Page 12 of Once Upon a Fable

A flurry of birds suddenly took flight behind me. Squawking indignantly, their wings creating a fluttering raucous of feathers. They bolted from the treetops ringing my ravine.

I spun in panic.

Had they spooked because of me? Because they sensed my rising terror?

They squawked again, circling over the top of the cliff where I’d never ventured. They hovered and dived, investigating something I couldn’t see before taking off in a choreographed cloud.

Something’s out there.

Self-preservation sliced through me.

Rage and hate sent violent possession for my valley down my legs.

No one else was welcome here.

Ever.

I broke into a run, back the way I came, slamming to a stop by the cliff to look up, up, up the craggy ravine that both imprisoned and protected me, through the crisscrossed branches that blocked out the sky, to the swaying treetops beyond.

I waited for another flock to spook.

My eyes darted in the new sunlight, searching for whatever had made them take off. I’d lived here long enough to read the forest, and birds didn’t suddenly perform a mass exodus unless a predator was in their midst.

Was it the bear from last summer?

The coyote that I’d snared and then let go?

I strained to hear. I listened for far longer than usual because something felt off. Something wasn’t quite right.

Nothing.

Silence. Just the bicker of birds, the rustle of leaves, the soft hum of insects.

No other hint that anything stalked me from above.

No enemy to hunt.

I was alone, like always.

I waited another few minutes before turning back toward the house. I tried to relax, to prepare for my morning run. However, foreboding iced my naked skin. It drew daggers down my spine and latched hooks into my flesh.

Something was out there.

Something was inside me.

Nowhere was safe.

CHAPTER FIVE

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YOU MIGHT AS WELL admit it.

You’re lost as hell and need to give up the idea of climbing and head back.

My shoulders slumped as I stared once again at my compass. I hadn’t been able to go back to sleep after the strange noises in the night and had left at dawn, packing up my meager camp and continuing on in the hopes of stumbling upon the promised, untouched boulder.

I had visions of recording a fabulous video with the new sunshine striking just right, enjoying a nice lunch at the base, then having enough rations and daylight to hike back to my Jeep.