,..---†††@ @†††---..,
,,,,,.††&@ @&††.,,,,,
,,,,,,-†@# #@†-,,,,,,
,.-†&@#### ####@&†-.,
,,,,.††&@# #@&††.,,,,
,.-††&@### WINDS ESKER ###@&††-.,
,.-††&@### ---------------------------------------- ###@&††-.,
,.-††&@@@@ @@@@&††-.,
,.-†††&@@# THERE WAS THIS PLACE THAT FOR TWO YEARS #@@&†††-.,
,.-††&@### I COULDN'T GO TO. REGARDLESS HOW MUCH ###@&††-.,
,.-††&@### DISCUSSED WITH OTHERS, OR POINTED OUT ###@&††-.,
,,,,,,.††@ ON MAPS, I COULD NOT THINK OF IT WHEN @††.,,,,,,
,.-††&@### ALONE. I WOULD OFTEN TRAVEL PAST THE ###@&††-.,
,...-†††@@ FORK, WHERE A RIGHT TURN WOULD SURELY @@†††-...,
,.-††&@### TAKE ME THERE, BUT EVEN THEN, SOMETHING ###@&††-.,
,.---†&@@@ KEPT ME AWAY. @@@&†---.,
,.-††@#### ####@††-.,
,.-††&@### WHEN I FINALLY GOT THERE, AFTER SOME ###@&††-.,
,,,,,,.†&@ HEAVY SUBCONSCIOUS BATTLE I MUST @&†.,,,,,,
,.-††&@### ASSUME, THE PLACE WAS SURREAL. AN ###@&††-.,
,,,,,.-††@ ESKER, LIKE A NEEDLE-THIN RIFT OUT IN @††-.,,,,,
,.-††&@### THE LAKE, BUT TEN METERS HIGH AND ###@&††-.,
,.-††&@### ADORNED IN BIRCH, WILLOW, BRACKEN, AND ###@&††-.,
,,,..†&# BLUEBERRIES. ##&&†..,,,
,.-††&@### ###@&††-.,
,..--††††@ WALKING ATOP THAT SPINE, I CAME TO @††††--..,
,,,..††&&@ NOTICE THE VIEW TO EITHER SIDE. THERE @&&††..,,,
,.-††&@@## SHOULD BE SHORES, OF COURSE, BUT I ##@@&††-.,
,.-††&@### DIDN'T RECOGNIZE THEM. FIRST OFF, THEY ###@&††-.,
,.-††&@### WERE MUCH TOO CLOSE, AS THE LAKE SHOULD ###@&††-.,
,,,,,.†† STRETCH FOR A HUNDRED METERS MORE ON #&††.,,,,,
,.††&@#### BOTH SIDES. BUT NOW I FELT I COULD ####@&††.,
,.††&@#### ALMOST REACH OUT AND TOUCH THEM. AND ####@&††.,
,,,.-††# THEN, WHEN I REALIZED WHICH SHORES THEY ##&††-.,,,
,,....-††@ WERE, I HAD TO STOP. @††-....,,
,.-††&@### ###@&††-.,
,,,,,,.††@ THEY WERE OF THE RIGHT LAKE. BUT THIS @††.,,,,,,
,.---††&@# LAKE IS LARGE, FRACTURED, AND #@&††---.,
,,,,.-†††@ BIPARTITE. LIKE A PAIR OF LUNGS CARVED @†††-.,,,,
,.-††&@### INTO THE GRANITE, AND WITH NO LESS THAN ###@&††-.,
,.-††### FIVE COMMUNITIES ANCHORED AT VARIOUS ####&††-.,
,.-††&@### POINTS. AND SO, STUDYING THESE ###@&††-.,
,.-††&@### IMPOSSIBLY CLOSE SHORES, I SLOWLY ###@&††-.,
,.-††&@### UNDERSTOOD THEM AS BELONGING MANY MILES ###@&††-.,
