Short Story by Heather Parker

  I am awakened by a man in a yellow rain slicker yelling down at me. The sky is a charcoal gray and rain is pouring down around him. I try to open my eyes and look at his face but every time I do the drops splatter, drenching my eyeballs and mouth with an excess of fluid. I feel like the sky is trying to drown me.   

 “Is your name Wren?” he yells through the noise as it hammers down around him.  

  I acknowledge his question by moving my head like a bobble head doll. It goes back and forth on the dash of a car.   

  “So glad I found you! Let’s get you to safety and dried off! Follow me out of here. Stay close behind me, this rain isn’t going to let up anytime soon. Here is a raincoat. Put it on till we get to the shelter” the man yells.   

  The man pauses and just stands there staring at me. It’s as if he saw a ghost. The rain hammers so loudly it feels like we are inside a rapidly hit drum. It is as if we are about to go to war. I lift myself off the ground and my legs start shaking like a newborn calf learning to walk. I grab onto a sycamore tree next to me and stabilize myself. I grab the raincoat and put it on although it won’t do me much good. I am already completely drenched. I cautiously take a step onto some rocks as the man watches my every move. Carefully balancing on the wet surface, I nervously cross the rocks and leaves. I pause and look around to gauge where I am. Trees. Trees everywhere. I am in the woods. How did I end up in the woods and I can’t remember how I got here? I keep replaying this question in my mind.   

  I realize the man is ahead of me a little bit now. I better try and catch up. I need answers. I need to figure out what happened and how I ended up here. As I start to get catch up to the man, I start to see an outline of a small cabin. As we get closer, I see smoke trying to rise through the rain without much luck. We reach the door of the cabin, and the man turns the lock with an old key. The key has a weird shape on top of it, like vines being intertwined.  

  Click.  

  He pushes the door open and makes his way into the low lit room. Red glowing logs burn in the fireplace and the warmth feels so inviting after being in the downpour outside. The man motions me to sit as he points to an old rocking chair near the fire. I slowly make my way to the chair and sit down. The fire crackles as heat fills up the cabin. The man comes over and sits in the rocking chair across from me. He looks at me with a calm, mild smile.   

  “Wren, how did you end up all the way back here near double knob? The search and rescue teams have been out for two weeks looking for you. They were going to call off the search tomorrow. Thankfully, I was going through that area back to my cabin when I saw you lying on the ground. You’re lucky to be alive!”  

  I take a deep breath in. I hold it for a moment. Then, I force the air out between my chapped lips.   

  “I am near double knob? As in double knob mountain in north Georgia?”  

  “Yes, and it’s a good 10-mile hike to get this deep in the woods. I don’t suppose you remember how you got here. Do you?” the man asked curiously.   

  “N…N…N….Nooo, I honestly don’t remember how I got here. I have been thinking about it since you found me.”   

The man sighs pitifully.

  “Follow me to the guest room. There is a small twin-sized bed where you can get some rest. I will find you a dry shirt to put on” the man says reassuringly.   

  “Thank you for saving me. If you hadn’t found me…. I don’t know if I would of….”  

  “Shhhhhh… We won’t have none of that negative talk around here. You’re safe now. We will get you rested up so we can make the trip back to town tomorrow.”  

  I take a deep slow breath and take the shirt from the man.   

  “What is your name? You know mine but haven’t told me yours.”  

  The man pauses. He looks down at the floor and then back up at me with sorrowful eyes. It is as if there is something he wants me to know but won’t say it.   

  “Rusty. My name is Rusty.”  

  “Well, Rusty. It is nice to meet you.”  

  “Alright, enough with the small talk. You better get in that bed and get some rest, young lady. We got a long day ahead of us tomorrow” Rusty replies.   

  The door creaks closed as I shut it. I walk over to the small bed. I change into the dry shirt Rusty handed me. I place my clothes on a drying rack next to the bed. I pull back the cover on the mattress and climb in. The blanket wraps around me like it’s hugging my body. I close my eyes and tell myself; I am going to be okay. 

  It is all going to be okay.   

***

  The sun’s rays are streaming through the dirty window. The broken rays which look like warm colored shards of glass. I get out of bed and walk over to the window. The sun has just risen above the horizon line. The forest around the cabin seems to be coming back to life. The rain has stopped, and everything looks like it is trying to dry out after a flood. I see a black crow sitting on a branch in the distance. Weird. He looks as if he is watching me. Everytime I make a movement his beady dark eyes mimic the movement. My skin starts to tingle and the hairs on my arm start to rise. Don’t be a drama queen Wren. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a bird sitting on a stupid limb, I say to myself. Birds mimic people all the time. Don’t they? Quit being so irrational.   

