Bibles and Bones in the Forest by Flora Reigada

Author:Flora Reigada
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MillerWords, LLC
Published: 2024-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Then

A couple of days after the Bible study, Laura rose early to kiss her mother and father-in-law goodbye before they drove to the airport. From the top of her driveway, she watched their car fade away down the country road.

At a farewell restaurant dinner the day before, a teary-eyed Stella thanked them for transforming her dance studio into a cheerful, inviting place with pink and white walls, decorations, sparkles, ballet barres, and a slip-resistant dance floor.

“It’s a dream come true.”

Dream...The thought floated across Laura’s mind.

It triggered the memory of a dream Laura had the night before. It found her riding Champ along a narrow trail up a sharp incline, where she had the sense of looking for something or someone.

Its unfamiliarity puzzled Laura because she had explored almost every trail within a 50-mile radius of her home. On one side, a granite mountain jutted straight up. On the other side, she could look over a steep ledge into dizzying depths of milky fog somewhere off High Point Road.

She held her breath when Champ’s hoof teetered on the cliff’s edge, sending stones tumbling down. Laura breathed in relief when he regained his balance.

She caught a fleeting glimpse of the weathered houses across the road from Stella’s studio. They appeared to float in the mist, as did landmark mountains looming on the horizon.

When she and Champ neared the mountain’s peak, Laura squinted, seeing what appeared to be the white buck at its summit—his antlers rising like a crown.

He motioned with his head, directing Laura’s attention about halfway down the mountain, where the mist parted to reveal a weather-beaten cabin.

A warning moaned with the wind. Stay away.

Laura was still pondering her dream when her reverie was interrupted by an affectionate nudge from her husband, standing beside her.

“Earth to Laura. What were you thinking? Normally, you’re alert as a cat, but you didn’t hear me coming or the kids playing in the barn while I was working there.”

Laura tried to clear the cobwebs from her head.

“I had the most incredible dream.”

“I hope I was in it and we had a good time,” Chris said with a wink.

Laura laughed, then told him her dream.

“I usually don’t put much stock in dreams. But this was so real. I’ve got to find that trail.”

Chris gave his wife a questioning look.

“I never took you to be much of a mystic.”

“I’m not,” Laura shrugged. “That’s the odd thing.”

Chris measured his words. “Maybe you didn’t recognize the trail in your dream because it doesn’t exist—just like that white buck....”

He shook his head. “But I know there’s no stopping you.”

Later that day, Tiffany and Stella joined Laura for a horseback ride. Husbands at home, able to watch the children for a couple of hours, made the outing possible. Everyone felt reassured about the friends venturing into the forest because of news Raúl had heard at the sheriff’s department and delivered to the group.

“The boyfriend of the girl whose remains were found has been charged with felony murder and jailed.

Warmed by a lazy sun and temperatures in the fifties, the horses clip-clopped along, bobbing their heads.

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