Mountains and Valleys

Fate won't let them be.

Darin still couldn't shake the strange feeling he had had since he ran into that familiar man in the park. He was almost sure it was nothing but he wasn't certain. Maybe I should go back... He thought he was clearly having a hard time deciphering between trying to find the guy or just leaving it be. I'm gonna leave it...

It had been a week since Adam had run into someone in the park. The minute he had heard the Mysterious person speak that tenderness in his heart had seemed to partially fade. The whole thing was just such a bizarre experience, he wasn't sure what to do. When the two of them had parted the tenderness returned making him feel strange. Why did I recognize his voice? He thought. I don't remember meeting him before. Then again I don't really remember anything...

Darin had eventually forgotten about the strange incident and was able to continue on. He had recently gotten a part in a movie. It was a small part, but it was enough to pay rent. Despite his efforts to block out the voice, occasionally it would ring in his ears but he would be saying different phrases like: 'I Love You To Bits', Or 'Where are you going Mate?'. But the one that haunted him the most was when he would say: '...You are dead to me...' Those 5 words stung, but by the morning, these night chants were soon forgotten.

Adam forgot about the familiar man but life didn't get any better, if anything, it got worse. He did not have money to pay for the rent so the landlord kicked him out. At this point, he was homeless. The worst part was that winter had come around and he was out in the streets during rain and snow. He was Dirty, Cold, Hungry, and Depressed which wasn't a good mixture. He had seriously contemplated ending his own life several times but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

One night, cruel images pulsed through Darin's brain. Images of one man who he was laughing with one minute the next he was gone turned to mist right before his eyes. He would cry and whimper in his sleep because he couldn't get to this person. Eventually, in these dreams he would see the man curled up in a ball crying. He would run to him but fall into this dark endless abyss. After falling he would wake up with a salty tear-stained pillow. These nightmares were so bizarre. He didn't know what to do about them. In the morning Darin would feed his dog to take her for a walk then go to the studio for rehearsals. The movie he was working on was entitled 'Fate' It was a story of two best friends who had been cruelly separated by one's anger, and then ten years later they find each other and all is right in the world.

Adam sat thinking over the choices he had made the past ten years wishing that there was some way he could turn back time to erase those mistakes. He wished that he could have never been born at all. That got him wondering about his parents who they were, Where they were, and if they were dead or not. He didn't know what to do with his life other than to die. The nights were getting colder and the snow would engulf him. He had absolutely no money to buy warm clothes and food. He was growing frail and he definitely wasn't getting any younger he had recently sprained his ankle and it wasn't healing properly. His life was a complete utter disaster. "Huh, guess I now know what it is like to be one of those kids in the Kenya slums..." He had surprised himself. He now had a bewildered look on his face. "Kenya? When did I go to Kenya?" He asked himself. Adam Shrugged. "There goes to show that I really am going crazy."

Darin was bored and in desperate need of some extra cash, so he decided to go out to his old storage unit to see what he could sell. It was a long drive out to London but he made it and appreciated the change of scenery. Once he arrived he shuffled through his keys in order to find the right one. "God, I haven't been here in years." He coughed when he opened the door sending a cloud of dust straight into his face. he sorted through most of the items practically deciding to sell like 75% of it until he got to a box. A very, very heavy box for that matter. There was another box beside it. They were both labelled with do not open in his own handwriting. This made Darin even more curious He opened the big heavy box first and to his surprise, it was a box full of lots of NTA's, Several BAFTA's, and one Guinness World Record plaque. "Is this mine? Did I somehow get into someone else's unit?" Darin got up to check the door and it indeed had his name on it. "Huh." He huffed completely bewildered.

Darin moved on to the next box. This one wasn't nearly as heavy. He was scared to open it but he did it looked like stacks of images all faced down so as not to see them at first glance. At this point Darin was too curious He picked up one small stack of pictures and he the first image had him and the man he ran into at the park holding NTA's hugging on a stage. It was at that moment that his brain had fully taken in the information and all of his memories came back at the speed of light it was like being punched hard in the gut. He began to feel every emotion at the same time. He felt Safe, Happy, Scared, panicked, Angry, Elated, Sad, everything it was so overwhelming that his legs buckled beneath him he lay on his back crying and panting because he was so overwhelmed.

Adam stumbled blindly through the snow a blizzard had begun and he was in search of a dry refuge. Which was impossible he had questioned why he even tried to survive anymore. He was too weak to go on and flopped down at the base of a tree letting the darkness enfold him.

Darin stood up his whole life made sense, everything. How he had ever managed to forget that much of his life was beyond him. Then it hit him. That man I saw in the park was Ant! I have to find him!

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To Be Continued In The Next Installment Of...

Mountains and Valleys

Edited May 6 2020