I turned and Carly was gone. The rock she had held was lying at the edge of the water, and rings of ripples were growing outward from where it had dropped. Leah and Maylee had just reached the other side of the creek. They looked back to where Carly had been standing. I waded over as quickly as I could and scanned the water. It was not deep enough to hide anyone.
I heard the sound of someone running through the woods. And then a scream.
“Elias, get over to where Maylee is. Maylee, you and the kids stay right there.”
I ran to catch Carly, all the while searching the ground for snakes or whatever it was that made her run.
“Carly!”
New and old growth in the woods formed a natural barrier I couldn’t see through. I could only hear the sound of my feet crashing through the brush as I ran toward where I thought I had heard the scream. I stopped running to listen for sounds other than my own steps.
“Carly!”
The noise of sticks and leaves crunching somewhere ahead told me which way to go. I could hear someone stepping, sometimes running—with heavy strides that were long like mine. I realized those were not the steps of a little girl. Someone had grabbed Carly! I started running faster, pushing through the brush. I paused again. All was quiet. The sound of the other runner had disappeared.
Suddenly there was a strange rustling noise, and I heard a thud to my left. Someone moaned. It was the moan of a man, not a little girl. Then I heard Carly crying. I ran toward the sound and found her in a clearing, lying in the leaves, her face strewn with dirt and tears.
I knelt down, and Carly threw her arms around my neck as I looked around for the runner. Her hold was so tight, I lost balance, and we fell back into the leaves together. I heard footsteps leaving the area—this time slower, with a limp. The sound faded with distance. The fact that the person was retreating brought relief to all that just happened.
“Carly, who had you?”
“I don’t know, Marc! A man put his hand over my mouth and carried me away. I couldn’t see him. I was so scared!”
“Did he just let you go?”
Carly gulped back a tearful quiver. “We were going so fast through the woods, and then suddenly it felt like we were shoved another direction. We fell and he let go. I kept my head in the leaves and my eyes closed. I just wanted him to go away. I heard him coming to grab me again, but when I looked up, it was you!” She threw her arms around me again.
As I picked Carly up, I noticed a large gray feather on the ground beside us.
The hairs on my neck stood up as I realized how close the creature had been. “Carly, are you sure it was a man’s hands that covered your mouth and carried you?”
She stopped crying and looked at me with puzzled eyes. I could almost taste her salty tears coursing down muddy cheeks. “Yes, Marc, it was a man’s hands.”
Trying to get a grip on what just happened, I carried Carly back to where the others were waiting.
As soon as Maylee saw us, she waded quickly, stumbling through the stream, and threw her arms around us both. “Where was she?”
I looked at the other two standing on the bank with anxious eyes. “I’ll tell you on the way home. We better go.”
With the creature near, for whatever reason, I wanted to get out of those woods as soon as possible.