Animal Nature

Chapter 2

Shy's father woke her early the next morning.

Shy had fallen asleep the second she lay down on the hotel bed last night, even though it had only been nine o'clock. All those hours of searching the day before had worn her out more than she'd thought it would, especially considering she and Dave had gone hiking every weekend in the summer and school had only started a month ago. This camping trip of Jeff and Greg's was to be the last one of the year, although Greg had been talking about winter camping and the new insulated sleeping bag he got on his birthday.

That probably won't happen now, Shy thought. She rolled over and looked up at her father.

"They've called off the search," he said.

Shy lurched up. "What? Why?"

"A woman from the search party was killed last night. An animal attack."

"Are you serious?"

In response, Mr. Brown gestured to the television. A local station showed footage of police officers standing around a section of forest cordoned off with caution tape. Across the bottom of the screen, the words LOCAL WOMAN KILLED BY WILD ANIMAL scrolled.

Shy could hardly breathe. "But what about David?"

"They're sending out police teams with dogs to track down the animal, and helicopters," Mr. Brown said, then added with a sigh, "They don't want any more civilians dying."

"So they think David's dead?" Her voice had risen an octave, become thin and reedy.

Her father sighed again.

"Honey, it's not very likely that he's alive. There was a lot of blood at that campsite. Even if the animal didn't kill him, he's lost a lot of blood."

Shy felt herself wanting to curl up and go back to sleep and pretend none of this was happening. "He could still be alive though," she whispered. "David knows a lot about survival skills."

"I know." Mr. Brown stroked her mousy brown hair. "But for now it's up to the police. We're going to drive back home, and you can go back to school tomorrow. I'm sure Martha will be glad you're back to help out at the shelter."

Shy stared at the smiling photograph of David which filled the television screen. It was his school picture from last year, with the blue background the same as every other year. His brown eyes looked out at her, and suddenly it was easy to imagine him dead and gone forever. The picture grew blurry. She blinked and wiped at her face.

"Come on," her father said. "We've got a four-hour drive ahead of us."

* * *

Shy would have preferred to stay home, watching the news and scouring the internet and crying, but her parents convinced her that keeping busy would help her not think about David. Now that she was sitting in class, however, she was reminded of David's absence at every turn.

Bright sunlight turned the insides of Shy's eyelids a bright red. It would be so easy to fall asleep in the patch of warmth that glared through the classroom windows. She had stayed up late watching the news, hoping for some bit of news about David. More of the newscasts were about Elsie Adams, the woman whose body had been torn apart. Nothing new about David. Just stock footage of the police and their dogs sniffing through the forest and the same old clip of the Maine sheriff saying what Billy had said to her: "In most cases, after three days we're usually looking for a body, not a missing person."