Chapter 1

It was intentional, that I didn’t tell anyone where I was going. I was so fucking hurt and mad, I just left! I wanted to be long gone from here when they realize I’m not coming back. I dug my backpack and bedroll out of the storage room in the garage, threw them over in my Jeep and hauled-ass for the mountains.

I’d filled my Jeep with gasoline the day before, and when I left, I was glad that I had. At least they wouldn’t know which direction I was headed. I never want to see that fucking bitch – or him again – ever. It wasn’t enough for her to cheat on me, she had to fuck Daniel, of all people ... and in our bed too.

By the time I was out of the city, I had calmed down enough to remember parts of what I had overheard. Marissa was Daniel’s lover all this time. I had no idea she even knew Daniel, when she and I began our relationship.

OH MY GOD! He even confessed to her about being there when Daddy was killed in the accident...

NOOOO! NOT DANIEL! NOT MY DADDY!

Dark was coming fast by the time I reached the high mountain pass down into Spearhead Valley. I remember this place as if I was looking at a map. Though I did have GPS in my Jeep, I didn’t have it on. My daddy, my asshole brother, and I came up here the summer I was a twelve. Since then, I always thought of this part of the mountains as the most peaceful place on earth. I learned to fly fish up here that summer.

Three months after I was up here with them that summer, Daddy died in an accident at one of his building sites and I had to go live in LA with Mom ... that was like living in hell! She wanted me to be closer to her since Daddy died, and I hated living in California. I knew I made it hard on both of us, but I missed my daddy and she didn’t understand.

DANIEL TOLD MARISSA THAT HE WAS THERE WHEN DADDY DIED ... I remember that part ... I HATE DANIEL ... HE SAID THAT HE ... Nooooo, PLEASE NO!

Rain started pouring down. My top was off and I was in a hurry to get to the campsite. I didn’t see the washout when I first came over the rise. I was crying, and driving too fast on the gravel road along the canyon rim to begin with, and by the time my headlights were shining on the downhill side of the narrow road, it was too late. The next thing I knew, I was holding onto the steering wheel, sitting in water up to my neck.

Thank goodness I had the top folded back, but even then, before I could raise up enough to jump over the door, my Jeep was about to be swept away in the waters of what I now realized, was a flash flood. I managed to grab hold of my backpack and my bedroll, throwing them over the side before the Jeep went over the rim of the canyon.

With my feet on top of the door, I leaped as high and far as I could, just as the Jeep went over the cliff. I saw the large jagged rock, just before I hit the ground ... then everything went dark.

I woke up later, seeing stars overhead – or I think I was awake. When I opened my eyes again, the sun was shining in my face.

I raised up enough to sit and look around. My Jeep was nowhere to be seen. When I turned my head to look over the side of the cliff, my head began spinning. I had to lie back on the muddy ground to make it stop. I wiped my face and saw blood and mud all over my hand. I took the tail of my shirt and swiped again. I had a huge knot on my forehead and it was still bleeding.

I tried rolling over and almost rolled off the side of the cliff. Risking another look down, my eyesight was blurred, but I could make out the lake far below. My Jeep was nowhere to be seen. I shook my head and fell back on the muddy ground, when my head immediately started spinning. I was lying on my back, looking at the sky and the world was still spinning around me as I closed my eyes.

I wasn’t scared. I’ve been a fitness freak all my life and I knew to check my extremities. I had feeling in my feet when I wiggled my toes. I clenched both hands into fists and there was no pain. I tried raising my head again, and this time the spinning was gone.

Sitting up, I looked down to see both my knees were skinned, caked with mud and dried blood. I knew then, I had been here for quite some time.

I turned to look behind me and saw my bedroll and backpack. I leaned back to get my backpack and when I turned too fast, my head began spinning again. I closed my eyes and lowered my head. Slowly, I raised my head and looked up. The spinning stopped and I pulled my backpack around to unzip a side pocket to take out my first-aid kit.

