May Time Never Take You (May You Never Series)

CANADIAN BORDER, 1894

When I moved my arm from my face, I realized the sky was completely different. There were clouds rolling overhead in great numbers, but so fast, it appeared to be like it was being fast forward on a video feed. 

My mind was foggy, like waking up from a dream, only much slower. I was aware I'd been in a metal chair, and when I realized that was different, I was looking at everything else that was different, too.

The scent on the wind had changed; crisp and full of pine and pasture and clean.

The thunder had ceased. The only sound was of the wind making occasional gusts around me and through the grass and trees.

Otherwise it was deadly silent. I don't know why but it felt like there had been a low hum of white noise on the roof even beyond the storm and wind, and now it was gone.

I was also further from the sky than I was before. It seemed immense and I felt so small.

There was grass at my back and the sensation of it stunned me even further. My brain couldn't piece together why I was feeling this on a chair.

I sat up, finding myself on a hill.

This gave the sensation that I was still dreaming and needed to wake. It felt like I had passed out, forgetting where I was and why I was there. Only I distinctly remembered being on the roof...waiting for Rubio...

My skin tingled with feeling at the cool of the grass and the crisp air around me and this woke my senses. I blinked rapidly feeling the need to brush sleep from my eyes.

I found myself on a hill, although with it being dark, I couldn't see much beyond it. There was a dark outline of trees behind me, and ahead, down the slope, there was flat, grassy land that seemed to go on a great distance.

I was alone.

It felt like a dream.

The touch of grass slipping across the tops of my feet caused a chilled shiver to creep up my spine. The sensation woke me further, and with how well I could feel the air and the grass and breathed in the cool air, the more alive I felt.

In the distance, a rumbling noise emerged. It slowly overtook my dazzled gazing and pondering where I was.

I checked myself, the pajama pants, the T-shirt. I felt around for my cell phone, finding it next to where I was sitting in the grass. 

I picked it up quickly. It said the time was close to ten, but there was no signal. I tried to check out my location on a map app.

It wasn't unusual for me to go out into a remote place, a national park, to stop. Camping in your car meant you could go lots of places, not always a camping ground. 

The map, though, wasn't working. The signal seemed strong but I'd no idea where I was.

And I didn't remember going anywhere. I remembered talking myself into camping in my Jeep, but beyond that...Did I actually do it? Did I go for a walk, faint, and then not remember how I ended up here? I didn't seem hurt, so fainting seemed to be the most logical thing. 

My lips and nose were numbing from the wind. Every other gust seemed to cut right through me as if I were naked. The wind was making the cold night unbearable. No matter how I got here, I couldn't stay very long. I needed to find my Jeep. Or shelter. 

I climbed the hill, wanting to check out the landscape. If I'd walked out of where I was camping, then fainted...maybe hit my head? Is that why I couldn't remember and was disoriented? I felt my head as I walked the hill. No sign of a bump. It was the most logical explanation but I felt fine, so it couldn't be some sort of concussion.