Week 445 – This got intense pretty quickly

Since there were no calls for rescue, driving into work had been a bust. That was the thing with working search and rescue, sometimes you could go days or weeks without much to do, then you could be on rescues day after day after day.

With what had gone down with Liam, their team was in a bit of tailspin, everyone was worked up, full of nervous energy. But no one was interested in working out with him, so instead Graham had decided to head out on his own.

After the storms there were trees down everywhere, mud slides, and the river he was currently walking alongside was swollen, rushing water over the banks making it dangerous for anyone who might be out here. Anyone who wasn’t trained that was, because today, after seeing his friend and the woman he’d fallen for face death and win, Graham needed to be out here in the wilds of nature.

The wind that whistled through the trees, the rushing sound of water in the flooded river, the stinging cold against the exposed skin of his face all made him feel alive. Nature was all the more beautiful the wilder it was.

At least for him.

Graham had grown up in these woods. His family was poor, but they were full of love. Because his parents didn’t have the money to buy him cell phones and game consoles, instead he and his brother and sister turned to the forest to entertain them. They climbed trees, swam in the river, built forts, and learned about nature. He felt at home out here as he didn’t in his small rented house in town.

As he walked, Graham worked on shoving away the lingering sense of jealousy that Liam had found someone to love him. He’d checked on the couple before he’d headed out. Cara was in surgery, having skin grafts on the worst of her wounds. Liam sounded anxious being away from her side, but he’d been treated as well, and both of them were doing okay. They were safe, they were receiving medical care, and their bond seemed to have solidified itself.

Being jealous was pointless, and it wasn’t how he wanted to feel about his best friend. If he was feeling lonely then maybe he needed to get out there, make more of an effort to meet women.

Noticing movement up ahead, the unmistakable flash of dark blue that looked like a person walking about, Graham changed direction and headed for them. If it was someone out here just enjoying the day like he was, then he’d say hello and move on, but if it was someone that needed help then he’d offer it in a heartbeat, still in need of a distraction.

“Hello?” he called out as he approached and saw it was a man who looked to be in his early twenties, who seemed to be searching for something. “Everything okay?”

For a moment the man looked at him intently, like he was making a decision. Then he shook his head. “Actually it’s not. My sister is staying with me as she recovers from a breakdown, and she’s disappeared. I’m worried about her out here alone.”

“You’re in luck, I happen to work for the search and rescue team. I’ll put in a call and we can get an entire team out here within the hour.”

“No!” the man yelled as Graham was reaching for his phone, causing him to startle, because this got intense pretty quickly.

“It might be best,” he said as gently as he could, wondering what had caused the man to go from zero to one hundred in half a second, but knowing whatever it was left him feeling deeply uncomfortable.

“No,” the man said again, calmer this time. “No. But I’d appreciate if you could help me look for her. I don’t want to scare her with too many people all at once.”

“Sure,” Graham agreed, that edgy feeling growing, something was wrong, he just didn’t know what it was yet.