The Girl With the Icy Hair

7

Aura awoke in the morning to find that Emmerson had gone. Sun dappled the grass where he’d been laying. The last heat from the flaming embers dwindled away into nothing. Aura got up preparing to leave. She glanced briefly at the map and compass, replaced them in the bag, and searched for Emmerson.

“Emmerson! Here boy,” she called loudly through the trees. A few feet away, a clump of gorse rustled and produced the large dog. “This is the last day of our journey,” she promised him as they set off through the dense undergrowth. Exhausted already, Aura was eager to keep that promise. Getting lost in thought about her immediate future upon arrival at Monte Vista, Aura grew careless with her movements. Stumbling over fallen branches and getting tangled in a trailing bramble tendril, she fell onto the packed earth with a heavy thud. Dazed, Aura’s head reeled. Awkwardly she stood up trying to untangle herself from the bush. Glancing over at Emmerson, Aura noticed that he was giving her an incredulous look. Aura shot him a look of chagrin in return.

Dusting herself off, they continued onward through the dense forest. Eventually the pair came to a break in the trees. Ahead, a barren looking gravel road sat in unnerving silence. Aura and Emmerson approached it cautiously. Halting just before entering onto it, Aura could hear the loud crunching approach of a car. She immediately scrambled for the cover of a nearby heather plant. Emmerson followed suit. Crouching behind the plant, Aura dared to peek her head out as the car passed by slowly. The white pickup truck bounced awkwardly on the rough gravel. There was an emblem on the side. Struggling to make out what it said, Aura stuck her head higher above the bush. Monte Vista Ground Management, read the sign. Finally we’re here, Aura thought. As the car passed, Aura crept out of her hiding place and began to follow it, flitting through the trees like a passing shadow. Eventually the truck outpaced Aura, but she followed the dust trail left on the road until she reached a large metal building. The white pickup was parked outside. Creeping around the building, Aura and Emmerson kept to the shadows.

Eventually coming upon an open window, Aura peered around the corner to see inside the building. There was a small sink and counter area directly under the window, with a couple of tables and chairs across the room. The room was lit only by a single fixture hanging from the ceiling. The linoleum looked old and grubby, covered by the dirt of many filthy work boots. Right as Aura was preparing to move on, the two men from the truck entered the room from a creaky wooden door on the far side of the room.

“…all I’m saying is, the stuff people are reporting near the caverns is creepy,” commented one of the men. His brown hair was tousled from the truck drive, and his old plaid shirt and jeans were worn and stained. He wandered over to one of the cabinets under the counter and retrieved two plates. Crossing the room he opened a drawer and grabbed two sets of white plastic silverware. “What are we having for dinner tonight, Chad?”

“My wife made two chicken sandwiches and macaroni salad for us today,” Chad replied, pulling out the dishes from a large pail. “As for all the ‘reports’ up at Grand Echo Caverns, I think it’s all a bunch of hoopla. Obviously these people are buying into one another’s hype. There aren’t any aliens up there. Even if there was something up there, I would have a hard time believing that it would be attacking people, if you can even really call it that. Honestly, Jared, I don’t know why you believe all of it,” Chad finished. His grey hair fell in his eyes as he set out the food. Jared finally returned to the table with glasses of water.

That sounds bad. I want to check it out, Aura decided. People used to call me alien, but I’m not either. Aura recollected her first experiences with other people after her change in a setting full of ‘normal’ kids. They’d picked on her and called her a freak, taunting her saying, “You’ll never have any friends. You’re just an ugly weirdo!”