The mist floated silently down over the mountains, a moody, transparent wall that left the trees diminished, their skeletal branches waving at the clouds.  My shoes squelched over the gravel road, the mud a river between the chunks of rocks and debris from the heavy rains. Birds chittered, their voices echoing throughout the patch of forest, my steps sounding overly loud in the quiet. As I reached the gate I realized I had forgotten my keys, so I climbed up the small hill alongside the stone wall edging the metal gate, hoisted myself up and dropped onto bright green grass […]