Far Country (46 page)

           
“Come on girls. Let’s stick together now. Be looking around, in case she cut
off this trail.  In the mood she’s in, she’d probably think it funny to
sneak back around and laugh that we wasted the whole trip looking for her in
the wrong place!”

           
The group made their way along what appeared to be a seldom used rabbit trail.
Kelly’s long legs accumulated several new scratches from the undergrowth. It
was now past noon. She was getting hungry and very frustrated with Alyssa. The
sun was almost directly overhead, shining down on them in all its early autumn
intensity.  Kelly could feel the burn on her neck and shoulders.

           
After nearly ten minutes of slow progress, Kelly tried calling again, but there
was still no response.

           
Gritting her teeth, Kelly made a decision.  She pressed the call button
and held it down. “Fine!” She snapped angrily into the radio. “You win, Alyssa!
Come back in and we’ll pack up and head home this afternoon. I promise.”

           
Kelly waited awhile, wiping the sweat out of her eyes. A seed of worry sprouted
in her mind, and began to overrun the anger she had been feeling up until now.
Alyssa wasn’t’ behaving rationally and she had been sullen and ill tempered for
two days now, but would she deliberately refuse to reply to her Aunt? Or…had
something else…happened?  Doubt and anger warred in her head. 
Suddenly she realized that Megan, Jenny and Rachel were watching her anxiously.

           
Kelly tried calling Alyssa one more time. “Okay, Alyssa. This has gone far
enough. I am sorry if I did not take your feelings as seriously as maybe I
should have, but honey, you know that I love you, and now you are scaring
me.  Just answer me, Alyssa. Come out of your hiding place and we’ll talk
this through. No repercussions, I promise.”

She waited a minute and
pressed the button. “Come on, Alyssa.  Time to come in.”

           
They waited a long time, but there was nothing. Not even static.  Kelly
rubbed her forehead, and tried to breathe normally.  Panic was about to
fuddle her thinking. Was it time to get help? Should she keep searching?
Carefully she looked at the girls’ worried faces, still silently turned to her.

           
“This isn’t like her,” Megan said, a quiver in her voice. “Even when she’s mad,
she wouldn’t not answer you, Aunt Kelly.”

           
Kelly smiled wanly.  “I agree, Megan. I think it’s time we ask for help.”
She thought for a moment. “Turn off your radio and give it to me, in case my
batteries die,” she instructed Megan. “Now listen to me girls.  I want the
three of you to go back down the trail and head for the Visitor’s Center. Tell
everyone that you meet that Alyssa is missing. Let them know what she was
wearing, what she looks like, and ask if they’ve seen her, but don’t waste a
lot of time. Find a park ranger and tell them that I’m still up here
looking.  Let them know that Alyssa got mad and took off and we haven’t
had contact with her in,” Kelly looked at her watch. “Wow, in almost two hours,
now.” Kelly took a deep breath to still her nerves.  “You three must stay
together, no matter what,” she cautioned them. “Promise me!” She insisted as
she saw Jenny start to form the words ‘but what if’ in protest. “I can’t worry
about your safety, too, so just do it, okay?  When you find a ranger give
him or her one of your radios so they can call me.” Kelly thought a second.
“You should probably head to our campsite, just in case she went back there.
Then either stay there, or stay with a ranger until we figure out what happened
with Alyssa. I don’t care how worried you are, you three must stay together,
okay?’

           
The girls nodded, their eyes wide in apprehension. They hurried back up the
trail ahead of Kelly.  For awhile, she heard them calling Alyssa’s name as
they went, but soon their voices grew fainter. 

           
Kelly took a deep breath and pushed on down the trail a bit further, then
stopped and looked at the thick undergrowth critically for the first time since
Megan had told her Alyssa had come this way. The further she went, the more
overgrown the path became. There was no sign that anyone had broken a trail
through here except for her. Kelly shook her head. Alyssa would not have come
this way. The spider webs alone would have slowed her to a stop. Alyssa hated
spiders!
She must have turned off the trail,
Kelly reasoned,
and we
missed her.

