The Stone Beach

The sun was dark shades of pink and red. The magic light burnished the leaves gold and painted the garden in dream colors.Caroline didn’t bother to stop and take in the beauty. Her eyes were fixed on the underbrush looking for any sign of Casey. Down by the river, she called his name.What if he’d slipped on a rock and fallen into the river? Would he be strong enough to pull himself out? What if some wild animal found him? Caroline had heard rumors that coyotes prowled these woods. One of her friends at school had found only her cat’s little white paws.Why had her parents moved them to this awful place?“Casey! Casey!”She felt foolish calling him, but she was far enough from the house that no one would hear her. She walked along the river’s edge toward the stone beach and was so intent on peeking under every shrub, she didn’t see the river open up before her until she came right up to the beach.