by John Kess
Molly followed me and we found a window with the shade slightly open. With the goggles I could see two sets of empty beds.
“Let’s check out the shed,” Molly said.
Another rumble of thunder echoed in the distance. I led her to the backyard and put the night-vision goggles back in my bag. The shed was smaller than the cabin, but it had a loft, so it was taller.
I opened the door and the light from my flashlight showed the shed was divided into two rooms. The room we entered had bear traps of various sizes on one wall, a workbench with a half-disassembled chainsaw on it was against the back wall, and a push mower was parked in the corner.
“What’s that awful smell?” Molly asked.
It smelled like gasoline mixed with rotting flesh.
Molly shined her flashlight at the wall of bear traps. A flash of lightning was closely followed by thunder, which rattled a small window next to her.
I panned my flashlight around the room and noticed some brown fur on the floor.
Molly turned her light to the door of the next room while I shined mine at the ceiling.
Molly pushed the door open and screamed. She turned to grab me. “Oh, my God, it’s someone’s skin!”
“What?”
“It’s all stretched out on a table,” Molly said. “Don’t look!”
I pushed the door open. Molly buried her face in my back and held onto my waist. Nails held a stretched-out bloody skin on a large table. I shined my flashlight and saw brown fur on the edges.
“It’s a deer skin,” I said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, it’s got brown fur on the bottom. Plus, it’s too big to be human.”
Molly looked around my shoulder, still holding me.
“You scared me,” I told her.
Molly let out a weak laugh and said, “Sorry.”
The sound of an engine made me turn back to the open shed door.
“Quick, kill your flashlight,” I said.
Car headlights filled the shed through the open door and then disappeared as the car turned and stopped on the other side of the cabin. I grabbed Molly’s hand and we flew out of the shed into the woods. Thunder rumbled as I heard two car doors slam shut.
About thirty feet from the shed was a huge downed tree. I jumped over it and lay on my back behind it, pulling Molly down on top of me.
Two men spoke loudly to each other in the distance.
“I already told you, I latched the dang door when we left.”
“It don’t look latched to me.”
The two men walked closer to the shed, their voices becoming louder.
“Are you sure you saw something when we pulled in?”
“I thought so. I don’t know. Could be nothing.”
Molly tightened her grip on my arms as her head pressed into my chest. The sky lit up again as lightning bolts stretched across the clouds.
I heard the footsteps of a man walking around in the shed and then a flashlight beam passed over us.
“Everything is still here,” a man shouted from the shed.
Footsteps approached. The other man stopped just inches from the downed tree, so close I could see the first drops of rain falling in the beam from his flashlight as he swung it around, shining it at the forest.
“I don’t see nothing,” the man above us said loudly.
Molly and I were breathing so hard I wondered if he was going to hear us.
The other man slammed the shed door shut, which made Molly twitch.
The flashlight beam passed above us one more time, just as lightning flashed, followed by booming thunder. I squeezed Molly as her whole body jumped from the noise.
I could feel both of our hearts pounding as the man took one more pass of the woods with his flashlight.
“The wind must have blown it open,” the other man said. “Storm’s coming. Let’s get inside.”
We heard them walk back to the cabin. Molly’s head dropped into my chest as the door to the cabin shut with a loud smack.
“Are you okay?” I whispered.
Molly slowly raised her head and looked at me with a smile. She giggled. “That was close,” she whispered back, and let out a huge sigh. Her giggle was contagious. When I joined in, it made her giggle even more.
Molly crossed her arms on my chest and pushed herself up, resting her chin close to mine. Our eyes met. Thunder rumbled in the distance.
Raindrops began to fall harder as Molly stared down at me. “I think I liked the dinner party stakeout better,” she said.
“Me, too.”
“At least this one had a happy ending.” She smiled and kissed me.
Molly stood and helped me to my feet. “The search continues,” she said, holding my hand as she led me deeper into the trees.
* * *
The thunderstorm was in full force, with constant lightning and wind bending the treetops. When we reached our camp, we were soaking wet since we’d left our rain gear in the tent. This didn’t seem to bother Molly. She pulled off her hooded sweatshirt and twirled with her arms out as she looked up at the sky.
“I love thunderstorms!” Molly shouted.
The black face paint was smeared and mostly gone.
“You can change first,” I said.
“I’ll be quick.” Molly disappeared inside the tent.
I stood in the rain, watching the lightning as trees swayed in the wind. It was an awesome display of bright flashes and deep rumbling. I hoped Hannah wasn’t out in the storm.
“Dylan, the naked girl in your tent is gone. It’s just me now, fully clothed.”
“What?” I said, pretending to be annoyed. “Where did the naked girl go? How could you let her get away?”
“She’s fast, okay? Just get in here; it’s pouring outside.”
Another flash of lightning lit up the sky and was followed by a crash of thunder.
I took off my shoes and changed out of my wet clothes, accompanied by the drumming noise of raindrops pounding the tent. Molly was wearing her sweatpants, stocking cap, and a long-sleeve shirt. She lay on her side facing away from me, using a flashlight to write another letter to her dad.
