Crossing the Deep (9 page)

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Hero was the last word he’d use to describe himself. “Come on, let’s get off this mountain.” He wrapped his arm around her waist to help support her weight.

“Let’s,” she agreed, hanging on to him with every step.

****

It had only been fifteen minutes, but to Rachel, it seemed like an eternity. Her foot screamed at her to rest — to not walk — to sit down — to do anything but put weight on it. She kept fighting it, and her jaw ached from clenching it so hard. Despite what she had told Asher, walking down the mountain with the way her foot hurt scared her. She didn’t want to scream or cry. Frustration kept her going, and frustration also made her angry.

“You makin’ it?” Asher asked, his gaze on her.

“Uh-huh,” she said, not trusting real words. Well, she was making it, but that was about all she could say for herself. Despite being very careful, they hadn’t seen any side trails, much less ones that led to Deep Creek Trail. With pain shooting through her body with each step, she was unsure how far she could keep going.

And it killed her. She’d always thought herself the strong type. For the past two years, she had forced herself to act strong out of necessity. Only her mom knew the truth. To think that a little sprained ankle would do her in… well, it made her mad.

Rachel took to repeating Bible verses in her mind to keep it off her foot. It seemed to work, but it annoyed her when Asher interrupted to ask her something even if, in his defense, he didn’t know what she was doing.

A few minutes later, Asher slowed down. Rachel, while grateful for the reprieve, started to tell him to speed up. They couldn’t waste any time.

“Look. Over there.” He pointed across the path.

Rachel tilted her head and scanned the area until she saw it: one of the most wonderful sights ever.

A sign.

A literal sign.

Harker Cemetery
with an arrow pointing right.

“We made it!” she yelled. Her whole body shook. “We made it!” She bounced up and down on her good leg, reached up, and hugged Asher around the neck. It was an unexpected hug. A tight hug. But at that moment, Rachel didn’t care. He responded by hugging her back, and he held on longer than needed… Not that she minded.

“Now,” he pulled back, cupped her cheeks with his freezing fingers, and bent down to eye level, “don’t get your hopes up, girl. It’s just a sign. Doesn’t mean we’re back home.”

“I know that, but it means we are closer than we were. We just have to go back to the cemetery and keep going until we find Deep Creek Trail. After that, we’re home free!”

“Just like that?” He sounded amused. Rachel liked the way he looked at her when he was in a good mood.

“More walking, less talking,” she ordered, smiling back. She threw her arm over his broad shoulder and hobbled forward before he had a chance to react. The move almost caused them to fall, but they kept their balance in an awkward sort of way. A three-legged race had nothing on them.

Rachel barely felt the pain in her foot as they turned to the right and down the trail that lead to Harker Cemetery.

Whatever trail they were on was bigger than the path they had been on. The noticeable difference made Rachel question how they could have missed it in the first place. It gave her hope though, that this was the right way. Trails seemed to get wider the closer they got to their beginning. Rachel figured that even if they didn’t see anyone from their group, they would be able to see some other hikers who could help them. The road over the Smokies was always jammed packed, so no matter what, they were getting home tonight.

“There it is! There’s the cemetery!” Rachel couldn’t contain her excitement. It was over — all over! Just a few more miles, if that! She could already feel the bed cradling her weary body. And most clearly of all, she could feel the shower she was going to take… only she wondered why it was such a cold shower when she loved hot ones.

“It’s raining,” Asher said, cutting into her daydream. He stopped and cursed under his breath.

“Of course, it’s raining.” Rachel mumbled, reality bleeding into her wonderful daydream. God was going to make this trip interesting. She took her arm from around his neck and threw the hood of her coat over her head. Pulling the string tighter to keep as much rain off her face as possible, she noticed for the first time that Asher’s coat didn’t have a hood. Also, the dark leather would be ruined in the downpour.

“I’ll get a new one,’ he said as if reading her mind. He put her arm back over his dampening shoulder and continued walking. After a few yards, they made it to the iron fence surrounding the old graves.

“Thank you, Lord,” Rachel said, and she meant it. She was so grateful to God for delivering them back to a familiar landmark.

