LifeWild

Haley leads Arthur along the edge of a ravine, heading back toward her home. It didn’t take long for her to recognize the part of the forest she had run into and it wouldn’t be too much of a walk to get them to Crested Butte, where she lives. The route she is leading them along does cross several small roads as well as other indications of civilization, but the late hour of their journey assures her they will come across very few, if any, residents of the area. He keeps pace with her quite easily, amazing her with his ability to move across the mountainside with such agility and swiftness, posing a stark contrast to his huge frame. Even more unlikely to her, though, is how silently he moves through the varied terrain. Her steps, although by no means noisy, are like a cacophony compared to her companion.

“How can you keep your footsteps so quiet, especially through all of these leaves and branches?” The question was meant to sound nonchalant, though she is truly interested in what appears to be another Arthur mystery.

“I actually don’t know. It just seems to happen naturally for me. It’s funny, I was thinking of asking you about your footsteps as well,” flashing a smile.

“Ha! Ha!” She responds with a playful bit of sarcasm. She is pleased to find out Arthur has a sense of humor. “I am merely letting you know exactly where I am so you don’t have to worry about me in this low light.”

His smile widens.

“Well, thank you, I do tend to worry, you know.”

Haley slows down to a stop behind a stand of trees signaling for him to line up behind the trees as well. Arthur smells the air in an attempt to find out what is going on. The combination of scents tells him they are still a few miles away from town, but they are definitely heading in the right direction. He sees a small clearing having what resembles a path at the opposite end, yet as far as he is able to observe, they are still in the forest somewhere.

Signaling him to stay put, Haley carefully walks across the clearing toward a somewhat isolated pine tree. Upon reaching the tree, she glances back at Arthur and sees a look of curious confusion on his face. Telling herself to explain the ‘perfect pine’ to him later, she begins searching for the branch her parents designated for communication.

Ordinarily, she would merely tie a shoelace on the branch near the trunk every two days for her parents to remove before the next time she arrived. It had always seemed like the best way to “meet in the middle” and check in since cell phone service was basically nonexistent. She was not sure what she expected to find, if anything. It had been more than two days, though, so this felt like a good place to start.

Once finding the correct branch, Haley glances along its length. Near its base, she notices a plastic prescription medicine container lodged into the crook between the branch and the trunk. Puzzled to its meaning, but positive it is from her parents, she grabs it. Inside, she finds a folded piece of paper. She quickly unfolds it and, even though it looks hastily done, instantly recognizes her father’s handwriting.

Haley,

I am not sure when you will be able to read this, but I am hoping it will be during your usual check in day. I hope you are safe and not yet aware of what is happening.

Haley, you need to know there are many things about our past which we have never told you. I am also sorry to say you are a big part of those secrets. We were trying to protect you and, truthfully, were afraid of how you would react. In addition to this, we became involved in something which has gotten us into a kind of dangerous situation. Our intentions were good ones at the time, but our desperation led us to make a decision which we should not have.

I do not have very much time to write this, so this is what you need to know. Dr. Modino and Mr. Lydell are trying to get to you and take you away from us. Dr. Modino and some other people we didn’t recognize came to us and asked where you were the day after you left on your trip. They told us if we didn’t cooperate or tried to contact the authorities they would turn us in for our previous actions and arrange for you to have an accident when they find you.

Haley, they have forced us to claim we have gone on vacation and have made us shut down the resort for the time being. They are taking us somewhere and are planning to wait for you to come home. I do not know what they want with you or us, but Haley, you need to stay away! I am not sure how we will be able to get a hold of you again, but, please, don’t endanger yourself by coming back here. I am going to tell them the area you are now standing in is a place we used to take you and we might find you here. It is the only way I can think of to get this message to you. After I drop off the note, I will tell them I remember you were going to camp off to the northwest and hopefully, buy you some time to get far away.

I am not sure how we will be able to get out of this, but we will, Haley, and we will find a way to find you and protect you. Until then, please be safe and stay hidden.

Love, Mom and Dad

Haley lets herself fall to her knees and rolls back into a sitting position. She lets the note fall to the ground and cradles her head into her hands. Tears begin falling down her face and falling into her lap as the feeling of utter hopelessness threatens to consume her entirely.

