Chapter 2
1773 Words
2
From that hour a map had been embedded in my mind. It was a fuzzy one, like a child had scrawled an outline from a much better map and then the rain came and kind of smudged it. Still, even a squiggly line could be followed, and that’s what I intended to do.
“Are you sure about this?” my mom asked me as she sat nearby, her eyes watching as I folded a week’s worth of clothes beside my scroungy old backpack from high school that I’d dug out earlier that morning.
“It’s okay,” I assured her as I began the process of cramming the clothes into the bag. “Mr. Bradley already gave me a couple of days off. That should be enough.”
My mom shook her head. “But enough for what? What are you hoping to find up there?”
I paused and set my palms on the covers of my bed. “I just… I don’t know, but I know whatever’s up there is worth finding.” I lifted my eyes to her and gave her a smile. “I promise I’ll be safe, and besides, Wolf Mountain is a pretty popular hiking destination. I won’t be alone up there, and I promise I won’t do anything stupid.”
A snort escaped her lips. She rolled up to me and grasped one of my hands. I couldn’t help but look into her kind, bemused face. “You wouldn’t be my daughter if you didn’t do something stupid.” She looked down at our joined hands and sighed. “But please, just promise me you’ll be as careful as you can.”
I knelt in front of her and set my hand atop our joined ones. “I swear on all the souls of the fries lost in deep fryers that I will be as careful as I can be.”
She swatted my shoulder. “Oh, you!”
I laughed and stood where I shrugged. “I couldn’t think of anything bigger than that to swear on.”
She eyed me with a mischievous look as she half-turned toward the door. “So should I burn some hamburgers as incense to help you on your journey?”
I winced. “Please don’t. I couldn’t bear the thought of a burnt hamburger being on my conscience.”
My mom laughed and turned away, but I noticed some of her humor fled. There was a pensive expression on her face and her voice was so soft I almost didn’t hear her. “All this talk about food, you should find a decent diner not far from the summit of the mountain. Dan’s Den. They used to serve up some good grub.”
I raised an eyebrow. “How do you know that?”
My mom gave me a smile, but there was sadness about the corners of her lips. “I used to spend a lot of time hiking in those woods when I was in college.”
I folded my arms over my chest and gave her a look of curiosity. “You never told me that.”
She shrugged. “It was a long time ago. Before this-” She gestured down at herself. “But anyway, you promise you’ll call me when you get to the foot of the mountain?”
I walked over and wrapped my arms around her. “Even if there’s no reception, I’ll figure out a way to send up some smoke signals.”
She laughed and patted my arm. “Then I’ll be sure to listen for the phone and watch the skies.”
I soon packed and the two of us went outside to my car. The bag was tossed into the rumpled passenger seat of my sorry old sedan, and I turned to my mom. She still looked worried. My heart fell a little, and for the first time I began to have doubts.
“You know, I really don’t have to go-” I began, but she shook her head.
“Nonsense. Your head’s been foggier this week than London in 1900. You need to go just to get some fresh air to air out those cobwebs. And with that” She spun me around to face my car and gave me a push, “off you go!”
I stumbled across the hood but stopped on the other side and gave her a smile and a wink. “You take care of yourself and behave!”
She dropped her hands into her lap and sighed. “I suppose that means no prank-calling the neighbors about their refrigerators?”
“Or any of their other appliances,” I added as I dropped into my car. I leaned over the center console and smiled at her through the partially open passenger window. “And remember, I’ll be back in a few days.”
She smiled and waved at me. “Plenty of time to change the locks.”
I snorted and sat back in my seat. My mom waved as I backed out of the driveway, and I returned the wave as I drove past the house. I glanced through the rearview mirror until I couldn’t see the lawn. My mom sat there the whole time staring at me. There was that twinge of guilt again.
I tightened my hands on the wheel and stiffened my jaw. “Come on, Alex. You’ll feel much better when you get back, and then you can take her out to some fancy restaurant where the two of you can get plastered and end up in somebody’s pool floaty.”
I regretfully pushed my mom to the back of my thoughts and focused on the road ahead of me. My fuzzy mental map, or FMM, as I called it, led me along one of the mountain highways to Wolf Mountain. The range of mountains covered half the countryside with their deep, hidden valleys and craggy cliffs. They attracted a lot of tourism, and more than one person had gone missing among those dark woods.
I rolled my eyes. “You just had to remind yourself of that, didn’t you?”
I was glad for the warm, sunny day as I drove higher and deeper into the mountainous countryside. The towns grew fewer and farther between, replaced by scattered homesteads that showed off their age with their homemade stone chimneys and fences that were around to stop the dinosaurs from roaming.
I kept my eyes peeled for the restaurant, and sure enough two hours into my drive I spotted a rustic but clean sign that read Dan’s Den. The place was a low-top square building with windows on three sides and a long counter that stretched across the middle of the interior. Except for a cooling counter and door, the kitchen was hidden by a wall that split the building in two. Four-seater tables lined the wall below the windows and shiny red stools finished off the seating around the long counter. A half dozen cars sat outside. Most were beaten-up old pickups and vans, so the black mustang at the end of the parking lot stood out.
I parked my sedan on the other side of it and stepped out to admire the view.
“She’s nice, isn’t she?”
I started and whipped my head up. A man stood in front of one of the vans with a smile on his lips and a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. He had short brown hair, and a handsome and slightly rugged physique. His arms were folded over his chest, though the top arm grasped a small to-go box.
“That depends,” I mused as I stepped up onto a low sidewalk that stretched across the front of the restaurant.
He raised an eyebrow. “On what?”
I stopped beside him and grinned. “On who’s driving.”
He flashed me a mischievous grin. “And if it was me?”
“Then I’d be really worried,” I teased as I nodded at the box. “And is that apple pie, or are you just happy to see me?”
“Both,” he quipped as he popped open the container and showed me a slice of the pie. “And you have a good nose.”
I shrugged. “It’s a gift, but what brings a sophisticated gentleman like you to a small place like this.”
Some of his humor dropped from his face as he closed the lid. “Nothing much. I just wanted to see the view around here. I’d heard it was wonderful.”
I half-turned to look at the road. A short, rocky hill stood on the other side and was one of the many hints of the foothills of the Wolf Mountain range. “It is pretty.”
“And you?” he wondered as he looked me over. I couldn’t help but notice the approving expression in his eyes. “You don’t look like the type to be taking a nature hike.”
I looked down at my sneakers and laughed. “No, I suppose not, but a girl’s got to work with what she has.”
“If you don’t mind my saying, but you have quite a bit to work with.”
I whipped my head up and revealed my colored cheeks. “Yeah, well, I have my mom to thank for that.”
The man took my hand in his and lifted the top to his lips. “She must be beautiful.” He kissed the top of my hand before he released me. “Hopefully we’ll meet again someday.”
“Y-yeah,” I stuttered as he strode past me and slipped into the car.
I turned and kind of stumbled over my own feet to watch him back out. He waved and I waved back, and then he was gone.
Damn.
With a heavy heart I stepped inside and ordered a hamburger, not burnt, and a piece of apple pie. If there was one thing I could say about that guy, it’s that he was a great salesman for pies. And s*x.
In an hour I was back on the road and on my way up a winding two-lane highway. The craggy hills rose up on either side now and featured scraggly trees and a few bushes. Every now and again the rock face had been blasted to make room for a pull-off. I was approaching one of them when a pair of flashing red lights pulled up behind me.
“Ah shit.”
- Writer
