..he sat right there on the old wooden bench between the pine trees and the odor of fresh resin wafted its way into his nostrils. He sat there waiting for nothing in particular, taking slow, deep breaths with his eyes closed and the other senses sharpened. He catches the sound of the soft ripple of nearby water, for the big lake lay wide in front of him, only a few steps away.
After one last deep breath he opens his eyes to gaze into nothing. Though it surely wasn’t nothing, it certainly created an image of nothingness. Thick patches of fog surrounded the site of his temporary residence, veiling the boundary between the riverside and the water, and thus creating this surreal sight.
Nearby, he noticed a small group of ducklings slowly following their mother, leaving behind small traces in the water and seemingly floating in in mid air. All this, he thought, was truly remarkable and he just couldn’t take his eyes off the animals.
He was so preoccupied with this peaceful image that he almost didn’t notice the chilling breeze that suddenly came over him.
It wasn’t much, but enough to distract him from his reverie. He took the time to look around and noticed that the fog had cleared up a little. He now recognized the silhouettes of various trees and other vegetation that he could not see before.
He glanced back to the family of ducks that caught his attention a few seconds ago, just in time to see them gradually disappear in the fog.
Instinctively he became aware of his seclusion and all of the sudden he felt lonely and isolated; though this was exactly what he longed for when he came to this deserted place. He scanned the wooden bench he was sitting on with his fingers. The rough surface of the weathered wood, that he first perceived as charming and in a strange way comforting, now seemed dull and lifeless.
All of the sudden he noticed the rustling of hundreds and thousands of leaves from the vegetation all around him, blowing vigorously in the now intensifying, chilly breeze. The more he listened to this ominous sound, it gave him the impression of multitudinous whispers, each one indistinguishable on their own, but nonetheless present; like something that woke up from a deep slumber, he thought, ..something sentient.