Just as the last lumen from their mini-mag flashlight faded, the night enveloped them in a blanket of darkness. Seconds later Josh stepped on nothing but air and fell into the wet willows, disappearing from directly in front of his dad. A thud followed by a muffled scream sent his dad into a panic. He stumbled towards the sounds he had marked with his hands straight out in front of him. The bubbling of the creek now getting louder, he stretched his non-blinking eyes as wide as they could go, trying to capture even the slightest amount of light. There was none on this night, however, as the heavy cloud cover shrouded the heavens like a curtain dividing their stage from the laughing crowd.Their long day hike from camp had led them even further than they had realized as each bend or hill in front of them proved too tempting to resist. Soon they found themselves picking up the pace, racing the sun, and somehow taking the wrong fork in the trail on their return. Their compass had pointed them to everywhere but camp and finally they simply resorted to trekking downhill. What had previously been an outstanding adventure numbed them into mistakenly neglecting the mountain the one thing it always demands - respect. Because of their good fortune thus far, they had erred in creating a false, laissez-faire attitude about their existence.Josh's dad felt the air temperature drop drastically, and his next step sent him plummeting six feet into the earth. Dizzy and confused, he desperately clawed the world within reach, searching for Josh, thinking the same fall could have rendered his son unconscious and unresponsive.With no results, he crawled forward, the wet willows tripping and punching him with their whispy arms and legs. A moat of sharp rocks guarded their evil thicket and punished his own limbs. "Why are you doing this, Lord? Why does this have to happen to me?" the thoughts gained frenzied momentum. He wished to call his wife on his cell phone and listen to her tell him it would be alright. He shook his head, disgusted at the futility of that ridiculous weakness. "I've just got to figure this out myself. There has to be some greater reason this has happened. Please show me what you want me to see from this, God. I can't imagine living without my own son."He noticed he was crawling into a hollow sounding place where the earthen walls seemed to be closing in on him. Finally he made sense out of the possibility that he might be in some sort of a cave directly below where they had just previously stood before Josh disappeared."Josh!" he cried out into the black air."Dad!" Josh replied, pain cracking his voice."I am so glad I found..."A heart stopping hiss paralyzed him. Then the mystery of the night became clear. "Reoowww!" the beast filled the cavern with its sickening scream. A cougar!To be continued...
