Lost and Found: Chapter 4

By: Savanna Proffit

Chapter 3 Recap:

“Think of it this way, we get to leave this spot and get started sooner than we would if we had to wait for Kayla to get here.” Nathen tried to bring a positive tone to the conversation.

So, after the boys finished snacking, they picked more berries for the trail, packed up all of their stuff, and headed off into the woods to travel wherever they felt like going.

Chapter 4:

Kayla slammed the trunk of her car shut and got out her satellite phone to look at the coordinates her mom sent her. Then, with her camera hanging around her neck, her hiking pack on her back, and her dog, Sterling, by her side, she set off through the forest and let her GPS lead her to her family's campsite.

As she walked, Kalya studied her surroundings. Birds flew from tree to tree; squirrels scurried across the ground; the sun shone brightly in the sky without a cloud in sight. There was a small pond down to her left and a large clearing up to her right. There were rocks scattered all across the ground with an occasional boulder here and there. A deer and her fawn stood grazing in the woods beside her, but they quickly bounced out of sight when they saw her.

She looked at her GPS and noticed she was almost there. Another pond, this one surrounded by boulders, sat to her right, and up ahead, as she climbed the hill, was a small clearing. The clearing where her family was waiting for her. She could not wait to see them.

“Hello! I’m here!” she yelled and listened for a reply, but none came. Odd, they should be able to hear me…she thought.

When she reached the top of the hill it was almost one. She looked around her and saw nothing but an old fire pit surrounded by big logs; there were only the signs that her family had been there, but that looked like it was hours ago. Her family was nowhere in sight; no footprints for her to follow; no broken sticks to indicate which way they went; not even a piece of trash. 

“Mom!...Dad!...Christopher!...Josh!...Taylor!” Kayla yelled several times; each time she waited for a sound; a faint yell; something; anything. She walked around some more and looked for clues as to which way they could have gone, but there was nothing. She sat down on one of the big logs and took out her satellite phone and her lunch. Kayla unwrapped her sandwich and took a bite as she tried to turn on the phone. It did nothing. The screen was blank. She held down the power button and it finally buzzed and turned on for a split second; just long enough for her to see that it was dead. 

Kayla was so upset that she felt like crying. Why didn’t they wait for me? She felt betrayed. As she ate her sandwich, she tried to think of the most logical route her parents would have taken. There was a trail going back the way she came and then it turned right and went off into the forest. There was a small trail going up the hill on the other side of the clearing. There were a few other tiny trails, but she did not think her family would have taken them. Her family was very adventurous not afraid to blaze new trails. Kayla figured that they would have taken a random path, but that path could have been anywhere.

When she finished her lunch and decided on what she thought was the most logical route, she put on her pack and started to walk, all the while, she prayed that she was going the right way.

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“All right men, today we are going to split up,” Mark said.

“Split up? Like in pairs or by ourselves?” Jack asked, a bit surprised.

“By yourself of course,” Mark replied matter of factly.

Jack and George looked at each other and then at Mark. “By ourselves?”

“Yep” Mark chuckled

“Oh, come on guys, it won’t be that bad, right Mark?” Waylen shared a grin with Steven and then looked to Mark for an answer.

“Exactly, you guys will be split up in half-mile sections. You’ll be looking for any signs of hurt wildlife, disturbed plant life, and anything that looks out of place or interesting. You’ll be staying in your area all day and we will meet up here, at camp, for dinner at 5:00 to discuss what you found. Understood?” Mark explained.

  “Yes, sir,” all four of them said in unison. They waited for Mark to go on and tell them where they were to go.

“Alrighty then, Waylen you’ll be going to the north; Steven you’ll head to the south; George to the west; and Jack, you will go to the east. Now, finish up your breakfast and get your stuff all packed up, then get on your way. You can take pictures of your findings on your GPS Satellite phones and make sure to remember which way you went in case it dies.” 

