Secondary Feathers — Chapter Two
Two Souls, One Struggle: Finding Connection in Isolation
CHAPTER TWO
The road to Eagle Lake was nothing more than a winding ribbon of gravel flanked by towering cedars that grew taller and thicker the farther north I drove. My heart raced with a mix of excitement and apprehension. I was really doing this. After months of stagnation and frustration, I was finally doing something proactive. I craved this change of scenery. It would be a chance to escape and rediscover the spark that had fizzled inside me. But that exhilaration immediately became uncertain when I turned off the main road and drove up the muddy track that would supposedly take me to Wild Wood Resort.
After a ten-minute zigzag through the forest, another road appeared, a wooden sign with carved letters reading Wildwood — 3 k with an arrow nailed to a big Douglas Fir.
The 3 kilometres felt like ten, and my car bucked and pitched as I tried, unsuccessfully, to avoid myriad potholes. Eventually, the trees thinned out, and a ribbon of blue with a rocky pebbled border appeared.
I pulled onto the grass and stopped. There were seven cabins, all scattered haphazardly along the shore of the lake. Each of them sagged, the paint flaking off their once-bright red doors in long, papery curls…
