The dirt road

Henry could feel his stomach churning, threatening at each curve and twist of the road to leap upwards and empty itself out violently through the same pathway which its contents had entered. His car chugged steadily along the dirt road, which lead ever upwards at varying degrees of steepness - at some instances it was hardly noticeable, while at others he feared that it would be too great for his car to handle, and he would simply begin to slip backwards without any control, slide off a bend, and drop to the abyss below.

He tried not to think too much about that possibility.

His windows were rolled down, and while the hum of his engine and the crackling of dirt and plant-life rolling under his tires gave him a headache, the musky-yet-fresh air was the closest thing to comfort that he could get as he traveled up the mountain. He was beginning to question why he had agreed to such a ridiculous trip plan. Renting a ranch on a mountain top. Bah. What kind of moron wanted to do something like that?

But it was too late to turn back now. Far too late. Ignoring the fact that he was already more than halfway up the road, he had long since paid his deposits and insurances, and the call back date was passed by a mile. He had spent far too much on this venture to even consider calling it quits, which meant that he had to devote a good amount of brain power to ensuring that that thought stayed out of his head. But he didn't have enough brain power to focus on both that and the road. Not with the winds and twists in front of him.

This was all his brother's fault. His brother had been the one to tell Henry that he needed to get out somewhere, get away from the hustle and bustle of his every day life that had been so stressful for him in the past year. His brother had been the one to find this ranch getaway, to suggest it. He had even pitched in a small portion to help fund it. And Henry could hardly say no when there was someone else's money involved.

It was a weakness that he clearly needed to eliminate. And quickly.

But as he rounded the last corner, and the house and its views came into sight, for a moment the pain in Henry's stomach seemed to fade away. What was in front of him was beautiful. More beautiful than anything he had ever seen up to that point in his life. He couldn't quite grasp what it was, from the way that the mountains which had seemed so rough and ragged only moments prior appeared to be soft and gentle in their slopes. The way they hugged the distant horizon, and the ocean that sat square in the middle, with the sun sinking low over and casting a long reflection, as if beckoning to him. As he parked and got out of his car, he felt the gentle breeze dancing around his head, filling his lungs with the scent of fresh pine.

He took a few ginger steps forward towards that majesty. And then the view was gone as he was hunched over and puked all over his new shoes.