NaNoWriMo-2012

NaNoWriMo page 5
As Haley rode her bicycle, she felt that she had seen some parts of her dream in this path that she was riding now. It was funny how all of the people she had seen before had vanished and she was alone. There was a slight chill that went down her back. She stopped for a second. A little squirrel ran across her path and stopped. It looked at her and then started to run to the other side. Then there was a scream from a hawk that swooped down and picked up the squirrel. It caught the squirrel and then flew out of sight. The chill down her back seemed to disappear.
“Oh poor squirrel. I know that the hawk has every right to survive but I find it hard to know that your life is over.” whispered Haley. She resumed her ride but at a slower pace. She kept looking for signs that might indicate that someone had an accident and could be Farris.
She peddled a few yards more and came to a point in which there were two choices to make. To Haley there was a long way on the left and a short way on the right. She and Farris had taken both. Farris had usually liked the long way because it had thicker overgrowth and a narrower path. His justification was ‘I take the tougher path to keep in good shape.’
She decided that she would go the harder path and started out. As she traveled, she saw some snakes. Further down she saw some wintergreen plants. She kept those plants in mind since she knew that her mother had been her source for wild plant education that could have medicinal uses. Wintergreen plants could be put on sores, bruises and those irritating insect bites. Her mother had taught biology and had loved teaching her that nature was a pharmacy of natural medicine.
At long last, Haley had reached the end of the trail and had not seen Farris. She did not think that he would have taken the shorter path, but there was not time to go back and retrace it because she wanted to go home and get her cell phone. She saw some of the people she had seen earlier before and wanted to check with them to see if they saw her boyfriend. She walked up to two girls who were drinking a sports drink and talking. One girl had a prosthetic leg and was getting off her bicycle to check something.
“Oh, hello there.”
The two girls turned around to see who was talking.
“Um. I was wondering if you saw another cyclist here. He is a little over six foot tall. He has wavy brown hair and brown eyes. He rides a black bicycle with reflectors on the front tire only.” Haley added.
“Yes. We saw someone on his cell phone and he got one call and hurried off.” Said the girl with the prosthetic leg. “He really hit the road fast.”
“Oh my. It wasn’t me. I wondered what happened.” Haley shook her head and thanked the girls for their help.
This time she gave no time to looking around. Her main goal was to hurry home and get her cell phone operational. She admonished herself for not being as prepared as she should have been. She almost knocked over another bicycle rider but missed the rider at the last split second. If she was timing herself, she could have sworn that she had taken 3 minutes off her last return home time.
She unlocked the door and ran to the security alarm and to turn it off. Then she hurried to her bedroom where she had left her cell phone to be charged. It seemed to take forever to unplug it and then wait for it to turn on, but the light for the start procedure finally came on. The she had to wait another few seconds for the SIM card to get ready. She touched all the right places to get her to the application for the visual voicemail and saw NOTHING!
Haley sat down on the edge of her half made bed. She could not think of anything in their conversations that could indicate that Farris would leave her like this. He certainly was not secretive. But then he was not a blabber-mouth also. There were a few areas that he assured her that he would fill in later. She got up and changed her clothes since she worked up a little sweat. This afternoon would be laundry time, but she decided that doing that and other things would give her more time to think.
As Haley was walking around the house to pick up things for the laundry and trash, she decided that a cold, quiet house was not conducive to calming down. She turned on the radio to her ‘in the mood music’ station. She liked the tunes that she could understand and sing to without a large audience. Her washing machine was in the garage, so she went there and missed a special announcement.
“This is station KWFN and I am Marvin Wicks with a special bulletin. It has been reported that there was a three car pile-up accident on the bridge involving city notables Mr. and Mrs. Costo. He is one of our philanthropic leaders who recently donated a large sum to the university in our city. There has been some dramatic rescues and we cannot tell if there are any fatalities. We will keep you informed if there is any news. Now back to your music with a new contest where you must listen to lyrics and identify the song.” The music began to play as Haley came back into her kitchen.