Kathleen Iris

“Do you guys hear a motor running?” asked Carrie as she stopped munching her apple and listened.  The other girls stopped and listened also. Faintly, in the distance they thought they heard what sounded like a tractor driving around.  They packed up their stuff and continued up the trail in the direction of the sound.  After a few minutes they came to a fork in the trail.  On the left, the trail continued the same, but to the right a faint two-track road wound off into a darker, thicker area of the forest.  Casey and Candace wanted to follow the road. Carrie didn’t, because their parent’s had told them to stay on the trail. Casey insisted the road was the same as the trail and as long as they stayed on it they wouldn’t get lost.  The sound of the motor had stopped but Candace thought the sound had come from the direction the road went.  Finally, after some convincing, Carrie agreed to go with her sisters on the road.  As they walked along the track, the sunlight dimmed the further they went into the thick dense trees and brush.  Everything was shadowy and quiet.  No birds were singing. No wind was blowing.  A twig snapped a short distance away making the girls gasp and stop in a huddle.

     “What was that?” whispered Carrie.

     “I don’t see anything,” said Candace as she peeked over her shoulder.

Casey was rummaging through her backpack. “Hold on, I’m getting the flashlight.” she turned it on and shined it all around them.

     “Maybe we should go back?” suggested Carrie.

     “Oh, don’t be such a baby.  It was probably just a rabbit,” said Casey putting her pack back on.

     “I’m not a baby!” stated Carrie firmly.

     “Come on, let’s keep going.  It looks like it gets lighter up ahead,” said Candace walking on up the track 

      They walked on for quite a ways when they suddenly came out into a clearing. It had several large piles of dirt and a bulldozer parked on one side.

     “Get down!” Casey hissed as she grabbed Candace and ducked behind a large fallen tree trunk.  Carrie dove in right behind them.  They sat for what seemed like an eternity, with the sound of their hearts pounding in their ears.  

The girls all climbed into the wagon and chattered excitedly as they sat down in the loose piles of hay.

            “Have fun!” called Mrs. Carlson as Mr. Luigi clicked his cheek and the horses and wagon slowly started off.

            The wagon creaked along with the soft thumping of the horse’s hooves as they rolled along a dirt road.  Mr. Luigi whistled a happy tune and the girls continued to talk and also tried to see if they could make out anything beyond the lantern light.  But the trees around them were dark and still.  The moonlight offered a little light and thin clouds were now moving across the sky to cover the full yellow moon.

            “It sure is dark and quiet out here,” said Casey.

            “Where do you think we are?” asked Hailey.

            Candace looked around.  “We shouldn’t be too far from home.  We didn’t drive very long.”

            “It seemed like we drove maybe fifteen minutes. We could be up near Sleeping Bear Dunes?” suggested Carrie.

            Suddenly a few twigs and branches snapped in the woods alongside the wagon.  One of the horses whinnied and snorted.  The girls all gasped.

            “What do you think that was?” asked Roxy nervously.

            “It must have been some animal we startled,” suggested Helen as she casually scooted closer to Casey.

            “We probably just disturbed a deer,” said Candace.

            The driver had stopped whistling and now started softly singing an old folk type melody that the girls didn’t recognize.

            Roxy whispered loudly as she pointed behind the wagon.  “Something’s following us?”

            “Where?” the others asked as they strained their eyes to see in the dark.

            “I don’t see anything,” said Casey.

            Jessica let out a small scream.  “I saw it! There just beyond the glow of the light.  It looked like a big person walking kind of hunched over.”

            Mr. Luigi turned around and questioned in his thick-tongued drawl. “What are you saying? You saw something?  People around here say they have seen something like a Bigfoot in these parts.  I was hunting last year and thought I saw it too.”

            “No way! You’re just trying to scare us,” said Trista trying to be brave.

            Even so the girls all huddled closer to the center of the wagon.  For a short time they didn’t hear or see anything and everyone started to breathe easier until a long, low moan came from the shadows behind the wagon.  Again a few branches snapped and crashed in the woods along one side of the wagon.

            “Mr. Luigi, could you go a little faster please? Maybe we can lose this animal that’s trailing us.” asked Carrie with a slight hint of worry in her voice.

            “He’s gone!” cried Jessica pointing to the front of the wagon.