“Don’t thank Him yet. We still aren’t out of the woods, so to speak. Let’s go while we still have some light. Everything is getting too muddy, and the trail is going to be slick from all of the wet leaves.” He glanced down at her. “We don’t need you falling and getting hurt... oh wait…”

“Jerk,” she said, hitting him on the arm. Her playful response caught her off guard. When had she felt comfortable enough with Asher Jenkins to banter with him?

They started walking again, leaving the graveyard behind. “We have to be really careful not to overshoot the trail intersection,” he yelled through the pouring rain. It had become so loud that it was almost impossible to hear anything but the slapping of raindrops on leaves.

“I am,” she yelled back.

Minutes flew by instead of passing at a snail’s pace as it had before.
Please, God.
Please let us make it tonight.
Please, get us back home.

Her adrenaline started to run down, and her ankle began making itself known again. Ignoring it, she kept going. There was no way they could miss the sign again.

“Oh, take a look at that,” Asher said, stopping so fast she stumbled.

“What? What?”

“There,” he pointed straight ahead of them. A sign about ten feet away. It was attached to a post at what looked like a three-way stop.

“We made it,” Rachel exclaimed, almost in tears.

Asher raced forward, dragging Rachel along with him. The rain picked up, and the sign couldn’t be read from far away, but she didn’t care. She already knew what it said. Deep Creek Trail.

They stopped a few feet away, and Rachel wiped the rain out of her eyes so she could read it.

It read :
Harrison’s Trail
.

Chapter Nine

Asher read the words over and over again as the rain continued to pelt him. That couldn’t be right. “Harrison’s Trail?”

“No,” he heard her gasp beside him.

He couldn’t take his eyes off the sign like that would miraculously make it change to Deep Creek Trail. Anger and frustration erupted inside him, and he let her go, slinging the backpack across the soggy ground as hard as he could. She jumped at his outburst, and he couldn’t have cared less. Crouching down, he squeezed his clenched fists to his temples and fought with all of his might to hold it together, when what he wanted to do was punch something.

They had done everything right that time! They had stayed on the path, gone back to the cemetery, been careful. He had even shut his eyes when Rachel prayed! And what good had it done? They were more lost than ever! He shouted an expletive into the rainstorm as loud as he could, not caring who heard him. It wasn’t like there was anyone out there besides Rachel anyway. At the moment, he sure didn’t care what she thought of him.

“How did this happen?” Rachel asked from a few feet away, balancing on one foot. She looked as bad as he felt.

What did she mean, “how did this happen?” She knew how it happened. Asher couldn’t take it anymore, couldn’t face her, couldn’t think straight. All of this happened because of her. Because she got curious, he was stuck. He thought he’d forgiven her — he told her as much. Guess when it came right down to it, he hadn’t.

Asher jumped up, picked up the soaked pack, and started down the trail without her. “What happened was, apparently, your God doesn’t love you as much as you thought He did,” he spat. He couldn’t even look at her when he walked by.

“Where are you going?” he heard her yell behind him, but he kept going.

“Does it matter?” he yelled back. “We’re lost! All roads lead to more lost.”

The rain made it nearly impossible to hear what she said. Good, he didn’t want to hear or feel guilty for leaving her. He just wanted to get as far away from that mountain as possible. He’d bring help back for her. It was the best he could do.

“People will be on this trail,” he thought he heard her say. “They will help us, and even if there aren’t, this one will lead down to the main road. We can get back either way. Asher! Please stop walking!”

He growled and stopped. As he peeked over his shoulder at her, she looked pretty pitiful hobbling after him. The mud and downpour didn’t make it easy on her. Asher pushed those thoughts aside. Having any sort of feelings for Rachel would only hurt now. He didn’t have a choice.

“The dark is coming fast,” he said. “We have no idea how far off the main mountain road we are, how long this trail is, or where it will come out. You’ll slow me down.”

“You just want me to stay here alone!”

Pushing any feelings he had for her way down deep, Asher turned and walked away anyway without answering.

