One of the many things that many people would love to achieve in life is climb Mt. Everest. As difficult of a task that it is, it was one for the books for these two siblings based in Seattle, Washington. The year was 2056, and things were only getting better with time.

One brother was older and he went by the name of Jackson; he had been following their parents foot steps in the interest of exploration since he was young. What had sparked the interest was their parents achievement of completing the Seven Summits (the 7 largest mountains across the 7 continents). Jackson had always looked through the photo books and documents of their travels from time to time to feed any spontaneous curiosity he may have had.

His sibling goes by the name of Chris, and he naturally gravitated towards the same interest. He’s a few years younger than Jackson, but they were both old enough to make their own decisions. Chris was a curious young man, and he had wanted to see the sights their parents had once seen just as bad as Jackson. He had always loved exploring on his own whenever he had the opportunity, but he’d rather make this trip with his brother.

At some point in time, the siblings had started training together in the mountains in the area of Washington to get acclimated to the different conditions throughout the year. Thankfully the siblings were naturally gifted athletically, but they had to physically prepare in ways they knew best for the task ahead. They knew that the best times to make the trip to the Himalayan mountains were in the spring and fall where the weather was safe in that region. The siblings had opted to make the training as real as it can get with the weight load while they went on different expeditions within the states. They figured they’d try to get get more experience with different trips before they went to Asia. They had grabbed large ruck sacks and filled them with only the necessary items (necessary items being toiletries, change of clothes, sleeping bags, and the list goes on). They continued to do this on different expeditions, and eventually had made plans to go to the Himalayas the following year.

Unfortunately, that plan had gotten cut short when Chris had fractured his leg the year they were going to go to Mt. Everest. It was was March and the weather was starting to look reasonable to go on expeditions for the year. The siblings had decided to go on an expedition to start the year off right, and everything was the same. The load with all the essentials, and the familiar trail they went on in a mountain near their residence’s in Washington. The following day, Jackson had went to go pick up his brother from his home and were well on their way to the mountain a an hour up from where they were. They managed to get to the trail, and for the most part it seemed okay until they were further up in elevation on foot. The trail didn’t seem all that safe as it had rained heavily the night before with so much foliage around the ground as a result of the aftermath. They had needed to adjust their usual route up the mountain. They took an unfamiliar route going between the trees that were on the side of the road going up the mountain. The brothers found themselves going through a pathway of rocks of assorted shapes on an incline not too long after. The main concern was how wet the rocks on the path still were. The tread on their boots were filed with mud so they couldn’t catch grip on anything. They looked around for other options, but there weren’t many. Large branches had snapped and blocked off a lot of space. They couldn’t trust the chance of going over them with the neighboring terrain being filled with so much water.

Jackson was standing further up the incline where the rocks were.

“Chris, it doesn’t seem like there’s many viable options. We’ll be here for hours on end if we don’t take the chance with the rocks. We just need to take it slow.”

Chris responded, “Ugh huh… yea… no other option.” as he looked around examining the area for a way up.

He eventually gave up the search and started to go up the incline slowly; that was the signal for Jackson to get moving.

Chris had gone behind Jackson as they took their steps with caution. Chris had managed to make it halfway through the incline until he had slipped causing him to fall back. He had tried to place his left foot a rock for footing, and his left leg had folded under himself with all the weight he had been carrying. Jackson dam near committed to following his brother in attempt to save him from a horrible incident. Chris had felt the bone snap as all the pressure came down to his leg. His face lit red with agony that screams unfathomable pain to his brother as soon as he laid eyes on him. Chris quickly took off the bag and sat himself between two large rocks on the incline.

Jackson with a sense of huge concern, “Chris, what’re you feelin’?”

“My left legs done man. I need to get down this mountain and get checked.”

Chris was able to get a number of words out with heavy breaths. He managed to hold the tremendous pain in as he sat in an open space between the rocks, but he was no longer able to move on his own. Jackson had managed to bring themselves down the trail with his brother hanging onto his shoulder all the way down to the car they arrived in. They were able to get immediate attention in the nearest hospital, and Chris had unfortunately fractured his fibula.

With the months to come, he had been forced to get around town on crutches with a leg cast up to his knee. His brother had helped him rehabilitate to the best of his ability whenever he could as Chris was a stubborn man. He managed to get on trails with a lighter load to keep up with acclimation in the different conditions. That continued throughout his time in recovery with the crutches, and the ‘boot’ as well. He was the most stubborn man Jackson ever knew, but he believed that his younger brothers stubbornness was one of his greatest qualities. Chris pushed through with persistence and his eyes set on the goal like the incident never happened. He sweat it out through every experience on those crutches like a champ with Jackson’s endless support.

The trip to Mt. Everest was put on hold, but the brothers were determined to get there in some which way or form.