Sarah Vs Hazard County.
Richard Marx in 1992 released a song called Hazard, with a bit of tweaking and a foundation of a story came to me.
On a walk down by the river,
It was the time of year that Sarah enjoyed the most, the time when the leaves in the trees started to turn yellow and the park in which she was now walking was alive with colour. Sarah like the fact that the days were not as hot as it got in high summer, the evenings were still mild and she could exercise at her leisure without having to worry about the effects of too much sun on her fair skin.
She was still out exploring the town of Hazard, having just move there to take up a post with the local newspaper. She had done her internship in the big city and now she wanted a change of pace. The hustle and bustle of the big city and the high speed approach to life was behind her now. The stress of the big city hopefully would become a fading memory.
Hazard itself was a town with the population of nearly four thousand; it was the commercial hub for a large farming region. Though the town was the Hazard River that often threaten to flood the town with the spring snowmelt but thankfully that rarely occurred and the last flooding was a generation ago.
She had found the walking track the followed the river as it flowed out of the civic centre and she was soaking it all in, allowing her senses to take in all that there was to take in. The smells of the foliage, the sounds of birds flying around her, she knew she was daydreaming as she followed the path further into the woods. The path she was following meandered along the river and then it started to climb and crossed over the river on a cute wooden sway bridge. Up on the bridge a couple of children were playing. As she passed the children, they stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her. Sarah gave them an acknowledging nod of the head. The girl that appeared to be the eldest gave Sarah a warning.
"I'd take care down there, there is a murderer in the woods."
What a strange thing to say Sarah thought and she stopped to engage with the girl.
"There's a murderer in the woods, aye. How long has he been hiding in there?"
"Long before I was born." came the reply
"So, chances are that he is no longer there. Thanks for the warning." Sarah said before she continued on and resumed her walk.
The warning sort of circled within her consciences, Sarah was a reporter and she was a curious one at that, she must ask others about that, maybe see what the paper reported.
As the fading light made it hard to continue she did an about face and headed back into town. She finished her walk half an hour later and returned safely to her rental. She changed her clothes after having a quick shower and then went out to find some dinner. She found an late night diner and had a pasta dish. The rest of the night went without incident and she went to bed knowing she had to report to the work the next morning.