Arthur watches Haley as her tears increase and she begins to sob uncontrollably. He has had very little experience as a comforter, but he feels like he should be doing something to make her feel better. Walking around the tree he has been hiding behind and stepping into the clearing, he heads toward her. Unsure of exactly how he can make her feel better, he kneels beside her and places his arm on her shoulder. Haley only briefly glances up at him before burying her head and arms into his chest and continuing to cry for several more minutes.

“This isn’t possible,” she manages to utter after a few minutes of silence. “It’s too much. This has to be a bad dream. Not only do I find out I’m adopted and my whole life has been a lie, but now my parents are in danger somewhere and people are trying to kidnap or kill me or who knows what.”

“I’m sorry, Haley,” he has no idea what to do to make her feel better.

“It’s just not fair…” Her voice trailing off into silence.

Several minutes of silence go by while Haley composes herself. She takes several deep breaths and wipes the tears from her face and well as she can before pulling away from Arthur and sitting upright.

“I’m not supposed to go back home. My parents are missing and Dr. Modino might be waiting for me. My dad told me to hide out here as long as I can.” She looks up at Arthur as if his face would hold the answers to her problems. “I can’t just stay out here indefinitely, though. I am good in the wilderness, but I wasn’t prepared for more than a couple of weeks, plus all my stuff was back where I was camping, and I am sure it is gone or ruined by now.”

Arthur is not sure what to say. He wants to help her and would be willing to stay out here with her for a few days, but he did want to see if he could find his way back to the compound and help the others. Wishing for the wisdom to know what to do, he finds himself thinking James would probably know what to do.

“I want go with you to help the others. I can help.” Haley is surprised to find her spirit buoyed by her offer. “If they are anywhere close to here, I could help you find them. I know this part of the state really well.” She just hopes she can live up to her declaration.

“It will probably be very dangerous and I might not even be able to help them. I can’t ask you to come with me, you could get hurt, or worse.”

She is temporarily stunned by this revelation, but her resolve is as strong as ever.

Arthur is silent for several minutes. Her decision concerns him. He is worried about keeping her safe. Still, she seems sure of herself and he does enjoy her company. He decides if she is going to be with him, it will make it easier for him to take care of her. He figures he can live with that.

Haley is excited to be traveling with Arthur. She is so intrigued by him. She sees him as such a kind and gentle being who has done nothing but try to help her since he first found her, and now he is putting himself at risk to help the others like him.

Although she still has no idea what exactly Arthur and these ‘others’ are, Haley knows from the way Arthur talks they are not human, at least not normal humans anyway. She heard him say he is not like normal people and is supposed to serve them, not live among them like an equal. She has seen her share of science fiction, but even so, she immediately rules out they could be from another planet. Instead, Arthur reminds her of something wild and animalistic, maybe some sort of missing link or legendary creature, like Bigfoot. This makes the most sense to her and she is certainly determined to find out. She has wanted to know more about him for quite a while now, since she first looked up at him, really. Instead, she has kept herself from asking, in case it was something he was sensitive about or too ashamed of to tell her. Deciding now that she is going to be directly involved, she will ask him as soon as they are on their way. The anticipation sends a chill through her body at the thought of finally hearing his story.

She notices Arthur is rummaging through the boxes he has been carrying along with them and suddenly feels like she is not starting out to be a very helpful partner. Walking over and kneeling beside him, she becomes more aware of his height and suddenly feels childlike. He is putting as much as he can into one box; she wonders if he plans to continue carrying it everywhere they go.

“Which way are we headed, Arthur?” It will be hard for her to be helpful if she doesn’t know anything about what they are doing.

