Nykara Page 9

  “Well, Miss Fay said we would read the article before we did anything, so I guess that’s what we should do.”

  They started reading the article. It was no surprise that she was done before Ben. She noticed at the bottom of the paper there was a small drawing of a flower.

  “Did you put that flower on the paper?” she asked him.

  “No, it was there when Miss Fay gave it to us.”

  “Hmm, whoever she got the paper from must have doodled on it.” But Alix wasn’t quite sure that was the case. Something about the small doodle was bothering her but she couldn’t quite figure out why.

  Ben finished reading and Alix grabbed her notebook. She started writing down the important facts from the article.

  “I think we’ll have to go the library and get more facts,” Alix said. “I’ll go get a library pass from Miss Fay.”

  They packed up their stuff, got their pass, and went to the library. They each went to a computer and started looking up anything on the missing hikers. There was more information than she thought. It was going to take a lot of time to sort through everything. They both had several pages of information by the time class was over and agreed to go to Alix’s house after school to compare notes. Ben assured Alix he was able to find his way to class, so she headed off to Spanish.

  The rest of the day was uneventful as most school days are. Since it was Tuesday they didn’t even cook in Culinary Arts. She met Ben and Shay at their lockers and the headed home. They parted ways at Shay’s street and Alix and Ben went to her house. Her mom was in the kitchen when they got there.

  “Hi mom, this is Ben.”

  “Very nice to meet you. Alix speaks very highly of you.”

  “It’s nice to meet you too, Mrs. Dracon.”

  “Please call me Heather. What are you two up to?” she asked Alix.

  “English project. Miss Fay paired us up to work on a current events paper. We have to investigate the missing hikers from Yellowstone. We’ll be in the living room.”

  Alix and Ben set up their stuff at the coffee table and started comparing what they found earlier.

  - Sara Greenville, age 18, went missing on June 11th from the Old Faithful area

  - Samantha Warren, age 31, went missing on July 23rd from the Canyon Village area

  - Jack Carp, age 42 went missing on Sept 3rd from the Mammoth Hot Springs area

  - all went missing on a Saturday

  - all were hiking with friends

  - friends say they were just out of site when they disappeared

  - each hiker said they thought they saw something and went to go check it out

  - no signs of what happened to them

  - all of the hikers were tourists, not locals

  After comparing notes, they found they had mostly the same things. Alix decided they needed to look further, so she went and got her laptop. For about an hour they searched and came up with not much more information than what they already had. All the disappearances were the same except for the location.

  “This is really strange,” Alix said, “I mean I’ve never investigated missing hikers before, but this seems odd. I could understand if the hikers were alone or on dangerous trails, but that’s not the case at all. It’s like turning a corner and poof, you're gone.”

  “You’re right, it definitely seems weird.” Ben checked the time. “I should probably get home. We’ll get back to this tomorrow. See you in the morning.”

  Alix walked him to the door. “Bye Ben, see you tomorrow.”

  She went back to the living room and finished the little bit of homework she had been given that day. She did a little more research on the missing hikers but didn’t find anything helpful. She needed to get the hikers out of her head, so she read her book until dinner was ready. She watched TV for the rest of evening until it was time for bed.

  Chapter 9

  Alix was running through the forest. She knew there were people behind her, but she wasn’t running from them. She was running toward something and she felt like she was running out of time. “Help us,” a voice said, but she couldn’t find the source of the voice. She ran and ran and ran but couldn’t find the voice. She was so frantic that she lost her footing and fell down an embankment. Momentarily stunned, she looked around and saw a small cave entrance at the end of the ravine. She got up and ran toward it, but it seemed to get farther away the more she ran. “Help us,” the voice said again seemingly more urgent. “You have to find us.”

