Far Country

by Malone, Karen

  How in the world had she ever been assigned here? He wondered. And why now, just when he felt as if he was beginning to get control of his life? All he wanted to do was to forget Jacksonville, forget high school, and forget anybody even faintly connected with the past. And I had nearly managed to do that!

  Here, there were no whispers, no accusations, and no looks of sympathy. He wanted no reminders of that summer, or of that last day when he had gone to beg the Bolton’s to allow him to see Sarah just once before he left for college. David, who had been his best friend since grade school, had stared at him in icy contempt. Silently, deliberately, he had shut the door in Steve's face. Steve had stared at the blank white surface of that door for a long time. He could not remember a time in his life that David had not been there with him. He had never seriously dated any girl but Sarah. He had spent almost as much time in the Bolton’s home as he had in his own. Now, as far as they were concerned, he no longer existed. Their shared history, from birthday parties, camping trips and family cookouts, to the growing love between himself and Sarah that both families had fondly encouraged, were now as if they had never existed. In one moment of carelessness, he had betrayed their trust and brought the Bolton family so much grief that they could not even tolerate the sight of him. Now, his own past was as closed to him as the Bolton’s front door. Without Sarah and David, there was nothing.

  Steve left Jacksonville the next morning, still a hollow-eyed shell of the boy he had been a few weeks before. He counted his life now as beginning on that first day of college. The mountains of North Carolina had become his home.

  Steve ground his teeth unconsciously. I’m happy here! He reminded himself. Why am I letting this chance meeting get under my skin? Abruptly, Steve cut off his confused thoughts and strode away from the deck. He rounded the corner of the beach house so quickly, that he almost knocked over Pete, who was laughing effortlessly with, and Steve’s jaw clenched painfully at the sight, Deborah.

  “Whoa, amigo, where’s the fire?” Pete grinned, steadying Steve with one hand. Pete was in his off-duty clothes. Steve glanced at his watch and realized it was past time for the shift change. Deborah appeared to be off already, and as soon as he made his report to Rob, he too, could clock out for the day. Inwardly he sighed with relief. He could head back to the trailer and get some sleep at last!

  But Pete was making other plans. “Steve, have you met Deb?”

  Steve once again forced himself to look at the pretty redhead, and smiled stiffly. “Yeah – uh old friends, actually,” he managed to reply.

  Pete looked at Deborah quizzically. “We attended the same high school, except that I was a sophomore and he was a senior,” she explained quickly.

  Pete’s eyebrows shot up. “Huh. Small world. Anyway, I was just telling Deborah about the guy who fell yesterday. She hasn’t had much of a chance to get out on the trails, yet. You up to doing a little rappelling?”

  Steve almost choked. Bad enough that they were assigned to the same State Park, but to have to spend the afternoon with her as well? Nobody here knew about his past! What would he do if she started talking about it to everyone? “I don’t think so,” he mumbled. “I was planning to go catch up on my sleep.”

  “Man, you’ve got to be kidding!” Pete exclaimed. “Go to sleep NOW and then you’ll be up half the night!

  "Come on,” he wheedled. “We’ll jump off a rock or two and tonight you will sleep like a baby.”

  Steve looked from Pete to Deborah. Her green eyes studied him quizzically and he remembered how he had almost run out of her presence only an hour before. What if she started talking to Pete about ‘poor Steve?’ Better not to leave the two of them alone until he had time to convince Deborah not to discuss Sarah with any of the other rangers. After a moment, he shrugged nonchalantly. “Okay. Let me change and get my gear.”

  Pete grinned in approval, and Deborah nodded, as if he had made the right decision. “Excellent!” She said happily

  Steve trailed behind Pete and Deborah as they headed up the steps to the parking lot, laughing and chatting like old friends.

  How had this happened? He wondered helplessly. Steve felt as if a crack had just appeared in the life he had worked so hard to rebuild. Yesterday, he had been in control, but now? Deborah’s re-appearance in his life was going to be a game-changer, he could feel it!

  In the parking lot, Deborah paused before climbing into her vehicle. “Let’s all meet in half an hour, okay? I’ll pack us some snacks too. I just made a batch of chocolate chip cookies yesterday!”