“I am not sure, actually.” He begins slowly, “I can’t really remember how I got to the bridge back there, but I am pretty sure it was from that direction.” He points in a mostly southerly direction. “I do know there is a town near the Compound as well, but it is probably seven or eight times farther away than this one is. Apparently, all towns share many of the same smells.” His face shows satisfaction with his revelation. “Plus, my body also tells me it is about fifteen to twenty miles away. When I got to the bridge, my muscles felt like I had pushed them harder than I had ever pushed them before. I know how my body feels when I run ten miles. I was scheduled to do it twice a month. Running there was much harder on my body. I don’t know exactly what was happening, but if I was running the whole time, the estimation is probably pretty close. Does anything sound familiar?” He looks at her with an equal mix of hope and doubt. He worries that he is remembering things incorrectly.

She smiles as she begins. “Well, from what you have described, the place you came from is near Gunnison. It is about twenty-seven miles from here along the road and it is the only town to the south for about forty miles in either direction. If so, our destination would probably be about seven or eight miles north of Gunnison and about fifteen or sixteen miles south of here if you travel cross country, fairly deep into the Gunnison National Forest. I would say with a map of the forest, we could find this location fairly easily.”

Arthur finds it hard to contain his joy at her conclusions. He had been most worried he would never be able to find his way back to help the others, but now there seems to be nothing to it.

“We should start now then. What do you think?” He picks up the box he had been filling and the roll of blankets.

Haley takes a moment to think. They are not really prepared for a journey of any length. If they would be able to briefly stop by the resort, she knows the materials they would need are available there. She needs to decide if the risk of going back is worthwhile. Desperately wanting to see her parents and know they are safe and unharmed, she wants to try going back. They are not at the resort, though, and she has no idea where they could be, so finding them is unlikely. Also, Brent or the doctor could be waiting for her. She decides if they are going back, it would be best to go in at night.

“I’ve got an idea, Arthur. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to carry a big box and a huge roll of blankets all of those miles. Also, we don’t have any money or a whole lot of clothes to wear. Any equipment or gear I had is gone. I think we should make a quick stop back at the resort to get some things before we go.”

She is not confidant about her decision; in fact, she has barely convinced herself it would be worth the risk. She is fairly sure they could get in and out at night undetected, though, and it would make sense for them to be better equipped for the journey than they are right now.

His face hardens and his voice lowers making the hair on Haley’s arms stand on end.

“Haley, I will not let you go back there. From what you have said, it sounds dangerous and those people have already nearly killed you once. This time they might succeed. I won’t let them have the opportunity to harm you ever again.”

“No, I feel the same way, Arthur, believe me. I think we should sneak in. I have backpacks and dufflebags, which would be better to carry around than a box. I also have about two hundred dollars in cash hidden in a shoe box in my room. I have been saving up money from odd jobs for a few years now. Plus, I need some clothes and toiletry items, and I am pretty sure I can find some things to fit you in our lost and found. I can also grab a map of the forest my parents and I used when we went hiking and we can get some good traveling food from the kitchen on the way out.” She doesn’t mention it, but she also wants to grab the picture off of her nightstand of her parents posing with her on their first two week camping trip. It was her happiest memory with them.

He is not convinced.

“What if those people are waiting there for you when we are sneaking in?” He already knows his answer. He will not let them near Haley; much less get the chance to hurt her. His muscles tighten at the thought.

She looks briefly confused and then shakes her head as she realizes she left something out.

“We’ll take a careful look from the property line before we go in. I’m guessing they would only be there during the day, but we will make sure before going in.”

He is silent for a while. Although he knows they could use all of those things she mentioned, he wonders if it is worth the possibility of danger. They probably won’t have to be there more than a few minutes and they will only be in her room, the lost and found and in the kitchen. It seems plausible they could sneak in and out without too much trouble. He decides it doesn’t matter anyway, because he will stay by her and keep her from harm.

“Do you promise to stay with me the entire time, Haley?” He was going to make sure of this, but it would help if she was in on the idea as well.

“If you will feel better, yes. I shouldn’t be a problem.” She didn’t mind this promise. She felt safe near him. He might as well make her promise to continue breathing as well.

“When should we get there?” His question really asking her at what time the resort will be empty.

“Anytime after nightfall. We could go in after midnight.” She responds confidently.

“We should probably rest for a little while then, it’s already late and it sounds like we’re going to be up most of the night.” He lays out one of the blankets for her and a few feet away he puts one down for himself and sprawls along the ground. As he closes his eyes, he hears her lie down on her blanket. He listens for the rhythmic pattern to her breathing. He has grown to enjoy it. He smiles to himself as it lulls him to sleep.

