Bruxism

Bruxism (Noun): the habit of unconsciously gritting or grinding the teeth especially in situations of stress or during sleep

I notice it immediately. A person who wishes to label everything with textbook definitions would call it "bruxism." The masseter muscle quaking at the back of the jaw; thoughts hard at work. It's not unattractive when I catch someone unknowingly doing it. I just wonder how pitted their teeth must be.

Cairn

Cairn (noun): a pile of stones that mark a place (such as the place where someone is buried or a battle took place) or that shows the direction of a trail

After having been on the trail for three weeks, she was excited to review the photos she had captured of her solo trek across the Peloncillo Mountains. She relived the highlights, smiling as she clicked from frame to frame. This photo, she thought to herself, is one I don't recall taking. Her skin became flush with heat. In the foreground, a small cairn of rocks with her white underwear like a snow-capped mountain sat waiting for this moment. An eerie touch to an already creepy photo of her sitting at a campfire. She was unaware a stranger had lifted her camera, taken this photo, and returned it to her pack. She sat staring at the screen as waves of unsettling fear came over her. She had not seen another person the whole trip.

Bivouac

Bivouac: Noun - A temporary shelter or camp

In the black of night he illuminates the altimeter strapped to his wrist. It reads 7,000 feet. This reconnaissance mission hinges on stealth. As he counts down the seconds before pulling the cord, he gathers his bearings. Hostile forces are bivouacked on naked bluffs overlooking a serpentine canyon 40 degrees north. In the cold winter air, light pollution from their camp glows through a haze of campfire smoke in the sky below him like crimson bioluminescence in the late summer ocean.