(2 ratings) Rate this Story (5 best) 1 2 3 4 5

SUMMARY: The tenth in a 14 part serial short story- a new one every week. I wrote this to be recorded as an audio story- you can hear it at www.williamhrdina.com- but I think it holds up as a regular short story as well, and its finished so it won't disappear.

Croucher
Part X- "An Accident"
By William Hrdina

The following morning, Logan was the first one to notice John was missing. Stretching and smacking his lips, his throat felt very dry and sore, he walked to the door of the cabin and opened it, thinking their guide had probably already gone outside. But everything outside was quiet- nothing but birds and the 8 cabins with the mysteriously pointless wooden post in the middle. Even though his watch said it was nearly 8:30 in the morning, it was still dark. The massive cliff face rising above the town did a pretty good job of blocking out the majority of the sunlight. Logan guessed the town wouldn't be in full sunlight for another hour.
Logan looked up at the massive face with interest. He'd enjoyed his climb and the idea of tackling the face seemed intriguing. He walked up to the stone wall and examined it closely. It didn't take an expert to see it would be impossible to climb the smooth, steep face without ropes.
"Urghph." Came a voice from behind him, scaring Logan badly.
He didn't scream, but he came close. "Oh, jeez, I didn't see you back there." He said, laughing uncomfortably.
"Ubbu cowfopp." Said the villager. Logan supposed the comment could be an apology for scaring him.
"My guide said this place is called Croucher." Logan said.
Was there the briefest glimpse of recognition in the villager's eyes when he said Croucher? Logan thought there was- and he wasn't sure how to feel about it.
"Good Morning." Ryan said, coming out of the cabin and joining his son.
"I was just discussing philosophy with my new friend here. He agrees in the fundamental sovereignty of the unconscious mind." Logan laughed.
Ryan was glad to hear his son joke and laughed too. The trip had been going far better than he could've hoped- weird village in the middle of the mountains not withstanding. The villager grunted and made a hand signal. Ryan ignored the villager the way he would ignore a young child who was intentionally trying to annoy.
"I was just trying to see if there was a way up this face when I ran into him." Logan said, indicating the villager.
"It'll still be a minute before Dottie and Cliff get out of bed- let's see if we can't find a way up not guaranteed to break your neck." Ryan said.
Thinking it would be best to get a better perspective, he walked away from the wall, scanning the face back and forth with his eyes. He thought he saw something- a pattern that stood out against the random beauty of the mountain.
"Come here, look at this." Ryan said to his son. The villager was watching them- he had a look of anxiety- but neither father nor son really noticed. Logan walked over to his Dad and looked up.
Ryan pointed at a place about 100 yards up the steep slope, a deep inset in the rock. Their companion followed the line of Ryan's finger- gasped- and slapped Ryan's arm. Ryan looked at him crossly, and then resumed pointing at the spot. The closer he looked, the more sure he was there was something hidden up there, something man-made.