Blood Red

Chapter 1

The tops of the mountains that pushed through the trees that have taken a stand on the rock's body peaked high into the clouded sky. The mountain range created a crater filled with blue water so clear every pebble, fish, and plant life could be seen through the glossy top of the water that covered it. The path piled high with unstable stones and dirt waiting for the first steps of the day. This is the place that Lauren and Lindsey always imagined, and it was finally time for them to embark on the journey. Still, not everything is what seems when the sky starts to turn an ash-grey, and the path, once dirt and stones, becomes mud and stones sticky, slippery, and completely unsafe for those who have ventured in.

What better place to start than the very beginning...

When awoken by the sounds of various birds, the whoosh of the wind as it blows through the spruce trees. Lauren lays awake in her tent, waiting to get the courage to crawl out of the warm depths of her insulated sleeping bag and out of her tent. When she unzips the tent and walks onto the path to breathe in the fresh morning dew and see what today will bring, something unusual catches her eye. Bright red blood... with only a hint of brown, has given evidence that the blood pool along the trail happened only a little while ago. Lauren immediately walks to Lindsey's tent to wake her and show her the blood, but when Lauren unzips the tent, her stomach instantly drops, and she becomes paralyzed with fear. The only thing she can get out is a scream.

Fellow hikers and campers have gathered around Lauren and Lindsey's campsite, asking a lot of questions.

"Where did she go?" asked a frantic women.

"Is she still alive?" Asked a younger couple who were nervous.

"Who and what did it is what I want to know?" Said an old detective.

Nobody had the answers, only suspicions of what had happened earlier this morning. The police were called, and when they arrived, they started to investigate the surrounding area. Nobody could leave, and nobody could enter. Everyone was to be questioned about what they know, especially Lauren. When the police approached Lauren, who was sitting in her tent shaking and crying. Police started to ask her a couple questions.

"Did you hear any screaming or movement early this morning?" asked the detective in a confident tone.

" No. I-I did not hear anything," said Lauren in a shaky voice.

This answer puzzled the detective and the other police. They did not understand how someone could disappear, and there be that much blood only a few feet away from their campsite, and she did not hear any noise that would help us. The detective kept asking himself;

"How did Lauren not hear a scream of pain or a cry for help from Lindsey?"

The weather started to worsen, heavy rain came pouring down with as much force as the waterfall that was only about half a mile away from the campsite. Thunder started rumbling the sky, and lightning kept hitting the ground with loud cracks. The wind started howling, and the evidence that the detectives could have from the pool of blood starts washing away.

When the detectives notice the blood starting to trickle down the trail, they soon do not care much about the blood and more about what the blood had exposed. There is a stained rim from where the blood of Lindsey used to sit, but in the stain lies a small four leaf clover pin the size of a quarter this made the detectives curious seeing how clovers did not grow in this area. They gathered their evidence and Lauren and took they back to the local station. As they were driving over the never-ending pigtail bridge that ran through most of the forest a big grizzly bear darted out in front. The detectives started to think.

" What if it was simply just a bear attack?" Asked a naive detective

" How could it be a bear? There was no tears in the tent, and no sign of the campsite being torn to pieces in search of food. To me it doesn't seem like much of a bear attack." Said the lead detective in confidence.

The detectives pushed out a bear attack quickly and never seemed to look back, but only because the lack of evidence that seemed to be present, but the evidence they did have was not very extensive. It consisted of Lindsey's clothes and other belongings and the four leaf clover pin they found in which they had no idea how it connected to anything.