The Snow in the Pines

            Bill Remi was certain Ella’s father knew where she was, but he was equally certain that he wasn’t going to reveal the location to him.  Pops didn’t trust Bill’s intentions with his daughter even though he had asked for her hand time and again. 

          “How you gonna support a girl like Ella?  You need to get yourself a real job in town before you marry, boy.”  Then another time, “Where you gonna live with my baby girl?  With your momma and poppa in that little shack with your brothers and sisters runnin’ around makin’ her too tired for babies of her own?” 

         There was truth in it, Bill knew, but there was deception there too.  Pops didn't want his only daughter married off to anyone, leaving him all alone in the world since he had no other children, and his wife had left him long ago--without a word to anyone--for a comfortable life in the city.  Bill had heard whispered rumors that maybe Ella's mother had better reason to leave Pops than wanderlust.  He saw eyebrows go up the Sunday after she was gone when he came to church with his sad story, but everyone was used to minding their business.  She was a grown woman after all, a missing girl was another thing entirely.

            The neighbors were gathered for the search for Ella.  It was as close to neighbors as possible in those parts.  The homes in Silas County (well cabins really) were never closer than five miles apart. Between the homes, pristine white snow blanketed the clearings in deep pillows, and on the hard ground under the pines, there was enough so they wouldn't lose any trails if Ella had passed through that way while trying to find shelter from the cold wind.  The men wore flat shoes that would let them pass over deep snow like Jesus himself walking across water.  They huddled together, hounds on leashes pulled tight by their owners, and rifles hung casually at their sides.  There was no telling what hungry beasts they might encounter in the woods hiding in shadows of the trees.

            They had questioned Bill hard about her whereabouts.  Everyone knew Bill was courting her against her father’s wishes because Pop’s had told anyone that would listen as he went around inquiring as to her whereabouts.  It was accepted that Bill had been the last one to see her, although he stood alone in insisting that it had been Pops she had been talking to as he turned for his long walk home.

         "Where you been, girl?  Don't lie to me."  he had heard him accuse.

         "Just walkin' in the pines."  he heard her reply before the wind picked up sweeping the sound of their voices away.

         The men had chosen partners for the search.  None of them wanted to be alone if they were still out past twilight, and Pops had asked to walk the woods with Bill.  "He'll sniff her out better 'n any of your ol' mutts," he had said, and the men had laughed and nodded.  Bill's cheeks grew hot, and he want to yell at them to shut their ugly mouths though  he wasn't really sure why.  It was no worse a ribbing than any of them might have taken in another turn.

         Pops pointed the barrel of his gun East and started walking in that direction, not waiting to see if Bill would follow.

         Bill took a few steps after him, but felt a pull in his gut that turned his attention North where he saw spots of bright red in front of him in snow in front of him.  He called to Pops to follow, and started walking along the red splatters in the bright white plane of the snow.  He heard Pops grumbling about wasting their time following some wild hunch as though he didn't see the crimson splatters ahead of them.

         Bill's strides grew long as the trail of red grew wide in front of him through the snow.  He barely heard Pops' cursing, but could make out his clumsy, lumbering steps enough to know that he was still behind him.  At a wide clearing where the snow was stained red in a broad, dark circle, Bill finally stopped saw that the color did not stain the snow past that spot.  He dropped his head down to his chest waiting for the criticism from Pops for following the trail of some wolf's unfortunate dinner.  There were no words though, just the click of Pops' rifle, as he readied it to fire.  Bill raised his head to face him.  "I never touched your daughter, sir.  I swear that."

         Pops' hands began to tremble, and Bill saw that his gaze landed somewhere behind him.  He turned to see what had terrified the old man, and crawling from the snow were two pale figures.  Bill turned and steadied his gun in their direction when he realized that he was looking into the dark eyes of Ella and her mother.  He stumbled back, but they didn't seem to realize he was there as they crawled toward Pops in jerking bounds.  The old man shot one round impotently in their direction before they pulled his ankles dragging him screaming towards depression in the snow that they had emerged from.  "It was an accident."  Pops screamed.  "I swear to Jesus."  His pleas were drown in an unearthly screech from deep in their throats as they dragged him into the hole with them. 

         Bill ran as fast he could to find one of the other men to get help, but when he tried to lead them back to the spot where he had been, he was unable to find the bloody trail to lead him there.  It wasn't until Spring when the snow had melted that they found Pop's body forever frozen in a twisted expression of terror, and beneath his body, buried deep in the earth, they found the bodies of his wife and daughter.

998 words