I dried myself with a sweatshirt and changed into sweatpants and a T-shirt. I was cold and quickly climbed into my sleeping bag, then let Molly know I was fully clothed.
“What?” Molly said, matching my previous annoyed tone. “Where did the naked boy go? How could you let him get away?”
“He’s fast, okay?”
We shared a laugh.
Molly finished her letter while I pulled out the picture of Hannah and me. I thought about Hannah’s sixteenth birthday party and what I’d heard regarding how the police didn’t know if it was a stranger abduction or not. I remembered how the detective asked me to make a list of people who might be suspects and how it ended up being blank.
The air mattress forced Molly and me closer together than when we’d slept in the tent without it, but neither of us seemed to mind.
When she put her notepad away, she turned to face me. “Is today Sunday?”
“Yeah,” I said. “What time is your doctor appointment on Tuesday?”
“It’s at 2:00 p.m.”
“Good. We can hike out Tuesday morning and be back home by noon.”
I stared at the ceiling of the tent as Molly lay on her back. We could see the shadows of the bending trees every time the lightning flashed. Pounding thunder rolled over our tent again and again.
“What are you thinking about?” Molly asked.
“Huh?”
“I saw that look on your face. And I know you weren’t thinking about the naked girl who left. You’re thinking about something serious. Are you still keeping your part of our deal?”
“Of course I am, but I’m still mad you let her get away.”
“Hey, you let the naked boy get away.”
“Okay, we’re even.” I laughed. “You’re very smart, you know that? I was thinking about something.”
“Is it something you want to talk about?”
“I overheard someone say the person who took Hannah might have been someone the family knows. I can’t think of anyone we know who would have done this.”
We were silent as Molly took my hand and I closed my eyes and tried to think about something else, something happy. The thought of kissing Molly popped into my head.
Molly broke the silence. “Do you remember the night we ran into those kids sitting around the fire and how you told me you were going to kill the man who took Hannah?”
“I do.”
“Will you do something for me?” Molly asked as she rolled on her side to face me.
“What is it?”
“If you find him, or if you find out who it is, will you come and tell me? I want to be the first to know. Promise me you’ll tell me first, before you do anything else.”
I thought about asking her why. She wasn’t asking me not to kill him, so I decided if that was all she wanted was to know, then I was fine with it. “I promise I will come and tell you first.”
Molly said, “Thanks.”
We said good night and she shut off her flashlight. In minutes she was asleep. I wish I could have done the same. Any time I began to drowse, thoughts of Hannah and the sound of her scream startled me awake. I concentrated on the rain and finally drifted off.
* * *
The obnoxious ring from the satellite phone woke us early the next morning.
“Ahhhhh,” I said, digging in my bag for the phone, my eyes half open. It was still dark and raining. I finally found it with the help of my flashlight. “Ah, hello.”
“Good morning,” Mom said. “How are you doing?”
“I’m not awake. What time is it?”
“It’s 6:30.”
“Are you serious?”
“Oh, did I wake you up? Sorry about that.”
I looked over at Molly, who propped herself up on her arms and looked at me with eyes barely cracked open. She moaned and let her head fall back onto her pillow and covered her head with her arms.
“I thought you’d be up by now with all this rain we’re getting,” Mom said. She was right. The rain was still coming down at a steady pace. “The weather guy says it’ll be raining all day. It’s not going to stop until late tonight.”
“Well, that’s just great,” I said.
“Should be clear tomorrow,” she said. “How’s Molly doing?”
“She’s doing well.”
“Do you have enough food?”
“We’re good today. We’ll be home tomorrow.”
“And you’re staying dry?”
“Yes.” I yawned. I just wanted to go back to sleep. I thought about telling Mom to please hang up, but then I wondered about Tony and the possibility of him posting bail. “Is there any news?”
“Nope. Your dad is at work, and Amy and I are going to the grocery store soon. I’ll pick you up some dried food.”
“Thanks.” I was trying to think of how to ask about Tony without bringing up his name. “Anything Molly needs to know?”
“No, nothing new.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, nothing yet.”
“Okay, Mom, I should go. I’m going to shut the phone down until after dark since we need to save the battery and I can’t charge it if we’re not going to have any sun today.”
“I’ll let your dad know.”
“See you tomorrow.”
She said goodbye and we hung up.
I plopped down on my pillow and fell right back to sleep. Molly woke me up awhile later by propping herself up with her arms on my chest.
“Good morning,” she said.
“Good morning.”
“I’ve got good news. I woke up this morning and wasn’t sore.”
“That is excellent news. Your eye looks better, too.”
Molly smiled. “It’s still raining. Should we eat and then go?”
I nodded.
We ate a breakfast of beef and rice MREs, threw on our rain gear, and headed into the forest. We were forced to walk slowly up and down hills because of the mud. In spite of being careful, Molly and I each slipped several times, and our legs were covered in mud. We took many detours to avoid swollen streams. By noon, we’d only traveled a quarter of what we’d planned. We huddled under a rock outcropping and snacked on a soggy mix of granola and nuts while looking at our map.
