83. Chapter 83
Feeling pleased with herself, Rachel strolled leisurely the distance back towards where she had left Nicole and Wynonna sleeping at the campsite. Having left only around two hours beforehand, the teen glanced over her shoulder and took in the pristine scenery of the crystal clear mountain stream. With the sound of the bubbling of the water flowing over the smooth rocks filling her ears, Rachel returned her attention to the rocky path, between keeping an eye on the path, the teen every now and then would glance down at the string bag she held in her hand. Inside were freshly caught, Rainbow Trout. With a grin planted on her face, Rachel thought back over the past couple of hours and marveled at how spiritual it felt as she connected with nature.
Earlier that morning, well before the sun had graced the world with its presence and turned the nightly sky into a mixture of yellow’s and red, Rachel tentatively unzips her sleeping bag and pulls on her boots, which had been placed at the base of her sleeping bag. The teen turns to look at Nicole, who is sleeping to her right, while Wynonna is snoring to her left. As Rachel had been the first to turn in the night before, Nicole must have brought the teen’s boots into the tent. Crawling on all fours, Rachel crept out of the three-man tent’s flaps and then outside. As soon as she was outside, Rachel stood and stretched her arms above her head. Taking a deep breath in, Rachel’s lungs filled with the fresh clean mountain air, before catching sight of the camp fire, with just enough red hot embers left, the teen picked up a stick that was nearby and began to stir the embers, before placing some small logs onto the fire. It didn’t take long before Rachel could bask in the warmth of the now raging fire, remembering what Nedley had told her about the Rainbow Trout that swam in the stream that was nearby, Rachel placed a couple of larger logs onto the fire so that it wouldn’t go out before either Nicole or Wynonna woke. Walking the distance between the fire to where Rachel had placed her fishing rod and tackle, making sure that the others hadn’t been disturbed, the teen picked up her gear and headed out along the track.
As soon as Rachel had begun living with Randy Nedley, she had taken an interest in his love of fishing. Over the months Randy would bestow his wealth of knowledge in the art of Fly fishing, Rachel would spend some of her free time learning how to tie a Fly to her line, how to use a Fly line and how to cut and gut a fish. During these moments, the teen would learn more about Randy, who was quickly becoming more of a father figure, rather than a foster parent. As Rachel learned the finer art of fly fishing, she was yet to go fishing on her own, as she had always been fishing with either Randy or Billy, her boyfriend, who happened to be a ‘boy’ and was a ‘friend’.
As Rachel strolled down towards the Mountain stream, she reflected on how she got to be there in the first place. It was three months after moving in with Randy Nedley, that Rachel presented as a Beta, which was a surprise to the teen. Without a mother figure in her life, Rachel struggled as she began to realize that she had feelings for her friend, Billy. Just like a good father would do in his situation, Randy Nedley approached Nicole and asked if she and Waverly would take the teen under their wings. So when Nicole approached Rachel one day when the teen was working at the Station, “Rachel, Waverly, and I were wondering if you’d like to come over on Friday night for dinner? You are welcome to stay the night, I’ll bring you back into town in the morning if you like, or I can drive you home that night.”
The teen almost fell off her chair, but she was able to regain her composure before accepting the invitation.
That Friday afternoon came and Rachel arrived at the Station with an overnight bag in hand, after Randy encouraged the teen to take up the offer of staying overnight, as Randy saw it, ‘as spending female time together.’ Before Rachel could drop her bag onto the floor next to her desk, there was a monstrous commission coming down the hallway of the Station. The door to the bullpen flung open and rushing in came the Earp-Haught children, with Nicholas and Alberto leading the group, with Waverly following with the triplets strapped into their stroller.
“Rachel.” Was the cheer that came from the small group of children, who now were all huddled around the teen. Waverly smiled at the sight of the unsure teen being surrounded by a mob of children that ranged in height and age. As Nicole had more work to finish before she could leave, Rachel headed back to the homestead with Waverly and the children.
