Alice Merrick tightened her grip on the steering wheel, eyes staring at the road, hair a bit of a mess and a bottle of liquor sitting empty on the passenger's seat. Her mind made up on what she is going to do Jess is gone… Walt is gone and it's all Shelby's fault. Its now or never in addressing this kept going through her mind as she pulled up to Horizon Farm's and parked the car where she did the first time to pick up Shelby.

Sophie came out of the office upon seeing the car pull up, "Hello – is something wrong?" she asked knowing who she was. However knowing that whenever a parent came without notice usually meant something urgent, it is going into the evening and parents usually take away a child during the day. Alice strode up to her, looking like a mess more or less, "I've come to see Shelby – where is she?" Alice almost demanded although Sophie kept her composure, "she is on a camping trip up a mountain – not far from here. They'll be gone for a few days at most–"

"No! I need to see her now! Is there anyway we can go up there for me to see her?" Alice asked impatiently and Sophie narrowed her eyes at her. I could take the jeep, radio Peter to find out their location… why does she feel the need to see her so bad? Is there something Shelby said in a letter maybe to upset her mother into coming over here? Maybe Peter knows something she turned and looked at the office building.

"Lets go inside, I'll contact Peter and see of what I can do" Sophie reasoned and Alice walked right past her to head for the office, Sophie refrained herself from asking again about why she wanted to see Shelby so bad. Following her inside Alice quickly sat down at a chair in the office and began to tap her foot impatiently.

Sophie went around to a walkie-talkie and set it to Peter's frequency, "Peter, this is Sophie, come in" and released the button, a few seconds later, "this is Peter, what's going on Sophie?" he asked on the other end. Sophie looked over the counter to see that Alice is now drumming her finger's on her lap and tapping her foot, "Shelby's mother is here and wants to see her" Sophie responded, "we'll be down within a max of two days" Peter commented and Sophie quickly pressed the button. "She wants to see her now, she is sitting in the office and wont stop moving. Has Shelby said anything?" Sophie enquired and can tell that Peter is most likely wondering the same thing, "no – she hasn't" Peter answered and there was a pause. Both of them trying to figure out why she is there and why she feels the need to see her so badly, "I'm going to ask her" Sophie stated.

Knowing it isn't her place but can't get over how puzzling the whole situation is. "No Soph" Peter protested on his line making her stop from going over to the counter, "if she is unwilling then it must be personal… why not drive her up on the jeep – we're at checkpoint 3A." Sophie bit her bottom lip before picking up the walkie-talkie and pressing the button, "alright, I'll be up there in a few – over and out" Sophie ended the conversation and put the walkie-talkie onto her hip.

Walking around the counter Alice looked up at Sophie like how a dog looks to its owner when its name is called, "we're going up to them in a jeep. It won't take long," Sophie said as she grabbed a set of keys and Alice got to her feet right away and followed her out the door.

Meanwhile up at camp the Cliffhangers have put up their tents and have a fire already on the go. Peter had been keeping his eyes between Shelby and a tree in front of him, watching her for any signs of anger or being upset. Nothing of the sort on her expressions, she is happy, sitting next to Scott and starting to cook marsh mellows as Augusto's just caught fire as he was talking with Juliette too long.

He set the walkie-talkie onto his hip and walked over to his group, a smile on his face as Auggie looks at his burnt marsh mellow with a frown of disappointment. "Hey – any smores in the works yet?" Peter enquired just as Ezra placed a four-piece caramel with gram crackers down on top of a nicely warmed up marsh mellow. "Oh yes this is the second one so far for me… well Daisy had the first one" Ezra commented and handed it to Peter, David has just caught his marsh mellow on fire and is drawing circles in the air.

Scott then grabbed the stick and forced it up, earning a mock grin from David, "oh – you wanted this one Scotty?" she asked while putting pressure on the stick to bring it back down. Scott just smiled back at him, "no thanks – only my steak to be well done" she commented and then let go of the stick for it to fling down and the flaming marshmallow to shoot into the flames. David frowned and Peter shook his head as he then took his first bite out of the smore, "mmm… this is good Ezra" Peter added and then looked to Shelby.

He swallowed what was in his mouth, "Shelby – can I see you for a moment?" he asked and Shelby smiled a bit of a sarcastic smile at him, "of course my captain" she responded and got up to follow him to the tree line for privacy. On the way he shoved the rest of the smore into his mouth and finished it by the time she turned to look at him, "I'm going to get straight to the point – okay?" he requested and she nodded in compliance.

"Have you said anything to your Mom lately that would upset her?" Peter enquired and Shelby's smile faded to a frown, "I haven't sent her a letter in the past two days. I know that Jess has been wanting to come here and is most likely giving Mom a hard time with it, she hasn't spoke a word to me since I came back and put Walt behind bars. Why?" Shelby asked in all honesty knowing that was the way to get anywhere with Peter.

He wrapped his right hand around his jaw in thought, "I just got news that she is here and wants to speak with you immediately. Knowing she can't wait until we return tells me that she is upset about something, I'm just trying to connect the dots" Peter answered honestly in return. Feeling Shelby's questioning eyes stare off to the dark trees next to him. "Sophie is giving her a ride up the mountain as we speak – she'll be here pretty soon. Just thought I'd give you a heads up" Peter added before they both turned to head back to the others, Scott noticed right away the change on Shelby and got up to see her before she even reached the camp fire.

"What's wrong?" Scott asked and Shelby looked up at his concerned eyes, "my Mom wants to see me, she won't even wait until we return so Sophie is driving her up. I don't know what it could be about…. unless Walt croaked" she shrugged and Scott put his arms around her.