,.-††&@### AWAY. ###@&††-.,
,.-††&@### ###@&††-.,
,,,,.††# I EXAMINED THE RIDGE, THE TREELINE ##&††.,,,,
,,..††&&@@ ABOVE. WAS THIS WHAT YOU SAW OPPOSITE, @@&&††..,,
,,,,,-†††@ FROM THOSE OTHER SHORES? I COULDN'T @†††-,,,,,
,.-††@#### REMEMBER. ####@††-.,
,,,...†††@ @†††...,,,
,.-††&@### CARRYING FORWARD, ON THE VERY TIP OF ###@&††-.,
,.-††&&@@# THE ESKER, I FOUND THE RUINS OF SOME #@@&&††-.,
,,,,,,.††@ OLD BUILDING. THERE WERE OVERGROWN @††.,,,,,,
,.-†††&# MARBLE STAIRCASES, STONE FLOORS BENEATH ##&&†††-.,
,.-††&@### THE MOSS, AND STRANGE SLABS INSERTED ###@&††-.,
,.-††&&&@# INTO THE SLOPE LIKE DAMS AGAINST THE #@&&&††-.,
,,,.--†&@# GROUND ITSELF. #@&†--.,,,
,,,..-†@## ##@†-..,,,
,.-††&@### SITTING THERE, I COULD SEE ACROSS THE ###@&††-.,
,,,,,.††@# NARROWED LAKE MY ENTIRE PATH TO WHERE I #@††.,,,,,
,,,-††&& SAT: FROM THE STAIRWELL OF MY HOUSE, #&&&††-,,,
,,,--†&@## THROUGH THE OLD WOODS BEHIND THE TILE ##@&†--,,,
,.-††&@### FACTORY, THE BRIDGE OVER ROUTE ###@&††-.,
,.-††††@@# TWENTY THREE AND THEN BACK UNDER IT, #@@††††-.,
,.-††&@### THROUGH THE FANCY VILLAS, OVER THE ###@&††-.,
,.-††&@### FIELDS, AND THEN THAT RIGHT TURN AT THE ###@&††-.,
,.-††&@### FORK. ###@&††-.,
,.-††&&# ##&&&††-.,
,,,,.†††@# AND THEN THE STAIRS UP ON THE RIDGE. #@†††.,,,,
,.-††&@### THINKING BACK, THIS WAS PROBABLY IT. ###@&††-.,
,.-††&@### HIDDEN IN A GROVE, THERE WERE STAIRS ###@&††-.,
,,,,-†&&@# MUCH LIKE THE ONES I CURRENTLY SAT ON, #@&&†-,,,,
,.-††&&&@@ OLD AND WORN DOWN, THAT LEAD YOU UP @@&&&††-.,
,.-††&@### ONTO THE ESKER. THE POINT OF ENTRY. HAD ###@&††-.,
,.-††&@### I INSTED OPTED TO WALK THE PATH AT ITS ###@&††-.,
,.-††&@### FOOT, I'M SURE MY EXPERIENCE WOULD'VE ###@&††-.,
,,,,,,.-†@ BEEN DIFFERENT INDEED. @†-.,,,,,,
,.-††&@### ###@&††-.,
,.-††&@### ---------------------------------------- ###@&††-.,
,.-††&@### ###@&††-.,
,.--†††&@# ON THE LAKE, THERE WERE PEOPLE IN #@&†††--.,
,.-††&@### BOATS. I WONDERED, COULD THEY EVEN SEE ###@&††-.,
,,,,-††# ME? IF I SHOUTED, WOULD THEY TURN TO ##&††-,,,,
,,,,.-†# STARE RIGHT THROUGH ME? ##&†-.,,,,
,,,,,-†@@# #@@†-,,,,,
,,,,.†&&&@ @&&&†.,,,,
,.-††&@### ###@&††-.,
,.-†††&@@@ @@@&†††-.,
,.-††&&# ##&&&††-.,