Bowed Maple Bend Been Ghosting

Panic was overtaking him again as he thought about what could have happened to his sister and Solomon. They had disappeared so suddenly, and without a single word or anything. He had awoken one morning with the two clear gone and for the first few hours, Ryker figured Lucia had just gotten up early and wandered, with Solomon not far behind.

But nothing could prepare him for finding bits of Lucia’s fur caught in brambles and the area looking like there had been a fight. And there was no sign of Solomon at all, as if he just up and vanished, like he sometimes half heartedly threatened to do.

Oh god, had coyotes gotten them? Another predator? But there had been no blood. He told himself over and over. So maybe the two had gotten into a fight over something? That’s it, that’s what had to happen. Ryker had told himself over and over as the weeks grew longer and longer without a sign of either of them. Tried to reason with himself that Lucia finally got on Solomon’s nerves and though Ryker knew the man wouldn’t hurt Lucia, maybe he pushed the girl into the brambles and set her off enough for them to have a scuffle. That would explain why the area he found her fur looked so roughed up.

But that didn’t explain why they hadn’t come back. It didn’t explain why they’d just left him all alone. Lucia had said she wanted to find out what happened to the Notch and when she got an idea in her head, she rarely let it go. And Solomon had been their reluctant guardian, who would have stayed no matter his grumbling.

Honestly, he had just wanted to curl up and cry. Which he had done for quite a while, tucking himself beneath a tree and hiding away for a while. At the time, he had no idea what to do, other then try find them. In an attempt to find Lucia and Solomon, Ryker had looked tirelessly for them but the dark cool forests of the east, where Lucia and solomon had vanished, had slowly gotten to him, day after day. So he had fled as far west as he could, where the sun seemed brighter and warmer on his back. And Ryker still didn’t know what to do, as he had merely wandered aimlessly ever since. The large split tree he was resting under was nice and overlooked a seemingly large pond. If his mood was better or he wasn’t alone, he could imagine maybe playing in the water nearby or rolling around in the undergrowth. It felt like he should be at least content, if not happy yet his shaggy coat and tired eyes would betray him if anyone came across him.