants were crushed under his wheels as he pedaled hard towards a nearby clearing where there was a small dirt path, only wide enough for one bike, probably meant for the width of a hiker. 

                Two miles into the trail he stopped.   Still enough to hear the chirping song of birds and the rustle of the grass from small animals moving about, that is, if he hadn’t been listening to his favorite death metal band. The music was loud enough to drown out all the natural sounds of the forest, but not enough to drown out the sound of a voice that he knew once, long ago, calling his name. Mike whipped his head around behind him quickly yanking the cord that held the music playing ear buds in his ears! The voice was gone. He shook his head and pulled the Clif bar from his pocket wolfing it down in two bites before taking a drink from his water bottle that hung neatly underneath the top bar of his bike. 

                Mike snapped his head to the right where the sound of a breaking branch came. He saw nothing but trunks of thick brown, sticking up at odd natural angles. Nothing but a view of thick green forest. A grin crossed his face as he tossed the wrapper from his bar off to the side of the trail. He replaced the ear buds back into his ears…once again drowning out the sounds of nature with the screaming metallic sounds of metal music. 

                Mike began to pedal again, deeper into the dark green forest that pulled him in, only faster! He pedaled hard, faster and faster the trail winded back behind him. He had a sudden feeling of someone following, but didn’t take the time to look back. He’s had that feeling before, alone on a trail. He just pedaled harder, his heart beating, suddenly faster than the small saplings that slid by as he went. He pedaled as hard as he could force his now spent legs. He slowly climbed the section that would lead to a fast decent that he waited for. He was half way to the top when his music was interrupted by a high pitch tone that told him there was a text that needed to be read. He stopped twenty yards from the peak and pulled his cell from his pocket checking the message. 

                He checked to see who sent him the message and sighed, “Unknown- that figures.”   

                He opened the message, reading it with a cold chill riding smoothly down his back. 

                “Mike why’d u leave me behind?” It read.

                He immediately thought back to his girlfriend complaining about him taking this ride. He had told her he was going anyway, and going alone. Besides the last thing he needed was someone that he would always have to slow down and wait for tagging along behind. Then his buddy his buddy from work caught his thoughts. He remembered talking about the ride, and how his buddy insinuated that he wanted to go. 

                “Its gotta be Louis from work,” he thought, before slipping the ear buds back into his ears with a smile.            

                He continued the climb with a feeling of exhilaration coming to a climax as he slowly moved towards the peak. 

                “Ten more feet and it’s time to fly,” He thought. 

As he reached the top he quickly scanned the trail ahead. He pushed off hard with one foot before slipping it back into the strap over the pedal! He picked his line back and forth between large boulders and deep grooves that snaked down the ever widening trail. The lines were worn into the trail deeply, where water would find its easiest way down the mountain, deep enough for a wide mountain bike tire to be sucked in and forced in the direction that water once flowed. The only sounds he could hear were coming from his I-phone music player, or so he thought. He picked his line around a large boulder moving fast when he heard it. A voice calling his name from behind, calling for him to ‘wait up’. He quickly looked back! He saw nothing but the trail behind, then looked forward just in time to see the blur of a low hanging tree limb that seemed to come out of nowhere! He ducked, but caught his helmet on the limb moving at a speed that could have at most taken his head off, at least snapped his neck! The helmet was crushed on the limb as it was tore from his neck with a snapping sound at the strap under his chin! He braked hard coming to a stop. He looked back at the helmet lying in pieces just ahead of the branch, then looked up the trail farther. Still no rider that could have called his name, nothing but the torn earth where he descended down to a stop. A slight laugh came out that sounded like a chuckle from his shallow breathing as he looked at the pieces of helmet scattered across the trail. 

He looked back and forth across the trail again, having a hard time shaking the feeling that someone was behind him. 

He swiped his hand across his forehead with the palm of his glove before looking down at it, nothing but sweat.

“Mike doesn’t go out like that,” he thought looking at the branch again.

He quickly mounted his bike returning to his music and riding down the slope without looking back at the trail littered with his helmet, or for the voice he could swear was there. He pedaled again faster than before as the steep slope pulled him in towards the first switchback near the bottom. This time he pedaled fast, but not just for the rush, but away from that feeling, the feeling that chased him stroke for pedal stroke, it matched the speed of his knobby tires. He saw the switchback ahead, a sharp turn to the right at the bottom of his line. He quickly squeezed both brakes hoping to scrape some speed off before deftly making his way around the embankment into a new direction. His bike didn’t move. His ear bud was caught on his bar, keeping him from pulling sharply in the direction that he needed to be. His bike stayed in line, straight towards a large mound of dirt that would have rocketed him down thirty feet over the steep incline! He jerked the bar hard with a sharp pain coming from his left ear. The wheel finally turned in towards the right as his neck was cranked to the left along with his body and the bike! Both were thrown sharply towards the pile, up and over!  Both he and the bike, each tumbling end over end down the sharp angle of the mountain. Both were bounced off of small trees each spinning in opposite directions like a pinball game with two balls in play. When the sliding frame of the bike came to a stop, it lay just behind him, both mangled and bent in odd shape! 

