Have you ever had the flu? I don't mean that bad cold you had last winter that you called the flu but the real thing, in-flu-enza. I had it last month, last month just happening to be in the middle of summer, damn it. What a way to spend a couple of weeks, so frigging ill that you can't even stand up by yourself. I just lay on my bed and slept or lay on my bed and suffered, too sick to even turn the tellie on. It was the total pits.
Recuperation was almost as bad. I was able to get out of bed and stagger around the house, my legs all wobbly with lost muscle tone, but that was about the extent of my exertions for the first couple of days. Slowly things improved and I set to work to recover my lost fitness.
Even though I'm nearly nineteen I still live with my parents, which was fortunate in the current circumstances. I had gainful employment before I fell ill but I was only hired as a casual worker which meant no pay while I was away sick and no job to go back to as my boss quite cheerfully hired another casual to replace me as soon as I failed to turn up. He did promise to keep me in mind if another vacancy occurred.
Now the pendulum swung the other way. Instead of being sick and forced to stay in bed I was fit and healthy and energetic, raring to go, with nowhere to actually go. I decided that a nice hike in the mountains would be just the thing to help my recovery. I could drive to a convenient point and then hike along a trail, picking a circular course so I'd finish up back at the car. (I had no intention of staying out over-night.)
I pack a small backpack with a few things that I might need, hopped into my car, and headed off. The local mountains weren't exactly mountainous. Sort of half-way between big hills and a genuine mountain, but we called them mountains and I figured I'd get some decent exercise traipsing through them.
I parked near the start of the trail I'd decided on and set off. This particular trail touched on a decent lookout point along the way, showing some pretty nice scenery. I ambled along quite happily. The sun was shining but it wasn't too hot, the tall trees adding a cooling effect.
It took me about one and a half hours to make it to the lookout point and my legs were feeling it. Apparently I wasn't as recovered as I thought I was. I decided I'd take a little break here before continuing. I wandered over to the fence protecting the lookout, sipping on my water bottle and enjoying the view and the breeze. Turning around, I screamed.
There was a man standing there. I hadn't heard him approach which I found rather surprising as there was gravel and grass and dead leaves all around, all of which make some sort of noise when you tread on them. I guess I must have been lost in my own thoughts.
The man looked slightly startled and rather amused when I screamed. I hastily apologised, saying that he'd startled me. He just laughed. Looking him over I couldn't see any reason to be alarmed. He wasn't exactly a big man, only about my own height, and quite slender. He was pleasant looking, I guess, blonde with light blue eyes. Something like Terrence Hill in appearance.
"Out for a hike, are you?" he said, smiling, a little dimple on his cheek making him look rather cute.
"Mm," I agreed. "I was feeling restless and needed to get out of the house and I thought a hike would do me good."
"Know what you mean," he said. "Ah, a bit ahead of the rest of your group, aren't you?"
"Oh, I'm not with a group," stupid me clarified. The fact that this guy might be a problem didn't even cross my mind. I mean, he was only the same size as me, for crying out loud.
"Uh-huh. Just a dumb blonde alone in the wilds," he said grinning.
I just stared at him with a blank look on my face, finding it hard to believe that he'd just said that. I found it even harder to believe when he started undoing the buttons on my shirt.
"Hey," I yelled, slapping at his hands and taking a step back, only to find there was no room to take a backward step. That stupid fence was right behind me.
I switched to trying to push him away with one hand while doing up buttons with the other. Neither objective came to fruition. You can't do up buttons with just one hand and my pushing at him had zero effect. He stayed right where he was. The only thing that changed was he stopped undoing my buttons (because he'd already got them all) and started pulling my shirt free from my shorts.
"What do you think you're doing?" I demanded, now trying to push him away with both hands, not having any significant success.
He gave me a pitying look and sighed.
"Right," he grumbled. "Dumb blonde. Needs everything explained. I'm taking your clothes off." He said that last sentence slowly and distinctly as though he wasn't sure I'd understand.
"I can see that," I shrieked, "but why?"
"You're kidding. You can't figure out why a man would take of a woman's clothes?"
I could figure it out easily enough. It was the believing it that I was having trouble with. I started struggling in earnest, only to find out that his small size didn't mean small muscles. He simply ignored anything I tried to do. He pulled my shirt down, effectively trapping my arms for a few moments, and while I was trying to get them free he turned me around and unclipped my bra.
From that point it only took him a few moments to finish taking my shirt and bra right off, letting go of me to take a step back and tossing my things onto the ground, well away from the edge of the cliff.
"We wouldn't want your things blowing off, now would we," he said, smiling happily as he looked me over.
I don't know about him but I certainly didn't want them going over the edge. I had a jacket in my backpack but I didn't want to have to wear just that.
