Girl on a Rock

When Anasazi archaeologist Tucker Roth found a pretty girl in pink sitting on a rock in the wilderness north of Pagosa Springs, Colorado, he couldn't help but worry. Such strange behavior sent a chill up his spine.

The girl, Marissa, said she wanted to hide. To sneak. To not be seen. When she finally climbed down and he saw her, he understood why.

Worse than her physical damage was an abusive, lying father, and a social system that couldn't help a girl like Marissa.

Then her mother arrived. From prison. The mother Marissa had said was dead.

Even worse, the lying father sneaked back to clean up his own mess.

In the end, a Ute elder allowed a ceremony to be performed on the biggest rock around that would heal the wounds as much as they could be healed.

"Girl on a Rock" is a single short story that will take average readers less than a half-hour to read.