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,,,,,,,,,, WINDS ESKER ,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ,,,,,,,,,,
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,,,,,,,,,, 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? ,:~††¤§@##
#@§¤††~:,, ,,:~††¤§@#
@§¤††~:,,, ,,,:~††¤§@
§¤††~:,,,, ,,,,:~††¤§
¤††~:,,,,, ,,,,,:~††¤
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