BLACK PINE SEARCH PARTY EVENT
He remembered playing on the edge of the woods with Abigail and their siblings when they were children. One day when it had snowed way too much and they had been given a snow day off from school. They spent the entire day walking along the little frozen creek that streamed through the woods. Just exploring the way kids liked to do when they were young and full of curiosity. He remembered his grandparents telling them to be careful, warning them to not wander too far so they ended up lost.
Mateo couldn't help but remembering it right now. Is that what happened to you Abigail?
With a frown he moved his light across the ground, wandering a bit too far away from the rest of the search party of the town. He ... wasn't sure if he was looking for the same things they were looking for. A sign of Abigail, yes. But ... different types of signs.
He wasn't looking across the bed of the creek winding its way through the woods in hopes of finding a bloody shoe or something like that. Matty didn't quite know what he was looking for either, though. Probably not the trash he kept finding that was for damn sure. Someone really needed to have a talk with the people of this town about the eco hazards of throwing a styrofoam cup into a place animals lived. It would come back and bite them in a few years, he could tell...
In the present instead he just turned and made his way along the edge of the creek glancing to the left as he heard footsteps coming his way, and then a person emerging through the trees. "Be careful this far out from the road. You could get lost," he warned making sure not to shine his light in their faces. "You never know what would be out here, and I don't think the rest of the town would enjoy the irony of people going missing during a search party."
Inappropriate? Maybe. But ... he was pretty sure Abigail wouldn't have minded the joke.