  Steve managed a sickly smile. “Great.” he muttered bleakly. “This is just..great.”

  Ch 4

  Rappelling

  A half an hour later the three rangers were trudging steadily up the Moore’s Loop trail for the second time in less than 24 hours, stepping carefully on the loose rocks and over the many gnarled tree roots.

  “I can’t believe we were jogging over this mess in the dark,” Steve huffed to Pete. Pete simply nodded rather than waste air. He was setting a fast pace deliberately, and Steve was almost irritated to see that Deborah was having no trouble keeping up with them. Soon, they reached the side trail that led to the Western Wall, where the rangers had fought to rescue Shane Davis just a few hours before. After showing the spot to Deborah, they continued up the trail to a lesser known path that led to a second long outcropping of stone, that had been nicknamed 'the knife edge'. This particular rock wall was not on the park’s list of approved climbs for the visitors, and thus, it was one of the favorite rappelling sites for the young rangers.

  After carefully checking their gear, they dropped over the side. Pete went first, followed by Steve, then Deborah. Watching her easy descent, even Steve had to appreciate her skill and form. When she landed at the base of the cliff, he grinned. “Not bad for a flatlander,” he said.

  She wrinkled her nose. “Speak for yourself,” she retorted. I came to coastal North Carolina because Daddy was a Navy chaplain, but I spent most of my summers with my grandparents in Colorado.” She detached the ring and stretched. “We even did three years in Iceland.”

  Pete shook his head at Steve. “Are you sure you went to the same high school with her?”

  Steve could only shrug.

  Deborah smiled at Pete. “Take it easy on him. He was in love with the class valedictorian. She wasn’t only smart, she was drop dead beautiful.”

  Deb spoke softly, and for a moment Steve recalled Sarah’s vibrant beauty. His eyes met Deborah’s and he smiled gratefully at the shared memory in spite of himself.

  Pete looked from one to the other, frowning in perplexity. Steve NEVER spoke of any part of his life before coming to Hanging Rock. And Deborah’s tone was no longer teasing, but sad…

  “So what happened?” He asked at last, as the silence seemed to stretch overly long. He immediately regretted his question, however, because Steve reacted as if Pete had slapped him. Even Deborah appeared startled. She opened her mouth to reply, but Steve cut off her words.

  “It didn’t work out, that’s all,” he said harshly, and looked pointedly at Deborah before shouldering past Pete, and plunging through some dense mountain laurels, down what appeared to be a deer trail. Pete looked to Deborah, and caught a glint of tears in her green eyes.

  “Did she die?” He asked, frowning.

  Deborah shook her head, sorry she had said anything at all. Apparently, Steve had never spoken of Sarah.

  “She’s not dead?” Pete asked again, bewildered.

  “It’s worse, really,” she said at length.

  “What, then?”

  Deborah took a deep breath. “They were in a car accident the night of their high school graduation. “He survived. Sarah’s been in a coma ever since.”

  Pete’s eyes widened. He looked down the trail, where they could hear Steve forcing his way noisily through the overgrown path. “He – blames himself still?”

  Deborah smiled sadly. “It seems he does.”

&
nbsp; Pete shook his head. “That explains a few things.”

  Deborah put a small hand on Pete’s well-muscled arm. “Please leave it alone, and don’t mention this to anyone else,” she pleaded. “I didn’t know that he had not spoken of Sarah to anyone. I am sorry that I brought it up.”

  Pete smiled appreciatively. Her beseeching green eyes were luminous with unshed tears. Strong and competent, yet pretty and feminine...no, actually beautiful, and not a drop of makeup either! Despite her request he shook his head slowly. “I can’t promise that. I’ve wondered for two years what’s been eating him. Maybe the good Lord sent you here to do exactly what you just did.”

  Deborah’s eyes widened and grew thoughtful. “Are you a praying Christian, Pete?”

  Pete grinned, “Yes, ma’am.”

  “This seems like more than just a coincidence...I think we need to pray.” Unselfconsciously, she knelt at the foot of the rock face. A moment later, Pete dropped easily beside her, captivated once again by her unabashed show of faith.

