The Lonely Path

The faint sound of voices made the choice for Sean. No way do I want to run into anybody just yet. So he chose the right side of the fork. He hoped, despite its undisturbed snow, that it would still lead back toward the cabin.

Doubts for that hope began to appear as the ground on the left side of the trail rose dramatically. Not more than two minutes after choosing this option, Sean's optimism about his decision became thoroughly dashed. While one side of the path went higher, the other side disappeared entirely.

"Wow," Sean uttered out loud.

In front of him, a magnificent view of Wasp Lake beckoned. Careful not to slip on the snowy path, which Sean now realized had turned into almost a shelf on a section of a bluff, he slowly ventured forward. He stopped when he reached a point where the walkway went around a bend.

"Double wow," Sean exclaimed as he looked down. About twenty-five feet below lay a cove, one seemingly carved into two bluffs by giants. Not more than thirty yards wide and about the same length, the cove was surrounded on two sides by the cliffs, which rose about another ten or fifteen feet above his position. A small, level shoreline sat back from the way he came. Despite a light snow covering, he could make out what looked to be sand. There's a beach here? Sean knew there was a public beach at one end of the park. His family had visited it several times when he was quite young, but he never heard of this little gem.

The ice-covered lake had a serene beauty to it. Yet, Sean's eyes were called off to a section of shoreline and the forest behind it. Fearing at first that the wisps rising in the air were smoke from a forest fire, Sean concluded it wasn't smoke but fog. The fog was most likely caused by the hot springs in the area.

That brought to mind a comment he overheard the day of their trip to the Thriae Hot Springs as he carefully walked around the bend. Mr. Diamond had mentioned that Wasp Lake didn't freeze entirely during the winter because of the hot springs. Scanning the lake below him, Sean thought it looked frozen wherever his eyes could see. However, there was a noticeable difference in the opaqueness. Between the two cliffs where the water was shallower, the ice looked frozen solid. But as Sean moved further down to where the walkway ended in an outcropping of the cliff, he noticed the spot below him looked more transparent. Much more than even further out onto the lake on the other side of the cove.

I wonder...this trail seemed to be traveled enough that it wasn't overgrown. And with the water possibly deeper down below me, maybe this is where people cliff dive? Studying the side of the cliff where the shelf ended, he noticed up top some trees and brush jutted out at a slant. Unlike the area he stood and just came from, there wasn't a sheer drop down the side of the bluff but instead a gradual inclination. And at the bottom, the ice looked thicker again.

"That looks dangerous up there," he said to himself about the top of the bluff, ten or twelve feet above and out front of where he stood. With those trees and brush, and the way the ground slanted, a person wandering off into the woods could fall right over the side.

Still, this place looks pretty cool. I should ask Whitney or her dad about it when I... Sean's interest in the cove ended when he remembered what likely awaited him back at the cabin. At least this part of the lake took my mind off of Ramsey for a few minutes. With a deep sigh, he stared out across the frozen water, to the other shoreline far, far away.

"I hate you, Wasp Lake. You gave me a dream five years ago, and now you ripped it away from me," Sean cursed the body of water before turning sharply to head back the way he came.

As he neared the bend, Sean heard what sounded like a muffled cry, then the rustling of branches or brush. Swinging his head up and around, he wondered if an animal was nearby. Are there mountain lions in the park? He asked himself, fearing one might pounce on him from above. Instead, a blue blur tumbled down the far part of the incline above, the spot he thought looked dangerous moments ago.

The blue blur slid off the topmost part of the bluff, falling down to an outcropping of rock, where it bounced off. Landing on the section of terrain that slanted at a longer angle, it picked up speed as it rolled over and over. Finally, the blue blur hit the ice with such velocity that it slid almost a good twenty yards out on Wasp Lake.

Sean stared in shocked horror as he realized the blue blur to really be a person. And one he knew.