| Chapter 8 Brian couldn't believe what he was seeing, there in front of him was the girl from his dreams. She was wearing hiking shorts and a tank top, and she had her hair pulled back in a pony tail; but it was defiantly her. Brian realized that he was staring at her and laid his head back down. "Brian? Are you OK?" she asked with great concern in her voice. Brian looked over at her, "Yeah, I guess." "Brian, you look like you've just seen a ghost or something." she said, sitting down next to him. I think I have, Brian thought. "Who are you?" Brian asked. "Oh, I'm sorry, my name is Tara." she said. "How did you find me?" asked Brian. "Well, I've been hiking this trail for a couple days now, and when the storm hit I ducked in here." she answered. "You know who I am?" Brian asked. "Brian, what girl in this country doesn't know who you are?" she said with a smile, "What I wanna know is what happened to you, how did you get here?" Brian closed his eyes and thought for a moment, "I'm not sure, I remember stopping on the highway, it was dark, then there was someone there..." Brian was becoming upset that he couldn't remember who it was, "why can't I remember?!" Tara put her hand on Brian's arm, "Judging from the knot you have on your head, it's a wonder you still know your own name." Brian looked at her with concern in his eyes, "how bad is it?" "Brian, I'm no doctor, but looking at you, I'd say that you have a severe concussion, your left ankle is badly sprained, and you have a gunshot wound to the shoulder." Tara said, noticing the fear in Brian's eyes. "I've been shot?!" Brian said in shock. Tara gave Brian a very concerned look, "Brian, we need to get you to a hospital, you've lost a lot of blood, and the bullet is still in you." Brian looked at her, "how do you know that?" "Because there's no exit wound, the bullet never came out." she answered. Tara leaned over and grabbed some papers that were laying on the cave floor. "I've been looking at the topo's, and the nearest ranger station is about a two day hike from here. The highway cuts away from the trail, and there's no way to climb back up to it without the proper equipment, which I don't have." she said. Brian looked at her with amazement, he couldn't believe that she was here. "Brian? What are you staring at?" she asked. Brian looked away from her, "Nothing, sorry, you just look like someone I know, that's all." Tara gave Brian a smile, "Really? Well, anyway; I could leave you here and hike to the ranger station for help......" "No!" Brian almost yelled, "don't leave me here. I can hike out with you." Tara was taken aback by Brian's emotion, "Brian, it's going to be a hard hike, and in your condition I'm not sure you can make it." "I'll make it," Brian said as he sat up, "when do we leave?" ~~~~~~~~~~ Kevin returned to the lodge late in the afternoon, he had been at the hospital all day and was ready to crawl into bed. The visit to the psychiatrist was grueling, for two hours Kevin had told him about the life he led, about what was going on with Brian, and they were just getting into Kevin's childhood when his time ran out. Kevin was to return tomorrow for another session. He wasn't sure if these visits were going to solve his problem or not. But he knew he had to do something, the thought of him actually harming Brian was to much to bare. Kevin walked into the house and saw Nick on the phone. Nick quickly hung up and approached Kevin, "Hey, where have you been? Lee has called three times for you." "I was out on business," Kevin said, "is Lee going to make it back tonight?" "No, she has one more day to shoot," Nick said, "she is so upset Kev, maybe you should call her back, you always know what to say in these situations." "All right," Kevin said turning and heading toward his bedroom. Kevin stopped and turned to face Nick, "Nick I wanna apologize for what I said this morning. I didn't mean it, I'm just really stressed right now, and it was easy to blame someone other than myself. I'm sorry." Nick was a little stunned to hear Kevin apologize, "It's OK." he said as he turned and went back to the phones. Kevin made his way upstairs and into his bedroom. He sat down on the bed and looked out the window, the storm was just now easing up, and the sun was setting in the distance. Brian had been gone a full day now. Kevin knew the search wouldn't start until morning, it was just to dangerous for the searchers to go out in the dark. Kevin took a deep breath and dialed the