  I walk over to the bedroom door and peek through the crack as it slowly opens. The fire has burnt down since last night and the room is a lot darker now. Just a faint glow from the remaining embers. I peek my head out of the door and look around. I don’t see Rusty anywhere.   

  “Hello?”  

  “Rusty? Are you here?”  

  “Hello?”  

  My anxiety starts to peak. I hope he didn’t just leave me here in this cabin all alone in the middle of the woods! My heart starts thumping and I start to wring my hands as they become moist with beads of sweat. Rusty is nowhere to be found. I walk quickly back to the bedroom and put on my now dry clothes. At least they managed to dry out overnight. I walk back into the kitchen area that is right outside the bedroom door. I looked around for a note from Rusty. I wanted to see if he left something to let me know where he was going. The table and counters are empty. Well, I am not going to wait around here all day for him to return. He said it was a 10-mile hike back to town. Surely, I can make that hike by myself. I need to get back home and let everyone know I am okay.  I am not sure how long I have been gone. 

  I find an old backpack hanging on a hook by the front door. I grab it and look around for supplies to take with me. I find a box of matches. There is also a small, slightly rusted pocket knife. I discover an old, dusty, black water bottle. Additionally, I see a small section of blue nylon cord bunched up. I gather the supplies, fill up the water bottle and push the front door open. The smell of crisp mountain air coats the inside of my nostrils. I take a deep breath. The air smells so clean and sweet. It’s like I am relishing the first bite of a hot Krispy Kreme doughnut. The sun feels warm and inviting, yet I still feel a hint of black haze lurking in the darkness’ crevasses.  

  The dirt trail is directly in front of me. I will start there. I start walking toward the worn-down path as it curves off in the distance. I shuffle at a snail’s pace as I think back at what I have just been through. The mountain would call my name every day as the wind’s voice carried it through the trees. I hear my name faintly dance on the breath as it blew right past me. The mountain was forcing me to stay within its grasp. I was too scared to leave because terrible things would happen.   

  One morning, I tried to find a way off the mountain. I got close enough to see the bottom of the mountain. Suddenly, a vine shoots straight out of the ground and grabs hold of my ankle. I dig my fingers into the earthy pieces of soil and try to grab onto anything that will keep me from being pulled back up. The vine is pulling and tightening around me like a mother strangling her child, refusing to let go. I scream.  

  “Let me go!” 

  “Let me go now!”  

  The vine is yanking even harder, and I can’t get it to release my flesh from its grasp. I flip over on my back and back over on my stomach, mimicking what an alligator does during the death roll. I sit up, my butt scrapes across the rough terrain, bumping along as I am being pulled. I grab the intertwined woody texture and try to pry it off my ankle. It tightens. Finally, after expelling all the energy I have, I let it take me back up the mountain. Back into the control it has over me. The vine abruptly releases its pull on my bruised and beaten body and quickly retreats back into the dirt. What the heck just happened? Feeling disoriented, I try to make sense of what just took place.   

I slowly brace myself against the pebbled soil and try to stand. My legs shake as if I am getting ready to sing in front of church. I grab hold of a branch, bend over and throw up. It was too much for my stomach to handle. I am still not as tough as I want to be. The part of me that is dying to be released. The part that is like a wild lion trapped in a cage. It waits for the opportunity to seek revenge on its captors. Tears start to cascade along the delicate ridges of my face. I breathe in and out. I let the frustration, pain, and hurt I feel come out in one loud agonizing sob. I take a few deep breaths. I try to calm myself down.

  My wailing dries up. I have blotches of dampness from my eyes all the way down my cheeks. Bubbles of snot pop out of the bottom of my nostrils. I stand up straight. I tear off a corner of my shirt and blow the Nickelodeon slime from my nose. I can’t let this mountain break me down to nothing. I need to fight. I need to try to stand up to it so I can be free from this place. I must be strong. I want to be strong. Everything in me wants to fight back with such power that a hurricane would seem like a lullaby. I wipe the blotches off my face and get mad.   

  I get REAL mad.  

  I snap back into reality as I stub my food on a rock in the pathway.   

  “Ouch! Stupid girl, you can’t even walk right without hurting yourself” I cry out.   

