Authors: Kelly Martin
Somehow being in nature made her feel better — back to her old self, almost. At home, a constant knot pulled between her shoulders. Stress, her doctor had said. On the mountain, her shoulders didn’t hurt as much. The reprieve was much appreciated.
The smell of the trees filled Rachel’s nose with their woodsy scent. It made her glad that she didn’t have allergies. Dawn-Alice’s luck wasn’t as great. Having never been in the woods to know how they would affect her, Dawn-Alice’s first sneeze came five minutes into the hike. They continued so often, Rachel could gage her distance from the group by how loud the sneezes were in front of her.
The trail was wide enough for two people to walk side by side without touching. Autumn leaves, so thick in parts that the trail disappeared, covered the path giving it a patchwork appearance. Leaves which had already fallen didn’t hold the same bright and vibrant colors as the ones being blown by the breeze. Rachel took time to admire the scenery around her. God had blessed them with a beautiful day.
She saw Sid a few yards ahead waiting for her by a rock, and the knot between her shoulders tightened back up. Dealing with the Sid/Carly drama was the last thing she wanted to do. Why couldn’t he just leave her alone?
“Rachel, are you going to hate me forever?” Sid asked as he draped his arm around her shoulder. His dark red coat matched his hat so perfectly that Rachel wondered how long he had searched for a coat the exact same shade as his favorite headpiece.
“I don’t hate you,” she said, shrugging him off.
“Sure you do. You both do. Carly told me you did.”
“She did what?”
“Yeah, in the van. She said both of you royally disliked me, and I wanted to hear it from you.”
The soft sound of the running water echoed through the trees. It sounded peaceful, tranquil. If only Sid would be quiet long enough for her to enjoy it.
Rachel held on to the flimsy, wooden handrail as she started across the swinging, single person bridge across Deep Creek, which ran perpendicular to the trail. Deep Creek wasn’t very big; maybe fourteen feet across, and appeared more of a trickle than a creek. She didn’t even see a waterfall. It kinda bummed her out.
“Deep Creek,” Sid read the sign at the beginning of the bridge and followed behind her. “Original. Misleading, but original.”
Rachel couldn’t argue with that. A few boulders were scattered across the creek basin. To Rachel, it looked like something bad did happen and the water actually covered those rocks, then the creek would live up to its name.
“I don’t know what Carly told you, but I don’t hate you. Carly is her own person and can think or feel what she wants,” Rachel said once she reached the other side of the bridge. ”But I don’t hate you. I don’t like what you did, but I don’t hate you.”
“Look, I know I messed up. I more than messed up. I screwed up and hurt someone I care about. I know that. If I could take it back, I would. Can you just please talk to Carly when we get to the picnic area? Make her see that I’m not a bad guy.”
Rachel didn’t know what to say to that. She had always heard once a cheater always a cheater, but she also knew it was her Christian duty to forgive.
“Come on. Help a guy out,” he added in a pitiful voice. “I told her I was sorry. What more does she want?”
“You’ll just have to figure that out yourself,” Rachel said, unsure of how to help him.
“Just talk to her. Pleeeeeeeeeeeease…”
“Okay!” she said just to shut him up.
“Thank you!” His face lit up like a Christmas tree, and he kissed her on the cheek before running up the trail toward Asher, who was leaning on a tree. “You’re the best!” he yelled back at her.
Rachel stopped walking. What had she agreed to, and what was Sid thinking kissing her like that? It wasn’t like he was letting his intentions be known, as her grandma liked to say. But still, being kissed — even in a chaste way — wasn’t something that happened to her every day.
She watched as Sid slapped Asher on the shoulder before running by him, and without thinking, her fingers went to the little spot on her cheek where his kiss had landed.
“If you get that riled up from a little peck on the cheek, I’d hate to see what would happen if you got a kiss on your lips,” Asher yelled, folding his arms with that same smirk he’d had at the snack machine. Rachel’s cheeks burned like fire, knowing what she must look like, staring all swoony-eyed at Sid. When did she start swooning?
“On second thought,” Asher said, narrowing his eyes, “maybe it would be a fun thing to see.”
“That would imply that I’d let you.” Rachel made her legs move again.
