Excerpt from Whispers on the Mountain

​

            Beneath the beauty of this place something sinister lurked. As I looked out into the distance into the dense forest that lined the mountain, I was acutely aware that a missing woman was out there…I pictured her clawing at the brush, her skin dirty, bruised, covered in scratches and cuts, trying to survive, praying that she would get out alive.

            In between the heavy brush, there were small holes where I could see how the edge of the trail simply dropped off in places to the gorge below. It was easy to imagine taking one wrong step and slipping over the edge to your death. One minute you were walking along, admiring the natural beauty, and the next minute you were flying through the air, wind rushing by your head, knowing in seconds that your body might get snagged on a craggy rock ledge and break into a million pieces.

            That’s when I heard the rustling in the brush behind me. I turned down the music and listened again for the sound. There it was. A slight rustling. Was it an animal? A person? My heart started racing. I knew that I had to look, but I was terrified of what I might find. When I turned around, I saw the branches of a bush swaying ever so slightly. I sighed and smiled. It was probably a squirrel or a bird, or some other small woodland creature. But then, the branches started moving more quickly, more violently, like someone or something was about to step out onto the trail and confront me. All the strange feelings I had about this place hit me at once as a panic attack of major proportions welled up inside of me.

​

​