  Why I randomly condemn myself is beyond me. My mother was always the one condemning me. I always felt like I was fighting for my life. She wanted to hurt me, and in her sick mind, I believe she enjoyed it. It was like she wanted to see me suffer and would laugh in my face if I cried. The twisted thinking of her “I am teaching you a lesson; you will thank me one day” mentality will always haunt me.   

  She forced me to become someone I had no wish to be. It was the “Lord’s will” for her to be my authority in life. Afterall, that’s why the Lord made her my mother, right? I roll my eyes. Give me a break. I chuckle at the thought of her not knowing who the Lord was if he was standing next to her. I feel slight guilt as if I have just condemned my soul to eternal damnation for such evil thoughts. What is wrong with me? I laugh to myself. It’s the twisted mountain of a mother who made me this way.  

***

  I feel like I have been walking endlessly without any hope in sight. My feet are filthy and bruised from tripping earlier. I guess I should have prepared better and not worn my Chaco’s. I snort laugh. I remember how much I love the feeling of laughter. A feeling that has awakened in my soul which feels as if it has been dormant for an eternity. Can you be amused by yourself? For me it is. I chuckle. Yeah, Wren you’re actually pretty funny and lovable if people would just get to know the real you. Maybe if your mother knew the real you, she choose to love you too. Unfortunately, she is too sickly to choose that.   

  Without warning ahead of me on the trail, some bushes start to shake wildly. I stop petrified in my tracks. If it’s an animal, I will as well lie down and give up. There is no way this body is gonna out run an animal. Nope. It’s the end. Just give up now as if I am trying to talk myself into being a free meal. The rustling in the bushes stops abruptly.   

  “Hello?”  

  “Is anyone there?”  

  I quietly listen to the deafening silence that has fallen. Funny. I don’t hear any birds, wind, leaves, or crickets. I hear nothing. Suddenly the bushes start to shake again. This time more violently. I inch my way towards the bushes because I am that stupid yet curious. I reach the leafy green plant. My heart is hammering in my chest. I slowly reach out to pull back some of the leaves and….  

  “AHHHHHHHH!! You’re a human!”  

  Screaming loudly, I respond back.  

  “Yes, I am a human, and you are a raccoon!” 

   “A TALKING raccoon!” I freakishly reply.  

  “Why yes, I am. Sorry I didn’t mean to scream at you like that. You startled me. I don’t see humans very often here.”  

“Here? Where exactly is here? We are on planet earth near double knob mountain in north Georgia. You’re a freaking talking raccoon. I am losing my mind. Yep in 3…2…1… Commence the admittance to the nearest mental hospital. Mother would be so proud” I reply sarcastically.

  “Um, I’m not sure what that means, but there are no mental hospitals in this area. You will have to go to town for that.”  

  “Town? As in people? As in real humans?” I question.   

“Yes, Lucid Lake is just down the path from here. If that is where you are heading. I will not be joining you.” says the furry creature.

I let out a huge laugh.

“If I brought a talking raccoon to town with me, I would surely be checked into the mental health facility. My mother would think that I am poisoned with witchcraft or something. What have you done to my sweet daughter? The good one that I know is in there.”

I can hear her voice in my head. She sometimes resorts back to a childlike mentality when dealing with me. Her high-pitched venomous tone would make your skin crawl and yet sound sweetly innocent at the same time. UGH. That woman has made me hate her. I despise her with every fiber of my being. She makes me hate myself for having her blood flow freely through my veins.

  “Miss, are you heading to town or somewhere else? Can I help you in some way?”  

  “Um, yes actually you can. See I was found in the woods yesterday by a man named Rusty. He had on a bright yellow rain slicker and found me lying in the middle of nowhere. He was gentle and kind to me. He lives in the woods back up the path from here.”  

  The raccoon looked at me puzzled and lets out a low confused tone.   

  “You met Rusty?”  

“Yes, didn’t you just hear me? He saved me yesterday in the storm. Found me in the woods and took me to his cabin. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be here right now.”

  The raccoon stares at me with wide eyes, like he has just been electrocuted.   

  “Oh no. No. No. No. You don’t happen to remember how you got there, in the woods, do you?” the raccoon asked cautiously.  

  I study his expression and the way the words fall out of his mouth. He looks worried and slightly alarmed at what I just told him. I wonder why? What does he know that he isn’t telling me?   

  “I… I remember being on Double Knob Mountain. I was trying to leave, and the mountain kept pull-”  

  I don’t get to finish. The sound of a murder of crows sitting perched in the nearby trees grows intensely loud. The cute fuzzy critter has grabbed my hand and is pulling me away from the path. He pulls me down to his level, so our eyes meet at an equal height. He gently grabs each side of my face with his soft, furry paws.   

