the word help was scratched in the ground. we found two shovels that had what appeared to be blood on them. that just did it for me. i can t even think about how scared she was. a mother s worst panic. there are no signs to get there. just follow the rough, sandy trail from the subdivisions above, turn a corner and there it is, a creek, a low-twisting moving body of water in north carolina, that s nothing less than a garden of eden for teenagers playing hooky from high school. it was like a beach. if the weather was good, her decision was made, go right to the creek and bypass school all together. tell me about an afternoon at the creek, caroline, what would you do? just go swimming. after we were done swimming we would sit by the fire and get dry, and hurry up and go back to the bus and take it home. they would play all day like frisky otters. innocent fun until one day when this secret teenaged world collided with tragedy. i just knew in my heart s
walking his dirt bike down and leading to me where the stream s. yeah. then the kid pointed to the ground. he saw something. there, carved in the dirt with some care, a single word. the word help was scratched in the ground. as though somebody had picked up a stick. like someone had scraped help in the ground with a stick. the creek, help , frightening. just made my hair stand up, and i started getting really nervous. she fla didn t know what was going on, but it couldn t be good, that s.o.s. in the sand. did it mean anything to you? it s alarming. it was extremely i alarming. i didn t know if it was a call for help. i didn t know if this was something danielle left for me. sheena kept walking upon the long path and then came upon it, the creek down a steep lot.