Katie spotted the signs on the path. One read Opportunity and the other Betrayal. She pulled out the ancient, folded map and carefully opened it. She had looked at this map so many times that deep, well-worn folds smeared entire towns and roads from existence. She pinpointed her location and, as she already knew, only one of these two paths was on the map.
It was also the location he father went missing.
The five years since it happened had softened the pain of his disappearance, but the gnawing need to know what happened to him was like a malignant tumour.
She was on a pilgrimage to follow in his tracks and find the answers she desperately needed. The police exhausted their search four days after her mother reported him missing. A mere six months later, her mother lost the will to move on, and ultimately to live. Katie discovered her floating in a bath of her own blood. But at least she knew what happened to her.
At 16, Katie found herself living with her mother’s sister, Aunt Suzie. Suz meant well, but was just not cutout for motherhood. Katie cut her loses and left.
Her journey from her home in Kentucky had brought her to this unmarked fork in the road in northern California. She’d followed the path her father had marked on the tattered map she now held. It was the only thing of her father the police recovered during their search and returned it to her.
On it her father had marked the area where the Betrayal path should be. This was her path.
It was getting dark as Katie started down the path. Unseen things made unseen thing sounds all around her. For the first time since she’d lost everything, she felt truly terrified. But she knew nothing could be more terrifying than losing both your parents and pushed herself onward. The dense, green foliage closed in on her; the air grew heavy. The forest became silent.
Katie gripped the map and knew the time had come for her to say ‘betrayal’ three times just like her father had written on the map.
Her voice hung like a solid mass in the dense woods. She said the word again and then again. The quiet rustled just behind her and she felt the breath of a word brush the fine hairs on her neck. “Katie.”
She turned to see a man. “Dad?”
“Katie. I have something to show you.”
She took his hand and disappeared into the night.
Thain in Vain 
I’m left wondering if the path was only visible to Katie because her father wanted her to see it, or because something else didn’t want the cops to know where it was. Very nice. And I’d be in for a 1000 word challenge one day!
Thanks!! I’m thinking I need to push myself more with some of the stories, which I don’t do. So, maybe 1000 word challenge is what I need!!
Ooooh. I liked it. I was left wondering, was it really her dad? Or is that how he went missing, a phony apparition? Who did he go looking for in the first place? Very cool.
Thanks!! I would like to flesh out some of these stories a bit more.
Maybe we need to do a 1000 word story challenge?!?!
OMG. I love that the map already had a mark where a path shouldn’t be. That makes Katie’s search all the more tense as she’s not even sure there’s hope until she gets there. Wow. Great!!
“She had looked at this map so many times that deep, well-worn folds smeared entire towns and roads from existence.” Wow- that line gave me writer’s envy! 🙂 I love the ambiguous ending too. I am left wondering if it was really dad or an apparition.
Thanks!! I’m glad you liked the ending. I thought it was a bit lame, but I’d hit that magic number!
Ok – I want to know what happened 😫 Intriguing Eilidh !!!!
Blame the 500 word constraint!!!
I felt the situation – with all senses. Really great writing. Thank you.