Journey

• Harrison Ge, Grade 5, Dural Public School -
• Short Story
• 2022

Excellence Award in the 'Summertime Fun ONLINE' competition

Snow whirled around Joe in a flurry of snowflakes. Wind blew his hair in his face as he and his son trekked up a steep mountainside. Weighty bags were hefted on their shoulders, and their tools were a burden to carry. They nimbly avoided deep crevasses and tall rock faces. The horrid conditions made it worse, their boots constantly sinking into the deep snow.

The journey was going to be fatiguing and treacherous.

The sun began to ghost down beneath the peaks, auburn streaks shooting across the darkening sky. The group sat down on a ledge, resting their aching muscles. They pulled out their warm sleeping bags and huddled closely together. Joe fell asleep, his mind racing back to many years ago.

He was just a boy, following his father up the same mountain. His father was unaware, head turned around and whispering to Joe. They hadn’t noticed a chasm looming in front of them. There was a shriek of surprise and his father was gone, holding onto the rope tied to Joe’s belt.

Thinking swiftly, Joe stabbed the ice-axe into the rope, holding it steady. The creaking handle warned Joe, and he yanked at the rope. Too late.

The handle snapped in his grasp, and all he could hear was his father bellowing,

“Climb the mountain. Fulfil my wish.”

And then he was gone, stygian darkness swallowing him up in a greedy gulp. Gone. That was all he could think about.

Joe woke up with a start, beads of sweat trickling down his face. “It was just a nightmare,” he repeated over and over, reassuring himself.

Dawn broke, and they continued to plod up the mountain. The same one on which he had lost his father. His son, young but muscular, gave a gasp of surprise. There it was, the peak of the mountain.

And at last, as the mountain gust scythed through the rigid rocks, he was there.

The emptiness beneath was caliginous.

The winds above were ferocious.

But the joy was mesmerising.

Joe had finally fulfilled his father’s wish.

Though this journey had been challenging and tedious, he knew it was only the beginning of another.

The beginning of the journey of life.