They cover the short distance in relative silence. Haley could probably find her way back blindfolded, but the ease of travel is compromised by the turmoil of the situation. All too quickly, she is indicating for Arthur to stop behind a group of trees near a clearing in the forest. They are standing along the southern edge of her resort. The first building she sees is one of the guest room buildings. She turns her gaze to her right slightly and sees the lodge. Everything of consequence is in there.

“All of the staff will be gone if the resort is closed and the night security patrolling all of these resorts will not be by until 3 am. Dr. Modino or anyone working with him should be all we have to worry about and I’m assuming since they would not want to look suspicious to night security, they have probably been gone for a couple of hours now.”

She takes the lead and walks across the courtyard to the main doorway of the lodge lobby. The only lights on in the area are the lamps in the parking lot and along the walkways. The lobby is dark and appears deserted. She approaches a keypad next to the doorway and pushes several different numbers. As the locks of the door buzz and click into the unlocked position, she pulls the door open and enters. She holds the door for Arthur, who seems simultaneously concerned and alert.

“Well, the code is still the same. That certainly made things easier.” She hopes her casual tone will help Arthur relax. “We can go to my room first.”

She walks down the middle of the lobby with only the lights from the lamps outside illuminating their path. Even in the darkness, Arthur is awestruck by the majesty of the place. The floors are some sort of stone and so are the walls. The arched ceiling supports several golden chandeliers surrounding a giant fireplace showcased in the center of the room. She leads him past the lobby into a hallway. A light is on up ahead which she recognizes as coming from the lodge bar. She signals for him to be silent as they walk by. She does not see anyone in the room and is fairly sure this light is programmed to come on at night, but cannot recall with certainty. She finds herself fighting back a mild panic as she tries to continue on to her destination. Not sure whether she should tell Arthur or not, she glances back at him noticing he is very alert appearing to be ready to attack anything moving. She is not sure how, but she can tell that he knows something is wrong. She keeps walking, although her steps have lost some of their confidence.

Haley turns down the hallway to the right and descends a flight of stairs. As they round the bottom of the stairway, she turns left down the hallway. They are no longer receiving any light from the outside. She finds a switch on the wall and flips it on. The hallway lights up quite brightly, causing Arthur to inhale quickly in worry. She motions to the doorway halfway down the hall on the right and heads toward it.

She carefully opens the door and briefly looks around. Through the light from the hall, she sees her room is just as she had left it. Sensing little immediate danger, she flips on the light to her room and walks in.

“We should be okay in here. I am the only one who lives down here. I picked this room so I could be away from the noise of the resort guests.” She begins to rummage around in a closet in the corner.

Arthur does not feel much better. He did not see or smell anyone in the room with all of the bottles which he assumes is a bar. He is reasonably sure he would be able to tell if someone was coming well in advance, but things are not as they are supposed to be, and this makes him uneasy.

“No one is here, right?” He asks in a low voice. He stands in the doorway so he can keep the hallway in his line of sight.

“No...I haven’t seen any indication of anyone. If there are, they are not in this building.” She decides it’s the most likely scenario. “That would certainly make things easier.”

“We should still be careful.” His senses are still in high alert, but he gives into his curiosity enough to look around her room, although not enough to move from the doorway.

He is instantly fascinated. The only room he has ever had was quite empty. Haley’s room has a bed in the corner, similar in size to his, but judging by the covers and pillows, he guessed her bed is much more comfortable. Next to her bed, there is a small table with a lamp and a framed picture beside an old fashioned alarm clock. In the corner nearest the foot of the bed, she has a nice table with a good size mirror attached to it. The table has a variety of bottles and cases and a bunch of other small items Arthur cannot even begin to guess at. The frame of her mirror has a few pictures and other pieces of paper stuck into it. On the other side of the room, she has a bookshelf filled with books of all sizes and a comfortable looking chair right beside it. In the middle of her floor she has an oval shaped rug covered with a colorful swirling of various shapes and seemingly random designs. The walls have several paintings of mountain scenes, much like views a person would see in this region.

