“Tess! It’s time for breakfast, come on down before your brother eats your cinnamon roll.” Her father screamed from the bottom of the stairs.

Tess had been awake for hours, for sleep had kept its heavy hand at bay. She replayed those few moments in her head over trying to make sense of them. No matter how many times she told herself that it couldn’t be possible. That she had imagined those rocks pressing against her fingers, that she had imagined those shadows in the dark. It didn’t matter how hard she tried, that knot in her gut would not shake loose.

Saturday morning breakfast past in a haze of echoed conversation as she watched out the window for a shift in light.

“Dad? Who used to live in that old farm house the one farthest from the road?” She asked in curious hesitation.

“The old Kyros farm? Oh wow that has been foreclosed for years. I honestly couldn’t tell you. Why the interest?” he responded between sips of coffee. He rubbed his chin sleepily, scratching across the fine growth of a beard as he thought over the oddness of her question. Tess returned her gaze to the woods just beyond their small yard. “Oh, that’s too bad and nothing” she replied. She desperately wished it was true.

Tess wandered to the garage hoping that maybe she could find a distraction, although one never came. She put together a back pack, tossing water, a saddle blanket and some granola bars in the biggest slot. It didn’t matter what she thought happened last night. Maybe someone was out there and could use some help and if not the walk was long she might get thirsty. She set off on the path she followed the night before scanning for signs something out of place, anything.

Tess found herself in the spot that had left her speechless the night before but saw nothing but a disarray of earth. It wasn’t like she had expected to find anything right? She saw it then, looming just in her sight; a wooden shed that looked like life had forgotten it long ago. She stepped forward, hesitating for just a moment before she built the courage to walk closer. There was a sliding door that sucked at being a door as it hung slightly off the frame. She crept inside listening for signs of someone or something.

She stood in a vortex of empty space that had lost its usefulness long ago; she stood alone. She was disappointed and relieved all in the same moment, so she dropped the back pack lifelessly from her shoulder and walked from the shed. She walked away staring at her feet not caring if just behind her sat an unsolved mystery. She walked listening to the rustle of trees, to the birds whistling their morning song and she began to forget the message in the sand.

Back in her room Tess needed to find a place she could lose herself for just a while and get rid of the ludicrous shadows dancing in the dark. She lost herself in her music as she tightened her bow and played as if on fire and the shadows seemed to disappear.