  “You need to listen to me. You have got to go. The mountain, if it knows you have escaped, you will be in great danger!”  

  I gasp and pull my face away from his paws.   

  “What do you mean? I just wanted to find Rusty and thank him for saving me.”  

  The raccoon shakes his head.  

  “Dear girl. You have got to get away. Once you leave the mountain, it will hunt you down and kill you. It will not let you exist in the world once you have experienced it. It won’t let you expose its secrets. You are now a threat. You need to go now. Don’t stop until you get to the county line!”  

  He grabs my hand and starts pulling me to a smaller path off to the left. The path is overgrown but still used.   

  “Go. Follow this path all the way to the county line. Once you pass the county line, you will be out of the mountain’s grasp. You must go now!”  

  Fear engulfs every inch of my body. I feel as if I am going to pass out. The raccoon starts to become hazy in my view and everything around me starts to blur.   

  Then Darkness.   

  “Wren?”  

  “Can you hear me?” a raspy little voice says echoing in my ears.  

  My eyes open slightly, and I try to focus on the gray and white blur standing above me.  

  “Wren, you passed out. We must get you to safety now.”  

  Suddenly, the same murder of crows flies over head in a perfectly shaped cross formation.

  Weird.  

   I sit up as quickly as I can. Wiping off my shirt and pants. My black Chaco’s are covered in dirt. I look at the big eyes of the raccoon standing beside me like a protector. I let out a little laugh.   

  “Wren, what is so funny? We must hurry.”  

“Has anyone ever told you that you remind them of Rocket from Guardians of the Galaxy? A cute little hero who is gonna save me from the bad guys” I snort.

  “I don’t see what that is funny. You are in danger and yes, I have heard that once from a girl about your age. Her name was….”  

  The raccoon pauses. 

  “Never mind, forget I said anything” the raccoon says sharply.  

  “What? What is it? Who was she? What was her name?”  So many questions cascade through my head all at once.   

 “I said never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.”  

  I feel like I have just been scolded by a stuffed animal. I feel the heat rushing to my face as I try to hold back the whimper I feel coming on.   

  “Wren. I am sorry to snap at you, but we must go!”  

  I hear the screeching caw of crows as they scour the sky above as if they are looking for something to torment with their predatory disposition. The raccoon is tugging my hand, and his tiny nails start to dig in like sewing needles to the skin. I screech in pain as he pulls me along the overgrown line in the cracked clay. He is tugging and trying to run but my weight is slowing him down. I am forcing him to expel all his energy in hurrying me along.   

***

  The crows seem to be chasing us. I feel like we are being watched from above, so I don’t step out of line or bam! Punishment will be inevitable. I pick up my pace. With every faster step I take, the raccoon seems to push me to go quicker. There is a bend up ahead on the path. I watch it as the curve comes closer in my view. Instead of following the path around the corner, the raccoon veers to the right. Then, it goes down a slight embankment. I try to watch my footing. I don’t want to slip and fall on the leaves and branches draped across the hillside floor. I grab onto a small river birch tree.

  I know these trees well. When I was 10, I used to read journals and wanted to become a famous arborist like Alex Shigo. Sheldon Hill Supply Company classifies Shigo as the father of Modern Arboriculture. They sell his Modern Arboriculture book. We finish the descent from the hill. He leads me to a little cave off to the side. The crows are still examining from above but seem to be distantly behind us now.   

The raccoon pulls me into the damp black void. I abruptly see a glimmer of light ahead of us in the back of the cave. As we get closer, it becomes brighter. Suddenly, the small cave walls burst into a vast opening. I am hit with a sheet of white light. Shielding my eyes, so I don’t lose the raccoon in the brilliance raining down on us. Once my eyes adjust, I look around and see raccoons everywhere! Big ones, small ones, fat ones, skinny ones, young, and old. The ground they are standing on is coated in the softest moss, like puffs of green cotton spun into carpet.

  A trickle of water flows from an opening above in the center of the cave. You can see a glimpse of the sky through the top. There are river birch trees scattered all around. I notice little homes made from branches with tiny birch doors and moss-covered roofs. A small dark mulch pathway that leads from house to house. All the raccoons freeze with fear. I suspect they see me as the big bad wolf trying to blow their house down. At least, that is how I am feeling.   

  “It’s okay everyone! “Don’t be afraid” the raccoon says loudly while lifting his furry hands in the air.   