Mike sat up slowly brushing the leaves and dirt from his chest looking up at the incline from where he came. 

He went to stand, then fell with the realization that both his legs were no good. He sat back up looking at a broken ankle and swollen right knee. 

“Figures!” He said to himself with a grin of disbelief.

He looked down at his legs again then looked back at his bike in a heap. He pulled his cell from his pocket knowing there would be no service, but it was better than crawling the distance he needed to go to reach the main road that lie just south of him. 

Mike was no stranger to pain, but for some he must have completely blocked out all the signals that were screaming from the injuries below the waist.   

Mike looked around at the area that he landed in, taking note of landmarks. He noticed of course where his bike was, but also noticed a large pile of flat boulders that were stacked one on another like they were placed by hand, the bottom boulder reminded him of a giant saucer. He pulled his map and compass from the small pack he wore on his back. He looked toward the flat area that was the southeast direction that he needed to start going to reach the nearest main road. 

He knew after looking up at the sun shining through the trees that he needed to start moving because it was going to be a slow process. He slowly started to crawl in the direction he knew would take him to safety, dragging his useless legs toward the main road. After an hour of crawling without seeing or hearing the road he laid down face first in a soft cushion of green foliage, then rolled over onto his back staring up at the sun that sprinkled down on him between the leaves. 

“How do you get yourself into these messes Mike,” He said to himself. 

He lay there a few minutes longer taking heaving breathes of air before continuing the short distance he knew was left before reaching the road. He started to crawl again, as fast as he could, dragging himself up and over dead logs across his path. He crawled, around large trees, then he would stop and check his bearing with the compass around his neck to make sure he started again in the right direction. After another half hour, or at least to him it seemed that long, he came upon a flat boulder with several more stacked up neatly on each other. With a deep sigh he glanced off to the left beyond the rocks to see the gleam of polished aluminum lying in a heap of grass. He arrived again at the scene of his own accident. He sat up and shook his head in disbelief at the sight before him.

“There’s no fucking way! There’s no fucking way I ended up back here!” 

He pulled out his compass and looked at the needle checking it against the direction the shadows fell behind the rocks. It was reading accurately. He laid down resting a few minutes chalking the mistake up to lack of checking the compass enough while moving around trees as he went. He stared at the sky knowing he only had enough time to give it one more shot before resigning himself to having to stay there over night. 

He started again forcing himself down the same path of crushed grass from where he began the first time. After what seemed like an eternity of slowly moving through the forest he came upon the end or was it where he began. 

“Why Me!” He screamed up at the tops of the trees where he lay below, they stood over him silent to his plead with the exception of the wind moving through the leaves. 

He saw the same pile of rocks in the distance the same bike that he left. He lay back down slamming his fists into the ground! He bolted upright hearing a cracking twig in the background with the rustle of leaves and the movement of grass, but no one was there. He turned again looking forward to see a tall young blonde haired man in the distance, walking towards him wearing cycling shorts and a helmet. Mike smiled in relief waving his arm with the last of the energy he had, before it fell lying next to his dead legs. 

“Hey, over here!  Had a nasty spill coming around that switchback up there. Can’t walk, I-“

His smile slid down as his eyes widened at his unexpected rescuer.

“Todd?”

“Hey Bro!” A reply came from the blonde haired mountain biker as he approached.

Mike pushed himself back away from the approaching young man as best as his burning arms could move him. 

“You…you aren’t here! You really aren’t here!” Mike said lying back, propped up by his elbows. 

“I could say the same about you, Bro!” He replied looking up at the embankment over his shoulder where Mike had lost control of his bike. “So I see you’re still riding closed trails. I’m sure you didn’t tell anyone where you were going either. Did you?” He said crouching down only ten feet from him. “Of course not, who would you tell, the Rangers and end up with that hefty fine for riding over native endangered plants, or your girlfriend the conservationist. And I know you didn’t ride with a buddy. You haven’t done that since our last ride.”

“I’m hallucinating, I must be dehydrated,” Mike stated calmly looking down at his own hands with outstretched fingers. 

“Come on Mike, you and I both know that you couldn’t be dehydrated after crawling through the forest for only a few hours.” He grinned as he spoke and then his face went straight. He looked around him at the forest and then up at the sun that was falling down. “It takes at least a couple of days after finding out that your friend isn’t sending help.”

“What do you want from me Todd, help me find my way out,” He pleaded. 

“You did a good enough job finding your way out of trouble after our last ride, so I’ll leave you to find your way out of this.”

“You know the way out, just tell me man!” Mike said starting to get angry at his caller.

“Actually that’s right.  I do know where I’m headed this time, so I’ll just start going that way, like when you left me behind to die. Besides I’m sure someone will think to check this trail…eventually.”

Todd slowly started to walk away. Up the embankment, as if the steep angle meant nothing, as if his feet never touched the ground, or so much as disturbed the grass below.  He reached the top and continued on past the shattered helmet and Mike’s body, below the low limb with his head twisted away at odd angle.

            The End