Laughing Fate (26 page)

Puck took a deep breath and told herself to stop distracting herself from the situation at hand. Today was not going well. Puck forced herself to take several more deep breaths and think rationally. It would be so easy to freak out and start making rash decisions.

She was still about 30 miles from Trinidad. The dirt road would continue to wind down the mountain for another 15 miles and then would turn into a paved road that would lead her into the small surfing town of Trinidad. Until she hit the paved road there was practically no chance of running into anyone else. Once the road became paved, however there was more traffic along the road.

She was all alone and no one knew about her impromptu road trip. Why hadn’t she told Potter the truth when she’d been texting him? She couldn’t call for help because her phone was having its own adventure in the river. Puck cursed again underneath her breath and berated herself for being stupid. This whole disaster was one of her own making.

However, if she just looked at this all as an adventure, then it wouldn’t have to ruin her whole day! She mentally calculated how long it would take to hike 30 miles. It would take a whole heck of a lot of time. But in only 15 miles, down hill, she’d run into the paved road and would probably run into another car.

The last time she walked 15 miles it had been raining, it had also been about 30 degrees outside, and it had taken her about five hours. At the end she’d had the beginnings of hypothermia and had resembled a soaked rat. She’d enjoyed the whole experience however, because it had been a grand adventure.

Five hours from now it would be 10 pm. So she could either walk it now and hope for the best…or she could sit in her car and wait until morning. Puck sat a second and tried to use her slumbering sense of danger. It wasn’t something she put to use very often so it was very rusty and probably not entirely trustworthy. She liked to push those kind of feelings back and had found that it went away if you just ignored it. Tonight, it would be wise to use it however…

How safe was it to start the hike tonight? She wouldn’t get lost; there was only one main road. There were wild animals to worry about, but what were the chances of running into a bear? Or cougar? Plus, if she started walking now there was the strong chance of running into someone farther down the road. Also, she would be actively doing something to fix her situation, which sure beat sitting and doing nothing.

How safe was it to stay in her car? Pretty safe, but the whole time she was sitting here bored out of her mind Perri and Potter would be worried sick about her. That settled it. She had to make it back before too much time went by. Perri had enough stress in her young life; she didn’t need worry about her stupid sister added to it like a rotten cherry on top.

Puck resolutely ignored the very quiet and very insistent voice that kept repeating, “This isn’t a good idea. This isn’t a good idea.” She had carefully weighed the pros and cons of when to start her hike. She just wasn’t the sort of girl to sit around and wait to be rescued.

Puck grabbed her backpack. In it she still had a bottle of water that was half full, a peach, her romance novel (which she took out and set it on the seat), a pocket knife, a Hurley sweater, and a lighter. She slipped her debit card in it and then got out of her jeep. She shoved her purse out of sight and locked the doors.

Puck took a deep breath and said, “I’m going to do this. It will be a grand adventure. Don’t think just do.” Puck forced herself to smile at her words. She could do this. She gave her jeep one last kick before heading out on her long hike back to civilization.

“This really isn’t so bad,” Puck told a tree as she passed. “I love long hikes. I’m going to enjoy this very much, and look the sun is still shining through the trees.”

The first hour went by fast. It was now 6:00 pm and she was officially late. As she predicted, she was the lone person on this deserted mountain. She sang songs, found walking sticks (she’d replace each walking stick as she found a better one), and kept up a good pace as she made her way down the dirt road. She was careful to notice the width of the road and how close the edge was to the end of the gravel, once it got dark she didn’t want to chance falling off the side.

After what seemed like several hours later, she was still marching jauntily, if just a little slower. It was now completely dark except for the light from the shining moon. But by keeping close to the bushes on the side of the road farthest from the edge, she found that she was able to make her way pretty safely.  Still, several times she had to correct her direction when she’d find herself accidently walking into the bushes.

She paused to grab her sweater out of the pack and pulled it on. Everyone would be so worried about her. They would have no clue where she was, just that something must have gone wrong. And because she had given them so many reasons to think up worse case scenarios, before too long they would be frantic with worry. She sure did get into some stupid scrapes.

Her walk had started out almost enjoyable, but now as the cold and dark drained her, she began to notice the sounds of nature. Puck felt cold tendrils of fear grip her soul at the sound of a bush shaking. What if she did get lost? What if this wasn’t the dirt road anymore? She could have stumbled onto a game trail and been traveling along that in the dark! What if a bear came along and gobbled her up? Had she made the wrong decision? Puck wrapped her arms around herself and continued walking.

She was letting her imagination go wild, which was only freaking her out. She’d get through this and laugh about it later. Of course Potter and Perri probably wouldn’t laugh with her. They would be so mad when they found out she had decided to walk through the night to Trinidad. They wouldn’t understand that she was doing this for them.

Puck heard the snap of a twig behind her and off to the right in the bushes. She held her breath as she kept walking, it was probably just a woodland creature. A little fuzzy bunny rabbit or a cute little field mouse. She strained her ears trying to hear what was going on in her surroundings. She let her hands slowly fall to her sides as she quickened her pace. She tried to make her walk seem determined and powerful, not afraid and weak. If there was a predator out there, which she really did doubt, she wanted it to know that she was one too.

Now was probably not a good time to remember all the bigfoot stories her dad had told her while growing up. There was one tale from when he was just a kid, hiking in the woods with his brothers. His dad had been a monster and had decided that his boys needed to man up and stop being afraid of the dark. So good old gramps had sent his sons walking in the woods in the middle of the night. He had spaced them out so that each brother could barely see one another. Then the old man had driven back home to wait for his children.

