Freedom's Treasure (11 page)

Anna’s eyes scanned the crowd, never settling too long in one place. She avoided eye contact with the leering man who leaned against the bar and had been staring a little too intently.

She leaned into Stephan. “These places are all the same. I swear I saw that guy at Pinky’s last night.”

Stephan gave the man an up and down glance. “I don’t think he’s looking at you, sweetie.” He raised his glass in a silent toast and held up a finger.
I’ll be right with you.

“Whatever.” Anna shrugged. “Don’t you ever get tired of this scene? It’s the same play, night after night.”

“Oh, honey, no. You don’t get tired of this scene, the scene gets tired of you. Not that you have to worry about that. You’re my permanent in!” he swung an arm around Anna while giving google eyes to the man at the bar.
Pay no mind, my sweet, she means nothing to me.

“I wouldn’t count on that, Stephan,” Anna replied.

Stephan swung around in alarm. “What does that mean? Oh God, you’re not about to get fired, are you?”

“Of course not! The economy being what it is, people will be hitting the bars no matter what. My job is secure. I don’t know what I meant. I’m not even sure I meant to say that.” Anna sipped her chocolate martini and pushed her bangs from her eyes.

Stephan looked at her with concern. “Do we need to go somewhere and talk?”

Anna shook off the uneasy feeling. “No, dear, I’m fine. Go talk to that hottie before someone else snatches him up. I think I’ll finish this drink and head out.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, of course!” They air kissed each other’s cheeks.

Three weeks later Anna had given notice at the newspaper, sold nearly every item in her condo and had hit the road on her journey of self-discovery.

And now here she sat, a mug of hot chocolate in hand, surrounded by the most complete silence she could have wished for. A handsome, charismatic man
with magical hands was sleeping in her bed and she felt a sense of contentment she couldn’t have imagined even a month ago.

She’d gone from a born and bred city dweller with a gas fireplace to a fully capable woman who could start a bonfire without using gasoline. She had built boxes for her flowers from plans that existed only in her head instead of buying flowerpots for a tiny balcony. It was a major life change, one she wasn’t sure she had come to terms with yet. She idly wondered what her psychiatrist cousin would say about the whole thing which reminded her that it was time to drop him an email to check in. Last she’d heard his wife was pregnant with baby number 4 and she wanted to send her congratulations.

Anna shook off the reverie and pushed herself up from the chair and felt her knees creak. She must have been sitting in the same position a little too long. She carried the empty mug to the sink and carefully rinsed it out. She was sure she’d be able to sleep now and, if not, she could wake Hunter up. And wasn’t that a kick? She had been thrilled to discover first impressions truly could be deceiving.

Her eyes settled on the table on the deck, barely illuminated by the moon and felt the hitch in her belly. Maybe she’d wake him up anyway, she thought, and turned to the stairs.

The mug dropped from her hands and shattered on the floor as a primal scream ripped through the night.

Anna was halfway to the door before she checked the impulse. It was dark outside and she was wearing only a robe. Her feet were bare and sticks, she knew, could be sharp. She whirled back to the stairs in time to ram headfirst into Hunter who had seemingly leapt down the stairs superhero style.

He gripped her shoulders. “Are you okay? I heard a scream.” He scanned her from head to toe, looking for an injury.

“It wasn’t me. I heard it, too,” Anna pushed his hands from her shoulders and wondered if she’d have light bruises there in the morning. The man either didn’t know his own strength or was more worried than she’d
have thought.

Hunter exhaled heavily. He wasn’t sure if he had taken a breath since he’d shot out of bed at the cry. His panic when he’d realized she wasn’t in the bed with him had taken a year off of his life, easily. He carefully stepped back from Anna and looked around the large room, assuring himself there was no visible threat.

“We have to go see what that was,” Anna darted up the stairs and looked for a pair of jeans. She threw on a sweatshirt on and was halfway back down the stairs before she heard what Hunter was saying.

“I’ll go check it out, you wait here,” he was digging through the pile of items they’d left on the table from her pack. He found what he was looking for, her huge Mag-Lite flashlight and moved toward the door.

“If you think I’m waiting here while you go out there alone, you’re crazy.” She slid her feet into shoes and grabbed another flashlight from a cupboard.

Hunter zipped his jeans and looked at her face. Seeing the resolve in her eyes he accepted the fait accompli. “Fine, just stay close. It’s dark out there.”

“Yes, and there are bears, I know. You mentioned that.”

“I did? The bears don’t generally come near houses, especially this time of year. There’re plenty of other food sources out there.”

