Chapter One
Part I : Runaway
Laura Weathers slowly walked along the reddish brown sand as the sun touched the western horizon behind her. She gently ran the tip of her shoe across the dirt as she walked and kicked up a small cloud which hovered behind her. She took a deep breath of the fresh air.
To her left, the ravines and ridges took that breath away. The terrain of the basin was expansive. This had to have been her favorite part of the country she had visited so far. She had gone on a long hike today, exploring the rock structures and admiring the beauty.
She focused on the small camp of trailers she was walking towards. Laura had been staying at the trailer camp up ahead for about three weeks now. This was just her latest stop on her journey through the United States. This journey was unique because she had no ultimate destination. There was no end goal for her to arrive at. She was just along for the ride. The trailer she was staying in was the fourth one down from the first, not far from management’s unit. There were eight trailers in total and they were all silent.
She passed the first trailer. This was the administration trailer, and she noticed that the close-to middle aged woman who manned the check in stand had already retired for the night. The sign hung up in the window simply said, ‘back at 8am.’ Near the roof of the trailer, a neon sign lit up with alternating green and orange letters. ‘Zion Outdoor Hostel.’ This was the cheapest place to stay that Laura had found in Zion National Park. Conveniently, there were barely any guests in at this time of the year. She didn’t have a bunk mate in her trailer, and if she had it would have been a deal breaker.
She ran her hand against the metallic wall of her trailer as she walked by it. The aluminum was crisp and cold, even though the sun was still out. Laura began to notice that she was beginning to see her own breath in the crisp air. Thankfully she had brought a number of jackets with her when she ran off from home. The front door of her trailer creaked as she let herself in. She made sure to lock the door behind her.
The confines of the trailer were very narrow. The first half of the trailer was the common area. For her purposes, it was all her area. There was a tiny kitchen and one small bathroom in the back corner. No shower though, instead there was a designated washroom and laundry room near the back of the trailer complex. The other half of her trailer was where all the bunks were situated. There were three bunk beds that were pressed against the wall, allowing for as much walk space as possible through the narrow corridor. Of the six total beds, only one had been slept in. She looked out her window and watched as the sun disappeared beneath the horizon. She peered out and glanced at each of the other trailers. Only one, about three units over from her had the lights on. The rest of them were all vacant.
She turned to her locker where she looked into a small mirror that was attached to the door. She had slight bags under her chestnut brown eyes. Her long blonde hair was tied into a ponytail for the moment. She pulled off the scrunchie and let her hair flow down to the middle of her back. She didn’t wear makeup, so she didn’t need to worry about taking any off. She was naturally beautiful, but she admitted to herself that she had definitely looked better before she began living on the road. You can run like there’s no tomorrow, but tomorrow always comes...
Laura shuffled through her backpack and pulled out an atlas and tossed it onto the table. She looked at the map of Utah and began to contemplate where she was going to go next. Colorado? Nevada? She had enough money to keep running for about another month or two.
Maybe she’d stop through Salt Lake City. She had never been there, and it was where her mother was born. Laura missed her sweet mother dearly. She hadn’t talked to her for months now. There were some nights she would watch her phone vibrate and see the profile picture of her mother on the screen. She wanted to answer so bad, but she would always lock the screen and shut away her mother. It was for her sweet mother’s own safety, after all.
Her trip was exciting at times, but Laura longed to be back home in Georgia. But she wouldn’t be going home for a long time. Maybe not ever. And she probably wouldn’t be able to stay here at the Zion Outdoor Hostel for much longer either. It wouldn’t take too long for her to be found. She’d been here for almost a month already. Laura began to dig through her bag once again, searching for something near the bottom.
She pulled out a pack of white zig zags and a small bag of pot. With elegance she rolled a joint, the whole time keeping her eyes focused on the map as she analyzed all the different ways the routes and interstates directed travellers through Utah. From the breast pocket of her jean jacket she pulled out a zippo and lit her joint. She took a deep drag and exhaled. She ashed out the joint into a half empty diet coke can.
Laura closed up the atlas and turned out the light. She got under the sheets and laid her head against the pillow. The wind was beginning to pick up outside. The wind chimes attached to each trailer began to sound off in the dark of the night.
Laura ignored the noises and forced her eyes shut as she began to feel herself drift away…
The tall grass went up to her waist. She ran her hand against the tips of the tall grass as she walked towards the homestead. The towering white house was roughly three stories high. It sat on top of the hill. The house looked as if it were waiting for her.. She began to walk up the hill, the large house growing larger as she neared it. There was nothing else around her, just a trail that led about a mile behind her which led to a fork in the road. Ahead the trail ended at the steps which ascended to the front door of the homestead.
Everything here was some shade of grey. Even she was, skin and all. The grass, which she imagined should have been tan or caramel color, was instead that of a dull grey. So was the sky. Everything here was grey, aside from the house which maintained its brighter complexion.
Laura had no idea where she was. She had never been to the midwest aside from Illinois. She imagined that she had to be somewhere in Iowa? Indiana? Maybe even Kansas? Christopher was from Kansas… Maybe this was what his house looked like?
All that surrounded her was an expansive field. She had never seen this house in front of her in person. But it appeared every time she fell asleep since what happened all those months ago. The first time she came here started at the beginning of the trail, where the fork in the road was way back there. The house always called out to her. “Laura… Laura… LAURA…..”, it called persistently.
Now she stood in front of the house, having made it all the way up the hill. She felt as if something was watching her. Maybe from the field. Maybe atop the roof. But everywhere she looked, there was not a single soul. She was by herself out here, or at least that’s what she wanted to believe. The wind was calm at first, but the longer she stood out here the more it began to pick up.
Towards the east, thunder boomed. The dark cloud wasn’t there when she first got here. Her brown eyes were fixated on the storm, which was moving towards her. She could see a lightning bolt generate from within the ashy cloud. The flash lit up the entire hill and the surrounding field for half a second. About two seconds later she could feel the thunder boom within her chest. She gasped at the vibrations, her blonde hair now fluttering along her shoulders from the wind.
“Laura…” She turned her attention back to the house. It was dark in the house, and inside the windows were nothing but pitch blackness. The wind howled against her ears. The tall grass fluttered against her waist. She took a step towards the house.
