Kristine Joy, Writer

Prompt (per this mission):

Write a single scene from this year using only what could be filmed or photographed. No thoughts. No analysis. Just what’s visible.

The sign reads:

The sun is overhead. Trees – ponderosa pines, aspens and gambel oaks – line the rocky terrain trail. She glances upward with widened eyes. And then takes off.

Like the river below that alternates between a calm flow and rapids that rage, she yo-yos between confident bounds and staggering steps; the latter accompanied by a furrowed brow.

Her ponytail bounces in tune to the respective upward or downward grade. Her sports bra and shorts are blue, but different shades. Her muscle tone, especially in her midsection, is apparent. She carries a shirt, yet a third hue of blue, in her left hand. If it weren’t for the various tones of stone and greenery, she’d be a blur against the distant cobalt skyline.

The trail is a zigzagging ridgeline. Steeply sloped rocks run nearly parallel to her inside shoulder; jutting boulders, some covered in lichen, and loose gravel are underfoot.

Her breathing is labored.

The electronics that she dons, AirPods and a Garmin fitness watch, shine white against the backdrop and her tanned skin.

But for a periodic glance up, around a bend or outward to the surroundings, her line of sight is the ground that precedes her next footing.

She arrives at an opening and stops to survey.