The Trail of Mysteries

Chapter 3

The

Trail

of

Acceptance

A brilliant flash of sunlight momentarily blinded Ty as he rode through the thick brush. He remembered at the last possible moment before hitting the branches, to hold up his arms to shield his face from being torn by the tough, woody branches. But he had felt nothing. He lowered his arms to feel where the branches should have shredded his mountaineer's jacket. But he felt nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, the branches seemed to not even have touched him!

It was then that Ty realized that he was at a standstill. He scrunched up his eyebrows in thought. The bike had reached a fair amount of speed at the time of his entry into the bushes, yet now he had come to a complete halt. His head shifted side to side to observe where he was.

There wasn't any immediate difference between where he came from and now. With the exception of a slightly uneven stone surface that his tires rested on, everything else was as it should have been. He shook his head and did a double-take looking down at the ground - it was stone! He was on a bridge!

Ty dismounted from his transportation and folded down the kickstand. The stone had a dark textured color that Ty noted resembled basalt rock found typically on the coastlines but had lines and cracks running lengthwise. He also discovered that the whole structure was one solid piece. That was impossible! He thought about it. He had never heard of anyone coming across a basalt rock bridge made from one giant piece or in any pieces for that matter!

Ty took out his field notebook and pencil. After jotting down a line of notes, he took out his polarized shades to cut the bright glare off the smooth face of the bridge. The effect however was stunning! Where before the bridge appeared smooth and featureless, with small cracks and fissures, it now was covered in intricate designs and patterns. The color of the bridge had changed as well! The dry faded rock now had the appearance of old oil-rubbed wood. It was not possible - a petrified wood bridge? What a discovery!

But what an amazing difference using the shades, Ty thought. For some reason looking through the polarized, tinted sunglasses on everything looked vibrant and more detailed. He looked down at the stitching on his sweatshirt and realized, with the glasses on that he could see differences in the coloring of the fabric, whereas without the shades the fabric looked solid. Ty knew that the world would look different but not like this! Where was he? Everything was the same as it was before but more vibrant and alive. He took a deep breath noting that even the air was different, invigorating.

Wow! If only Liv could see this, Ty contemplated.

"LIV!!!"

Ty looked around frantically for his sister but she was nowhere to be seen!

"Liv?"

"LIV?"

Ty's shouts only brought the gentle rustling of the forest back to his ears. The sound had an instant calming effect on his sudden agitation. He knew he needed to calm down and think rationally. He felt his body relax; his breathing slowing to normal.

Ty lowered his gaze to the bridge again, his mind probing for answers. His breathing grew deeper and more even as he listened to the forests calming effect. He looked around the bridge observing the landmarks and points of interest.

As he observed, Ty walked his bike across the bridge towards the other side. He stopped stock still when half way across the thirty foot span. He found tire marks in the soft mud! The tracks lead to the other side of the bridge towards the hill on the other side.