Now his sons were so afraid of him that they kept the spacing far apart just incase he was watching. While they hiked back to their house her dad had started hearing something in the bushes. Just a light foot step, but it would stop when he stopped and start when he started. At that point the boys had been so freaked out that they started walking closer together. Nothing happened except for the quiet stalking and once the boys had reached the edge of the forest they had ran home. Her dad believes that that had been bigfoot. What ever the heck that thing had been, it was stalking them and it wasn’t dear old gramps because he had been sitting in his chair watching TV when they came running indoors.

It probably was not a good story to remember right now. What if something was stalking her right now? She slowly turned her head and tried to make out any shapes in the dark. She could kind of make out the bushes right by her, but there just wasn’t enough light to tell if something was following her or not. Puck resumed her forceful walk and told herself not to worry. She kept her senses on full alert and hoped that she had not made another stupid decision…

****

Perri knocked on the door, well aware that she was late. It was now 9:00 pm and Puck was probably already organizing a search party for her. Puck worried about her too much, especially since finding out about her pregnancy.

She’d been shopping with Baby for maternity clothes and had lost track of time. In her defense though, she’d called Puck’s cell phone and left a message explaining why she was late, so Puck couldn’t be too mad. Puck was such a bad cell phone person though that she never kept it on her.

The door opened suddenly and there was Potter looking relieved. So they had worried about her. Potter had been acting protective of her, just like an older brother. Perri smiled at him but was a little puzzled when he craned his neck to look past her. Perri raised her eyebrows at him and looked behind her. What was he looking at?

“Bout time you guys got here! What took so long? And why didn’t you call? Dinner’s way over, but the guys are still here.”

“
Guys? What do you mean? I came by myself. Was Puck worried about me? I didn’t mean to be so late, I just lost track of time while shopping. Baby gap was having a 40% off sell! I bought an awesome little-

“
Puck’s not with you?” Potter interrupted impatiently.

“
No, isn’t she here with you?”

Potter abruptly turned around and grabbed his cell phone. He was grumbling under his breath about a certain irresponsible little brat that had the tendency to fall head first into mischief. Perri guessed that he was talking about Puck. She frowned as she followed Potter into the house, a strange feeling in her gut. Puck wasn’t here yet?

“Hi this is Puck’s phone and I’m off on a high sea adventure, fighting pirates and plundering cities so leave a message and I’ll call you back! ARRR, Matey!” Puck voice came across on the speaker phone of Potter’s cell. Her phone must be turned off, because it didn’t ring before switching to her voicemail. Potter growled into the phone that she better be safe at home and then flung his cell phone on the couch.

Perri could tell that Potter was really worried about Puck. He was pacing in the living room and running a hand thru his hair. He stopped suddenly to spin around and face Perri. He started flinging questions at her that she had no answer to.

“The last I talked to her she was going to run some errands and then meet me here at six. She’s not at home ‘cause I passed by there on my way here and her jeep was gone. Where do you think she is Potter?”

Potter just shook his head and walked out of the room. Perri was really starting to worry now. Puck hated being late, she was never late. If she was coming then she would have been here by now. Knowing her sister, she had probably stumbled into some disaster and was brazenly forging her way through it. Why couldn’t she have a normal sister?

Perri followed Potter into his dining room where she could see Brad, Steve, and Dave sitting around the table playing Texas hold‘em. Shannon was standing behind her husband and effectively blowing his poker face by her expressions.

“
You think something’s wrong?” Dave asked.

“
It’s Puck we’re talking about, OF COURSE something’s wrong.”

“
What was the last anyone heard from her?”

Potter looked at Perri who just shrugged and said, “This morning when she walked out the door.”

“I texted her around four and she said that she was definitely planning on being here at six. The only reason I wasn’t too worried until now was that you weren’t here either and I thought you both were just fighting or something.”

“
Hey! We do NOT fight that much!” cried Perri slightly offended.

“
What time did Puck leave your house?” Asked Dave. He looked as if he was on to something, but Perri couldn’t guess what that could be.

“
Around seven in the morning, why? How does that help us find her? You know I’m pretty sure that Puck’s ok. I mean she does crazy stuff all the time and it’s not THAT late. Maybe she just got distracted by something?” Even Perri didn’t really believe what she said. Puck wouldn’t just miss this movie night. She would have at least called if she wasn’t able to make it.

Potter frowned and asked, “If she left to do errands at seven then why was she still doing them at four in the afternoon? Did she tell you what exactly she was doing?”

“No…I didn’t ask.”

Dave met Potter’s eyes and they both nodded. Puck, the little sneak, had snuck out on some private adventure. Everyone started talking at once, also coming to that conclusion. Perri was getting more and more worried as ideas had started getting thrown out there.

“No one wants to say it, but,” Perri said worriedly, “There have been women going missing. Puck loves to go hiking alone, what if something DID happen to her?”

Potter sank down in a chair and put his head in his hands. What had his little warrior gotten herself into?

“Lets write down all of her favorite places to go hiking. Perri, you saw what she was wearing, right? Was it suitable for hiking? After we brainstorm all the places she could be, then we can all split up and look for her. We should at least be able to find her jeep.”

Potter raised his head and silently thanked god for Dave. The small group huddled around the table thinking of all of Puck’s favorite places to hike.

****

She thought she heard the snap again, but at this point it could have been her imagination. It was the middle of the night, probably 2 or 3:00 am. It seemed as if she’d been walking forever. Her pace had slowed down considerably once fear had taken root in her heart. Her steps had grown more hesitant as she made her way down the dirt road. Several times she tripped on a root or a pot hole. And all the while the soft sound of twigs snapping haunted her ears. She couldn’t even be sure if they were real or imagined. Was she going crazy?