  “She is with me. We need to protect her from the mountain. The crows were chasing us, and I knew we would be safe in here.”  

  “Why would you bring her here?!” says a small screechy voice in the crowd.  

  “You know it’s against our laws to help humans. Why would you break the law and put us all in danger? Especially if the crows were following you!”   

  A raccoon is parting his way through the sea of other raccoons. He comes to the front facing us directly. He is an older raccoon with a lot of scruffy gray wires all over his face. He uses a twisted birch walking stick to keep his balance. I assume he is the one in charge of the multitude that lives here. I stand there frozen, unsure of what to do or say.   

  “Pops, listen, she needed help. The mountain was after her. We have seen this before with Rusty’s daughter. I couldn’t just leave her.”  

  My jaw…

  Drops…

  Open.

  Did he just say Rusty’s daughter? Wait. What?! Rusty had a daughter? Why didn’t he tell me when I met him? I shift my weight from one leg to the other.   

“Rusty had a daughter? Why didn’t you tell me?!” I question the raccoon that brought me here.

I hear gasps and quiet chatter echo through the crowd that has gathered around the older raccoon. The old raccoon lifts his right paw into the air and a calm silence rushes over the crowd.

  “Enough! For some reason you feel the need to rescue her because of what happened before with the other girl. She can sleep in the back of the cave away from our homes.”  

  “Pops, please. Don’t make her sleep in the back. It’s damp and dark back there.”  

  I place my hand on the shoulder of the raccoon pleading my case.   

  “My answer is final, River. You can sleep back there too since you like to disobey orders.”  

The raccoon drops his head to the ground. I can’t tell if he is embarrassed, mad, or hurt. He sighs heavily as he leads me towards the back of the cave. It is intensely dark. The light from the opening barely reaches the beginning of the void. The raccoon grabs a torch from the wall as we walk into the darkness.

“River. Your name is River. Why didn’t you tell me that when I ran into you? I wasn’t sure you even had a name.”

  The raccoon sighs and rolls his eyes.   

  “My focus was on saving you. Not exchanging names. Here we are. This is where we will sleep.”  

  We come to a small room that has beds made from leaf piles. The green and brown leaves all bunched together to form a mattress on the rocky floor. He shines the torch around before placing it in a metal holder on the side of the wall.   

  “You take that one over there” river points to the left.   

  I walk over to the pile of leaves and slowly lower myself on top of them. My body is sore and tired. I yawn as I can feel the sleep starting to invade my consciousness.   

  “We will worry about what do with you tom……” silent bleakness drowns out the words coming from his bristly snout. Too tired to ask any questions or to even care, I am carried off to another place in my dreams. Far away from here.   

***

  “Wake up. Wake up. We need to hurry.”  

  My body is being pushed forcefully as my eyes strain to open.   

  “What happened? Where am I? What is going on?” I blurt out.  

  “No time for questions. We must go. The crows spotted us coming into the cave yesterday. We must leave. If they let the mountain know you are here, we will all be dead.”  

I quickly stand up and follow River through a small crack in the side of the rock wall. The torch struggles to illuminate our pathway. The path is narrow, and I have to turn sideways as it is becoming increasingly tight. Suddenly, a puff of air hits me in the face. The warm glow of the morning sun pierces my skin. We are back outside of the cave.

  “Was that a shortcut or something?” I ask.  

  “We don’t use that pathway very much. It is more like an emergency exit.”  

  “Well can you tell me what is going on? I mean you rushed me awake and now I am following you back into the woods?”  

  River doesn’t say anything. He just keeps walking like he is on an important mission to save the world from an impending asteroid. We come up to a small stream. River dunks the torch into the water. The flame goes out. He turns to look at me with aggravation in his eyes.  

  “Listen. Sit down for a minute. I need to tell you something.”  

  I obey and find a big rock that is a perfectly shaped seat. He sighs heavily.  

  “Rusty, the man you met. Had a daughter, her name was Ellie. You and her look alike. She was trapped by the mountain. The mountain wanted to keep her in its grasp. Ellie had gone on a solo hike into the backcountry when she took a wrong turn” river sighs heavily.   

“Why didn’t Rusty tell me any of this when I was in his cabin?” I ask nervously.

River pauses.

  “He probably felt guilt flood over him when he saw you. It was because of the way he let Ellie down.”  

  “Tell me River. What happened to Ellie? I need to know right now!” River expels a puff of air from his snout.   

