R.W. Preston
Luke Gilroy had regrets for going on the outback trek alone. His feet pained him from deep in the muscle core. And the backpack that was tightly fastened made his neck cramp and his lower back throb. He was a green horn spectator in one of the greatest parks in the world, and deep in the wilderness of Yellowstone. It was a day of hiking Silver Lake country all by himself. To not only learn the lay of the land, but to find what might be a crime scene. As the sun began to go down, the guise of the shifting shadows and silhouettes of the trees was deceiving. It made it harder for him to see the trail clearly. His number one priority was to maintain a sure footfall as he walked along the steepening landscape. The clouds themselves were darkening and casting. The increasing wind was pushing the tops of the lazy pines back and forth – slamming them into each other, and sounding like a screen door that was left open. This was all new and intoxicating to the urban sidewalk man from the burbs of L.A. – a man who was far from the adventurous type. Sweating from head to toe, and now beleaguered, Luke stood where little eight-year-old Ruthie Guthrie once played. Her yellow, bouncy hair weaved with small, round curls. At one time she was like a butterfly that was blessed with longevity of life. The campsite was foreshadowed by strands of yellow police tape that was tied and wrapped about the trees, but became undone, and flapped and furled about in the north wind. The Guthrie's had picked the spot to camp overnight to enjoy the solitude of the outdoors and the night-time canopy of stars. But when Ruthie's brother Drew kicked the ball into the laurel patch on that sunny day, it was Ruthie's turn to go get it. Luke walked off of the trail and parted the thick laurel with both of his hands as the patch engulfed him. With only twenty minutes of light left, he picked up his pace. Walking out of the foliage was like walking out of rows of corn. His eyes focused in on what he saw on th
Read this work at the World Public Library (library card needed).