Missing

In the darkness, pebbles skitter and tink from a precipice.
Warnings to two soldiers,
city boys, on leave,
who relax around a crackling campfire, unaware.

Imbibing, conversing of drill sergeants and reminiscing of home.

Forensic evidence at the scene: plate-size paw prints on the ground at each young sentinel's sleeping bag. Lines in dirt lead into emptiness and bottles litter the ground
while white smoke lingers.