  Alix woke up fighting with her covers. She was drenched in sweat and breathing fast. She took some deep breaths as she realized it was just a dream and she was in her room not running through the trees looking for someone. She looked at her clock, 5:46 am, there was no way she was going to be able to get back to sleep after that. She got up, had a shower, and got ready for school. She had almost an hour before she had to leave for Shay’s. What was up with the crazy dreams lately? She thought. Before school started she barely remembered her dreams and now it was like she was spending her nights in a different world. She went back to her room and found her journal. She loved writing stories, but she hadn’t written in her journal for a while and hoped it would help with her scattered thoughts. She went back to the kitchen, got her coffee, and sat down at the table and started writing.

  Sept 7

  I don’t know what is happening lately, but I feel like something is going on, not just to me but in Sunset Creek. My dreams are crazy, they seem so real that when I wake up it’s like I’m in that place, not at home in my bed. I know it’s not just my reading at night that’s causing this. The meadow in my first dream seems very familiar but I know I’ve never seen it. And what’s up with that cabin? I’m sure it’s the same one as on Ben’s property, but I had never seen it until that day after I had the dream. And the tattoo on my hand? And the little old lady in the cabin? It seemed so real when I woke up. And last night the dream about having to find someone in the forest, when I woke up it felt like I had actually been running. It’s all so strange. And not to mention everything else that I’ve noticed, my list of strangeness is getting longer by the day. It all seemed to start the day that Ben’s family moved here. Are they behind it? They don’t seem like people that would be “behind” anything. Are Shay and I the only ones to see it? Am I just paying more attention than ever before or has strange stuff been happening for a while? My parents seemed very suspicious when I told them about Ben and his family. Why would they be whispering about me? Do they know something and aren’t telling me? I have so many questions and no answers. I have to find out more.

  The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. After school, Ben went over to Alix’s again to work on their English project. They looked for information about other people that went missing at other national parks. They found lots of people go missing every year, but none with the set of circumstances as the three from Yellowstone.

  “Why don’t we try looking at the past? Maybe we can find something that relates,” he said.

  “Sure. You take the computer and I’ll write the notes.” Alix said.

  They spent an hour searching and came up with nothing.

  “Ahhh, this is frustrating,” Alix said. “I don’t know why but I feel that there is more to this than just three missing people. The way they went missing seems too coincidental and not normal.”

  “Okay, we agree that these three are definitely related, yes?” Ben asked

  “Yes,” she agreed.

  “We also agree that lots of people go missing in parks every year.”

  “Yes.”

  “We agree that these three are not your usual disappearances of hikers.”

  “Yes.”

  “We agree we’re going to keep looking into this and find some answers?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, then we’re in this together. I feel the same as you do that there’s more to this than just some missing hikers. We’ll keep looking until we find what we want, even if we have already handed
in our paper.”

  Ben’s phone alerted him to a text message, so he checked it. “It’s my mom. I have to go. See you tomorrow Alix.”

  “Bye Ben.”

  ****

  The rest of the week passed in pretty much the same manner. School, English project with Ben, homework, dinner, and bed. It was the last half hour of the week, 3:00 pm on Friday afternoon. It was usually the longest thirty-minutes of the week. Luckily, she was in Culinary Arts and it was a cooking day. Their task for the day was going to be making basic white bread. Needless to say, it smelled great in their room. Mr. Rollins had left the door open, so she knew anyone close to the room was going to smell the freshly baked bread. With the last half hour of class, they got to sample each other’s work. Most of the other bread was pretty good. One pair burned their bread, even the teacher didn’t try that one. With her week ending on a high note, she packed up the rest of her bread and went to meet Shay and Ben at their lockers. As usual, they had beaten her there and were ready to get going. She quickly got what she needed, and they were off, homeward bound. Ben and Alix had already agreed that they would take Friday night off from their project. They arrived at Shay’s house and just as everyone was about to part ways Shay told them to hang on.

  “Hey, I just had an idea. Since it’s so nice out still, why don’t we go get ice cream at Lyla’s Café?” Shay asked them.

