The Adventure That Never Was

There was once an old man by the name of Howard Thomas who worked at a local department store. He was a friendly old man who enjoyed the company of the store’s customers and frequently told them about his adventures. One of his most frequent stories regarded a trip to a famous mountain named the Heavenpeak, even though in truth, he never made the trip.

One day, a group of customers asked him to tell the story, and he happily obliged. “Alright, let me think,” he started, “alright, I was with my team, and we managed to reach the base of the mountain in the morning, most likely 8 A.M.” “If I remember correctly, it was also a Sunday, and we were prepared for the adventure of a lifetime. I was so excited that I had to avoid drinking coffee, or I knew I would end up being a nuisance to my team.”

Howard then drank a bit of coffee before continuing. “Telling this story makes me tired,” he said, “I need the energy to get through the rest of it.” “Where was I, oh yes, the beginning of the trip. We were all very excited for the trip that we were unable to sleep that night. I think all we did was talk and play cards for hours.”

Howard then blanked on what he should say next as he knew that he never made the trip to the mountain. “What happened next,” he said, “oh right, after we reached the bottom of the mountain by boat, we then planned on how we were going to reach the top.” Howard was able to continue telling this story as he had read about the mountain before in books. “We knew that the winds and snow were at their worst during nighttime and early morning, so we stayed in the boat in a few hours before we decided to ascend the mountain.”

One of the listeners in the audience began to become suspicious of Howard as he had heard him tell the story before except that he had forgotten and changed multiple details. “Hey,” he said, “I heard you tell this story before, but before, you said that you was brought to the mountain by an airplane.” Howard then began to become nervous as he had recently rea that there weren’t any airports near the mountain, meaning that future versions of that stories needed to have that detail changed.

Howard took a few minutes to think of an appropriate answer. “I apologize, my memory isn’t as good as it used to be,” said Howard who was racing to find his next answer, “must be the fact that I am getting old.” Howard was aware that this was a shaky excuse as he was only in his 40s.

The listener from the audience was unconvinced. “You aren’t even that old,” he said, “and I have read about Heavenpeak before.” “There is no way that he can reach the mountain by airplane or boat, you can only get there by car. I know that you have never been there, and that you are a fraud.” The reaction from the audience was mixed as some of them joined the heckler in jeering Howard, and the rest were actually sympathetic to Howard and booed the hecklers, relating to his position of wanting an adventure that they never had.

Howard was downtrodden by what happened and went to the back of the store, sulking. “Did they have to do that,” he said to himself, “who hasn’t wished for an adventure to come true that never did in real-life.”

Suddenly, out-of-nowhere, a light appeared and a figure looking like a combination of an angel and a vampire appeared. “Hello, my name is Darkwish,” he said, “and I can grant you a wish as long as you agree to its conditions.” His voice had an eerie nature that sounded more like a warning. “You can make anything you want come true as long as you believe you can make it to the end.”

Howard had heard the scary nature of the figure’s voice, but when he heard that he could make a wish come true, he lost his sense of caution. “Can you send me on an adventure to Heavenpeak,” he asked not thinking through with his answer with blind hope convincing that he could make it to the end.

“I can do that,” said Darkwish, “as long as you can make it to the end, you will return to where you were before the wise with memories of the adventure.” Darkwish also gave a mean-spirited smile as he granted Howard his wish. “You will be sent on your adventure, and I repeat, if you can make it to the end, you will return to where you were before you made your wish.”

Howard was overjoyed when he heard the mysterious figure agreeing to his wish but quickly realized that he had a few questions. “Will I need to bring anything,” he asked Howard was quickly realizing that he hadn’t thought through everything.

“No,” said Darkwish, “when you get there, you will be provided with what you need as long as it is before you begin your adventure.” Darkwish was growing impatient with Howard’s hesitance and decided to tempt him into agreeing with the wish. “You will be going on a grand adventure, and you will be able to tell your friends and colleagues that you were able to go Heavenpeak for real and have the knowledge to prove that you did. Don’t you want it.”

Howard becamt too excited and finally agreeing to the wish, even though it became more obvious that Darkwish wasn’t telling him everything. “Alright, lets go climb a mountain,” he said, “I can’t wait for this adventure to begin.” Darkwish gave a sinister smile when he heard Howard finally agreeing to the wish.

“Then you will go on a grand adventure,” said Darkwish, “and try to make it to the end, we don’t want to do back lost forever, no?” Darkwish then chanted a song that Howard couldn’t understand, and Howard then suddenly found himself at the bottom of the mountain with mountaineering equipment. “Have fun, and take your time, you have plenty of it.”

Howard then quickly rushed to the top of the mountain, confident as he already knew how to use the equipment. He had also found plenty of food in his backpack, meaning that after a few hours of climbing, he set up camp near a cave with high spirits. “This is the life he said, “I can wait to get back and brag about my adventure to my friends.”

Howard then continued to climb the mountain for another few hours, and was happily doing so. “I can’t wait to tell my friends about this,” he said, “they won’t believe the part about the wish, but I know a lot about this mountain now and I will then be able to prove that I was here.” “If I can pick up a few rocks here and there, then I will have more proof that I climbed Heavenpeak.” Howard then set up camp near another cave, and while it wasn’t as large as the previous one, it was able to shelter him from the cold and wind, meaning that his spirits remained high.

Howard was unable to sleep and when dawn broke the next day, he continued to climb. However, it wasn’t long before he realized he didn’t ask Darkwish what month it was, knowing that during the winter, the mountain was at its most dangerous. “Darkwish,” he called, “Darkwish.” It wasn’t long before he had realized that the mysterious figure had abandoned him. “Of course he did, and I was foolish enough to believe him about the wish.”

Howard was downtrodden was he knew what fate awaited him as the only map he had had been lost to the wind earlier, and he was about to run out of food. “At least I was able to climb Heavenpeak before the end,” he said, “at least so it isn’t that bad. Howard knew that he could make the wish end if he reached the end, but he knew that he was in no shape to either finish the climb or return to the bottom. “It’s not that bad. I am at Heavenpeak.” Howard then awaited his fate quietly, and in the cold, unforgiving wind, he was lost to it.