Explore: A Six Sentence Story

The state conservation area was quite lovely most of the year; in the summer, there were picnic spots and lakes for fishing, in the fall, there were the bright oranges, yellows, and reds of autumn foliage, and in the spring, wildflowers bounded from the ground, but in the winter, the area was brown and gray, dark and dreary, and mostly uninhabited, save for an occasional duck hunter.

The two friends met there to walk along a path through the woods one mild day somewhere between fall and winter; they chose it for its convenience, as it sat halfway between each of their homes, and also because of its isolation that time of year, so they could tell secrets and gossip without any other ears about.

Talking and laughing, they walked along the trail, picking their way over fallen branches and kicking piles of leaves, when Christine stopped and said, "I don't believe we're on the main path any longer, because there's an odd little hill over there that I think I would have remembered if I had ever seen it before."

The two women made their way around the strange little hill only to discover it wasn't a hill at all, but an earthen bunker nearly buried in wild grape vines and hidden by tree branches; the heavy wooden door was ajar, and Christine eagerly moved towards it, calling over her shoulder, "Hey, this looks like a cool place to explore - come on!"

"I don't know..." replied her friend, hanging back, "I don't think we should."

But Christine, already at the door and peering inside, said, "It's really dark, but it looks like there's just some straw in there and a wooden crate," when with a sudden, silent jerk, Christine was violently pulled through the crack in the door just before it slammed shut as her friend, standing frozen in horror, slowly sunk to her knees.

The very much still alive Christine while we explored the bunkers
at August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area near
St. Charles, Missouri.

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge's Blog for Six Sentence Stories with the prompt "explore."