Crossing the Deep (16 page)

Even though the rain had stopped the night before, the ground mushed under their feet. It was difficult enough to walk, much less having to help Rachel, but it had to be done. No turning back.

They walked toward the creaking gate and turned left toward Harrison’s Trail, or so he hoped it lead to Harrison’s Trail. It had the last time they went down it. Now, he wasn’t so sure which way anything went. He secretly wondered if maybe they were lost in some weird fantasy world, where the paths shifted just to mess with their minds. “Wait,” she said, kicking him out of his possessed woods daydream.

“What?”

“We need to pray.”

“Are you serious?” Of all things…

“You don’t have to, but I do.”

“We’re wasting time.”

“Then stop arguing.” Rachel bent her head and began praying out loud. “Dear Lord, thank You for another beautiful day on this mountain. Thank You for the rain stopping, and the sun coming out. But God, we’re tired. We want to get back to the people who love us. So please, I’m asking You… I’m begging You… Please get us back safely, today if it’s Your will. Please lead our feet down the right path and let this trip in some way change our lives for the better. In Jesus’s name I pray, Amen.”

Asher didn’t close his eyes during her prayer, but he did bow his head. It seemed like the right thing to do. Her words were heartfelt and almost peaceful. He wondered if she threw the part in about the trip changing their lives for his benefit.

“Ready?” he asked when he was sure she’d finished.

“Yeah.” She nodded.

Asher held her up as they took off down the trail toward what they hoped was the way home. His mind kept going back to Rachel’s prayer and her faith. He wished he had her faith in something… anything. But he didn’t think he had it in him.

“Do you know the first thing I’m going to do when I get back?” she asked, bringing him back to reality.

“I don’t know. Go to church and do some sort of prayer ritual?”

“Some sort of prayer ritual?” She laughed. Her smile lit up her face, making Asher happy. She was getting to him, and he seemed pretty powerless to stop it.

“Well, it seemed like something you’d do.”

“Maybe, and I guess I should, but right now all I want to do is go to Buffalo Bob’s and eat a monster burger.”

“Really? ‘Cause I’ve been to Buffalo Bob’s and the monster burger is bigger than your head.”

“Then it will be just about the right size.” She grinned at him, her eyes bright. For the first time, Asher saw her playful side, and he liked it. It suited her. Upset, sad, angry didn’t look good on her — this did. He wished she would be playful all the time.

“I’d pay to see that.”

“It’s a date then,” she said. The shock in her eyes told him she hadn’t meant to let that slip. “Um… I mean, that was stupid…”

“A date would be nice.” He grinned, despite himself. Forget the dump-her-on-the-mountain plan. He cared too much about her to do that, even if he hadn’t shown it that much. Things would be complicated when they got back home, but right then, he needed something to look forward to. A date with Rachel fit the bill.

“A date?”

“Yeah, why is that so hard to believe? We’re technically on a date right now.” He winked at her just to watch her blush. Yep, this girl was fun. “But I don’t think Buffalo Bob’s would be a great place for a second date. I’m thinking of something fancier. The Stockyard.”

“The steakhouse?”

“One and the same. I want a big ole steak and giant baked potato.”

“You are such a man.” She laughed and rolled her eyes.

“Good of you to notice.”

****

She didn’t know what she should say to that. This all felt weird. It was as if she was in the middle of one of those dreams that felt real, but she’d wake up in her bed alone in the middle of the night — never on this trip, never lost and hurt, never made a date with Asher.

Even if this wasn’t a dream, and she was in fact hobbling through the woods, at least she knew that the end neared. By nightfall, she’d be in a nice, warm hotel room, retelling her adventure to all of her friends, save maybe the kissing part. She didn’t know how her mom would take that part.

She saw the sign before he did. “There’s Harrison’s Trail.”

“Yep, in all its glory. Looks like we made it. Again.”

“At least we know where we are, relatively speaking anyway.”

“We know we are on a trail, but we have no idea where that trail leads,” he reminded her.

“It leads this way,” she smiled, pointing out in front of them.

“That’s hilarious,” he deadpanned, causing her to snicker. She didn’t know why she was so giddy. Exhaustion maybe? Hunger?

