Burn

Chapter 1

"I'm going to die here, alone, with animals fighting over my corpse." The words dissipated into the early afternoon air as Molly stared off into the thick woods. The tree bark rubbed into her back where she sat slumped at the bottom of the gulley. She knew her words were a tad pessimistic. She figured she'd earned some slack, though. After all, she was having a rough day.

'Maybe this won't become my final resting place, but it's certainly not how I imagined this day going', she mused. At the moment she was, however, in danger. In danger of being eaten alive by killer mosquitoes. Not the quickest way to go. Since, the likelihood of that was in the low to zero percentage, she stopped to consider the more realistic concerns. There was the danger of starvation. She hadn't eaten in at least three hours. With a trace of her humor intact, she spoke aloud, "Hey! That's like an eternity to a hobbit." When not even a leaf rustled, she sighed. No one laughed because no one was around. For miles. She licked her dry lips and continued to evaluate her situation. Dehydration was still a factor. No one could go very long without water, a proven fact. She couldn't exactly remember how long, but knew the clock was ticking. It really was looking hopeless. Ok, maybe not Survivor week 5 bad, but still. No water, no food, and completely alone. Not ideal circumstances.

Pine needles bit into her damp palms resting on the forest floor. How had she let this happen? She rubbed her forehead, smearing sweat and dirt across her face. Lovely. Putting pride aside, she admitted her own insensibility might've played a part. She should've stayed with the tour group. That had been her first mistake. Not bringing her cell phone in order to better "commune" with nature was the second. Although, there had been no guarantee a signal could've been found out in the middle of mountain country, even if she'd brought it.

As she sat propped up by the tall pine, she had plenty of time on her hands to reflect on the chain of events that have led to her current demise. It really had started out innocently enough. She'd simply wanted to get away before the engagement party. She felt the strong need for time to collect herself and get a little peace and quiet before the storm. After all, a party the size her mother wanted takes a great deal of planning and could be extremely stressful. As soon as the party was over, the wedding planning would begin in earnest. All she could see stretched across the next six months was: tastings, fittings, color choices, seating arrangements and too much time spent with her mother and soon to be mother-in-law.

She grimaced thinking of her mother. The lady would faint if she could see what had happened to her daughter. Covered in dirt and grim, all alone and hurt. It was her mother's nightmare come true.

She could hear her mothers voice in her mind now saying, "I told you not to run off to the middle of nowhere. Now look at you! You should've been at the spa and not some back woods cabin. Who needs nature to unwind? Nobody ever got lost at the nail salon!"

Molly breathed out long and hard. Escaping to the woods hadn't been premeditated. Fate was on her side, or so it seemed. When a coworker and her husband had to bail on a weekend cabin rental due to their child's sudden illness, had that been fate? Or maybe since it was already paid in full, there was no sense in wasting the cabin. The coworker had offered and she accepted. Fate? Or poor decision making. Perhaps it was all a matter of perspective. Or belief. Maybe both.

Being the considerate person she was, she morbidly wished she could've left a note with her body, being sure to absolve the traitorous coworker of all guilt in relation to her untimely death. Obviously, the woman hadn't known about her clumsy nature. That made two of them. Who knew she'd be enjoying the scenery so much and not paying attention to her surroundings that she ended up twisting her ankle and falling down an embankment? She'd already been so far behind the group they'd had no chance of seeing or hearing her. Was it really her fault that she was easily distracted by a cute little bunny hopping off that she totally missed the big tree root sticking a foot up from the ground? Could anyone really blame her for being so completely uncoordinated that she couldn't stop herself from falling off the side of the mountain trail? She'd ended her tumble at the bottom of the gulley in a slump with no means of escape. At least, that was how she thought it happened. In a quick flash, she recalled the sensation of pitching forward and questioned her memory. It all happened so fast. Ugh. At least Alice fell down the rabbit hole and ended up some place interesting. Too bad there was no white rabbit to help her out. How about a white knight in shining armor? Unlikely.