When he awoke in the field, he had no idea where he was. His name was David Olsen, a construction worker from the small town of Lorain, Pennsylvania. Straining to remember how he got there, the last thing David recalled was sneaking out to the Adult Video Store in the middle of the night. Although he was married, viewing pornography had recently become a bit of an addiction in his life. Visiting the Adult Video Store in the middle of the night was becoming a weekly routine for him. He was getting used to sneaking out of his house. Putting his truck into neutral and pushing it down to the road to not wake his sleeping wife. The last thing he remembered was leaving the store.
As he rubbed his eyes, everything came into focus better. His contact lenses were still in. He figured that whenever he had fallen asleep, he hadn’t even bothered taking them out. This made everything around him appear distorted and blurry. He was lying in the grass of a large, open field. All he could see was grass for miles and miles, and beyond that nothing but forest and mountains. I must be dreaming! How the hell did I get here? My wife is going to kill me!
He was completely bewildered by the whole predicament. He frantically sat down in the field, trying to comprehend what had happened. After mulling it over, he came to the realization that he was stuck. He had just come to the conclusion that he wasn’t dreaming, and that he truly had just woken up in the middle of a field. He started thinking about what he had to do to get out of his unfortunate position. Fear from the situation was setting in, but he was able to suppress the panic he felt inside enough to think logically. As a construction worker, he was used to being in high stress situations and had learned to control his emotions long ago. He was still wearing the same white t-shirt, jeans, and work boots he had thrown on quickly last night before leaving his house. His hunting hat, the one he had been wearing the night before, still with his hunter’s license clipped to the back, was lying right beside him.
A quick search of his pockets gave him nothing useful, they were empty. No wallet, no cell phone, and no car keys. This was the most perplexing situation he had ever found himself in. He was just an average small town construction worker. In his boring weekly routine of work, watching sports on television, having a drink with friends, spending time with his wife, and church on Sundays, he never imagined finding himself stuck in this big of a predicament. With the exception of some camping trips he took as a kid, he had never even truly been out in the wilderness before. He decided it was in his best interest to start walking toward the forest; it was the best thing he could think of to do. He could already hear the sounds of birds chirping coming from the forest. That must be a good sign, he thought to himself. It felt good to know that even though he was alone there were still other living things around.
The forest appeared to be several miles away from his position. As he began walking towards it, his mind couldn’t help itself from wandering back to his wife. He wondered if she was looking for him, what she was thinking, and if she had called the police. A feeling of dread washed over him as he began to wonder if maybe he had died and was now finding himself in the afterlife. Maybe God was playing some sort of sick joke on him as payback for going to the Adult Shop. Maybe this is punishment for not being honest with my wife. Dear Lord, please forgive me and help me get out of here! He had always been a God-fearing man. Most people in the small town of Lorain were too. Suddenly, the sound of three gunshots coming from the forest rang out through the air in succession.
“Hey! I’m over here! Help me! Please help me!” yelled David, frantically trying to get the person’s attention. He knew they were probably way too far away to even hear him. He started to sprint as fast as he could towards the forest, screaming desperately for help. He didn’t get far before he had to stop. Being a cigarette smoker since his early twenties, he ran out of breath very quickly. Traveling at a brisk walking pace, David was determined to find the man in the forest, and get back to his wife at home. A few more gunshots rang out in the air. With every shot, David’s heart began to race faster and faster. The adrenaline rush allowed him to attempt another sprint, but again he didn’t get very far. He Even if he didn’t get to the man who he presumed was a hunter in time; just the fact that a man was out here meant that he wasn’t too far from civilization. He just kept moving, one step at a time.
Eventually, David collapsed onto the ground, too exhausted to continue. He rolled over onto his back, and sat up. After about twenty minutes of walking, David was beginning to lose hope of finding the man. It turned out the forest was actually much further away than what he had previously thought. He was able only to cover a little more than half of the way there. Since a lot of time had passed since last hearing the gun shots, his hopes of finding the man were dismal. Abruptly, another gun shot rang out. As soon as he heard the shot, his knee felt like a pickup truck collided with it. He screamed in agonizing pain, having just been shot in the knee. The severe pain prevented him from attempting to stand up.
“Help me! You just shot me you bastard!” screamed David. The man with the gun was surely within earshot now. David just kept screaming in pain, getting no response. After exactly five minutes went by, he was struck by another bullet, this one hitting him in the abdomen. The pain was excruciating. Another shot rang out, this one hitting the ground right beside him. He began to cry from the combination of extreme pain and fear.
“I’m right here! Please, I need help!” yelled David as he began coughing up blood. He could see movement in the forest, and all of a sudden a man emerged. He was wearing all camouflage and a ski mask. The man’s rifle, equipped with a scope aimed right at him.
“No! Please! No!” pleaded David, spitting up more blood. The man said nothing, just aimed the rifle right at David’s head.
“No!” cried David, he was completely defenseless lying in a puddle of his own blood, too wounded to stand up. The hunting hat on top of David’s head was blown clear off by the rifle. David ducked down and covered his head, waiting for death. The gunman began to walk back to the forest, seeming completely indifferent to what he had just done.
“Yeah you better run! Run away you bloody coward!”
David was left just sitting there, wounded in the knee and stomach with no hope of survival. The blood leaked out of the bullet wound in his abdomen, staining his clothes. The smell and sight of all the blood made him puke, forcing him to spit out even more blood. As everything around him started to grow farther and farther away, he was overwhelmed by both fear and intense regret; regret for neglecting his wife. Coming home every day after working long and tedious construction shifts left him too drained out to pay much attention to her. Rather than spending time with her, he chose to spend his free time away from construction out drinking with his fellow construction worker friends.
“I deserve this! I deserve this!” cried the near delirious David as the environment around him began to fade farther and farther away. His final thoughts were of his beautiful wife, who he knew he’d never see again. David Olsen died that day, left for dead in the field.