As Nicole arrived at the homestead, she was not alone as Wynonna and Alice followed the redhead through the front door. Once Nicole had changed her clothes and said hello to her children and wife, the redhead headed out to fire up the Barbeque. While Nicole cooked their food, the redhead was locked in conversation with Wynonna, whom Rachel had noticed was on her second whiskey of the night. Rachel was not sure as to what the redhead and brunette were talking about out by the Barbeque, but when they came back into the house, Wynonna sauntered over and draped an arm over the teen’s shoulder. “So, Smalldez how would you like to come camping with Big Red and me next week?”
After setting up the camp, which consisted of Rachel and Nicole, Wynonna watched and sat on the icebox, as ate her way through one of the boxes of doughnuts. The rest of the day Nicole spent teaching Rachel how to rock climb, which the teen took to extremely fast, and reveled in the knowledge that Nicole had her back. Later that night beside the campfire, Rachel watched as the two friends bickered about each other, the teen could see the love and respect they each had for the other. Rachel made a mental note that when she returned to the camp, she would ask the redhead more about her love for rock climbing, but that could wait as there were fish waiting to be caught.
As Rachel strolled the distance towards the stream, the teen reached the water’s edge. Taking in the beautiful sight of the first rays of the sun, skipping across the velvet surface of the water, which seemed to make the stream come to life. At that moment the teen closed her eyes, and memory flooded her mind. A small Rachel sat upon a rock, that overlooked a stream, sitting beside the small girl, was a woman with similar features. Listening intently the small girl marveled at the story being told to her about a great Mayan female warrior. Just as the memory began, it finished just as quickly. At that moment Rachel took the time to remember her ancestral roots, by way of asking her ancestors to watch over her as she fished.
Rachel stood beside the water’s edge as she sent the fly fishing line through the air, like a professional, the fly would pierce through the water’s surface before disappearing beneath. Rachel would allow the fishing line to slide through her fingers, until she feels the tug, indicating that a Salmon had taken the bait. Winding the line back in, Rachel makes sure to keep the line just right, not too tight and not too loose, just enough to give the fish room to tire itself out, before bringing them to the shore. Nedley had explained how to check if the Rainbow Trout was a male or a female, as if it was a female, Rachel was to release the fish so that the fish could live to breed. After checking and finding that the fish she had caught was a male, Rachel set about cutting and gutting the Trout, and once the fish had been cleaned and was ready to be cooked, Rachel placed the fish into her string bag with the other two, she had already caught.
Realizing that at least Nicole would be awake by now as Rachel had never seen anyone drink as much Whiskey as much as Wynonna had done the night before, the teen didn’t expect the older brunette to even be coherent this early in the morning. Rachel decided that she had better head back to the campsite, where she could cook some Trout for breakfast before Nicole was going to take her rock climbing again.
The trip back to the campsite seemed to take as much time as it took her to get to the stream, but as Rachel rounded the corner, the sight that greeted her caused her to begin to panic. When Rachel left the campsite, everything was in order and the three-man tent had been erect and nailed down to the ground. Instead, the teen found the tent had been ripped apart and strewn all over the place, the campfire looked as if someone had kicked dirt over the embers, causing it to go out. And then there was the blood, lots of red blood on the ground and on the material of the tent, and that was when Rachel realized that she couldn’t see either Nicole or Wynonna anywhere. Rachel noticed that there were two blood trails, one leading towards the cliff’s edge, and the other headed towards where Nicole’s SUV had been parked the day before. The SUV was gone and Rachel was all alone, dropping the string bag onto the ground beside her feet, Rachel collapsed to her knees and began to sob.
That was when she heard it, a small sound coming from beyond the cliff, a whimper, or was it a cry, all the teen could make out was that it was human. Rachel said a small prayer as the hope in her heart that the cry was from either Nicole or Wynonna, the teen crawled on her knees until she reached the rocky cliff edge. Gingerly peering over a rock, Rachel spots her, Nicole laying on her back.
Nicole was laying about four to five down on a rocky ledge, the redhead was wearing the same blue jeans and a blue button-up shirt, and a blue beanie on her head. Rachel’s fingers gripped the edge of the rock edge, “NICOLE!” Rachel held her breath as she waited for some sort of response.
That was when Rachel wished that they were back in Purgatory, it was only three days ago when all their lives seemed to be normal.
