A Second Home part one

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.