Making Friends









The mud went flying a short distance to end hitting me in the mouth. I stopped peddling and slammed on the brakes. Useless. I slid through the mud, helplessly out of control. At the bottom of the gully I started my steep climb up the hill on the other side. I approached the top, to which I was going to stop and rest. When I reached the top, I could see Zach and Jeremy in the distance. “No breaks,” I said aloud. I continued on, pushing myself to go faster then ever before. And I did. The distance between us was closed in a short amount of time. I was on their tires and ready to pass. As I maneuvered to pass on the left, I came to a sudden turn to the right. I went down a small incline . Our bikes jolted at the abrupt force of the roots strung across the path.
The front shocks and the frame shock made sure I could have at least a little control of the bike, more or less stay on the bike. To the left of me was small body of water. As I advances up the shore, I came to a corny looking bridge. A few planks strewn across a small, muddy stream. The sound of the birds, and the bikes going across the bridge, and the hornets buzzing filled my ears. But why were hornets buzzing. That wasn’t a good sign. Then we saw them. Swarms of them. We hurriedly sprang from our bikes to turn and run back towards the shore. We never stopped to look.

Sprinting through the trail like we were marine trainees on a mission to kill. At the top of a small hill, we stopped and rested. We were sure we lost them. “What about our bikes,” Jeremy questioned. We all gave each other worried looks. “We’ll have to get them back eventually,” stated Zach. We had no other choice but to slowly and cautiously make our way back. As far as we could see, and hear, the hornets had retreated beck to the bridge. The one place we needed to go. As we walked across the long bridge, approaching the other side, we heard it again. The hornets were furious. Flying and climbing and buzzing everywhere. There was only one thing to do. “GO,” I yelled. We all ran for the bikes, picked them up and dragged them back across the bridge. “They’re following us,” I exclaimed. I hopped on my bike and peddled as fast as I could away from the bridge.

It wasn’t a few minutes later until we gathered up the courage to go back to the bridge. I stood, watching as the hornets flew around and made their buzzing sounds. It was as if I were standing in the middle of a world war two dog fight. “Ugh,” I heard from behind. I pivoted to see Jeremy with a log, running at me. “What are.” As the log slammed down on the bridge, the swarm arose again. It didn’t surprise me much. There are always these ideas coming out of Jeremy. But why would he do that. Why Jeremy, why did you make it worse. Forget about it. Just head for the bikes, they’re all the way at the last bridge went through my mind. It was a relatively small bridge, just big enough to walk on.

Zach and Jeremy had the same thing in mind. Huffing and puffing and heaving, we regrouped at the bridge. “What in the world was that,” Zach screeched. We glanced at each other, seeing the confusion glaring in their eyes. Jeremy shifted into a slightly bent over position to regain even the slightest amount of breath. We all broke into a laugh and started remarking on the moment.

Bursts of laughter seized Jeremy’s breath once again, as he coughed into his sleeve, with a small sliver of a tear erupting from his eyelid. A tear of, not pain, but joy. Zach’s hysterical smile effected all of us. The joy in the air, content that we were all fine, we went back for the bridge. The adrenaline pumping through me, keeping my heart racing. Waiting for the right moment to release a powerful rush of energy. The moment to run needed that rush to get me safely away. And that moment came shorter then expected. A log hurled through the air, bouncing off the bridge, and into the water. Droplets of water touched the edges of my face. One pivot, and I was good as gone.
Once again, we all ended back at the bikes. With the sun setting, we parted with our now, furious friends. “That was fun,” I remarked. We all agreed with a nod. “Good thing I didn’t get stung, I'm allergic to bees”, Jeremy suddenly said. “What? Why didn’t you tell us.” “I was having to much fun, I didn’t want to ruin it, and I didn’t care. Does that answer your question?” With a sly grin, Jeremy took off in front of us. Always doing something to put himself in danger.

By the time we reached the brook, he was already wadding into the deep end. I quickly through off my shirt, and crawled in. The cold water soothed me. Washing away any exhaustion. “I have to go guys, i’ll see you at the house,” said Zach as he rode along towards the exit. Me and Jeremy crawled onto a rock. As the sun went down, we watched as we remembered the moment with our new, buzzing, now angry friends. We’ll come back I thought. Just another day.