He notices an interesting combination of smells in the room. He can smell the faint aroma of the kitchen coming through the doorway. Over by the table with the mirror he smells a mixture of scents ranging from flowers to fruits to more musky smells. He knows from previous encounters, those kinds of aromas are intentionally worn by people, but he doesn’t know why.

“Why do you put those smells on your skin, Haley?”

She has finished putting items from the closet into a backpack and has moved over to the bookshelf and is looking through what appears to be a collection of maps taken out of a shoe box. The randomness of Arthur’s question catches her off guard and she looks up at him with a puzzled look on her face.

“What did you ask?”

He now feels a little awkward for asking the question. He is not sure if he should have asked that question or not. He wonders if people do not like the way they smell or maybe it is supposed to be used to attract attention.

“I was just wondering why you would put those aromas on your body.” He gestures to the bottles on the table.

Haley reminds herself she has got to ask Arthur about his life. He is so knowledgeable about some things and yet so clueless about others.

“Those are perfumes. I put them on so I can smell nice.”

His brow furrows giving him a completely puzzled look.

“Your smell is already really nice, you don’t need those things.” He has been around her smell quite a bit over the last few days and has really grown very fond of it. He feels a little pang of sadness she might start to cover it up.

“Thank you, Arthur. I’ll keep that in mind.”

It is apparent to Haley he is complimenting her, but she feels kind of self conscious about having a smell, good or not. Everyone must have a smell, she assumes, most people just must not be able to perceive it. She wonders what she smells like. She also recalls Arthur talking about smelling towns.

Just more to the mystery, she thinks to herself.

She gets up from the chair where she was looking through the box of maps. Grabbing a couple she thinks will work, she moves over to her dressing table and picks up her toiletry bag from the floor underneath the table. Since she had chosen this room to be away from the crowds, she had to use an employee washroom and shower. She didn’t really mind, though, it was rarely used by anyone else, so it felt like her own. She looks at the perfumes on her table and finds herself torn. She feels like the perfumes make her smell good and to most of the people she encounters, it does, but he says he likes her natural smell and even though it still seems a little weird to her, she wants him to like the way she smells. She grabs only one, just in case, and puts it into her backpack.

Standing up and heading over to her night stand, Haley picks up the picture of her with her parents and looks at it briefly before quickly pushing it into her pack. She allows herself to remember the good times she had here growing up and thinks of how much her parents love her. The fact she is adopted doesn’t feel like it should matter when she is looking at the picture. Their love for her was never in question, but for some reason, nothing seems trustworthy. Now, she doesn’t even know if she will ever see them again. Her vision blurs as her eyes fill up with tears, forcing her to come back to the present. She blinks the tears from her eyes and quickly wipes them, hoping Arthur didn’t notice. She takes one last look at the room and walks past Arthur into the hallway.

“We’ll go to the lost and found next and find you some clothes to wear, so you don’t have to walk around half naked all the time.” She makes her tone as upbeat as possible.

He had seen her looking at the picture and knows she is trying to cover up her sadness.

“You’re right! The sooner we find clothes for me the better,” he chimes in, “I am probably distracting you too much like this.” He puffs out his chest some and winks in her direction. He smiles at his comment. Timothy would be proud of him.

She bursts out in laughter. She had not expected his comment. It feels good to laugh again.

“You certainly are,” she says, laughing still. “Let’s go get you covered so I can think straight.”

After leading them up the stairs and down the hall back into the main lobby, they cross the darkened room towards a large counter.

“The lost and found is in this room behind the check-in desk.” She speaks in a whisper once again, just in case.

Haley walks behind the desk and gestures for him to follow. The door to the room behind the desk is closed but not locked. She opens it carefully and they walk in. Using the outside light spilling in from the windows, she finds a desk against the wall and turns on a little lamp. Turning her attention to the wardrobe against the far wall, she approaches it and opens the large upper doors and peers inside. She pushes aside several shirts hanging up until she finds several extra large shirts and one double extra large. She hands him one of the extra large t-shirts and puts the rest of them and the double extra large into the dufflebag. After closing the doors and opening the drawer below them, she begins sifting through the clothing for a few moments and eventually shuts the door with a sigh. She reaches down to the next drawer and opens it. After a short search, she finds a fairly large size pair of jogging pants and a pair of jeans which look like they just might work. She does not find any shoes or socks that look like they would fit his really wide feet, but she does find a baseball cap with a picture of the mountains embroidered on it.