  They joined hands at the base of the cliff and bowed their heads. Pete could still hear Steve’s body forcing its way further and further into the thick shrubbery, and wondered if Steve had any idea where he was going. Then Deborah started to pray, and he focused his attention on adding his voice to hers.

  “Dear Father,” she began softly. “We are here. If you have called us together to help Steve, we are Your willing servants. Guide us. Help us to make Your love and peace available to him even though he is fighting You still.”

  Then Pete’s deep voice took over.

  “Blessed Savior and Heavenly Counselor,” Pete began. “We are bowed down with sadness for our friend. Wrap him in your love and protection. Help him to deal with this great sorrow and guilt. Help us to be the friends he needs. And be with his Sarah. If it be Your Will, bring her back to the world and to the ones who love her. We ask these things in Your precious and holy name, Father.”

  Deborah’s “Amen” joined with his and Pete’s heart skipped a beat as her forehead rested briefly against his. Smart, pretty, AND a woman of prayer. She was definitely someone to get to know better!

  After a moment he pulled her to her feet and led her to the trail.

  “Where is he going?” Deborah asked as she peered uncertainly into the gloom.

  Pete shrugged. “Beats me, but he’s got the pack with the snacks.”

  Deborah straightened her shoulders and gave her hat a firm tug. “Guess we’d better get moving then, huh?”

  After about fifteen minutes of determined trail breaking the deer path opened out on a rocky waterfall. A wide pool formed at the base, and in the middle, sprawled on a huge rock rising about ten feet out of the pool, lay Steve.

  Pete and Deborah wiped the sweat from their eyes. Pete pulled off his boots and dropped them next to Steve’s, and then he waded out a few steps. The water rose rapidly over his knees. He stopped abruptly. “Hey, amigo!” He called. “This is freezing! Did you really swim out there?”

  Without turning his head Steve replied, “What do you think?”

  “I hate cold,” Pete muttered. My feet are already numb!”

  Deborah sighed in agreement, but pulled off her boots and socks as well. “Maybe there will be fewer mosquitoes out there at least,” she said hopefully.

  Gingerly she waded past Pete and gasped as the water rose above her waist. “This is brutal!” She complained, but she kept going. Not about to be left behind, Pete plunged along behind her. They were forced to swim a few yards before their feet finally touched Steve’s fortress. Gasping, Pete and Deborah shook themselves like a couple of bedraggled dogs, and dragged themselves up to the sun warmed granite summit, beside Steve.

  Pete glared down at Steve, still shaking the water from his thick brown hair and beard. He’d stepped into a hole and gone all the way under. “You’re crazy, you know that? This water is freezing! Whatever possessed you to swim…” Pete stopped in mid-diatribe and stared in confusion at Steve’s inert body. “Your clothes are dry!” He sputtered accusingly. “What…?”

  He strode past Steve and to where the rock dropped off sharply toward the falls. Pete jumped down out of sight, but returned a moment later. With arms on hips and legs spread, he glared furiously at Steve, who finally opened one eye.

  “You might have told us the water was only a couple of feet deep on the back side of the rock,” Pete spoke in a deceptively mild tone.

  Deborah, who had collapsed a few feet from Steve and was intent on absorbing the heat back into her shivering body, lifted her head at Pete’s words.

  “What did you say?” She asked, uncertain she had heard his statement correctly.

  Pete jerked his head in the direction from which he had just come. “There’s a trail around the pool. This rock levels off just under the water and goes all the way to the bank. It’s barely even knee deep.”

  Deborah glared at Steve. “You tricked us!”

  Steve did not open his eyes, but a tiny smile lurked in the corner of his lips.

  “Yep.”

  Deborah flopped onto her back and gave a small shriek of exasperation.

  “That’s just plain evil!”

  “Yep”

  Pete had stomped off again beyond their line of sight. Deborah could hear him grumbling about false friends as he upended the daypack of snacks that Steve had been carrying. She could hear him grumbling all the way to the water’s edge, as he washed his hands in the icy pool. Still, it was all she could do not to shriek a warning to Steve as Pete re-appeared over the edge of the rock with the day pack bulging ominously.

