Chapter 11

Morgan had to listen six times to be sure but in the end she was positive that it was a message left by Trent on her voicemail. It was one of the only times that she could remember that she was happy that her phone hadn’t had signal. If she had answered the phone to an inebriated sounding male she would have quickly hung up. But something made her listen to the message again instead of deleting it. She was glad she hadn’t. It was Trent and he made absolutely no sense what so ever. Her concern moved to a new level- frantic. Trent and Morgan’s mutual friend Corwin did not agree exactly. He expressed his assessment to Morgan with, “Come on…it’s just a prank caller or someone with the wrong number.” But he did secretly admit to himself that he was becoming increasingly concerned with Trent’s lack of communication.

She would have to explain to her professor later why she missed her lab. The image of the Trent’s blank parking space would not leave Morgan’s mind and she knew that something must be wrong. She had sped most of the way and was thankful that she hadn’t broken her record of exactly zero speeding tickets. She felt that Corwin’s objections to coming along were mostly and act and she was not surprised that it took little cajoling to convince him to come. Forty-five minutes later as she wound her way down the long winding driveway that led to the Malum cabin, her heart skipped when she saw Trent’s car parked under a small patch of trees. Her initial joy was soon replaced with tension as she noticed the layer of dust that coated the car and signs that it had not been moved for several days. Coming to a skidding halt near a large black sedan that somehow seemed familiar; they quickly jumped out with grand intentions of quickly finding Trent. After only fifteen minutes of searching and yelling she was glad that she had been training for the Vulcan Classic road race coming up next April. Corwin had obviously not been training. A general perimeter search of the area had no productive results. She decided to take a chance and head in the direction that led to the overlook. Corwin headed the opposite direction towards the Great Oak. After several minutes she reached the overlook and proceeded to call Trent’s name several times to no avail. She felt frustrated and powerless to be so close if there truly was something wrong and yet not be able to help. She decided to head towards Corwin by cutting through a low ravine that did not have a path but was quicker than heading back the way she had come. As she came through a small grove of trees she thought that she saw movement ahead. She gasped as she recognized Trent’s crumpled body on the ground and the owner of the black sedan standing over him. She proceeded to scream at the top of her lungs. The name of Johnny Malum echoed through the trees.

Chapter 10

Tuesday arrived exactly like Monday. Trent, however, was not bright and cheerful like the arriving sunshine. Morale, energy, and strength, had left him like Ret left Scarlet. His injuries were screaming at him and no matter what mind games he played with himself, they would not be silenced. He had stopped praying that God would deliver him from this forsaken place, and began praying that the end would come painlessly. Curiously the thought of Morgan, the girl that had led him to the Lord, came to his mind quite a few times and he noticed the pang of pain he felt knowing that he would not see her again. On and on he seemed to walk westward. Hill after hill he descended only to ascended another. He noticed that focusing on anything, be it a thought or be it the objects in front of him, was becoming increasingly difficult. And although the ability to focus was becoming more and more arduous, the sense of being followed continued to surface on the pond that was Trent’s mind. The feeling of being watched or being followed is indescribable. The clues that the human mind puts together to form this feeling may seem trivia and unimportant if examined alone but by considering all clues, one weaves togehter the undeniable feeling of being followed. Trent knew at least one of three things. Either he was being followed, he was losing his mind, or both. Delirium was making its unabated way to the recesses of his mind.

He felt dirt on his tongue and realized that he was literally hugging the earth. How long had he been unconscious? He didn’t even remember passing out..or perhaps he had tripped and didn’t have the strength to get back up. Either way, he was not going to rise. The last thing Trent All became black. remembered thinking was random nonsensical gibberish and asking for forgiveness.

Chapter 9

Seventy-five percent of the human brain consists of water. Seventy-five percent of Trent's water bottle was empty Sunday night. He knew immediately that this could be the key to his undoing. Water was a resource that was not in abundant supply here.

He spent the remaining daylight that evening trying to locate an acceptable place to bed down for the night. He found a place along a low ridge that had a small rock over-hang that could be taken for shelter if you stood far enough away. But it did allow Trent to have his back against a wall and he was grateful for that. Apparently Sleep didn't get the memo of where Trent was going to be staying that night and therefore didn't find it's way to him until the waning minutes of Monday morning.

Monday arrived clean and bright. Trent knew that he was east of the Malum cabin before taking his spill and he assumed that this was still the case. If this was an incorrect assumption....well...He put those thoughts from his mind. Instead of focusing on thoughts of despair, he focused on heading west (and gave a prayer of thanksgiving that it was not an overcast day), and the monumental task that God had set before him months ago. He pondered why he had chosen to ignore the task in spite of the many signs that God had made increasingly obvious. Trent admitted to himself that it was because he believed the challenge too extraordinary and that God would not ask him to try to accomplish something of that magnitude.

Monday departed with Trent seemingly no closer to his car. During the heat of the day he had remained in the shade and tried to conserve energy. The water ran out then also. As he laid down that night to get some rest, he knew that one way or another he was going home tomorrow. Which home he was going to was yet to be seen.

Chapter 8

On Sunday Johnny Malum believed that he had rid the world of one Trent Mason. The next night Johnny found out from the completely white clad Damon that the attempt had not been successful. Tuesday morning broke from the darkness and the previous night's rain without a cloud in the sky and yet someone was unhappy to be watching the sun come up. Johnny's large black sedan surged forth and the needle held steady at a brisk eighty-two miles an hour. After passing a police car headed in the opposite direction he checked his review mirror to see if the cruiser was turning around. What he saw in the mirror was not what he was expecting. "Don't worry about getting stopped. That's officer McDaniel and he is on the boss's payroll now. All he wanted in exchange for his soul was to be named police chief. Geeze....people will give their souls away for anything now-a-days. Boss was happy too. He needed somebody there since old what's-his-face died a couple of years ago. Anyway, I was riding with him when I spotted you," said Damon as if it were completely normal to show up in the back of someone's car out of no where. "What are you up to?" he added. "You know perfectly well what I'm up to," responded Johnny with as little feeling as he could muster. Johnny managed to keep his mouth shut for the remainder of the trip while Damon rattled on about how Johnny's grandfather had cheated someone "fair-and-square" out of the spacious property otherwise known as "The Old Malum Place." There was one part of the that story that Johnny always liked and it had to do with the children having to leave their beloved animals. "Children are pathetic," thought Johnny and admitted that Damon's particular retelling of that part was exceptionally enjoyable. "There is never time to do things right the first time, but there is always time to do things over," Johnny told himself as he pulled into the long drive that led to the property.