ON A BLACK MOON SEA ~A Halloween Anthology~

Gunakadeit

Gabe perches atop a mountain; an immaculate view of the rolling sea and vivid green land is displayed before him. It's lovely, but he's not smiling. Worry makes his lips tense, and his eyes search the surroundings. He really thought he'd find the right path if he could reach the top and see the land all laid out. He had a lot of faith that he'd know the way, since he'd been hiking here with his grandfather many times...except the land has seemed to change a lot since those days. He doesn't remember ever being this close to the sea. In no time, he realizes, had they kept on the path they just left, they would have gone straight up to the jagged rocks at the edge of the sea. Getting himself and his fiancée, Mel, lost was not on the agenda when they started what was supposed to be a short recreational nature hike.

Gabe feels the air change and knows Mel is coming up next to him. A bright smile quickly replaces his frown. He doesn't want to worry her, because he'll figure it out, and figuring it out will be a lot easier without Mel freaking out. She's breathing heavily, having just finished the last part of the upward hike. He'd raced ahead in the pretense of winning a friendly bet between the two.

"I win," he declares.

"You cheated," she says with a grin.

He gasps and puts his hand to his heart with his face full of shock. "Not me, you must be confused with some other husband-to-be."

"You tricked me!" she says, but it's more playful than accusatory.

"I did not. Your shoe was untied, and it's not my fault you were tying it when the race started."

"You purposely started the race before I was ready," she says, nudging him with her elbow.

He wraps his arms around her and holds her in a firm hug. "Okay, next time you get a head start."

"Deal."

"Look out there."

They're both facing the open land, his arm still around her shoulders. She's warm through her pink Northface jacket. It's not extremely cold out there this time of year, but the air has more than a light chill, and they'd dressed for it. Gabriel wears a black and grey Nike jacket and matching athletic Nike pants. His hair is almost the same shade of blonde as Mel's. They're both attractive, but she thinks he's just a little more attractive than her. She likes the dimples that show on his cheeks when he smiles. She doesn't have them, but she has freckles. Lots of them. He constantly tells her how cute they are, and she jokes that she would gladly trade him the freckles for the dimples any day. Either way, they are both blessed with cute features.

But the lovely pair were nothing compared to this view of the Alaskan wilderness. Mel takes the opportunity to snap a photo with her phone—which is out of range and useless except for photos.

"Wow," she says. "It's so beautiful. So...natural. Like no people have ever been around here."

"People have been here. I hear the Tlingit Tribe is nearby," he says. He points to a place over to the right, in the area where he thinks his grandfather told him when he was a kid. "See way back there? They should be around there somewhere."

"Should be? Somewhere? Don't you know the area well?"

"I do," he lies, "but grandpa never wanted to impose, so we always just steered clear of their area. Come on."

Mel stares at his back, where his supply pack bounces with his steps, as he starts back on the path. He seemed dismissive, she thinks. It makes her oddly uneasy for a moment, as if she missed a step going downstairs. The mood quickly flees, and she decides it was just her imagination, shrugs it off, then follows him down the hill, dodging huge rocks in the pathway.