Woodland Escape

By Martha Wickham

Holly Moss stumbles upon her future hiding place while camping, an old cabin. Tired of her life with her uncle she works at the ticket factory. When he robs it she runs away to that cabin. There she stays away from her troubled uncle until they meet again.

During the family crisis she goes on vacation to the east coast, goes fishing to save a restaurant with seafood, and falls for the officer protecting her. It is a small glimmer of the life she dreams of.

Review
"One of a kind." -Goodreads

• Language: English
• Publisher: Martha Wickham
• Release date: Jan 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311720474

Martha Wickham

Martha Wickham is an author from OR. She has written 12 books since 2004. Find more at www.marthawickham.com 

Book preview

Woodland Escape

By Martha Wickham

copyright 2015

Chapter 1

On a warm summer evening Miss Holly Moss sat watching the sky darken.  Quickly she had a feeling in her stomach that something bad, dangerous, could happen.  Her Uncle Eddy warned her not to go into the forest.  She could get lost in the trees and up until now she wanted to listen to him.  Her uncle was who she lived with in a northern California town.  She had moved in with him a couple years earlier instead of living with her mother because it was closer to where she worked.

Bang!  Something exploded feet away and an orange fire began to crackle.  This was the trouble she expected.  She ran around wondering if she should stay away or help put it out.  When she went back outside, she saw it wasn’t a very big fire.  People were gathering around, watching, and some kicked dirt on it smothering it away.  Holly now saw it was out.

She went inside the house and calmed down.  While fixing herself some dinner she thought about what she would wear to her cashier job tomorrow.  The door slammed and Uncle Eddy entered the kitchen. Did you start that fire out there? he asked sarcastically.

     No.  How did it start? she asked chewing on a cracker.

     Someone lit a candle and left it alone.  The fire caught on to some gas tank from the trees, and there was a small explosion.  Did you go into the forest today?

     No. 

     Don’t then.  I don’t know how dangerous it could be, like if you got lost, or caught on fire, as I usually say.  He left the room.

She finished eating and thought about what could happen the next day.

Holly woke.  She was still tired but knew she had to get to her job as a cashier at a place called the Ticket Factory.  They sold all kinds of tickets.  Some people bought tickets to win prizes.  It was easy, and it gave her something to do.  Her eyes were brown, puffy, and tired, but after some coffee her small petite body began to wake.  While sipping it she felt like exploring a forest.

She quickly sat down at her work seat.  The summer heat beat down, and she started to sweat as she counted tickets.  She sipped her soda and ate chocolate while working.  

 Are you eating something on the job? asked Sandra the other cashier.

 Yes.

 Just don’t let the manager catch you.

     I won’t.  Holly Moss didn’t know whether to hate or like this person.  She decided it would be both.  Sandra, she said like it was a question, I’m planning on going out to the nearby forest.  Maybe I’ll even camp out.  Would you like to come?  I don’t really want to go alone.

     I don’t think so.  Forests aren’t my thing.  Which one is it? Sandra asked.

     It’s just the Northern California forest a few minutes away. I don’t know the name

     I can’t, she said again.  I have to babysit my little cousin. It sounded like an excuse. Now she wasn’t as mean, but wasn’t being very friendly either.

     Okay, but I have the feeling it will be an adventure.  Going alone will be fun.  Holly finished her work.

Once home she started getting her stuff together to go camping in the forest.  She called her manager to let her know she wanted two weeks off.

Soon she would be out there.  No big deal.  Just on a nature hike and getaway.

Her car was loaded when twenty two year old Holly got ready to leave.  Eddy, I thought I’d let you know I’ll be back soon, in a day or so.  She went to her car and drove away.  It was an old cheap car she bought with her job money.

The driving took especially long because she couldn’t decide on a place to park in the middle of nowhere.  There were lots of trees and dark green grass where she stopped.

It was so beautiful out there.  It was mostly green and brown. Admiring the place, Holly Moss decided to spend the night.  She opened up her car door and set up her camping stuff. Then she laid a sleeping bag down in the back seat of the car.  Because it was summer, it was around a hundred degrees outside but because of the trees and breeze, it didn’t feel that hot and once the evening came it would bring the high temperature down.

Holly knew that the hot weather was what she liked more than cold