He was furious. Not just at Rachel for getting him in this situation in the first place, but also at the woods… at the rain… at the circumstances… at himself… and at Rachel’s God. What kind of God would lead two kids through the woods like rats in a maze? What kind of God observed the world from a distance and delighted in the misery of others?

And what kind of person left a helpless girl alone in the woods? He couldn’t do it, could he? Could he be that heartless?

Fifteen minutes after he stormed off, he stopped, even more agitated than before, and closed his eyes to try to calm down and keep the string from completely unraveling. That’s when the guilt flooded in. He ran his hands through his soaked hair, sloshing water out.

He couldn’t do this. The rain fell in chilly sheets. A few degrees colder and it would be snow. Digging the flashlight out of the pack, he turned it on, and started back to her.

Even with the flashlight, visibility was limited. He wondered how long the rain would fall, and what in the world they were going to do for shelter. A cave, maybe? Build a shelter out of limbs? Looked like being a boy scout would have come in handy, after all. Above all else, he knew that he couldn’t do this alone, though it would make it so much easier to just walk and not have to wait on her to keep up. Of course, his conscience slapped him upside the head for thinking that.

When he had almost gotten back to her, he squinted to make out the girl inching toward him through the downpour. Seeing how bad she limped made his stomach knot. How could he have been so stupid to leave her like that?

“Stop, Rachel,” he yelled. “I’ll come get you.”

“No thanks. I’ve got it.” Her voice was sour.

She was ticked. Great. Expected, but yet another complication to have to get through. They didn’t have time to fuss, but he had a feeling they were going to make the time. “Don’t be like that.”

“Be like what? I thought acting like a two-year-old was par for the course on this trip. You seem to prove it again and again.”

Ouch, he deserved that. “Look, I never should have left you. I get that. It was a selfish thing to do, but I came back for you. Doesn’t that count for something?”

He couldn’t read her thoughts, but by her fiery expression, they didn’t seem to be good ones. “You have every right to be mad. I would be too, but we have to put that aside, just for a few minutes while we think of a plan.”

“Because all of our other plans have gone so well,” she snapped.

“Sarcasm doesn’t help.”

“Neither does acting like a child.”

“Keep that in mind, Rachel,” he cautioned.

Her eyes got as wide as saucers. “What does that mean? You think I’m acting like a child?”

He held up his hands in surrender and thought before speaking for once. “I’m not saying that. What I am saying is that we need to get over being mad and think about this. We need somewhere — somewhere warm and dry, where we can spend the night.”

She seemed to consider that. Maybe he had gotten through to her. “Like a cave, or a hollowed out log, or wait! The cemetery had that shelter-type thing. It wouldn’t be warm or necessarily dry since it didn’t have walls, but it would be better than nothing.”

“It’ll work for now.” Asher took her arm, thankful that she didn’t slap him away, and helped her walk back toward the cemetery.

Not long after, they were back at the graveyard. Asher broke the lock to the gate, and they went in. It felt a bit jarring at first, walking on the soggy grass when he had only been on the hard trail for the past two days. His feet sank in the ground, and he struggled not to fall into any of the mole holes. As difficult as he had it, he knew Rachel had it much worse.

The graveyard wasn’t big, and neither, it seemed, was the gazebo/pavilion thing which stood near the back right corner. A small building, the round structure had three steps leading to the main platform. Four columns held up the cone-shaped roof. It was tall enough to stand in comfortably, but without actual walls, rain blew in. At least it provided a little shelter, but Asher wished for more. Trees lining the thick woods hugged the fence behind it, and longer branches scraped the top causing a ghostly sound. Rain pounded on the tin roof, sounding like thousands of beating drums. It roared in Asher’s ears, and he wondered which he’d go first: deaf or crazy.

“Well, this is… charming,” Rachel said, sitting down in the middle of the floor, where it was less damp. She laid her leg out in front of her and shivered as she hugged her coat around her body.

“That’s one word for it.” Asher took off the pack and laid it down beside her. He put the flashlight between them. The light shone upward allowing them to see the top of the building which was scribbled with colorful messages like
GH wuz Here
and
Charlotte loves Eric.