TAINTED REMNANTS: VOLUME 1

CHAPTER 6: TROUBLEMAKERS

5:52 PM

01/08/2020

Impatiently driving down the gravel road, Dorothy made her way to the entrance to Etenia Trail as quickly as she could. Her mind was going in circles trying to process everything the police told her. When they called her and told her what happened, she left her job as fast as possible, completely neglecting to tell anyone, that would be a problem she'd have to take care of later.

When she first got the call and they told her what happened, she was so worried. The police had told her that her son and his friends were attacked on Etenia Trail by someone in the woods. They got a call from one of his friends who told them where they were. Fortunately, though, the police found them. They were still making their way to the end of the trail and by that point, the police had already found them and brought them out of the forest. That was thirteen minutes ago. Dorothy was grateful there were no cops on the way there because she was pretty sure she went way over the speed limit just to get there as soon as possible. She had to make sure her son wasn't hurt. On the way, she wondered to herself what made him go on that trail in the first place. She knew he and his friends liked going on bike rides, but riding on a trail like that would take a few hours and it was already getting late by the time they left school.

She didn't know what would possess him to go on a trail that long, but she would've appreciated it if he at least gave her a phone call or maybe told her before hand. Of course, calling her would be difficult because they didn't have cell phones and he would only be able to do it either from home or at school. She then presumed that they must've come up with the idea just after school today. She knew they'd always make plans to do something after school at the last minute. Dorothy knew Oscar wanted every chance he'd get to be out of the house. She'd been working him hard for the past couple months and didn't give him enough time to enjoy his break. Dorothy didn't want to take away all of his free time, but she really needed his help. She worked a hard job and she didn't have a lot of help. She knew he must've been mad at her, but after Halloween, she didn't trust him to stay at home by himself or with his friends. Replacing all the things he broke drained them of a lot of money, money they needed for bills, not to mention everything else...

But, she was grateful he apologized at least and she wasn't going to hold it against him. That was in the past and right now, she wanted to figure out what to do with him when she got there. Dorothy didn't want to yell at him. He was probably scared from what happened and she didn't want to make things worse. There was no point to yell at him anyway. He didn't do anything wrong apart from going on the trail at such a late hour, but she could hardly blame him for that. After all, she knew he always had a sense of adventure. Even so, that didn't mean he was immune to some kind of punishment. Forcing him to work more hours again wouldn't be good, it would probably make him want to run around outside even more.

Dorothy wondered if Raj and Isaac's parents were there already. They probably were, and they'd probably make her feel bad for showing up late. She saw the way they always looked at her with those looks of pity and contempt, as if they didn't want her around them or their children, which they obviously didn't. She didn't have to worry about interacting with them. She would only be there to pick up her son, figure out exactly what happened, and leave.

Her truck entered the parking lot. She had already seen the sirens from far away, but there were so many cars. Looking around, she could see an ambulance with multiple people surrounding the back of it. She held her breath as she parked and stepped out. She didn't know why so many people surrounded the vehicle. It could be normal. Or... someone could be hurt. Please, not her son, she begged. Please, not any of them. She knew they were found, but that didn't mean they weren't hurt.

An officer approached her, no doubt believing she was a stranger. "Ma'am! I'm going to need you to stay back."

"I-I'm Dorothy Avila." She stuttered out, fishing her wallet out of her pocket and holding out her ID for the man to see. "I'm Oscar Avila's mother. I need to see him right now. Is he okay?"