“You’re worried and need someone to talk to?”
“Yeah.”
“If you need me to help look, call me back and I’ll be there.”
I swallow and nod, even though he can’t see me. “Thanks. You know, for... how I can always count on you. I just needed to get this off my chest. I’ll check in later.”
“We’ll grab a beer after this. How does that sound? You can vent all you want. Youwillfind him, Den, and hewillbe okay.” His words sound like a promise, and his calm spreads to me, just as I knew it would.
“Thanks,” I say again, and hang up to keep searching. I keep going into the woods and back out onto the trail, calling for him. It’s taking too long, though, and anything could’ve happened by now.
When I approach a viewpoint overlooking Indian Beach, I stand close to the edge to look down. There’s a trail that goes down to the beach, but this particular one is too steep for little kids. There’s a better way to get down there.
In the distance, down below, there’s a group of people gathered in a circle on the beach, and in the center are several harbor seals that live around here all year, sunning in the sand. At least the tourists are keeping their distance.
Something catches my eye that seems out of place—and I’m very familiar with this whole area. It’s a blue color among all the brown and green, and I instantly recall that Josh is wearing a blue windbreaker. Why is he just sitting there in the ferns?
I swallow my fear and call out to him.
“Josh? Are you okay?”
He looks up at me and waves. “I-I slipped and I think I hurt my ankle.”
Yep, I’msofired. At least the kid seems okay, other than that.
“I’m coming down and I’ll help you back up, okay?”
“It really hurts.”
It rained yesterday, so the trail going down here is muddy, and there are too many rocks. It’s not an overly challenging trail, but it’s slick, and as careful as I am going down, I soon feel my feet slide beneath me.
And there I go, I think to myself as I slip and take a tumble, scraping my legs and arms on the rocks before I grab onto a small tree trunk, catching myself.
“Fuck,” I hiss. My knees and legs are throbbing from the pain all the way to my bones. There are some gouges on my shins, and I’m bleeding, but I try to ignore the pain to reach Josh. Going back up is going to be a pain in the ass, but it’ll be easier than helping him down. I don’t want to risk either of us slipping.
When I finally reach him, he looks to be in the same state as I am, with some minor bleeding. I check his head for injuries. His eyes are red-rimmed and wet from crying, but he looks okay. I run my hands all over him, checking for fractures and asking him questions about otherplaces he may be hurt. I end up on his ankle, which moves fine, but is starting to swell. It looks sprained.
“Why did you leave, Josh? We told you to stay with us.”
His brown eyes water, and his lips tremble. “I wanted to see the seals. They’re my favorite.”
I soften, because I probably would’ve done the same for my favorite animals, which are pretty much all of them.
“I totally get that, kiddo, but it’s not safe.”
He sniffs. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m just glad you weren’t injured more seriously. Let’s get you back with the rest of the group, okay?”
“Okay.”
I turn my back to him and balance myself on the muddy trail while I squat. “Hop on. I’ll take you back up. I bet you didn’t know this tour had free rides included.”
Josh giggles and shifts so he can get on. With his spindly arms wrapped around my neck, I stand, holding on to branches and tree trunks to help me back up the trail without slipping again.
It takes a while to get back up because I need to be careful. The last thing I want to happen is falling backward and landing on Josh.
When we finally make it to the top, he wraps his legs around my waist, and I piggyback him toward the picnic tables with the other kids. My legs hurt like a bitch, along with my hands that got scraped. I lick my bottom lip, tasting blood. I must have gotten slapped by a stray branch on my way down as I fell.
