By Ava Romberg
This is part one of a piece of fan fiction.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. Be quiet and let me look.”
“O.k.” … a few minutes later…
“Liam, I’m scared.”
“Me too, Charlotte. But you need to quiet down. You’re
loud enough to scare a herd of buffalo. Someone will surely hear.”
“But there’s no one around!”
“I thought I told you- Shh!”
“What?”
That was our
conversation from hours ago. After I clamped my hand over my sister’s mouth and
pushed her down behind a bush to hide, whispered “Stay here until I get back,”
I jumped up and ran ahead. The streets of California were empty and silent.
Then, out of nowhere, a giant shape materialized out of the alley shadows and
landed next to me. I yelped and fell over my shoelaces. Guess how I landed. Yeah,
flat on my face. I felt my nose start to bleed. Closing my eyes, I counted to
ten and then forced myself to stand.
The giant
creature in front of me was enough to give me nightmares, and I was glad
Charlotte wasn’t with me. Its shaggy black fur and evil red eyes looked like something
out of a horror movie. The huge dog leaped, and I heroically ran for my life. I
wished this were something out of a
horror movie. At least those weren’t real. I sprinted through the streets, the
monster hot on my tail. I’m not sure how I got there or how long it took me,
but I found myself in front of a very large lake. Standing there, scared out of
my wits and breathing so hard I thought my lungs might fall out, I had an idea.
Facing my pursuer, I shouted, “Hey! Come and get me!” Once I had its attention,
(even though it never for a moment took its eyes of me,) I ran toward the lake.
You know, looking
back on it, it’s really a miracle I survived. I had no weapon of any kind, and
the monster was much larger than my families’ old car. I kept running until I reached
the lake’s edge. The hound didn’t slow it’s pace. I waited until all my instincts
told me to run, then waited some more. When the dog-thing was within two feet
of me, I put my plan into action. Crouching down, I somersaulted between the
dog’s legs. I was a little off , and came up to the beast’s side. Its tail hit
me, and I went flying. I didn’t even have time to think. I shot through the air
and landed in the middle of a group of ducks quacking idly in the mud. They
jumped into flight as I tumbled into their huddle. I thought Ducks are better flyers than me. But
then I told myself Well, what did you
expect? They’re birds. I heard a splash somewhere to my left and thought, Good, my plan worked. Then I laid my
head in the mud and closed my eyes.
The next
thing I knew I was on a blanket inside a makeshift hut made from logs. I could
see Charlotte standing nearby, pacing the edges of the small clearing with a stick
in her hand. She’s pretty tough for a seven year old. I got up to join her. When
she ran to greet me, her face was streaked with mud and her eyes were tired. Somehow
she still managed to look like her old energetic self.
“Liam!” She cried, and smothered me with a hug. I
pried her hands away.
“How- Where are we? You got me here on your own? And
I thought I told you to stay where you were!” I felt bad about her having to
drag me here, but I was also mad that
she hadn’t listened to me. That could be dangerous. But what she said next
pulled all guilt and anger from my mind.
“Oh, no. I wasn’t alone! The plants helped me”
“Um, how?”
“I asked them,” She told me, as if it should be obvious.
“How…” I asked again, but trailed off. I wasn’t sure
I wanted to know.
We walked back to the hut. Charlotte clung to my
hand like a dying bug clings to life. I let her stay, though. She had been
through a lot in hardly any time at all. We had an apple each for diner. My
nose was feeling much better, and I agreed to look for water. I couldn’t find
any, and the apple I’d eaten just wasn’t enough. My stomach still felt like an
empty pit, growing larger every second. Charlotte was still hungry too, but we
couldn’t to eat any more of the rations
from my backpack. They were already too low. The sun was setting and I told Charlotte
to get some sleep. I would take watch.
I sat in the
twilight for a while, I’m not sure how long. Then I remembered something. After
checking to make sure my sister was okay, I walked out of the forest. I’d
figured we couldn’t be far from the lake where I had passed out. Even with
plants helping her (whatever that meant) she wouldn’t have been able to bring
me very far. As I stepped out of the trees I saw I was right. The moonlight
shone over the lake. It was beautiful, but it was also sad. The landscape was similar
to my families’ backyard. Too similar, especially because I was almost positive
I would never see it again. Blinking back tears, I walked to where I’d guessed
the battle had happened. There were footprints in the mud. There were paw prints,
too, several times larger than mine. There was a long mark where I’d slid when
the dog’s tail had hit me. I continued on a bit farther. I came to rest in front of a trail of stepping
stones that led to a boulder much bigger than the rest. I had a sudden urge,
and jumped to the first rock, then the second, then the third. I kept going
until I reached the boulder. It struck me that this was the least dangerous thing
I’d done all day. I sat there and thought until the moon grew high in the sky.
