^{Designed in Canva}

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Westley exhaled, the tension in his shoulders melting away as he plopped down on the rocky ledge. Dangling his muddy boots off the edge, he leaned back against that gnarly old pine he knew so well—its twisted trunk like the comforting embrace of an old friend.

Pale sunrays filtered through the canopy in that dappled forest dance he loved, shadows and light interplaying across the clearing. He squinted up at the dreamy kaleidoscope awhile, letting the tranquility of this place just wash over him.

Out here was where he came to escape the damn noise. All that concrete chaos that rattled his brain into a frenzy. This was his hideaway, his secret forest therapy. The bustling world with all its demands and anxieties just fell away once he hit the trail, leaving only the pure reassurance of life's natural rhythms.

^{Original image taken from the announcement post of the contest}

He sniffed in a few long, grounding breaths of that crisp pine air. Listened to the birdsong weaving its gentle melodies through the grove. Already he could feel his racing pulse slowly sync up with the ancient cadence of this place.

Brushing some stray pine needles off his sleeve, Westley smiled. This trail, he knew every bump and twist of it like an old friend—but still, it never failed to surprise him. Always something new if you took the time to just look. Like just now with that deer watching him from the shadows before flicking its tail and vanishing again into the dappled green.

Little reminders to stay awake to the magic. That's what he loved most about coming out here.

As that slanted evening light started burnishing the trees all golden and such, part of him really didn't want to leave. A little voice nagging to just stay awhile longer, soak it all up. Linger for those first soft breaths of morning even, when the forest wakes up fresh and new.

Westley shrugged off his pack and settled back more comfortably against the trunk's craggy bark. Yeah, that's what he'd do—treat himself to a night out under those sheltering pines. Let the earth's rhythms just rock him to sleep for once instead of his usual tossing and turning.

Out here in his home woods, where the world made sense and his soul felt tethered, fear and worry just had no place to grab hold. Nothing to worry about, nobody needing anything from him. Just existing, pure and easy, one with the wild pulse surrounding.

For once, he'd let himself really be absorbed into that elemental peace he craved. Tonight, he belonged to the forest alone, and that was more than enough.

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^{I would like to invite @dove11, @patjewell, @waterjoe, @senehasa, @damithudaya, @f2i5, @weisser-rabe, @enrisanti and @o1eh to join this contest through this link, if they have not already taken part in it.}

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^{Author: @waqarahmadshah | Date: 13-Mar-2024 | Achievement 1}