           
Feeling certain of this, she turned
back, walking slowly and looking for some sign of where Alyssa might have cut
off of the meandering trail.  Occasionally she attempted to call her on
the radio. Once, Megan called to let her know that they were off the top and
heading down the gravel trail, and that so far, no one had seen her sister.

           
Kelly sighed. She had hoped that Alyssa had simply walked to the head of the
trail under Hanging Rock and that the girls would find her sitting on one of
the benches waiting for them on their way down.

           
Shaking her head to clear away the panic, Kelly retraced their steps. She searched
the trees behind the popular areas of Hanging Rock and checked some alternate
and seldom traveled side trails that led down the steep hill.

           
Less than thirty minutes had passed when Kelly’s radio beeped to life. “Aunt
Kelly?” Megan called.

           
“Yeah honey, where are you?”

           
“Aunt Kelly, we’re with one of the rangers. He just drove us to the campsite.
She’s not here, and none of her stuff is missing.”  Kelly’s heart went
cold. She realized now how much she had been counting on the girls finding her
at the campsite. She stood limply in the middle of the trail, unable to think
what to do next.

           
“Aunt Kelly? The ranger wants to talk to you.”

           
“Yes,” Kelly called back faintly. “I’m here.”

           
A deep voice came through the radio waves. “Miss McGuire? This is Ranger
Bergan
. We’re getting together a search party now, and
we’ll be on our way up to join you in about fifteen minutes or so. If it’s all
right with you, we’ll keep the girls down here at the Visitor’s Center.”

           
Kelly could hear the chorus of protests at the ranger’s suggestion, and for a
moment she smiled. “Yes,” she called back, her voice firm.  “Please keep
them down there.”

           
“Fine. We’ve also alerted the campsites next to yours to watch for her, in case
she shows up.”

           
Kelly squeezed the talk button. “I appreciate it,” she responded. “Just, please
hurry.” Kelly heard the quiver of fear in her own voice.
Don’t panic
,
she warned herself sternly.
Think of Alyssa!
 

           
“We’re loading the truck right now,” came the calm and reassuring reply. Kelly
just wished that she felt reassured. Numbly she walked down the steep half mile
of trail that led from the top of Hanging Rock to the base of the huge overhang.
She was relatively certain that Alyssa was not still at the top. She knew that
the truck could drive up the wide gravel road to the trailhead, and she wanted
to make contact with the rescue party as quickly as possible.

           
Rescue party! Kelly shivered. How could those two words contain so much hope
and so much fear at the same time? Kelly waited forlornly where the road
ended.  She couldn’t believe one of her girls was missing! She wiped away
a tear, with some surprise.  She hadn’t realized that she was crying.

           
Once again, but no longer with the expectation of receiving a response, Kelly
pushed the call button twice, which she knew would cause Alyssa’s radio to ring
like a telephone. She pushed the button several more times, willing her niece
to respond to the ringtone.
Where are you, Alyssa? Are you sulking
somewhere? Hearing this, but refusing to answer? Or are you lying hurt and
alone and lost out there, unable to call for help? Or, had somebody kidnapped
her…?
 No!  Kelly refused to even think of that
possibility! 
 But what if she was running away and LET someone
pick her up?
Kelly felt sick, even thinking about it. 

           
It was getting so late, Kelly thought looking up at the sky.  Soon, she
would have to call Alyssa’s parents and tell them…oh, what could she tell them?
They had gone to Tennessee for the weekend. They wouldn’t be able to make it
back tonight, even if she called them right now. Kelly decided to wait until
the rangers had a chance to look for Alyssa.  It would be better if she
could at least tell them something.

           
Unable to do anything else while she was waiting, Kelly began praying in
earnest. Every minute or two she paused and hit the call button, then she paced
and prayed some more, the radio clutched tightly in her hand in case Alyssa
should decide to call her. Kelly had lost count of the number of times she had
hit that call button when suddenly her radio crackled to life.
        

           
“Aunt Kelly?” The voice was thin and
waivery
. 
Kelly stared at the little radio. Had she really heard it, or had she imagined
it?