“Very true.” Asher laughed, falling in step beside her.
“What are you doing on this trip anyway?” Rachel asked, harsher than she meant. Her mouth was in defensive mode.
He shrugged, not seeming to take any offense. “Didn’t have any other place to be.”
Awkward silence filled the space between them as they walked. Rachel just wanted him to run ahead with Sid and leave her alone.
“You should cut him some slack, you know?”
“Who? Sid?”
“Who else? Yeah, Sid. He messed up, sure. He cheated. We all mess up. Even perfect little Christians like you.”
He had a lot to learn about her. “I’m by no means perfect,” she said, her voice hard.
“And neither is Sid.”
“I’ve never cheated on a boyfriend.”
“Have you ever
had
a boyfriend?”
Ouch, that stung. “That’s none of your business.” Sure, she had never had a boyfriend, but she knew without a doubt she wouldn’t cheat on one.
“I’m sorry,” he said, almost like he meant it.
“Whatev—”
“And Sid’s sorry too,” he said without skipping a beat. “Making out with Easy Emily wasn’t the smartest move. One, because her lips should be retired for excessive use, and two because it hurt someone he cares about a lot.”
Rachel knew he was right. She’d even used the same argument with Carly. For some reason, she just wanted to stay mad at Sid, more so after he thought it wise to buy her help with a little peck on the cheek. The kiss had irked her. And her reaction to it irked her even more.
Asher spoke when she didn’t. “You Bible types are all about forgiveness,” he shook his head, “until it's you who has to do the forgiving.”
“What do you know of the Bible, Asher?” she spat. “Do you even own one?”
Without warning, Asher stepped in front of her. She could either stop or run over him; she chose to stop. Her eyes came up to his chest, and she tilted her head up to see his face. That close, she could see how blue his eyes were and the little moon-shaped scar on his chin. He didn’t look amused anymore, and the twinkle was gone from his eyes. “You think you know it all, don’t you? It’s all black and white with you. No gray areas. All or nothing. Well, guess what?” He moved his hands to her shoulders and pushed her windblown curls back. “The world doesn’t work like that.”
Asher lingered a moment, staring into her eyes. He stared so long, Rachel wondered if he was going to kiss her too, but that was stupid, because he obviously didn’t like her. Without a word, he turned and walked away. Watching him go, her mind raced and felt completely empty at the same time. She had no idea what in the world was happening on this trip.
Chapter Three
Rachel couldn’t get it out of her mind. Why had he looked at her like that? What would make him think she was so perfect? She was far, far from it! As much as she didn’t want to, she kept seeing his bright blue eyes staring down at her, feeling his breath tickling her forehead when he spoke, and above all she remembered how she had felt when she thought he might kiss her. A mixture of “oh no” and “oh yes” would be a good way to describe it.
All of the daydreaming began to annoy her. What did it matter, anyway? Her dwelling on it was silly, irrational, and stupid since, given Asher’s reputation, his intention probably stemmed from being bored or just aggravating her. It meant nothing to him, so it shouldn’t mean anything to her.
The rest of the group walked about fifteen yards ahead, not paying any attention to the slow girl in the back. She liked the solitude. It gave her time to clear her head.
A small, brown sign with white lettering to her right caught her attention. She stopped to read what it said, but the tiny letters made it impossible. Walking closer, her heart skipped a beat. There was no way the sign said what she thought it did.
“Harker? Harker Cemetery? There’s no way.” The sign had an arrow pointing across the trail to a much narrower side path. “Why would a cemetery way out here have my last name?” she asked the trees, since no one else was around to hear.
A longing fell over her to go investigate the graveyard. She needed to read the names, write them down, and cross reference them in her father’s old family Bible at home. It was a long shot, but if the graveyard was full of her ancestors, it would be an amazing link to her father. A hole had formed in her heart two years prior that she hadn’t been able to fill. In those brief contemplative moments, Rachel thought maybe learning something about her father’s family would help “fix” her somehow.
Rachel couldn’t put into words why she had to do it, but once her feet turned and she started down the path, she was committed.
