* * *
There was a bug chewing on Raven’s exposed ankle, and for half a minute, she furiously shook her leg, trying to get rid of it, only to realize it was a leaf caught in her sock all along.
“You okay?” a woman beside Raven asked.
“I’m great,” Raven replied, regaining her composure.
They were on the last mile of Doc’s five-mile forest walking tour, and Raven could honestly say if she disregarded the spider web she’d walked into face-first on mile one, the tumble she’d almost taken in mile two, and the blister currently forming on her left big toe, she’d enjoyed herself.
In no small part to Doc’s wealth of knowledge and dry humor.
For instance, at the beginning of the tour, a man asked Doc, “Does your name mean something in your language?”
“Yes, but I can’t say. It’s sacred,” Doc had replied, his sarcasm going undetected by the tourist, who nodded with apparent understanding.
As they neared the end of the tour, Doc paused to recap points he’d made the last ninety minutes.
“Remember always to look up,” Doc said. “The trail blazes on the trees will be your best guide.”
“What happens if you miss a marker and get lost?” someone asked.
“Backtrack,” Doc replied. “If that doesn’t work and you’re completely disoriented, the first thing to do is not panic. Stay put because if you’ve informed someone of your hiking plans beforehand, which you always should, people will eventually come looking. Don’t make that job harder by aimlessly wandering. If there’s a need for you to move because of danger, head downhill. That’s where a body of water that leads to a road will be.”
The group completed the final kilometers of the trail and emerged from the forest. The cabin was visible in the distance, and so was Silas, who was wrapping up a class. Not much had changed between them except that his “Good morning” that day didn’t sound quite as terse as usual.
At some point, as Raven crossed the field, she found herself walking side by side with Doc. “That was a really cool experience,” she told him.
“Thanks,” he simply said, and she assumed they’d finish the trek in silence, but he continued, “By the way, I like what you’ve done with Mountaintop’s website.”
“Oh my God, thank you,” Raven said, beaming at the unexpected compliment. “I was nervous about it, so I’m happy you like it.”
She’d been wading through her time at Mountaintop without knowing if her contributions were making an impact beyond inconveniencing Silas.
“No, yeah, it’s great,” Doc said. “I’ve been wanting to ask if you’d be interested in doing the website for the band I play in. Of course, we’d pay you.”
“Hell, yeah. I’d be happy to, but no need to pay me. I’m not a professional web designer or anything.”
This seemed to bother him, so Raven suggested he give her a ticket to the band’s next gig, and they called it even.
As they neared the cabin, Raven spotted litter strewn on the grassed area in front, so she diverted from the path to collect it.
“Why do this?” Raven mumbled to herself while picking up empty fruit cups and granola wrappers. They had many signs asking patrons to dispose of their trash properly and bins all over the property. “Hard to miss,” she said, tapping the placard as if the culprits were there to receive the reprimand.
While straightening from a bend, Raven caught something flutter in her peripheral.
Another piece of trash, she naively thought. She might’ve said it was a tuft of dead grass if she were given another chance to guess. But she would’ve also been incorrect.
It was not more trash or even grass that twitched three feet away from where she stood, but a skunk, with its signature black and white coloring, fussing over something on the ground.
A sound, a unique blend of a gasp and croak, left Raven’s mouth as she froze in place.
The animal remained unaware or unconcerned with her, though.
Laughter drew Raven’s attention to her left, and she saw Silas talking with a client nearby. He faced her direction, so she bore her eyes into him, hoping he’d look her way.
Nothing.
“Silas,” she whispered, also to no avail.