           
Trembling she pressed the talk button. “Alyssa?” She cried desperately. “Honey,
where are you?”  The silence stretched interminably. Finally, the weak
voice spoke again.

           
“Aunt Kelly, I fell…” the voice trailed off and Kelly’s heart was in her
throat.  She thought of the free climbers on the huge cliffs. Surely
Alyssa had not climbed down there…?” The instant joy she had felt course through
her at the sound of Alyssa’s voice was quickly drowned by the reality. 
Alyssa was hurt and she had no idea how to get to her.

           
“Alyssa? I hear you, honey.” Kelly spoke loud and slow. She clutched the radio
in front of her, as if willing a map to appear to show her the way to her
niece.  “Alyssa, where are you? Where did you go to? We’re looking for
you, honey. Please help us!”

           
“I went to the left,” she said. “I was going to climb back up, but my foot
slipped on the edge. I fell over…’

           
Left?
Kelly thought wildly.
Left of What
?

           
“Alyssa!” she called back. “Alyssa! Left of what? Where were you when you
fell?”  Alyssa, speak to me!”

           
But Alyssa didn’t reply.

           
At last, a white truck rounded the curve and pulled up as close to the base as
it could go.  Four rangers piled out, carrying ropes and flashlights.
Kelly did not wait. She charged up to the driver of the truck. “I heard her!
She called me just now! She fell and she’s hurt, I think.”

           
The ranger’s face lit up. “Is she still talking? Did she tell you where she
fell from?” He asked eagerly.

           
Kelly shook her head. “She faded off after a minute, but I was just getting
ready to try her again.” Kelly pressed the call button fiercely. She repeated
the call process making the radio ring over and over, hoping the noise would
rouse Alyssa. “Alyssa!” She called loudly into the mike. “Alyssa!” She called
several times.

           
 “Aunt Kelly?” At last! Kelly blessed the little radio.

           
“Alyssa! Listen to me! Don’t fade out, honey. Tell me where you were when you
fell! We’re trying to find you, but we need your help!”

           
Alyssa called back again, and Kelly’s heart jumped with hope. “I came down to
wait for you, but I got bored.  I was going to climb up the crevice but I
got too close to the edge and I slipped.” Alyssa’s voice was tired and weak.
Something about it didn’t sound right. Kelly bit her lip.

           
“But where did you fall from, Alyssa? Where is ‘left’?” They waited but Alyssa
did not respond. Kelly looked up at the tall brown haired ranger standing
beside her, who had been listening intently to the thin tired voice on the
radio.  She saw his name tag. PETE BERGAN.

           
Ranger
Bergan
looked at the other rangers. “ Okay,
she said she ‘came down, got bored and went left.’ My guess is that she was
right here, and went left,” he pointed to the rocky ground opposite the
trailhead. “around the barrier and along the wall.”

           
“Yeah, it makes sense. Let’s walk that way first.” At the sound of the second
man’s voice Kelly’s head jerked up and she looked around. “Steve?” She
whispered, feeling idiotically glad that he was there. She found herself
smiling happily into his grave blue eyes.

           
“Hey Kelly,” Steve said gently.  He took her hand for just a moment and
gave it a firm squeeze of encouragement. “She’s a fighter. If she’s where we
think she is, we’ll have her back to you in no time.” He assured her.

           
Quickly they skirted the barriers and worked their way along a narrow deer path
that wrapped around the base of the summit.  The ground to their left was
a tree covered slope that rapidly fell away near the base of Hanging Rock until
the track was a narrow ribbon of horizontal trail in a nearly vertical
plane.  Kelly stepped carefully, following close on Steve’s heels. Ranger
Bergan
was leading the way, and two other rangers, a
Charles McIntyre and a woman named Jill Jamison, were close behind her. At a
gully wash, Steve automatically reached back and took her hand to help her over
the loose tumble of shale rock, and Kelly clung to his fingers, reluctant to
let go. Steve held her hand for a moment as he scanned the area, then he looked
at Kelly and said “Maybe you should try ringing her again. I think we might be
close enough now to hear her radio ring.”