“We’re right about here,” I said, pointing to where the GPS coordinates told me we were.
“We need to pick up the pace, don’t we?” Molly asked.
“I don’t know how in this mess.”
“We can do it!” Molly stuffed the last of her granola bar in her mouth. “Come on.” Molly smiled at me and skipped away, not caring about the splashing mud.
The rain seemed to make Molly even more positive. I’d never met anyone like her, and it made me smile.
We pushed on, dodging trees and trudging through muddy streams. We looked in every direction for any sign of Hannah, but the forest was empty. There wasn’t one house or even a sign of anything that didn’t belong.
By late afternoon, we’d made up a lot of ground, but the temperature had dropped. Despite our rain gear, we were soaked. We were still several hours away from our campsite when the wind picked up, chilling both of us.
Daylight was disappearing fast. The last hour of our hike was in silence, and we could see our breath in the light of our flashlights.
When we reached the tent I had to help Molly out of her rain gear and wet sweatshirt because she was shivering so much. I untied the rope holding up our food bag and lowered it to retrieve some soup packets while Molly changed. I wanted to warm them up with a fire, but it was too wet to get one started.
Molly had stuffed herself deep in her sleeping bag by the time I got in and changed out of my wet clothes
“Do you want to eat something?” I asked.
“I’m too cold to be hungry,” she said, trying to keep her teeth from chattering.
I used my flashlight and took a close look at the zippers on her sleeping bag and mine. “I have an idea.”
I got out of my sleeping bag and unzipped it all the way. I pulled Molly, still in her sleeping bag, to the middle of the air mattress and unzipped her sleeping bag all the way.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Trust me.”
Molly was wearing three pairs of socks, her sweatpants, and a sweatshirt. I flattened her sleeping bag out on the air mattress and quickly covered her with mine.
“Oh, I get it,” Molly said.
I zipped up one half and then the other, mating the two sleeping bags into one big sleeping bag.
I shut off the flashlight and climbed in. Molly curled into a ball, facing me, folding her arms against my stomach. Her head rested against my chest, and I put my arms around her shoulders. The heat was being sucked out of me, but as long as it was going to Molly, I didn’t care.
“You’re nice and warm,” she said.
“And you’re cold.”
She laughed. “Sorry.”
I closed my eyes and held her. She shivered so much the air mattress shook. Within a few minutes her tremors lessened and then finally stopped.
I thought Molly had drifted off to sleep, but then she said, “Someday, this is what I want.”
I waited for her to say more, but she didn’t. “What do you mean?”
“Someday, I want someone who treats me the way you do. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Molly hugged me and then rolled onto her stomach. I rolled on my back so our sides touched. Molly’s hand was on my chest as she fell asleep. Her faint breathing sounded like waves washing up on a shoreline. The sound helped me do the same.
Chapter 11
We broke camp the next morning under a cloudless sky and hiked for a few hours before finding the trail. Our cold, soaked hiking boots squished as we made our way down the trail, but the warm air made it e
asy to manage.
“I’m going to try to talk to my mom when I get home,” Molly said. “If I want my old mom back, I’m going to have to fight for her. I remember how happy she’d get when my dad would come home from work. She used to be so beautiful. She loved him so much. I want her to be happy again.”
“If your drive to get your mom back is anything like your drive to help find Hannah, I know you’ll get her back,” I said.
We hiked for another hour before coming to the highway near my house, this time approaching from the other direction.
Molly asked if she could leave her gear at my house. We entered through the sliding-glass door and brought our stuff inside. No one else seemed to be home. I loaned Molly a small backpack for her clothes and then we went into my room to pick out our next search area.
“I’ll call you after my doctor appointment,” Molly said.
“How are you getting there?” I asked.
“Either my mom will take me or I can bike. It’s not that far. Do you want to leave tomorrow morning?”
“Yeah. I’ll see if my dad is up for giving us a ride.”
Molly smiled. “Okay.”
I walked her to the door.
Molly held out a folded-up piece of paper. “This is for you.”
I took it and saw my name written on it.
“Read it just before you go to bed tonight,” Molly said. “You have to promise me you’ll wait until then.”
“Okay, I’ll wait.”
Molly hugged me and held my shoulders as she leaned in and kissed me. “See you tomorrow.”
“See you.”
I felt an overwhelming desire to not let her go as she walked away.
“Hey,” I said, and she turned around. “You know how those people were having that dinner party at the house we were watching?”
“Yeah.”
“After we find Hannah, let’s do that. I want to take you to a restaurant. We can dress up. I’ll wear a suit and tie and you can wear whatever you want.”
“That’s a great idea.” Molly’s face slowly morphed into a grin. “Dylan, did you just ask me out on a date?”
I smiled back. “I did.”
“I can’t wait.” She blushed as she backed away looking at me with a smile, and then turned to leave.