When Darkness Falls #Blog Battle

This weeks entry to Rachael Ritchey’s blog battle is called When Darkness Falls

Rules:

1. 1000 words max
2. fictional tale (or true if you really want)
3. PG (no more than PG-13) Content – let’s keep this family friendly!
4. Your story must contain the word(s) from the theme and/or be centered around the theme in a way that shows it is clearly related
5. Go for the entertainment value!
6. State the Genre of your story at the top of your post.
7. Post your story on Tuesday, by 11:59 PM PST
8. Use the hashtag #BlogBattle when tweeting your story, put a link back to your #BlogBattle Short Story in the comments section of this page, and/or include a link to this page in your own blog post (it creates a “ping-back” which will alert me and our friends to your #BlogBattle post)
9. Have fun!

This weeks word: Forest

When Darkness Falls:

Sam stood there for a moment, the only ting he could see was his the vapour of his breath in the cold air. He could hear Tony and his gang looking for him like a bunch of bungling idiots. The crunching of sticks underfoot and the sniggering as they looked for him meant Sam could keep right away from them, they were idiots but they could easily run faster than him if they found him. Sam never knew why they kept going after him, the only thing he had over them was that he was smaller then them and he had a brain.

 

Carefully and slowly Sam took small steps, moving steadily away from them. Several minutes passed, they seemed like hours and there was only a little light left, half fallen sun making the reddening sky glow like hot embers. The forest was making a good job of concealing his whereabouts from the gang that were still looking for him, Sam was no fool… he knew he had to keep quiet or the gang would be after him. Each step Sam took brought him further away from them.

“Oi! Nuttall! Where are you?”

Sam froze for a second, they were obviously getting frustrated that they couldn’t find him. He hated that name too… Nuttall. That’s probably why they liked to bully him, with a surname like that who wouldn’t? Sam quickened the pace, he was getting more confident, the road to his house was through the trees, not even a quarter of a mile away. He would make it as long as he didn’t make a… *SNAP*

Sam Stopped instantly, this wasn’t just any snap, it was the biggest snap of a branch he had ever heard. Like in the middle of school assembly and everyone’s quiet, you need to fart and you want it to be silent so much but it ends up being huge. Like that… not a fart, but a snap. What was it Sam could hear? Kind of like… in an instant he bolted, they were onto him, he could hear four great big bugling idiots running after him, they would really pound him this time if they caught him. Darkness had just fallen and despite the never ending trees finding a place to properly hide was hard, but he had to. He didn’t have long before thay would be so close there would be no hiding. Finding the biggest tree he slipped behind it couched down and starting breathing into his hand to hide his breath. He waited. He waited some more.

He peeked round the tree to see the four of them, dimly lit by the half moon running into a small clearing. Loooking round they scanned to see if they could see him.

“he must have been here!” One of them said.

“Of course he was you pratt! I heard the snap just like you did!” That was Tony, he was the biggest and could slap anyone about to make them do what he wanted. That’s what he did with his gang.

“Nuttall!!! I’m going to find you, you freak!!!” He was shouting, bordering on screaming. They we looking round now, trying to find him and it was only a matter of time before they did. Sam couldn’t rely on them giving up, pulling up a stick that was in front of him he waited until they had their backs turned and lobbed the stick as far as he could back away from them. With a crunch it landed and they were off again, this time the other way.

Sam had no choice, despite the fact that his legs were weak and his lungs burning he ran the other way, there was a path now so they were few branches on the ground. Found another big tree and waited, he couldn’t hear them so he ran on some more. Closer and closer he got to home stopping every so often. He was thankful as he must have lost them.

Sam emerged from the woods, just walking now he could see his house, the smoke rising from the chimney warm lights could be seen poking through the curtains. He walked up to the white picket fence, unlatched the gate then suddenly a firm grip could be felt on his shoulder.

“Got ya Nuttall!” Oh no… that was Tony’s voice. He spun Sam around and pinned him against the fence. “I’m going to-”

“Going to what?” came a voice from behind Tony, Sam saw a large hand grip Tony’s shoulder.

“Go on.. you’re going to what?” It was Sam’s Dad.

Tony looked in horror as Sams dad towered over Tony. Sam was smiling “Buy him sweets? Make sure he gets home ok?”

Tony was nodding, knowing full well Sams dad was having none of it.

“I’ve been looking for Sam for over two hours, one of the girls from the school said you were after him. My dinner is cold, I’ve missed my TV programme and to say I’m annoyed isn’t coming close to it. I’ve been to see your parents and if you think you’re in trouble with me, wait until you see them. Now go home, if you go near my boy again I’ll make sure you spend the night in the forest”

With that Tony and his gang ran off, Sams dad laughed. “You don’t need to worry about him after school now Sam, he’s getting the worst punishment of all”

“What, no pocket money?” Sam asked.

“No, although he will probably lose that too. No, his mum is going to be taking him to  and from school from now on!” Sam smiled as his dad put him round him and took him into the house.

©2016 Simon Farnell

Pictures are my own