They each nodded their heads and liked the idea. George was the first to go, then Jack and Steven. Finally, after making sure he had everything together and had his breakfast cleaned up, Waylen left and headed for his area of land. He mentally made a plan for his day. He would walk around and explore for the morning, then stop for lunch at noon, after that, he would explore some more and then head back around four to make sure he had plenty of time to get back to camp before dinner and most certainly before dark.

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Kayla walked along and hummed to herself a pretty song, Bless the Lord Oh My Soul. Night time was coming fast and she was trying to search for a nice little spot to make camp for the night. She could not wait to eat her beef stew. It was her favorite Mountain House meal. All she had to do was add some boiling water, stir it, and let it sit for a while. Then she could let the delicious hot stew warm her to the core.

Darkness was creeping over the forest. Kayla still had not found a spot to settle in for the night. She heard coyotes howling in the distance. 

It was completely dark now and Kayla was still singing and walking along when she heard a stick crack somewhere close by. She stopped her singing and stood completely still, trying to listen. Her heart started to pound a little in her chest and then a coyote howled even closer than before; it sounded like it was coming closer from in front of her. She completely forgot about the stick that cracked somewhere in the woods behind her for a moment and turned around and ran back the way she came. The coyote howled again and it sounded closer than ever as a searing pain shot from her ankle up to her knee. Kayla did not stop even with the pain setting her leg on fire but let out a scream and before she had time to look up from watching her feet run across the ground, she ran face-first into a man. She screamed again, stepped back, then flung her arms around the stranger and started crying.

The stranger returned the embrace for a short minute then, “Mam, Mam, are you okay?”

“Yes, yes, I’m so sorry. I usually don’t go around crying and clinging to strangers…” Kayla looked up, her eyes widened, and a gasp escaped her throat. 

“Waylen?”

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Waylen was just walking through his parcel of land, on his way back to camp. He was heading back a little later than he wanted. It was dark already.

Suddenly, he stopped. Is that singing? He listened. It was singing. He moved toward the lovely sound of music coming from the little hill below him. As he got closer, it became clearer. It was a woman. All alone in the woods? A woman? What on earth is a woman doing out here in the middle of nowhere in the dark? He walked towards the pretty voice. CRACK! A stick broke beneath the pressure of his boot. The singing stopped and so did he. Coyotes howled around in the distance and out of nowhere the woman screamed and ran towards him. She ran head first, screaming, into his chest. She stepped back from him a second then clung to him and started crying. Waylen did not know what to do, so he returned the embrace and held her for a few moments. 

“Mam, Mam, are you okay?” Waylen asked softly, trying to soothe away her tears.

“Yes, yes, I’m so sorry. I usually don’t go around crying and clinging to strangers…” She stopped.

“Waylen?”

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“Kayla?” Waylen squinted into the darkness and tried to look into her eyes.

“Is it really you?” Kayla asked, out of breath as she wiped away her tears.

“Yeah, it is. What are you doing out here? And all alone?” Waylen asked with wide eyes.

“Well, my family started doing a yearly backpacking trip up here a while back, you remember, right? Anyway, I couldn’t leave with them because of work so they left ahead of me, all except for Megan; she wasn’t feeling well. I was supposed to meet them earlier today. I got to their campsite, the exact coordinates my mom sent me the day before, only to find that they were nowhere to be found; they had moved on earlier this morning. I sat down to eat my lunch and checked my satellite phone and GPS to see that it was dead and had no battery. So, I thought I picked the best route in trying to find them, thinking that they couldn’t have gotten that far. I was wrong.” Kayla looked at her feet and then up into the eyes of her only high school sweetheart.

Waylen looked into her eyes and found sadness and hurt; in the eyes of his only sweetheart, ever. She still looked the same as she stood in the moonlight. The silver light lit her blond braids up and made her eyes sparkle with the tears that still lingered. She was beautiful; the most precious, dainty, thing he had ever set his eyes on.