Asher tightened his hold on her waist, not much, but enough for her to notice. “Civilization, here we come,” he said and off they went.

It was different seeing new scenery, even if the new scenery looked like the old for all intents and purposes. The woods still looked like woods, but she’d grown so accustomed to the ones she’d been in that she could tell the difference. With every step, their temporary cemetery home became farther and farther away. They were doing this. No turning back now.

****

When they had walked about two long hours with few rest breaks, Asher heard something low in the distance.

“What is that?” Rachel asked.

He stopped and listened. It was a faint sound, a rumbling maybe? It sounded far away, but he hoped it wasn’t what he thought it was.

“Is that water?”

His jaw clenched when she said that, remembering the overflowing creek that had cut off Deep Creek Trail. “I hope not. Come on.” He started walking again, taking her with him.

As they walked, the sound got louder. It made Asher’s stomach churn. About twenty minutes later, he saw what made the roaring sound. Harrison’s Trail led past a huge waterfall. The falls appeared to be about twenty feet from top to bottom, and it spilled through the rocky terrain down the mountain.

“It’s beautiful,” Rachel said, looking at it in awe.

Asher wasn’t as impressed. “It’s blocking the path.” He pointed to the trail about fifty feet in front of them, right next to the falls. Rain had caused the falls to run like a wide open faucet and the stream to flood out over its banks just as it had on Deep Creek Trail. The trail led to a ghost of a footbridge no longer there. Not even a handrail remained above the water.

“Wonder if it’s the same creek that blocked the other trail?”

“I’d say it is, but I don’t see how that matters,” Asher tried his best not to lose his cool. “We can’t get down this way either.” If he hadn’t been holding Rachel up, he would have paced and cursed until he felt better. It seemed to be his typical reaction to stress.

Instead, he helped Rachel sit down on a large boulder, a place tourists would pick out to take a picture of the falls. Tourists hadn’t been very abundant during their time stuck on the mountain. Would just one random mountain man be too much to ask?

“We can’t cross it,” Rachel said.

“That’s stating the obvious.”

“But we can follow it. It has to flow somewhere, right? Maybe it will lead to a higher bridge or a rock or a log or something we can use to cross. After we get to the other side, we can follow the creek back up to the trail. Then we just follow Harrison’s Trail and we’re home free. “

“You want to go deeper into the woods? Off the trail? Are you nuts?” Asher couldn’t keep his eyes off the massive amounts of water spilling across the trail.

“I don’t see as we have a choice,” she said. “We can’t go back. We can’t cross it here.”

“There’s always a choice,” he said. There had to be another way. It seemed suicidal to him to leave the trail and go off into the unknown. There were so many things that could go wrong. “Can your foot even handle that type of ground? It won’t be as smooth as it is on the trails. It’ll be hard and difficult to maneuver. I won’t be able to hold you up as well.”

“I can handle myself,” she said confidently enough for Asher to entertain the notion. “Look, we can’t stay here. We have to get down this mountain tonight. This is our only way. We’re already lost. What harm can it do?”

“Oh… It can do a lot of harm, but… what the hey? We’re screwed anyway.” He picked up his backpack and helped her back up. Carefully, he led her over to the creek and helped her kneel down to drink. The icy mountain water felt amazing sliding down his parched throat. If he was going to die, he was going to die hydrated. To be on the safe side, he filled the bottles up again and threw them in his pack.

****

Rachel held on to Asher as they made their way to the edge of the trail, where it met the woods. She let go of his shoulder and steadied herself on her good foot. He spun around, and she cut him off before he had a chance to say anything.

“I can do this,” she said, meaning it. Sure, it was going to hurt like the blue blazes, but she had to do something. Nothing wasn’t an option.

He bit his lip as if he had something important to say but only smiled and started down the little hill off the trail.

Rachel took a big deep breath to steel her nerves. She clung to a tree and slid down the first little embankment, where Asher caught her. “Told ya.” She beamed.

“Yeah, got about a few thousand of those to go, though.”

