“Karissa!” she heard Tom yelling but she dropped the phone on the car floor. She grabbed the steering wheel tightly with both hands and sped up as much as she could. She couldn’t worry about the phone right now. The roads were slippery with the rain and the last thing she wanted was to crash with Toby in the car.
“Toby. You have to be brave for me, okay? Put your seat belt on,” she said in a firm, steady voice, not wanting her fear to show. Her little Honda was old and didn’t have the best tires on it. She had been planning on replacing the old car after she got on her feet.
Toby stopped crying, responding to her firm, steady voice. He put his seat belt on. “Okay, Karissa.”
“Good boy. My boss is calling your uncle so don’t be scared. Hang on, I’m going fast, okay?” she warned and sped up a little. The car behind her also sped up and bumped her again but she was expecting it and controlled her car from going sideways. She drove as fast as she could without losing control, praying for help to come fast but the car behind her clipped her bumper on the side and the car spun out of control going down the incline until a tree stopped her car from going any further down the steep hill. Her forehead hit the steering wheel with the crash and for a minute she was too stunned to move. She felt pieces of glass from the broken windshield everywhere, even in her hair. She groaned and felt wetness sliding down her cheek. It was blood. Small whimpering noises alerted her to Toby huddled in the corner. Thank God she had insisted he put his seat belt on.
“Toby?” she whispered, unbuckling her seat belt and ignoring her own pain, taking glass out of her hair and scooting over toward him. “You okay, sweetheart?”
“I think so but my arm hurts.” He cried, cradling his left arm against his chest. “I want my mommy, Karissa.”
Karissa looked behind her. She could see the two men climbing down the hill in a hurry to reach them and her adrenaline shot up, making her heart speed.
“We’re going to have to run, Toby, like right now, then we’ll find your mom.” She unbuckled his seat belt and opened his door. Once he got out of the car she slid over to his door and jumped out. She heard the men yelling but didn’t stick around for them to get any closer. She grabbed Toby’s uninjured hand and led him away from the car and into the woods running downhill, trying hard not to fall. She was cold and scared and it took everything she had not to join Toby in breaking down and crying. This was not how she had envisioned her night going at all.
They ran downhill quickly to put some distance between them and the men and stopped at the bottom, both of them out of breath. It was cold and her lungs hurt from running so fast. “I don’t suppose you know where we are, Toby?”
Toby shook his head, cradling his left arm against his chest. “I’m not allowed to play in these woods. I’m really scared, Karissa. I want to go home.”
“Me too, sweetie. I used to live in this town as a kid but that was a long, long time ago.” Sh
e took a calming breath. Panicking wouldn’t help, it’d make her feel better, but then she’d scare Toby more. She looked around the area and recognized it with excitement. Finally, some good luck. “I know where we are, Toby, come on let’s go. We need to get out of this rain and hide until your uncle finds us and I know he will. My boss will call him.”
Toby nodded and followed her, running through the trees for a few minutes until they reached a small, hidden, hollowed-out hole in the hillside. She went in first, praying it wasn’t home to any wild animals or creepy crawly things. Funny, when she and her sister played there as kids they hadn’t thought that way. To them it had been a magical fortress where nothing bad could happen. It was dark in there but at least it sheltered them from the rain and she knew she had to get them out of the rain until someone found them. Hopefully the men didn’t know where this was since the entrance was covered by bushes. She had lost sight of them some way back and she hoped the rain made them give up and leave.
Karissa and Toby plopped down on the cold ground, both tired and wet but glad to be out of the rain. If only she hadn’t dropped her phone! She needed a minute to catch her breath and think of a way to get out of this mess. She leaned back against the dirt wall and let out a deep tired sigh. Yup, it had to be a Monday for sure!
Chapter 2
Ethan White stood up from his desk at the sheriff’s station with a worried face as he hung up the phone, muttering under his breath about kids. The station was quiet and the day shift had gone home already, leaving Gabe and Ethan there alone.
“What’s wrong?” Gabe Wilson asked him with concern when he saw Ethan’s worried expression. He and Ethan were working the night shift this week at the sheriff’s station. They were deputies along with Gabe’s younger brother Logan and their longtime friend Ryan Clark was the sheriff. Usually the nights were very quiet and slow since they didn’t have too many crimes in Appledale. Appledale was a small and quiet community filled with hard-working families. Almost everyone who lived here had been born in this small town.
Gabe had been sitting at his desk depressed over Karissa Suthers, his ex-girlfriend, who he had recently run into. He had broken her young heart many years ago by leaving her to rejoin the army with Ethan. He had tried hard to settle down into the civilian life after years in the army and into a steady relationship with Karissa. But adventure had kept calling his name and he had left her behind to spend several more years in the military. He had missed her more than he thought he would and had regretted it ever since. He had recently bumped into her in town and all the memories he had of her came rushing back into his head.
Now if Karissa saw him in town she ignored him completely and it hurt his feelings. She had every right to hate him but it didn’t stop it from bothering him. She had matured into a more beautiful woman with long, sandy-blonde hair flowing down her back and beautiful green eyes. She was still slender yet had womanly curves and he knew she still had the same sweet smile that he had once looked forward to seeing every day, only now she frowned deeply whenever she saw him.
“Toby has gotten himself lost in the woods,” Ethan sighed, running his hand through his short blond hair and interrupting Gabe’s melancholy thoughts. “Kari, Ken, and my parents have been looking for over an hour but it’s getting harder with the rain. They should have called me sooner but they thought they’d find him right away.”
Gabe stood up, immediately concerned. Toby, Ethan’s nephew, was only eight years old and spending the summer in Appledale visiting Ethan and his family. They knew a bad thunderstorm was coming into the area and it was already raining heavily. “I’ll call Ryan and Logan and set up a search team. We need to find him before it gets colder and the weather gets worse.”
Ethan nodded in agreement with a heavy sigh, putting his jacket on and picking up his Jeep keys. He was a tall, husky man and Gabe had served in the military with him for many years. “I’m picking up Liz and we’ll meet you out at my parents’ house. I might not survive this summer visit with the family.”
Gabe chuckled and picked up the phone to call for help. “Kids, they’re something else that’s for sure.”
If he had stuck around town he might have had some of his own by now. Before, that thought had scared him but now it sent a longing through his heart.
* * * *
Everyone gathered at Ethan’s parents’ house where Ethan’s sister Kari and her family were staying. Eddie and Nancy White, Ethan and Kari’s parents, held hands on the porch watching volunteers gather for the search for their grandson, Toby. Even Kenny, Toby’s ten-year-old brother look liked he wanted to cry but he put on a brave face in front of the big crowd gathering to search for his little brother. Kenny felt bad because he had argued with Toby and left him alone.
“Help me with the coffee, Kenny,” Nancy White said, giving him a chore to distract the young boy and taking him inside where it was warm.
Kari White-Sanders sobbed into her husband’s shoulder, crying. “It’s so dark and wet. We have to find him, Ken. I can’t stand the thought of him being out there scared and alone.”
Ken Sanders looked over at Ethan helplessly while holding his wife. “We will find him, honey. Look at all these people Sheriff Clark has brought out here to help us. He can’t have gone too far. Ethan has told Toby and Kenny many times if they get lost to stay put until help arrives.”
Liz Daniels-White, Ethan’s wife, nodded and gave Kari an encouraging smile. “Ken is right. Toby is a bright boy and everyone in town is here and ready to go out to find him. Let’s go inside and wait, Kari. You’re cold from the rain and Toby is going to need you in a little while.”