Horror of Alley Creek

Chapter Two: Six weeks ago

I felt like I wasn't doing much at the visitor center info desk. I would occasionally talk to someone, but for the most part, it was just me and my coworker, Robby Adamson. We were best friends long before we were coworkers.

Robby placed a new stack of collectible park brochures in the cubby before talking. "Okay, I think we should make a bet." He stood up from setting down a few extra brochures in case we needed them.

"A bet on what? How many of those new brochures we're actually going to give away in an hour or how long we can go without talking to people?" I joked.

Robby smirked at me before leaning against the wall. "I was thinking a bet on how many people we're going to talk to. The loser buys lunch for the other person." He folded his arms and waited for a response.

"You know we're not supposed to bet, right?" I started turning to the side a little to look at him.

Robby was a slender guy with dark brown hair that was always cut short and usually messy. He also had brown eyes that he complained about often that everyone else in his family ended up with grey or blue eyes and yet he had these dark brown almost black eyes that he joked and said made him feel as though perhaps he was adopted.

"Yeah, yeah," he waved a hand. "This isn't an official bet, more of a friendly bet." He cleared up before taking a drink of water. "Besides, not like that has stopped us before from making a bet."

I shrugged. "Alright, if that's the case then I say we're going to talk to around maybe," I crunched my nose thinking about it, and folded my arm. "How about 478?" I placed the bet.

Robby grinned as he thought of his number. "I say 600 even," he moved his hand away from him in an even motion. "You know you're not going to live this down if you lose."

"Oh, I am well aware of that. Like how you haven't let me live down that bet we made in college," I sat down on one of the chairs behind the desk.

He chuckled at that. "Yeah, I said Maddison would say yes to a guy like you. You said no she would never say yes. And well," Robby motioned to me. "You guys have been dating for, let's see." He paused for a moment. "Seven years now," he narrowed his eyes. "Dude, why haven't you proposed to her if you're going to be together that long."

I nearly choked on the drink of water I took when he said that. I had to cough a little bit before I could even reply. "Propose," was what I started saying before shaking my head. "Neither Maddison nor I have even talked about the subject. We love each other don't get me wrong, but marriage? That's a whole different story, I'm sure we would go through with it, but I just... I don't know about that."

Robby had a brow raised. "Nervous much."

I rolled my eyes at him before taking another drink of water. Right after a visitor walked up to the desk. I stood up and walked to the counter. "Hi, how can I help you?"

The visitor who was a middle-aged woman with greying hair and dressed as though she had just been in Port Angeles looked blankly at me for a moment before speaking. "Uh... I'm looking for, uh... you know the foldable maps that you can get at national parks."

"The park brochure?" I inquired. Normally that's what people meant when they said that.

She adjusted her purse strap before speaking. "Uh, I don't know. It's the colorful maps with information about the park. About this big," she motioned her hands in a rectangle.

I pulled out one of the brochures after she said that. "I think this is probably what you're looking for."

"Yes! That's it," she exclaimed. "Thank you so much."