What was she doing? “I’ll just have a quick peek,” she told herself as she walked along. The trees were closer to the path than they had been on the main trail and seemed much taller. More and more shadows crept in, darkening the path well beyond what she thought midday should look like. So thick in places, the trees blocked most of the view of the sky. From the scarce breaks in the canopy of bare limbs and evergreens, clouds were rolling in.
Ignoring that, she picked up her pace. “If I don’t make it back to my group, I’ll meet up with the other one,” she reasoned with herself. “David will be mad, but he’ll understand. Hopefully.”
Time seemed to slow down, and she had no idea how long she’d been gone. Once she saw the cemetery, she didn’t care.
Harker Cemetery, as the sign announced, consisted of between ten and twenty weather-worn headstones. Some laid on their sides while others were so eroded the names had disappeared.
“That’s so sad,” she said, leaning on the waist high, iron fence surrounding it. At one time, the iron must have been a deep, bold black. Now, it was more faded with spots of orange and red rust. Why had it had been so neglected in a national park?
On the far side of the graveyard sat a small pavilion. It was an open-air, round structure with four columns holding up a round cone top. Rachel had no idea what it had been used for. Funerals, maybe? Intrigued, she got the wide-ruled notebook out of her bag and jotted down a quick sketch of the building, so she could do an online search on it later.
Next, she walked over to the locked gate and tried to jimmy the padlock. Having no luck, she scanned headstones for some with readable names. Most of the stones were faded, but some had enough to infer a name. She found a clear notebook page and began to write.
Macy Ellis
arker 18 6-1895
Stallie Wa en Harker 1862-19 0
Ja s Wayn Ha ker 1895-
“J. A. Blank. Blank. S,” she mouthed as she wrote. “James. James! No way. James Harker. Are you kidding me?” It had to be a coincidence. It had to be.
She scribbled some of other names that didn’t mean as much to her and threw her notebook into her backpack. Her head felt like it was in a bubble with only that name, her father’s name, running through it.
A familiar male voice behind her made her jump. “Who would have ever thought goody-two-shoes, Rachel Harker, would be such a rebel?”
“I’m not a rebel,” she said, greeting not one but two boys strolling up to her.
“Oh, really? My brother tells you to stay on the trail and not veer off, and what do you do? You veer… you’ve veern.” Sid smiled like the cat that ate the canary as he glided toward her.
“I saw the sign and wanted to investigate. That isn’t a sin.”
“Neither is what I did.”
“Sidney,” she said trying to remain calm. There was no way she was going to have this conversation again.
“Children, let’s play nice,” Asher said as he strolled up a few feet behind Sid.
“She started it,” Sid said, imitating a five-year-old and giving Rachel a half smile.
She rolled her eyes at him and asked Asher, “How did you find me, anyway? Where’s Susan?”
“She’s busy at the moment getting Dawn-Alice off of the mountain. Turns out her allergies aren’t allergies. Susan thinks it’s a bad cold or maybe the flu and wants to get her to the hotel pretty fast.”
“Of course,” Sid added, “when we finally noticed you were missing, she sent me and Asher to find you. Your knights in shining armor have arrived.” He raised his arm and bowed. Typical Sid. Never serious.
“Yay me,” she said unable to hold in a snicker. Sid had the ability to make anyone laugh even when they didn’t want to.
“Oh, Rachel. Aren’t you even a little happy to see us?” Sid asked, scrunching his fingers together. “Maybe a little?”
“I was fine on my own.”
“Fine?” Sid scoffed.
“Cut it out. Let’s go,” Asher cut in. He motioned for her to follow him. “We need to start getting back. It’ll be dark soon. I’m not stayin’ out here.”
“It won’t be dark for a few hours. I haven’t been out here that long, and we still need to eat at the top of the trail. It can’t be past one.”
“Try three, sweetheart,” Sid said, showing her his watch. “You’ve been gone awhile.”
“Wonder if they’ve sent out the search party yet,” he asked Asher.
“Who knows? Let’s go tell them that our little lost lamb has been found.”
Without speaking, Rachel started walking behind them. What a wasted day. Sure, finding a possible ancestor with her father’s name was exciting, but it meant losing out on her relaxing hike and picnic. Plus, David would be so disappointed with her. When she caught up to Sid, he took her arm and kept her pace.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked, not wanting her arm looped with his. They weren’t walking down the aisle.