Miraculous: Tales of the Unknown by Krystal McLaughlin Read Free Book Online

handheld GPS device for the
location of the next geocache. She knew it would be complete dark
by the time she got there but it was the last one on her list,
besides the one she would skip. She flicked the flashlight on and
off, checking the batteries.
    She left the moldering
cemetery and let the GPS device guide her. She drove for miles
along the deserted gravel road until it deteriorated to a trail and
she thought she had accidentally strayed onto someone's pasture
road. There were just two tire grooves in the sand with grass
growing between them, a fence to the left, and lanky trees
stretching over the passage to form a dark tunnel. Her GPS device
still showed that she was on a marked road. She kept driving but
had her doubts.
    The dark tunnel finally
gave way to the gravel road again. She took a deep breath and
shrugged her shoulders, trying to loosen the tension a bit. The sky
was completely dark now with a thumbnail moon low in the West. She
felt like she had made a mistake in not finding her way back to a
populated area after the cemetery. She didn't like to be alone in
the dark, though common sense told her there was nothing to fear if
she was the only person out here.
    Aayla rounded a corner of
the narrow road and, as her jeep lights panned across the darkness,
she was stunned to realize she had been guided to the geocache she
had intended to avoid. She checked her GPS but the tiny gray map
seemed confusing.
    With dread, she lifted her
gaze to the road. The strange things there seemed to creep up from
the gravel in black and white, illuminated by the stark headlights,
shadows thrown deep into the darkness beyond. Several stones
outlined a tiny grave next to the road, though there was no
cemetery for miles. Standing guard were several Virgin Mary
statues, tilted or fallen completely, weathered and dark, old dolls
in various stages of decay, and a small, chipped, cherub statue.
Draped over everything were rosaries and silk flowers, faded and
torn. Tokens left by disquieted visitors at the century-old
grave.
    The nearby geocache was
called "Pains of the Wagon Train". It drew geocachers to the 1870
grave where a wagon train had passed through and a three year old
girl had died on the journey. The family and other members of the
wagon train had buried the little girl and soon had to move
on.
    Aayla checked the locks on
the jeep again and imagined what it must have been like for the
family to leave their little girl behind. To drive off in the wagon
toward their destination and leave her body buried alone in the
woods. She could picture the mother staring at nothing with empty
eyes from the wagon seat.
    There was no cemetery and
Aayla had supposed there would be just an old grave marker near the
road like the one she had seen on the way to Moran. Neither grave
had ever been moved. They both remained in their original locations
as part of history.
    This would have been an
interesting stop in the daytime with other geocachers. They would
have looked over all the things that had been left. Taken the time
to make out the dates on the lichen-covered stone. But alone at
night in the back-country, gooseflesh slipped down her
spine.
    Part of her wanted to say
"Forget the geocache, I'm not getting out of this jeep." But she
didn't; she would have felt silly. There was nothing out here but
trees and dust covered toys.
    She clutched her
flashlight, left the jeep running and found the cache, another
green metal ammo box, across the road under a fallen fence post.
The night was still and quiet as she retrieved the little log book
from the box, this time careful to keep the latch from banging
open. She took it to the hood of the jeep to note her geocacher's
handle and the date. She turned to replace the log book but was
halted by a glance at the grave. The hair raised on the back of her
neck. The Virgin Marys were upright and all facing her.
    She felt a strong urge to
drop the log book and get in her jeep. She was sure the statues