“Then why in the Hell did you mention it?”

Hunter gave a half shrug and opened the screen door leading to the porch. “Do you smell that?”

Anna took a deep breath. “It smells like a fire.” She followed him out the door and around the steps. “Wait a second.” Hunter paused as she hurried back to the door and flipped on the floodlight that illuminated the front yard and fire pit.

“Stay close,” Hunter reminded her, as though she would be anywhere but on his heels. Anna had never been afraid of the dark until this night and she truly hoped she never would be again. She remembered all the flashes she’d had of slasher movies and questioned, once again, what had possessed her to move out into the middle of the woods.

The two had barely stepped beyond the circle of light when a crashing from the woods caught their attention. Hunter swept an arm out to stop Anna and turned the beam of the flashlight in that direction. To Anna’s untrained ear it sounded like someone was thrashing through the woods, uncaring where they stepped. Like they’re running for their life, she thought, and coming closer.

Anna’s stomach clenched and she realized she was shaking. She couldn’t decide if they should wait for whatever was coming to attack or if she should drag Hunter back to the safety of the cabin. Before the fear took over completely a pale figure broke from the tree line, fell forward and slid to a stop at their feet in an ungainly sprawl.

“Jason?” Hunter knelt. “Jason Snyder, is that you?” Anna noted his voice was steady and strong.

The young boy looked up, tears streaking down his cheeks and mixing with the fresh dirt on his face. “Mr. Williams, is that you?” the boy’s voice trembled and Anna noticed he couldn’t be more than 12 years old. “Oh, thank God, Mr. Williams, you have to come. It’s Evan-“

“Are you hurt?” Hunter interrupted him. Anna quickly turned her flashlight onto the boy and looked for blood or any other sign of injury.

“No, sir, it’s Evan. You’ve got to come, I don’t think he can walk.” Jason scrambled to his feet and grabbed the man’s arm. He started pulling Hunter toward the trees.

“What happened?” Hunter’s tone of command cut through Jason’s panic and as the trio moved through the trees Jason took a deep breath and gulped back the last of his tears in an attempt to “man up”.

“We’re camping out at the graves. Jimmy dared us, said we were too chicken to sleep where old Nathan is buried,” Jason looked at Hunter’s face, waiting to be told they were too young or too old for such things, he didn’t know which. Hunter merely nodded for him to go on. “We thought we heard a ghost or somethin’ so we climbed a tree.”

“You did what?” Anna asked. She wasn’t sure she was following that logic but Hunter shot her a look and she closed her mouth. Apparently now wasn’t the time to tell the boy that ghosts didn’t exist and if they did the ghosts could climb trees, too, and probably faster than little boys.
Wink poof
came to mind.

“Evan thought maybe it was Jimmy coming to scare us, we just pretended to think it was a ghost.” They were nearly to the small clearing Anna had found on her first walk and she could see the glimmer of a campfire. “So we climbed the tree and was waiting for him to come. Evan was gonna jump down and scare him.”

Hunter shook his head. He remembered something similar from his own youth but now was not the time for that story.

“What happened to Evan?”

“He slipped, Mr. Williams. He fell down from the tree and landed hard. He screamed, like, real loud.”

“We heard. Is he okay?” Hunter could see a still form on the ground just outside the illumination from the dying fire. A flashlight lay broken next to the body.

“I don’t know, he says he can’t move. Then his eyes went all funny and he went to sleep and I couldn’t wake him up.”

Hunter strode quickly to the unconscious young boy and winced. His leg was twisted in a way no leg was meant to be and there was a gash on the side of his head. Hunter turned back to Jason. “How did he fall?”

“He slipped.”

“No, I mean how did he land? Did he land on his head?”

“No, sir, his feet hit first. I couldn’t see it but I think he hit his head after. I didn’t hear it thump or nothin’ but I was climbin’ down.” Jason avoided looking at Evan. It made him queasy to see his brother’s leg twisted that way and he knew there was going to be Hell to pay when their mother found out about this.

Hunter turned to Anna. “I need you to go back to the cabin and call 9-1-1. If it was just his leg I could move him but we don’t know if he hit his head or neck. We’re going to need the stretcher and back brace.” He twitched his eyes to Jason and back to her. “Do you think you can get back there by yourself?”

Anna took the hint. “I’m not sure. Jason? Do you think you could show me how to get back?” Apparently Hunter wanted to keep Jason away from his injured older brother. Keeping him busy and giving him an important sounding task would have to work.