  “Rusty and Ellie moved into the old cabin several years ago. Said it was just the two of them looking for a change in pace. Ellie’s mom had become mentally unstable, and Rusty was trying to get Ellie as far away from her as possible. The mom was caught trying to drown Ellie when she was a toddler. Pinning her down in the bathtub when the dad came home from work one day. Rusty had her committed to an insane asylum. One thing the mom kept screaming at him and Ellie while being drug out of their house was, YOU CAN’T ESCAPE MY GRASP! NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY!”  

  Goose pimples wrap over my skin like a blanket. I rub my arms as if suddenly affected by a cold breeze.   

 “What happened to her? Ellie?” I ask.  

  “Well, when Ellie took that wrong turn that day on her hike, she got caught in the mountains trap. The mountain has a vendetta against young girls like you and Ellie for some reason. If you enter the mountain, you cannot leave, or the mountain will kill you. You escaped; Ellie wasn’t so lucky.” River chokes up.   

  A small tear escapes his left beady eye.   

  “Rusty went searching for her. He could never find the entrance to the mountain. I only know the mountain’s power and purpose to hold young girls’ captive because it has been passed down in my family from generation to generation. We swore an oath not to help any humans involving anything with the mountain. We are to speak of it to no one. It is our oath to the mountain to let us live in peace. If that oath is broken, the mountain will wipe out the whole raccoon population in that cave.”  

I gasp. Unsure of what to say, I look down at my hands. I can’t believe what I am hearing. A mountain that has some special power to trap young girls. How is that even possible? There must be some explanation.

  “River, how does the mountain have special power to trap young girls? I mean, I guess at this point I shouldn’t question anything. I have been tracking and talking to a raccoon after all.” I titter nervously.   

  “Well, I have already put everyone at risk for helping you so I can’t tell you much. I will say that it didn’t happen until Rusty and Ellie moved into the cabin. That is when the essence of the mountain appeared. When you startled me at the bush, I wasn’t expecting to see another young girl. I knew right away I had to save you from the mountain’s talons.”  

  I look at River puzzled. All at once my memory comes back to me like the curtain rising on a Broadway stage.  

“I remember! I know how I ended up in the woods!” I exclaim.

   “I was pissed at my mother for snooping into my personal life. She was trying to control every aspect of it. So I decided to drive up here from Atlanta and take a hike. I heard a rumor that there is a secret trail that led to a mythical place. I felt adventurous and needed to get away. I figured, why not try to find out if the rumors were true? I took a wrong turn on the trail and ended up on the mountain. It wouldn’t let me leave but I was determined to find a way to escape.”  

  “Well, you’re lucky your alive Wren.” River says relieved.  

  “River, please tell me more about the mountain.”  

  “I can’t Wren. I will tell you one thing. Ellie’s mom died in the mental facility. Rumor has it, she had something to do with Ellie’s disappearance. Let’s just say if you put the story together as a whole and maybe you can figure it out. Okay, well, I told you what you needed to know. If I say any more the mountain will know. Now, we are all in danger and we need to get you to the county line. That is the only place where the mountain can’t reach you.”  

  I stand up and look at the sweet face of my rescuer. He is a small black and gray furry animal, but he is the bravest creature I have ever met. He is trying to save me and willing to risk the safety of his entire family to help. If that isn’t a sign of sacrifice and bravery, I don’t know what it is. I reach out and scratch the fur by his ear.   

  “River, you are the bravest raccoon I have ever met” I smile happily.   

  “Well, enough of the sentimental baby stuff. We have got to go.”  

  Suddenly, the loud screeching of crows is rising in the distance behind us.   

  “The crows are searching for us. They are informants. They report everything back to the mountain. We have need to move.”  

I quickly follow behind River as we make our way back into the thick woods that line the creek. My heart is throbbing inside of my chest as my anxiety rises. If I don’t hurry, it is the end. River scampers over a sizable log. I cross over the log in one long stride.

  “I see the sign in the distance! We are almost there!” River exclaims.  

  A vine suddenly shoots straight out of the ground. It is like a geyser that was waiting for its moment to burst.   

  “Wren! RUN!” rusty yells as the vines entrap him like a spider’s web.  

   I want to stop and help him, but I know I can’t. Without hesitation, I take off like a lightning bolt running as hard and as fast as I can. I can feel the ground shaking below my feet. I am trying to outrun the vine piercing horizontally through the ground. Sweat is beading down my face as if my pores are crying out, RUN! I push with everything in me. I have to make it to the county line.   

  I just have to.