  “What’s Lyla’s Café?” Ben asked.

  “It’s a small family run café on Main Street. They have good food and the best ice cream,” Alix told him. She turned to Shay, “What about Alana?”

  “I’ll text mom and ask her.”

  “Who is Alana?” Ben asked Alix as Shay was texting her mom.

  “Shay’s little sister. She’s eleven but her mom still doesn’t like to leave her alone, so Shay looks after her every day until her parents get home. She’s a good kid, like my little sister too.”

  Shay’s phone dinged, and she checked her message.

  “Mom’s okay with us taking her. Now we just have to wait for her to get home. Do you want to leave your bags inside while we go?”

  “Sure,” Alix said at the same time Ben said, “Sounds good.”

  They put their stuff in Shay’s house and sat on the step and waited for Alana to get home. About ten minutes later a smaller version of Shay came walking down the sidewalk. Same blond hair only longer, same big brown eyes, and same bubbly personality.

  Alana saw Alix and ran over and gave her a great big hug.

  “Hey squirt,” Alix said to her, “How’s it going? Liking sixth grade?”

  “It’s going okay. Sixth grade is great so far. I have a nice teacher and I get to sit next to my best friend!” she exclaimed.

  “Good deal. So, squirt, I think your sister has a surprise for you.”

  “Really? What is it?” Alana looked at Shay.

  “Well,” Shay started, “How would you like to go to Lyla’s for ice cream!”

  “Yay! Let’s go!” Alana started to take off down the street.

  “Hang on there, dynamo, put your bag in the house first,” Shay told her.

  Alana put her bag in the house and they walked to Main Street which was only about eight blocks from Shay and Ben’s street.

  Alix thought she’d better let her mom know where she was, so she sent her a text.

  Alix: Going to Lyla’s for ice cream with Shay, Alana, and Ben. Be home in a while.

  Lyla’s Café wasn’t very busy when they got there, and that meant no waiting for ice cream. The waitress was there almost as soon as they sat down.

  “Hey girls, haven’t seen you in a while. Let me guess, you came in for ice cream.”

  “Yes!” Alana said, practically jumping out of her seat.

  “What flavors do you have today?” Shay asked.

  “Vanilla and chocolate of course,” the waitress told them, “And the specials today are blueberry, apple cinnamon, lemon mint, and cherry cheesecake.”

  “They all sound good,” Alix said, “I think I’ll have a scoop of apple cinnamon and a scoop of cherry cheesecake in a bowl with the works.”

  “I’m going to have a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of cherry cheesecake in a bowl, definitely with the works,” Shay told her.

  Alana was next to order. “One chocolate and one blueberry, in a bowl, the works please.”

  The waitress looked expectantly at Ben, “And you handsome?”

  “Um …”

  Alix forgot he’d never been here before. “Hey Ben, you can order one, two, or three scoops, in a bowl or a cone and the works is whipped cream, sprinkles and a cherry if you order it in a bowl.”

  “Okay … then I guess I’ll have one scoop of vanilla and one scoop of blueberry in a bowl, with the works please.”

  “Alright then, I’ll be back shortly with your ice cream,” The waitress said, and walked behind the counter.

  “Do they always have such different flavors?” Ben asked.

  “Yep,” Shay answered. “They make their own ice cream here, it’s really, really good. They always have vanilla and chocolate, but other than that you never know what flavors to expect.”

  “At Thanksgiving they usually have pumpkin pie, it’s sooooo good,” Alix said.

  “I like peppermint chocolate,” Alana told him.

  “I think one of my favorites is the strawberry chocolate chunk,” Shay added.

  “Maybe we should make this a once a month thing,” Ben said, “That way I can feel like a local and you girls can show me the ice cream ropes. What do you say?”

  Shay and Alana both responded with a resounding, “Yes!” and Alix said, “Only if it’s not too cold,” They all said at the same time.

