The Alpha's Golden Gaze

Chapter 8: Where the hell is she?!?!

Mesha's P.O.V.

This Yellowstone trip was turning out to be better than I initially thought. The forest was amazing and the guide was very knowledgeable. Everything was going smooth until I realized I hadn't heard Mary's goofy ass for a while.

It had been mostly Me and Raisha talking. Mary was walking behind us because she was taking pictures. I looked back and to my surprise, Mary was nowhere to be found! "Yo Raisha, have you seen Mary?"

Raisha was off in her own little world and was admiring a hummingbird bird. "Hello? Earth to Raisha, where is Mary at?" I said to her, bringing her back to reality. "Huh? Uuuhhhh... I thought you were walking with her." She said nonchalantly.

"Well try calling her real quick, I'm not getting any bars out here." I said. "Okay, hold up." Raisha said quickly dialed the number and no answer at least 4 different times. "Oh s**t, I hope she's ok. Let's walk up and ask the guide for help." Raisha said with urgency in her voice. "Yea good idea girl." I said hastily walking up to the front of the group.

"Um excuse me sir." I said. "Yes ma'am, how can I help you? Do you have a question about something you've seen on the trail." The guide answered. "Uh... yes and no." We can't find our cousin, she was with us walking behind us and then I turned around and she was gone." I said.

The guide let out a very audible gasp. "Oh my goodness, how long has it been since you've talked with her?" The guide asked us. "I'm gonna say at least an hour, me and my other cousin were so caught up in our own convo that we didn't realize she was missing."

"Ok then no worries, I'll call the ranger and see how they want to handle this." The guide said. Even after heard those reassuring words the panic was still starting to set in.

"Omg girl, where the hell is she?!?!" Raisha said with panic in her tone. "I don't know girl but I'm hoping they know what happened or can find her, because I definitely don't wanna make that phone call to the kids." I said nervously.

I mean how could anyone one make a call like that. For the first time Raisha started to lose her composure and started crying. I knew that I had to hold it together for her. Mary wouldnt want BOTH of us here crying and not figuring out what to do.

I wrapped Raisha into a hug and whispered into her ear that we gotta pull ourselves together and find our cousin. Even if we have to go out and do it ourselves. A about 30 minutes has went by and a few policemen and park rangers showed up and started conversing with our tour guide.

A ranger came over to Raisha and I with his notepad and asked us a few questions. He then got a thorough description of Mary, thanked us, and then walked towards the police officers that had shown up to organize a search party.

We immediately signed up and do did everyone else in our tour group. I was very touched by theses strangers as they did not have to do this. We all then gathered with everyone in front of the ranger that was leading the search party. We all got our instructions and set out in groups of 2 and 3 to look for Mary.

We paired up with a man named Officer Harris. He looked to be in his early forties. A tall 6'1 African American man and probably a out 200lbs. Smaller than Mesha but still pretty buff. He pretty intimidating to say the least. He was very nice to us and made sure we stayed close as we all searched the surrounding forest.

"You think we gone find her officer?" Raisha said between sniffles. It took me a few seconds to get out of my thoughts and hear her. "Huh? Girl don't talk like that, we will find her. Just pay attention to your phone just in case some bars pop up and we can call her." I said, trying to give her some hope. "She's right you know." Officer Harrison said as he placed a hand on Raisha's shoulder.

I overheard one of the policemen in another group say that Mary is as good as dead if she stays lost when night falls. Something about a few rabid wolf sightings throughout the park. Hell I don't even wanna run across some s**t like that even if I'm with policemen and rangers, let alone by myself like Mary is.

A few more hours went by and it was already 7pm. We only had a little while til it was dark. Suddenly an overwhelming sense of dread washed over me as I truly began to fear the worst for our cousin. "Hurry up Raisha we gotta keep up with the officer Harrison and cover as much ground as we can."

"Hey ladies, you're going to want to see this." Officer Harrison said as he sighed. We hurried and ran up to where he was. He was standing next to this huge Blue Spruce Tree that stood out among the other trees. The only reason I even remembered what kind of tree it was because Mary kept pointing them out as we walked with our tour group earlier. He picked up a camera lens cover that had the name Mary written in white on the front of it.

Raisha and I stared at each other with the same horrified look. We both knew no matter what we had to find her, or what's left of her if that's the case. Officer Harrison pulled out his walkie talkie and radioed his fellow officers informing them of our find.

We started walking back to the meet up with the rest of the search party. Officer Harrison kept telling us how we need to stay with the party and how we would have to search in shifts once nightfalls. As is finally became pitch black outside it was our turn to take a search break. We reluctantly agreed to do so because we knew we would need rest if we wanted to be of any use in the search for Mary.

We got back to the house and both of us flopped on the couch exhausted. "Let's go bathe and regroup. We need to call the kids and tell them what happened. I want them to know before the news gets ahold of this and blasts it across the airwaves." Raisha said, clearly more level head than she was earlier when we first realize Mary was missing.

We got ourselves cleaned up and regrouped in the living room. Raisha put her phone on speaker after diaing Solomon's phone number and laid it on the coffee table in front of us. It rang three times when we heard a familiar voice say,"Hello Mesha-taur?