The steam hits him like a blunt slap in the face, as soon as he steps through the doorway. But there's no turning back at this point, he reckons, and so he pushes forward into the murky haze. It seems much lighter here, if not any more visible. He notices that the floor beneath his feet is now soft dirt, dragging on his shoes as he walks.
Something brushes against his cheek like a kiss. He realizes that it's a palm frond.
And now the steamy mist pulls back and he can see that he is walking through a jungle path of some sort. Along with this realization comes various jungle sounds - chattering birds and monkeys, calling and hooting and hissing at each other. And of course the buzzing of insects that swarm about his face... But so far no animals have made themselves visible to him.
As he moves further on, another sound starts to emerge. The sound of waves. And sure enough, after several more feet the jungle recedes, giving way to a beach, and a wide open sea.
Tenth chapter in an ongoing serial based on @mariannewest's daily #freewrite writing prompts. Here are the previous chapters listed below:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
And here is the link to Chapter Eleven
Written in five minutes from the writing prompt, "a kiss" as part of the #freewrite exercise. Image is also by me. You can view the prompt here and check out the other entries; and give em all a big smootch while you're there. Thanks to @mariannewest for creating and running this daily tongue tied titanic of text.