Peter watched from his own tent knowing his own rules but ever since Scott and Shelby had gotten together Shelby had improved at Horizon considerably so he let them be. But if he were to catch them kissing he'd do something about it, but for now Scott is comforting Shelby while she confides in him now.

"I'll stick with you when she's here if you'd like" Scott offered as he then looked at her in arms length and Shelby thought for a moment, "sure – if she allows it" Shelby answered with a small smile.

Right then a vehicle approaching could be heard and all campers looked over to see the jeep come up with Sophie in the driver's seat and Alice in the passenger's seat, from Scott and Shelby's view point. Alice does look really upset about something when she jumped out, "Shelby, I need to have a word with you" she demanded as she walked up to Shelby.

Shelby stood her ground, "what's going on?" and once her mother's face was in her own she caught on the to alcohol, "have you been d–" "A word, now!" Alice stated not wanting anyone to know that she had been drinking.

Scott then stood stalk still partially in front of Shelby but still next to her as Peter rushed over, "whatever you have to say to Shelby you can say to the both of us" Scott informed and Alice glared at him, her right hand in her pocket. Peter raised his hands as if to say 'okay, everyone calm down' when Alice retorted. "No! I will have a private word with Shelby!"

Shelby heaved a sigh, "fine mother" she furrowed her eyebrows in trying to figure out how she could have pissed off her mother so much. Scott sniffed the air and could smell the alcohol coming from Alice, knowing that alcohol and a bad temper are never a good combo he placed his right hand onto Shelby's right shoulder as she began to walk with her mother.

"If you need anything… just call" he added and Shelby nodded at him, "will do" was all she could say before walking with her mother into the tree's and out of sight.

Scott looked to Peter and Sophie, "she's been drinking," he stated and Sophie brought up her walkie-talkie before Peter went for his own, "I'll radio the office and see if anyone can see anything in the car. Something just isn't right" Sophie put her left hand into her pocket and picked up the walkie-talkie.

"If Shelby can't handle her mother she'll either storm off, or call for help – I don't see her striking at her" Peter said to Scott and he nodded even though he didn't actually believe that Shelby would call for help.

Meanwhile Alice has been pacing in front of Shelby who has her arms crossed, "well they can't hear or see us from here – what did you want to talk about?" Shelby asked and Alice paused to look at her. "Its all your fault" Alice stated like it was obvious and Shelby rolled her eyes, "okay – how is everything my fault this time? What did I do or more importantly, what did I not do?" Shelby asked and Alice stormed up to her then.

"You made Walt go away! I loved him and he loved me! Now I'm losing my baby girl because of you! She doesn't want to be in my house – oh no she wants to come here! Everyone I love is leaving me and its all your fault!" Alice nearly shouted the last few words and Shelby didn't even look shocked at these accusations.

"Yes… I made Walt leave because he raped Jess and me and you did nothing about it, yes Jess wants to come here because you did nothing to help her back at home except to finally say that he did rape us" Shelby stated the points that her mother was obviously ignoring.


"Sophie, this is the Office" came a voice over the walkie-talkie and Peter, Scott and Daisy all looked to Sophie who raised it up and pressed the button, "I'm here" she said and without delay, "I just checked the car. There is an empty bottle of alcohol on the passenger's seat" and they looked between one another, Daisy grunted, "this will not end well," she said in a casual tone like they just realized it was going to rain.

All of their ears picked up on the shout that came through the trees, obviously from Alice, "I'm going in if I hear another one" Peter decided, his eyes glued to the darkness in the trees.


Alice shook her head and Shelby put her hands into her pockets, knowing her mother had been drinking and how she is acting tells her that she won't be thinking clearly. Leaning against a tree now Shelby runs her right hand fingers through her hair to pull it back, "look, have your little melt down and call me when your sober" Shelby stated and stood up straight to start to leave when Alice then pulled a magnum out of her pocket.

"No… you are going to pay for what you've put me through" Alice said raising the gun and Shelby stopped in her tracks, her eyes widened and heart did a flip. "Wait… your going to shoot me? Your daughter? Think about what your doing" Shelby tried to reason while staring at the barrel of the magnum aimed at her.

"Oh I've thought it through, you are the reason why my life has gone downhill and with you out of my life then things will get better" Alice said standing up straight and cocking the gun.

Shelby shook her head, "are you listening to yourself? What would Jess think if she found out you held a gun at me and shot me? Then you'd loose her too" biting her bottom lip in hopes that there is a possibility of getting through to her. Get her mind on Jess… make her see what this'll do to her. I've got to call for help if what I said doesn't get through to her… how could she go this far Shelby wondered and watched her mother's eyes.

"I've already lost Jess, I can still win her over – she'll never know what happened to you because she's not coming to Horizon Farm's. We're moving into a trailer and there won't be anything you can do about it" Alice stated with her index finger resting nicely on the trigger.

Oh shit… call for help! Shelby told herself, took a deep breath and opened her mouth at the sight that her mother had made up her mind.

BANG! The hot bullet having struck the abdomen, causing a burning pain to grow inside of Shelby as she stumbled back to clutch her right hand over her abdomen and look down at the blood already coming from the wound. Her back hitting the tree she'd been leaning on, her mouth dropping open in disbelief and shock, watching as her mother put the gun back into her pocket and takes off.

To Be Continued…
Hiya, this is my first Higher Ground fanfic, hope you like what I do in it and everything. Please Review as are welcome and greatly appreciated.

Started: Wednesday February. 27, 2008

By: SLITH