phone. "Hello!" Leighanne said with anticipation in her voice. "Lee, it's Kevin." "Kev, any word?" Leighanne asked. "No, none yet. The search won't start until morning." Kevin said. Leighanne said nothing, but broke down in tears. "Lee, please don't do that." Kevin pleaded. "I'm sure we'll find him." "I'm just so worried, anything could've happened to him, he could be anywhere!" Leighanne said through her tears. "I know Lee," Kevin said fighting back his own tears, "but we have to have faith, and believe that Bri is all right. He's a strong person, I'm sure we'll find him sitting on a rock somewhere wondering what took us so long." "I hope so Kevin, I hope so." "Lee, I'll call you the minute I hear anything, OK." Kevin said. "All right, I'll be in tomorrow night for sure," Leighanne said, "I'll call when I'm on my way." "OK, goodnight Lee." Kevin said. "Bye" Kevin sat in silence for a moment wondering if he should call Kristin. Just then the phone rang in his hand. "Hello" Kevin said. "Hey baby, it's me." Kristin said, "did you get to see the doctor today?" "Yeah, actually I just got back. Physically everything is good, but he sent me to a psychiatrist." "He sent you to a shrink? Why'd he do that?" Kristin asked. "Kris, he thinks maybe the lapses in my memory are from stress or something. He thought the psychiatrist would be able to help with that." Kevin said. "Oh I see." Kristin said, "Any word on Brian?" "No, not yet. The storm is just now letting up, they won't start looking until morning." Kevin said, feeling a since of deja vue. "Kevin, I know this is killing you, is there anything I can do?" Kristin asked with much concern. Kevin sat in silence for a moment, "Pray Kris, for both of us." "I already am sweetie, I already am." ~~~~~~~~~ "Hold on a minute Brian." Tara said as she tried to stop Brian from getting to his feet. Brian gave her a questioning look. "Brian, it's getting dark, we can't leave until morning." Tara said. "I was asleep all day?" Brian asked. "Yes Brian you were." Tara said, walking back to her backpack. She picked up her canteen and offered it to Brian. He took it and drank for a long time. He hadn't realized he was so thirsty. Tara dug around in her bag and found a couple of energy bars, and offered one to Brian. Brian took it and tried opening it with his teeth. "Give me that," Tara said taking the bar back and opening the wrapper. She handed it back to Brian with a laugh. As Brian sat and ate his bar, Tara turned on her flashlight, and grabbed a handful of clothes from her bag. She walked back to Brian and sat down, "OK, lets see if I can make a better sling for your shoulder." As Tara worked on making the sling, Brian tried to make small talk. "So, are you on vacation or something?" Tara looked up, "what do you mean?" "You said that you've been on this trail for a couple of days, are you on a hiking vacation?" Brian asked. Tara stopped what she was doing and looked toward the cave floor. "Well not really," she said in a tone of voice that screamed �change the subject'. "Then what?" Brian asked, not picking up the clue. "Brian, it's a really long story, that I don't want to get into right now," Tara said, resuming her work on the sling. "I'm sorry," Brian said, finally realizing he'd asked something he shouldn't have, "I didn't mean...." "It's all right Brian," Tara said as she began to tie the sling around Brian's shoulder. "I know we don't know each other, and given your circumstances I'd wanna know everything about me, but there's not that much to tell." Tara said. "I just had to get away from my life for awhile, so I decided to come here and spend some time trying to figure out what I want to do with the rest of it. My family doesn't even know where I am." Brian sat there for a moment thinking about what Tara had just said, he started to laugh. "What's so funny?" Tara asked. "Well I guess you could say we're in the same boat. Neither of our families know where we are, and we can't figure out who to trust in life." Brian said. Tara looked at Brian with a smile, "I guess your right. Well, we'll just have to trust each other then." Brian smiled at that thought, somehow it made him feel more at ease. Tara turned the flashlight off and grabbed a blanket from her pack. She draped it over Brian and laid down next to him, "we better get some sleep. We'll start out in the morning." she said. Brian laid back down and looked at Tara. Thank you God for sending her to help me. Then he drifted off to sleep. Chapter 9 |