“God will help me,” she said, and motioned for Asher to keep walking. He shook his head, clearly bewildered by her love and faith in Jesus. Rachel didn’t care what Asher thought. She knew what she believed and what she knew to be true.

Asher reached his hand behind his back, and she grabbed it. They walked through the woods that way — Asher leading, and Rachel hobbling behind, praying with every wobbly step.

The creek roared down the mountain, zigzagging over rocks and little crevices in the hillside. It would have been pretty if not so terrifying.

With each step they took, they went a little deeper into the unknown woods and farther away from the trail. Even though the trail had been blocked, it still held some sort of comfort, some sort of familiarity. The woods held only secrets, hidden dangers, and of course, wild animals.

The rainstorm had done a number on the fall trees, stripping them winter bare. Their leaves blanketed the forest floor, making it extremely slippery and hazardous. One false move, one stumble, and they would tumble into the icy mountain water not far away from them. Boulders of varying sizes scattered along the creek bank, some resulting in high drop-offs of maybe ten feet to the creek bottom below.

Their pace slowed considerably as they navigated the rocks and fallen logs. Rachel would have loved some crutches, something to take the pain away.

By the way the shadows fell around her and the way her stomach grumbled, she imagined it was nearing noon. She kept telling her stomach to hush, because growling would do no good. The food was gone.

Her foot struck a jagged rock hidden in the mud, and she screamed before she could stop herself.

“You okay?” Asher asked as he bent down in front of her.

“I’m fine,” she lied through ragged breaths. She had her hands on her knees and leaned into Asher for support. Anything to get the weight off of her foot for a few seconds.

“We need to stop.”

“I’m fine.”

“Rachel, you’re not fine!”

“I am fine!” she yelled at him. “We have to keep going, Asher. We can’t be stuck out here another night. I can’t have anything else on my conscience.”

She prayed for Asher to understand. It didn’t matter how much it hurt; she had to keep going.

“Okay,” he said, helping her to stand up. “But if you need to rest you tell me, got it?”

She nodded, knowing she wouldn’t.

“And for the record,” he said, holding her up, “I’m not on your conscience. I’m here on my own free will, okay?”

“Okay.”

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

“Not really.”

He shook his head. “You’re impossible.”

“I’ve been called worse.” She fought the black dots threatening to cloud her vision. She didn’t have time to pass out.

“I’m sure you have.”

“You don’t believe me?” she said, concentrating on her breath. In. Out. In. Out. The world came back into focus, and the dots thankfully faded. Asher never had to know.

“I don’t believe anyone could find a bad thing to say about you if they tried.”

It took a minute for Rachel to register what he said. When she did, her gaze locked with his. His eyes were bluer than she remembered seeing them before. “You really think that?”

“Of course I do.” He leaned down and kissed her gently on the forehead. “Let’s keep moving.” His voice sounded hoarse, and she didn’t think it was all because of the weather.

She had to force her feet to move, because her brain was still back at the kiss. In her entire sixteen years, she had never felt anything like she had when his lips touched her forehead. It never occurred to her that a kiss could be so tender and make her feel so special. All the bad feelings she had left over from the night before disappeared, and she found herself falling for him all over again.

Not long after, Rachel’s legs were killing her. She couldn’t take it anymore and even with her mind screaming at her body to move, her legs refused, which caused Asher to stop as well.

“Sorry. I’m okay. I can keep going,” she panted, trying her best to breathe and make her rebelling legs work.

“No, you need to rest.”

“Asher…”

“It won’t take long. I need it, too. Let’s sit down here, get some water, and rest a minute. Just a minute.”

“Just a minute,” she agreed, knowing she didn’t have a choice. Not that she could move if she wanted to. Her body needed a break, and it irked her.

Asher helped her sit on one of the boulders next to the creek. It was cold and wet to the touch, but at least her foot could prop up on the rock next to it.

He handed her a water bottle and jumped over a few boulders to the creek to fill his back up. Taking a long sip, she sighed as the cold water slid down her throat. The more she drank, the better she felt.

Watching Asher that close to the creek, she couldn’t help praying for his safety. Any false move or slip and he’d fall in. She didn’t want to lose him.