THREE DAYS EARLIERRachel sat waiting anxiously in the dinner, Billy had asked her to join him for a milkshake because he had something he wanted to ask her. Billy had become a very close friend of Rachel’s since the teen had returned to Purgatory High. Ever since she had presented as a Beta, Rachel had begun to realize that her feelings towards Billy, who was an Alpha, were more than just friendship. Although Rachel viewed Nicole, Waverly, and Wynonna as female role models, the teen was yet to talk to them about how to navigate these feelings.
As Billy sat waiting for the Beta to arrive, he took a sip from the coke that he had ordered, to stop his hands from shaking, Billy picked up a sugar packet from the small bowl on the table. Being the youngest son of Margo Clanton. Margo had inherited the family Ranch, ‘Magpie’s Ranch’, and ran ‘Magpie’s Junkyard’ on the property.
Billy always looked up to his older brother Holt, who was the only sibling that make something of his life. Holt had left Purgatory to pursue a career within the Police Force as a Detective. Holt was able to leave Purgatory behind, only to return at Christmas time with his wife and children in tow, but as soon as they would arrive, Holt would find some excuse to leave not long after Christmas day. Billy would always look forward to these visits as he always held onto the hope that each year, Holt would take him with him, but it would never happen. Leaving Billy behind with a mother whose whole focus was on her business and getting as much money as she could. Margo was never an affectionate mother, as soon as her children could leave the nest, they each would fly as soon as they could.
Although there was nothing nice that Billy could say about his sister, Cleo. As a young boy, Cleo would torment the young boy when his mother was not watching, one time she had placed a dog collar around the young lad’s neck and an ankle bracelet (the ones used on slaves), while he slept and then attached a large and heavy chain to the collar and bracelet. So when Billy woke and tried to move, he found that he only could crawl along the ground, all the while Cleo laughed as she sat watching her brother struggle. Cleo had left Purgatory when she was 18 and headed for the bright lights of New York, where she tried to make it as an Actress on Broadway. After years of struggling Cleo, found herself using her ‘acting’ skills within the porn industry, which unfortunately led her towards a dependency upon drugs.
Billy was pulled out of his thoughts about his siblings when the bell above the dinner, diverted his eye’s towards the door, that was when he spotted the beautiful teen as she stepped through the door. Rachel was wearing multi-colored and patterned stretchy leg pants, with a red midriff top that was covered by a black leather jacket. With a flash of a smile from the olive-skinned beauty, Billy was a mess as he stumbled on his way to stand to greet Rachel.
Once both of them took their positions opposite each other across the table, the waitress dropped by to take their drink orders, to which Rachel ordered a Chocolate Milkshake, while Billy had another refill of his coke. They sat and talked about the latest gossip and their upcoming exams for School before Billy twitched his left shoulder (something he did when he was nervous). Reaching his hand across the table to touch Rachel’s, “Um, Rachel, I was wondering if you’d …um, like to go out with me?”
Rachel blinked as she sat in a trance state, she had heard what Billy had asked, but she felt as though she was in the middle of a dream.
“It’s ok if you don’t,” Billy said in a deflated voice. Rachel’s silence had given him the answer.
“No, I mean yes. I would like to go out with you. You just took me by surprise, that’s all.”
A smile crept over Billy’s face as it suddenly dawned on him that Rachel’s silence was not a sign of rejection. They made plans to go out on a date the next weekend, after when Rachel came back from her camping trip with Nicole and Wynonna.
PRESENT TIME
“NICOLE!” the pleading within the teen's voice seemed to break through to the woman below on the rocky ledge. Slowly Nicole moved her arms, which were spade out beside her torso, and when she tried to push herself up into a seated position, “MOTHER FUCKER!”
Collapsing back onto her back, Nicole raises her left hand to her forehead and moves her beanie, to find that she had sustained a head wound that was bleeding heavily. It was not the pain from her head that had the redhead worried, it was the pain that was shooting through her lower left leg. Trying to move her legs, Nicole found that with the smallest of movements, the pain just grew worse.
“Rachel, your safe?” what seemed to be a question came across as more as a statement.
“Yeah, I’m safe. What happened and where is Wynonna?” Rachel asked as she turned her head around to take another look around the camp. When Nicole cried out in pain, Rachel’s returned her attention to the redhead, but before the teen could do anything, she noticed that Nicole seemed to have slipped into unconsciousness.