  His eyes still closed against the bright sunlight, Steve never suspected Pete’s revenge until it was too late. The ice water connected with his bare midriff, and Steve’s body shot off the rock as if he’d been stung by hornets. Deborah doubled over with laughter at the expressions on Pete’s and Steve’s faces. The two men glared at each other for a full minute before Steve’s face finally split into a grin.

  “You have to admit, it was a pretty good trick.” He held out his hands, palm up.

  "Friends?”

  Pete grinned back at last. “I’ll never trust you again, though,” he grouched, shaking his head.

  “What?” Steve shot back, feigning hurt feelings. “I never said I swam over, and you never asked if there was a better way!”

  Pete froze. He raised a finger at Steve, paused, and spluttered in frustration.” Right,” he replied wryly. He turned his back and sprawled on the rock beside Deborah with a final sigh of defeat.

  An hour later, after lazing in the late afternoon sun and devouring Deborah’s chocolate chip cookies, which were delicious, Steve had to admit grudgingly, they waded through the knee deep water to the shore, retrieved their shoes and struggled back down the overgrown path.

  The rock wall was already in shadows as the sun sank low in the sky. It made the ascent trickier, but all three managed to complete the climb safely. They repacked their gear at the top of the precipice and made their way back down the trail, laughing and talking in a comfortable way that made Steve almost forget how worried and uncomfortable he had been he had first realized who Deborah was, only a few hours before. Steve felt unusually light-hearted with these two friends. Surprised, he realized that that was how he was actually thinking of them. It had been a long time since he had allowed himself the dangerous luxury of real friendship. Maybe having Deborah at Hanging Rock would be okay after all… It was a good day! he thought, smiling to himself.

  Eventually they reached the rivulet that cut across the trail only a few hundred yards below the amphitheatre. Recent rains had swollen it from its customary trickle into a muddy banked stream. A few make-shift rocks and tree limbs had been tossed down by other hikers to form a somewhat dry path across the mud. That is, if you didn’t mind playing hopscotch from one precarious perch to another. Steve led the way, hopping from a fat limb to a large rock slab. Just as he shifted his weight to leap onto the last stepping stone,
the slab twisted and tilted under him. Arms flailing uselessly against gravity, Steve crashed forward. He heard Pete and Deborah cry out, and then his brain exploded into a thousand shards of light as his head crashed down onto stone.

  Ch 5

  Nightmare in the Hospital

  It was the nightmare again. It had to be. But it felt so real!

  He was back in the hospital, surrounded by IV poles and monitors, all beeping away in a steady rhythm. Beyond the curtain that surrounded his bed, he could hear voices. Most with that low professional tone of doctors and nurses, but occasionally interspersed with anxious queries, and moans of pain or fear.

  Groggily, Steve tried to make sense of what seemed to be happening. His head was pounding! The accident, he recalled. We had an accident. He strained to remember. It had been raining. He had been driving too fast. Sarah was screaming still. She had screamed as the black corvette had skidded sideways and smashed headlong into the ditch. She had been so quiet then. He couldn’t wake her up. But she was screaming now. He had to go to her. He needed to be with her and make sure that she was all right.

  As Steve sat up, the room spun around sickeningly. He felt incredibly weak. He managed a couple of steps, clinging to the IV pole for support, and pushed past the curtain.

  A nurse spotted him. “Oh lordy, the head injury in Bed #3’s trying to take a walk.”

  Steve could see a dark haired girl in the bed by the door. Sarah? He took a couple more steps. A male orderly caught his arm and steadied him as he swayed precariously, almost pitching forward onto the sleeping occupant of Bed #2. A wave of nausea flooded through him.

  “Hey man, you aren’t ready to be out of bed, let me help you back,” the orderly said soothingly.

  Steve tried to focus on the orderly but he saw only a blurry figure now. He tried to refocus on Sarah’s bed, only six feet or so away. The effort only increased his nausea. Desperate to reach her, Steve shut his eyes, and tried to walk forward again.