“Yes, Ma’am, I can take you.”

“Is it faster to go by the road or through the woods like we just came?” she asked.

“Through the woods is fastest, Ma’am.” He scooped up the flashlight he’d dropped before he’d gone tearing off for help and turned towards the cabin.

Anna kept up a brisk pace and tried to fill the silence with inane chatter as they made their way back. After she called for an ambulance she discovered she didn’t know what to do with the boy. The operator had asked her to stay at the cabin and then guide the EMTs once they arrived. Anna knew they’d hurry but it would still take 10 minutes or so. She worried about Evan and said a quick prayer for him.  

Turning to Jason she asked, “Would you like some hot chocolate?”

“No, thank you, Ma’am.” The boy looked terrified. Anna figured he had reason. “We should call my mom. She’s going to be worried.”

“Where does she think you are?”

“We told her we was staying the night at Jimmy’s. She’s gonna be so piss- I mean, angry,” he quickly corrected himself. Anna nearly grinned. Even after a near death experience Jason had manners, something lacking in a lot of today’s bigger city youth, she’d once noted in an article her editor declined to publish.

“Well, let’s give her a call. Do you want to do it or shall I?” Anna opened her cell phone and prepared to dial. Jason’s eyes went wide with the look of a trapped animal and he swallowed heavily. “I guess that means I do it,” she murmured and dialed the number he gave her.

After the short conversation an extremely anxious - and yes, pissed off - woman said she would meet the ambulance at the clinic. Anna disconnected the call and realized she could hear the whoop of the ambulance. A few seconds later she saw the flashing lights and they went out to meet it.

“I don’t think Jason or Evan will be camping again for a while,” Hunter settled into the driver’s seat of Anna’s truck and started through town. The ambulance driver wouldn’t let Jason ride with Evan so Anna and Hunter had brought him to the clinic.

“After the way Mrs. Snyder was acting, I’m not sure they’ll be sitting down all that much either.” The woman had cursed Jason up and down while hugging him tightly to her.

Hunter grinned. “Beth is more bark than bite. A
broken leg and a concussion aren’t so bad. It could have been a lot worse.” Hunter shook his head. “It’s a shame. Evan is a great running back and this year coming up is freshman.”

“It’s going to be hard watching from the sidelines,” Anna agreed. “I can’t believe those kids were camping out on a dare.”

“Don’t ever underestimate the power of a dare, especially in pre-teen boys. Their manhood was in question.”

“It’s sleeping. In a tent,” Anna looked blankly at Hunter. “I don’t get it.”

He sighed. “That’s cuz you’re a girl.”

“With cooties, I’m sure,” Anna tried not to roll her eyes, failed.

“Hey, your cooties are my cooties. We need to go back to their campsite and make sure the fire is out and pick up their stuff. They can’t do it, obviously, and the fire warning is medium high this weekend.”

“I thought you put it out while I was calling for the ambulance.”

“I did but it’s good to double-check. It’s been a little dry and your cabin would light up faster than a match,” he darted his eyes over to see if she believed him.

“Uh-huh.” She didn’t fall for it. Darn. “We’ll make sure the fire is out but if you think I’m taking a tent down at 4:30 in the morning you are way off base. We’ll do that when it’s light out and you can show me how my new metal detector works.”

“It’s a deal.”

Anna gazed up at the tree the boys had climbed the night before. After what had essentially been a nap instead of a
solid night’s sleep she found herself in a surprisingly good mood. That could have been because of Hunter’s version of a wake up call.

A strong cup of coffee can’t compete with an easy morning loving, she thought, and considered writing that down. It sounded profound in a pathetic, not-had-enough-sleep kind of way.

“They didn’t climb up very far,” she looked over her shoulder to Hunter as he pulled the tent stakes from the ground.

“That’s probably a good thing. Evan didn’t have as far to fall.” He followed her gaze. “If they’d gone up a few more limbs he might have died.”

“I don’t even want to think about that.” She shook off the thought. “Why would this Jimmy kid dare them to camp here?” She scooped up two backpacks and tossed them in the back of Hunter’s truck so he could take them in to town and drop them off. She shook her head at the candy wrappers that were evidence of the boys’ excuse of a dinner.

Hunter looked up at her while he rolled the tent and jammed it back into the bag. “The woods are really dark at night,” he paused for her unspoken “Duh”, “and there are graves right over there, one of which has no name and, as far as the boys are concerned, is older than dirt. Ghost stories abound. Oooo-,“ he wiggled his fingers and made the spooky ghost noise.