Vivian Confidential - Part Eight

CHAPTER EIGHT

It hadn’t rained in a week or two and powdery dust blew into the Fairlane when G opened the door. We had apparently disturbed the wild animals because the last thing we heard after shutting the front doors was silence. Neither cricket nor a single tree frog was singing. G clasped my hand.

"Maybe this is a bad idea," I said.

"I have to find my purse."

"It’s not going anywhere. Can’t we come back tomorrow?"

G put her arms around my waist and rested her chin on my shoulder. I could tell that she was crying softly. "There’s something in my purse I just can’t afford to lose."

"Like what?" I asked.

"I can’t tell you," she said, sniffling. "But you’re too blame if I don’t find it."

Silence was my only answer when I asked, "How’s that?"

A full golden moon provided the only illumination and it only peeked through the branches in places. I glanced around at thick vegetation on both sides of the road and wondered how G and S had gone into the woods in the first place. G must have read my mind because she released her grip from my waist, grabbed my hand and led me to the rear of the car.

"There’s an old road leading into the woods. It’s either a logging trail or a hunter’s path to a deer stand, or something. The trees are trimmed away from the road and the full moon is the only light we’ll need."

"How far from the car?" I asked as she pulled me forward down the road, little more than a trail, at a rapid clip.

"Don’t know. I wasn’t paying attention when I followed S and we ran all the way back."

Suddenly, the mournful howl of a large animal somewhere directly in front of us caused us both to freeze in our tracks. A throaty growl quickly followed. It could have been a large dog but it sounded for all the world like a wolf – a very angry wolf.