Old Alton Bridge
Chap 4: Digging Their Own Graves
It was early in the morning the day of their fishing trip. They longed to escape their asphalt parking lot and moved into nature.
The friends had gotten up extra early in order to prepare for their fishing trip. They had previously decided on worms for fish bait.
Sally: I’m not used to getting up this early.
Fred: We need to hurry to the Old Alton Bridge and start digging for worms.
Since the group had prepared for the trip well, they only had to get in Fred’s vehicle and travel to their campsite.
William: Let’s load up into the truck and start.
Sally and Fred shook their heads in agreement, and they started their trip.
The party loaded into the truck and began their journey toward Old Alton Bridge. As dusk gave way to daylight, they discovered the weather wasn’t perfectly sunny, it was overcast, which was the perfect weather for fishing.
They soon arrived at the bridge. The smell of morning dew and running water permeated the air. The sound of creek water rapidly moving dominated their ears. The green woods were a welcome sight after the odorless asphalt parking lot they had come from.
William: There’s the Old Alton Bridge. We need to find a campsite in the woods next to the bridge.
Sally: Is the bridge safe to walk across.
William: Yes… I used to drive my car across it.
They parked the truck in a gravel parking lot provided for visitors to the bridge. The trio then ventured into the woods looking for a suitable campsite. After scouring the woods, they located an area that was level, and had a nice view of the creek and the bridge, they decided that area was to be their campsite.
Fred: I’ll get the tents and bring them to the campsite.
William: It seems like there is a creepy silence. The wind is quite calm, preventing the rustling of the foliage.
Sally: Yea… I notice that too.
William and Sally went on to dig for fish bait, while Fred completed setting up the campsite.
Fred: I’ve set up three tents. One for William and me, one for Sally, and one for our utilities.
The next itinerary item was to dig for worms they could use for bait.
William: Before the sun gets any hotter, and there is still dew on the ground, we need to start digging for worms. I’ll get the shovels out of the truck. I noticed a moist area on the way to our campsite, that looks like it would be ideal to dig for worms.
Sally: Good point. William… I’ll follow you, and start digging.
William and Sally went to the spot William had noticed and began to dig for bait.
Sally: When I see a worm, I will tell you about it, so that you can grab it. I feel uneasy at grabbing worms.
William: I had already agreed to bait your hook, so I may as well grab up your worms.
William and Sally began digging.
Since they had received a below-average amount of rain that summer and the moisture content of the soil were very low, the worms had burrowed into the dirt intensely.
William: The dirt seems dryer than I had expected.
They kept digging deeper and deeper, looking for worms.
The bait hole was very deep by the time they located enough worms to use for bait to satisfy the time they intended on using for fishing.
The hole ended up being deep enough for burying a human.
William: Wow… Look how deep our bait hole is. I never thought we’d have to dig a hole that deep.
Sally: Yea…
Fred finally made his way toward where William and Sally were digging for bait.
Fred: Wow… That’s quite a hole you've dug. It’s almost deep enough to bury someone in.
William: Yeah, I know… We should probably fill it in before we leave.
Sally: Yes, that seems like the responsible thing to do.
William: We can fill in the hole later. Now it’s time to start fishing. With any luck, we’ll have fish for dinner.
Fred: I agree… Let’s get to the purpose of this trip.
William: I think we got enough bait. Is the fishing gear still in the trick?
Sally: I think so. I’ll go to the truck and bring the fishing gear to the campsite.
Sally had brought the fishing gear to the campsite, the group carried the gear along with the bait to the creek and started fishing
They moved to their fishing spots along Hickory creek. William and Fred quickly found comfortable fishing perches among large rocks next to the creek.
Sally: I need to find a seat as comfortable as the ones you guys have,
William got up and found Sally a log next to the creek she could sit on.
They had surprisingly good luck fishing. The fishing was very fruitful. They would have a plentiful dinner tonight.
Fred: Wow… We caught a lot of fish.
William: Yea… better than I expected.
Sally: I’m getting hungry just thinking about frying our catch.
So far, the trip has gone as planned. The calm was deceptive. There were no indications that when night fell everything would change.
Chapter 3: William gets claustrophobia
Chapter 5:Resting for the night
