Chapter68: 68

My heart skips a beat at her note. Tiny little Ella in her sundress walking around these woods all by herself, heedless of all the dangers. A vision of her lying helpless with a snakebite has me tossing the food on a bench and hollering for Henry to follow me. “All right, Henry, time for you to do some serious bloodhound shit.” He trots off with his nose to the ground, and I hope like hell he’s following Ella’s scent and not some rabbit because he’s hungry. We walk further into the dense woods, and my apprehension rises with each step we take. “Ella!” I holler, brushing back more of the dense foliage. I keep screaming her name until I finally hear a faint response. “Where are you?” “I’m cooling off in the swimming hole!” The swimming hole? What the fuck is she talking about? I run through the woods toward her voice and stop short when I see her floating in the water. I’m barely able to register the discarded sundress at my feet and the tiny black bikini she’s wearing, because I’m so sh