  Ben laughed. “Okay then, it’s a date. Shall we say the first Friday of every month, but only if it’s not too cold,” he said smiling at Alix. He looked up and saw the waitress coming back with their ice cream. “Here come the goodies,” he announced.

  The waitress handed out the correct bowls of ice cream. “Enjoy,” she said, and went to take another order. All four of them dug into the ice cream creations.

  Ben had only taken one bite of his blueberry ice cream and decided it was the best he’d ever tasted. “Oh man, this is good. I’ve had ice cream in a lot of places, but I’m declaring that this is the best I’ve ever had. What’s their secret?”

  “No one knows, and they won’t tell,” Shay said with a smile.

  Alix always ate her cherry first and then started on the ice cream. She started with the cherry cheesecake since it was the newest one on the revolving menu. Fantastic as usual.

  “Mmm, Shay you totally have to try the cherry cheesecake,” Alix said to her, “It’s too good for words.”

  Shay tried hers. “You are so right,” she said with a mouthful of ice cream.

  They sat quietly enjoying their very yummy ice cream when they were interrupted by a familiar voice.

  “Hello, kids. I see you are getting Ben acquainted with our local delicacies.”

  “Hi Miss Fay, yes we are. Couldn’t go too long without letting him know about Lyla’s ice cream,” Alix said. “Are you here to enjoy some yourself or to help out Lyla?”

  “Maybe a little bit of both. Have a good weekend kids, enjoy your ice cream.” Then Miss Fay walked off and went into the kitchen.

  Ben sat there looking a little perplexed.

  “What’s up with the look Ben?” Shay asked him.

  “Well for starters, I’m not used to seeing teachers outside of the school. Also, Alix, what did you mean when you asked Miss Fay if she was helping Lyla?”

  “Small town stuff,” Alix and Shay said together, then laughed. Even Alana laughed with them.

  “One thing you’ll find about a small town is that a lot of people have dual roles. Miss Fay is the high school English teacher, but her cousin is Lyla, owner of this café, and you’ll often see Miss Fay in here on Friday or Saturday nights helping out because they’re busy. We often have to pull together in
a small town to get things done.”

  “Okay, makes more sense now,” Ben said. “Do you actually know everyone in town?”

  “No, not really, but it sure feels like that some days, and we recognize most people that live here. You’re lucky it wasn’t busier in here today. You would have had a lot more stares directed your way,” Alix told him.

  Surprisingly, it was little Alana that finished her ice cream first. The rest finished a little bit later. Alix was the last to finish, she liked to savor her ice cream when it was that good.

  Ben insisted on paying the bill since they were “showing him the ropes.” The girls didn’t complain because the only thing better than Lyla’s ice cream was Lyla’s ice cream for free. They walked back to Shay’s and Alix and Ben retrieved their school bags from the house. Alix headed home feeling pretty good about the first full week of her senior year.

  Alix was surprised to find her mom home. “Hey mom, I thought you were working tonight?”

  “I switched my shift, so I could be here for movie night. How was the ice cream at Lyla’s?”

  “Sooo good! I had a new flavor, cherry cheesecake, totally yummy.”

  “That does sound good.”

  “What’s for dinner?” Alix asked.

  “I thought we’d have pizza tonight.”

  “Awesome, you know how much I love pizza. Homemade or bought?”

  “I asked your dad to pick some up from Antonio’s.”

  “I can’t wait. I’m going to go put my stuff away.”

  Alix went to her room to put her school bag away. She was emptying her bag when she got a text. It was from Ben.

  Ben: I have an idea for our English project.

  Alix: Ok, what is it?

  Ben: I thought that we should go investigate one of the sites ourselves.

  Alix: Really?

  Ben: Yep. Maybe we can get a better sense of what’s happening.

  Alix: When did you want to do this?

  Ben: Tomorrow. And maybe Sunday too.

  Alix: Ok … how are we going to get there?