Zack and Heather Reach the Caves

Heather Ravers rushed along the path towards the caves, her face dark with determination. She wasn’t sprinting, more like power-walking or a light jog, but her pace was so quick that Zack had to double step just to keep stride with her. He could tell from her expression, her furrowed brow and set jaw, that she was irritated at being separated from her father. Though, of course, Zack knew, or thought he did at least, exactly why Heather was angry.

“Are you that bothered by your father spending time with my mother?” Zack asked, feeling himself starting to sweat as he pushed himself to keep up with Heather.

“Aren’t you? After what you saw at the cabin?” Heather growled, frowning as she reminded herself. “You know as well as I do what will happen if they’re alone.”

“Do I?” Zack asked breathlessly. “We’re out in the middle of the forest, looking for a missing person. It’s not the most romantic or erotic of settings.”

Heather let out a derisive laugh, unable to hold it back as she scoffed at the dark-haired boy by her side, “You don’t know my father. It’s not like he’s irresponsible or uncaring but if he sees an opportunity, he’ll take it, regardless of the circumstances. It’s part of what has made him such a successful businessman.”

“Okay,” Zack admitted, and deciding on a different angle. “But I do know my mother. And she wouldn’t just ignore Victoria’s need to sate her own.”

The dark-haired girl leaned her head back, looking to the sky, as she willed the gods to give her the strength to cope with Zack’s naivety. “Tell me then, did she mean to kiss my father earlier?”

“Uh, no,” Zack again admitted, beginning to feel that he’d chosen the wrong side of this battle. “She said that she’d ‘gotten carried away’.”

“Exactly,” Heather said triumphantly, though her face still bore an expression of discontent. “She went into that room to chastise him and wound up with his hands on her ass and her groping his cock. My father is a man who gets what he wants and he’s very good at persuading others that what he wants is also what they want.”

“Alright,” Zack said, starting to pant a little as he struggled to keep up with Heather’s anger fuelled gait. “Let’s say, you’re right, and they’re just going to ignore that Victoria is missing and start screwing around. What’s the plan?”

“Get to the caves, check them out, and get back as quick as possible,” Heather told him, pushing her body harder. “Let’s not even give them a chance.”

“And then what?” Zack challenged. “We hover around them for the rest of our lives? We can’t keep them from fucking if that’s what they want to do. They’re our parents. They’re adults. They can do what they want and face the consequences.”

“For fuck sake, Zack, your plan is basically no plan at all.” Heather stopped and rounded on Zack. “Between no plan and my actual pro-active plan, I think I’ll stick with my mine.”

“No, my plan is to let them self-implode,” Zack said, with a deep breath, appreciative of the brief respite from walking. “If I learned anything from my time with Ashley it’s that you always have to face the consequences sooner or later. I went after Ashley because I wanted her and look where it left me; my relationship is in shambles, I’ve burned at least one friendship to the ground and the other is going to take a long time to repair. If our parents want to play with fire, let them and let them get burned.”

“And you’re really okay with that?” Heather asked, surprised. “You’re alright risking your parent’s marriage just to teach them a lesson?”

“I’m starting to think that I don’t know my mum as well I thought.” Zack closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. “If she’s not satisfied with my dad, then how can I really stop her? It’s like you said about your dad. She has a strong sexual appetite. It’s just who she is. Maybe I wish she was a bit more like your father, and actually talked to my dad about it before hand, but I don’t think it’s my place to go around spoiling her fun and ruining his life all because I want to maintain some façade of a happy, nuclear family.”

Heather ran a hand through her hair and groaned. She hated when other people were right. Especially when she was angry. She just wanted to take action, to do something, but Zack did have a valid point, though she was loathe to actually admit it. The only reason she wanted to stop her father doing anything with Monica was because of her own desires and feelings. She doubted that Monica would really make him happy, not for any real, significant amount of time anyway, but if this was what he wanted…it was senseless to stand in his way, just because she, his daughter, was having sexual urges towards her own father.

“Fine,” Heather relented, walking again, but slower. “I guess we might miss something to do with Victoria if we rush.”

“Do you really think she went as far as the caves?” Zack asked, following along side his dark-haired friend. “Your dad seemed to know what he was talking about back there with the disturbed ground and flattened grass.”

“He’s more of a fisher or a hiker but he has done some hunting in his time, so it doesn’t surprise me that he’d pick up on details like that,” Heather replied, thinking back to her father’s hobbies, mostly ones he lamented never having enough time to do. “If he thinks something is amiss back there then he’s probably right.”

“That’s what I was thinking too,” Zack agreed, looking to the purple sky, the warm orange hue of the setting sun replaced with a disquieting brown. “They’ve probably found Victoria already, or at least, I hope so. I don’t like the idea of her being out here when it gets dark.”

“Me neither, which is all the more reason for us to check the caves as well,” Heather replied. “The caves run throughout the park and there are many ways in and out, some of which are blocked by cave-ins though. She could very easily have gotten turned around and lost inside.”

“Uh, I know you say you’ve hiked this park a lot, but are you sure we should be going looking through these caves?” Zack asked, trying not to sound as scared as he felt. “Couldn’t we get lost too looking for her?”

“Hopefully Vicky didn’t go that far in. We’ll only go in a little way to check.” Heather waved a hand to dismiss Zack’s fear. “If we don’t find her, and neither do our parents nor Kurt, then we’ll have to call in the rangers to explore further.”

“I see,” he said, and see he did as the tress and grassy hillside gave way to a clearing.

On one side was a bench and a tourist board with a small map of the caves and some information about the animals that could be found therein. Beside the board, the path curved in front of a steeper incline of hill, becoming less and less maintained as it faded into the grass and dirt, and sloped downwards along with the rest of the hill. There were fences on both sides where that side of the lake could be viewed, the lake itself visible amidst an expanse of tall Red Pines. On the other side, Zack could see the top of the waterfall and, close by, a tower of smoke rising from a small empty pocket of no trees.