It's The Cheesiest

 

Photo credit: Robsalot (that's me!)

It was supposed to be a three-hour tour. Bryson had gone with his parents on a sightseeing flight over the Grand Canyon. Sure, the plane was small, but Bryson wasn’t scared, or at least he thought if he pretended like he wasn’t scared, then he wouldn’t be. His parents didn’t seem concerned though, so he climbed aboard and buckled his seatbelt. Once the plane was in the air he started to relax, plus the views below were amazing and helped distract him from the loud whirring noise of the propellers.  He had just spotted the rim of the Grand Canyon looming in the distance when he realized the loud whirring noise had stopped. He looked wildly around the cabin until he made eye contact with his mother, and then the plane dropped out of the sky.

Bryson woke up still strapped in his seat, only the rest of the airplane was gone. Instead he was surrounded by red desert and scrubby hills. He unlatched his seatbelt and stood on shaky legs. He stumbled forward a few steps, then called out for his mom, his dad, anyone, but the only reply was from a hawk soaring overhead.

He had been stumbling through the desert for what felt like hours in the hot afternoon sun when he finally found a cave who's shade beckoned him to rest until nightfall. When he woke up the sky outside had darkened, and an impossible blanket of stars created a canopy overhead. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and decided he had better get moving. He needed to find a town soon, he’d never been so hungry and thirsty in his life. Through the darkness he walked, towards the ever-retreating horizon. He tried to count the stars to distract himself from his growling stomach.

The sky was just starting to turn pink when he found another cave. Or at least he hoped it was another cave and he had not been walking in circles all night. He could already feel the heat of the day begin to smother the land and thought he had better hide out in the shade of the cave again. As he approached the entrance, he swore he heard a tinkling noise, like water trickling over rocks. Could it be? He hurried into the cave just as dawn broke, sending a beam of light into it’s black mouth, and he was astounded by what he saw. A pool of water sparkled crystal clear and cool, and next to it? A cooler filled with Cheetos and Twinkies. He descended on the cooler, and just as he was about to rip into a bag of chips, he heard his name being called.

“BRYSON!”

He woke with a start and was surprised to see the four walls of his bedroom instead of a desert cave. Then his door flew open and his mother burst in.

“Bryson, what are you doing in here, it smells like a Grateful Dead concert!”

Shit, he thought, busted.