Using two sterile prep-pads, I managed to get the dried dirt and blood cleaned off both knees. They were bleeding again by the time I smeared them with first-aid cream.

I used a roll of gauze on each knee and managed to keep the gauze tight by wrapping them a dozen times with tape. I wrapped gauze around my head like a headband and tucked it under to make it stay, since I had used all my tape.

The rain was starting again, just a drizzle at first ... then, it was pouring down.

Picking up my paper and bandage scraps, I stuffed them inside the backpack with the first-aid kit. My daddy taught me that. Never litter.

By holding onto my backpack, I was able to twist around and kneel on my hands and knees. My knees were burning like hell, but I managed to get my feet under me. I was stooped over, afraid to stand at first. Then, slowly I stood and moved away from the edge of the narrow road. The water rushing down the mountainside had washed most of the road away.

I was hoping that if anyone came this way they would find my tire tracks, but that hope didn’t last. The rain was really pouring down and I was soaked before I could loosen my bedroll and cover up.

With my bedroll spread over me, my knees raised in a sitting position, I clutched my backpack in my arms and bent forward to rest the side of my head on it.

I had no idea how long I had been asleep, when something slammed into my feet and woke me. I looked up to see daylight and threw the bedroll off. There was an uprooted pine tree lying across the washout. I shivered at the thought of that tree crashing over the cliff into the lake below, taking me with it.

I walked on stiff legs back up the rise in the trail behind me, to see an even deeper, wider washout back there. I had to try and cross over this one with the tree on it.

This washout was at least ten feet wide and even with both knees healthy, I knew I’d never be able to leap that far. I need to get to the other side so I can walk to the campground. I knew it would be closed but at least I could break into the restrooms and have a dry place to stay.

With my bedroll in my hands, I did two fast turns, testing my spinning head. There was no dizziness, so I held the bedroll by one end and swung it in a complete circle before letting it go. I had to laugh when it made it across the washout and fell among the limbs of the pine tree. Now, for my backpack. I was afraid I’d never be able to throw it across the same way. I wasn’t about to crawl across on my bloody knees while trying to keep my backpack in front of me.

The roots of the tree were on my side and there were no limbs near the roots. I managed to get my right leg across the tree trunk with my backpack in front of me. Then, moving what seemed like an inch at a time, I scooted along the tree trunk, across the washout. I was wishing I had taken some longer, jeans shorts out of my backpack before I’d moved the first few feet. The tree bark was scraping the skin off my thighs below my shorts. Before I made it across, the crotch of my thin jogging shorts was ripped out by the rough bark.

I managed to get across and retrieve my bedroll from among the pine limbs. With my backpack strapped on my back and my bedroll under my right arm, I started up the next rise in the roller-coaster trail. Before I could see over the rise, the thought occurred to me that there may be another washout even worse than the last two.

If there’s any such thing as luck – some of it was with me. At least for now.

I tried to remember how far the campground was ahead of me, but I had no idea where I was. I knew it was located five miles from the main road and I had driven quite a ways before I lost my Jeep ... and almost my life.

The sun was warm, but the wind coming down off the mountain was cold on my wet clothes.

Late in the day, I came to a barricade in the trail. The faded plywood sign stated that the campsite was closed indefinitely due to the restrooms and showers being destroyed in an avalanche in 2015. There went my hopes of finding shelter.

As I walked around behind the remaining concrete blocks that had been the back wall, I saw a red sign in the distance. I walked that way to see it was a Keep-Out sign, with a Private Property sign underneath. There were hoofprints in the steep trail leading up the slope away from the old campsite. I knew enough about horses to realize some of these tracks were made after the rain. Which meant they were made today.

I had no choice but to try and find someone to help me. No one knew where I was and my Jeep is at the bottom of some lake. That made me think of my driver’s license, debit cards and other forms of ID. I had none.

My pockets are empty...

Then I remembered putting the small pouch with my personal stuff in my glove compartment.

As I made my way up the steep trail, I tried my best to keep from being depressed at the events which brought me here.