“Well, there is nothing else here you could use, Arthur,” she is impressed they found all they did. “Will the shirt work?”

She turns around and looks at him. The shirt fits him...in a manner of speaking. It’s pretty snug, especially around the chest and shoulders.

“It’s a little tight, but it will do.” He informs her.

She suppresses a grin.

“I like it. It’s like you are wearing a muscle shirt. It makes you look like you are a body builder.”

He is not so sure about the fit, but if she likes the way he looks, he can live with a tight shirt.

As they are walking back out of the room, Haley stops briefly at the main desk and grabs a safety pin out of a small drawer beneath the desktop. She uses it to fasten the strap on the back of the cap as large as possible and hands it to Arthur. He takes the cap and places it on his head. The adjustment allows it to fit his head well enough, but it does look like it is a little small for him.

She looks him over from top to bottom.

“Well, despite the fact you’re about seven feet tall and are wearing a pair of running shorts, a shirt and cap dangerously close to too small and no shoes, I think you will blend in fairly well…from a distance anyway…or if we don’t slow down long enough for anyone to get a good look.”

He raises an eyebrow and gives her a look of disbelief. “You’ve certainly filled me with confidence. Where do we still need to go?”

She smiles at him. She really enjoys his easy going nature and sense of humor. More than before, she is sure she has made the right decision to go with him.

“We just have to get some food from the kitchen and we are ready to go.”

She heads across the lobby to the far wall and begins to ascend a staircase. He follows close behind, smelling the air occasionally and looking for any signs of activity.

She walks into the kitchen very purposefully, turning on a set of lights as she enters. She has already felt some closure and is ready to move on, so she doesn’t want to risk second guessing her decision by reminiscing. The kitchen is clean, as usual, and although empty, reminds her of the times she would come in with her parents and sneak some of the desserts to eat out on the patio.

Noticing she has stopped moving and is staring at nothing with a sad look on her face, Arthur decides to try to distract her.

“Do you think there will be any sardines?” He begins. “I do love sardines.”

She smiles up at him, knowing he is trying to cheer her up and is pleasantly surprised to find it is working. She does feel better now, or at least distracted, and begins walking over to the pantry across the room.

“Maybe we’ll get lucky,” she answers. “We could be feasting on those little fishies for breakfast.”

His look becomes slightly confused and she assumes he must not be sure she was joking. She winks at him before entering the pantry and is amused by the sudden look of relief in his eyes.

Arthur remains in the kitchen while she gathers food from the pantry. He wants to be able to hear and see if anyone is coming.

The task is finished more quickly than he was expecting, when she comes out of the pantry, puts on the backpack and slings the dufflebag over her shoulder and walks toward the back of the kitchen, he finds himself slightly off guard. She pushes open the door release and steps out into the night air. He follows her, slightly confused.

“I thought we were upstairs,” he starts. “How did we get outside from up here?”

“The lodge is built into a hillside,” she explains. “This side of the building is level with the main road and the main parking lot, the other side is level with the courtyard and leads to the lifts and the spa.”

She leads them back around the side of the building and down the hill to the lower level where they first came in. Within moments they are back to the group of trees at the southern edge of the resort property. She turns around and gets what she hopes is not the last look at the place she spent her entire life. This has been the only existence she has known for almost eighteen years. Doubt about this decision momentarily fills her thoughts until she reminds herself life is not the same as it was a few days ago. She feels her doubt slipping away and being replaced by the anticipation of this new adventure. She wants to get started right away.

“Are you ready, Arthur?” she asks eagerly.

“I am if you are.” His reply equally anxious.

“Then let’s go find your friends,” she turns away from the resort and begins walking back in the direction they had come from, Arthur following closely behind.