Friday Flash: In the Dark
It's getting toward the end of October, and that means time for some spooky stories. So for your reading pleasure, a little venture into the woods. Don't be scared. They're just trees. About 950 words of pleasantly spooky reading!
āOwl.ā I answer as though the bird hasnāt startled me a bit. I know an owl is no danger to us, even if it does come sudden out of the dark.
A stick breaks off to our left, and he grabs my arm again. Iām going to have bruises shaped like my cousinās fingers. I cock my head and listen for the next heavy step.
āDeer.ā I peel his fingers loose and walk on. Joeyās a city kid, and heās been driving me crazy for a week, showing off how much he knows about everything that I aināt had any chance to learn. Plus, he goes on about how much better boys are than girls. He thinks boys are so much braver because they go to war. Joeyās crazy about wanting to be a soldier, which any girl can see is plain foolishness.
Thatās why I decided that we needed to go visit Aunt Bella, whoās about a hundred years old, and lives away back in the forest. I made sure that we stayed long enough soās we headed home after dark. That was easy enough, since Aunt Bella loves to be telling stories about the old days. Only, come dusk, I think she read my mind, because she started in to telling some of the odd things that have happened in these woods.
So by the time we started home Joey was pretty well spooked, and it was as dark under the trees as the inside of a bearās belly. I made sure to use that expression, as we started out with just a candle-lantern to light our trail.
A tree creaks in the breeze, and Joeyās got my arm again. āThatās a bear, isnāt it Sarah? Growling at us, just like Aunt Bella said they do when theyāre hunting.ā
I suppress a little shiver of my own. Iām not afraid of bearsāmuch. There aināt many of them left around here, and anyhow a real bear donāt growl when itās hunting. Joey wasnāt listening to Aunt Bellaās story so close, I guess, because she wasnāt talking about flesh-and-blood bears. Not that I believe a word of her talk of spirit bears.
That creak is just a tree talking. In daytime, you can tell itās just a noise made by some branch or other rubbing on another. At night, itās the trees talking, I guess to each other or the animals. I can tell, but try as I might, I canāt quite make out what they are saying.
Tonight it sounds like a warning.
Maās going to be mad with me for keeping us out in the dark. Sheās Joeyās aunt and she came from the city, too. Pa, he understands that a kid has to roam, even a girl-child, and like I say, there aināt no bears or panthers around here no more. He says there aināt no haunts, neither.
I believe him about the bears and panthers, but suddenly I aināt so sure about the haunts. I wish Aunt Bella had stuck to telling about people getting eaten by real live bears. That was all I wantedāto get Joey worked up about bears, so I could show him a thing or two about whoās brave. But she just had to go on about spirit bears, and ghosts, too.
The breeze is picking up. I donāt like that, because I canāt hear any particular sound when all the leaves are shaking. Their talking picks up, but I still canāt make out the words.
A sudden puff of wind puts out our candle, and Joey screams. Maybe I do, too, a little, but thatās just because Iām annoyed. Once I know my voice is steady, I say, āAw, quiet, Joey. I know the way, and weāre almost back to the road anyhow.ā I reach out a hand. āGrab hold and Iāll lead you so you donāt get lost in the woods.ā That should put him in his place!
The hand I touch is icy, and it sure aināt Joey. Right there, I forget all about keeping my cousin safe, and I start running. I know every story Aunt Bellaās ever told about the ghosts of all the folks killed by critters and snakes and bad men. And every one of them has icy fingers.
I can hear something crashing through the bush behind me, so I run faster. It aināt until I get to the road, where the moon shines in on account of the trees being cleared away, that I slow down and start to think.
Do ghosts crash around in the bush? Once I catch my breath, I decide maybe I made a fool of myself. Maās told me a hundred times that there aināt no such thing as ghosts and haunts, but sheās from the city, so I aināt sure she knows. But even Aunt Bella would tell me that whatever was behind me was made of flesh, to crash around so much.
And then I remember Joey. Aw, shoot. That was him chasing me, and now Iāve gone and lost him, and the trees are louder than ever so I canāt hear him no more.
Why doesnāt he holler?
Why donāt I?
When Pa finds me still sitting in the middle of the road in the dark, I swear that I shouted the woods down trying to find the fool boy who ran off, scared of a creaky old tree.
I donāt tell him that the trees told me to keep quiet and set still.
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©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2017
As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated!
In the Dark
āWhatās that?!ā At the first owl-hoot, Joey jumps like a scairt rabbit and grabs my arm in a death-grip.āOwl.ā I answer as though the bird hasnāt startled me a bit. I know an owl is no danger to us, even if it does come sudden out of the dark.
A stick breaks off to our left, and he grabs my arm again. Iām going to have bruises shaped like my cousinās fingers. I cock my head and listen for the next heavy step.
āDeer.ā I peel his fingers loose and walk on. Joeyās a city kid, and heās been driving me crazy for a week, showing off how much he knows about everything that I aināt had any chance to learn. Plus, he goes on about how much better boys are than girls. He thinks boys are so much braver because they go to war. Joeyās crazy about wanting to be a soldier, which any girl can see is plain foolishness.
Thatās why I decided that we needed to go visit Aunt Bella, whoās about a hundred years old, and lives away back in the forest. I made sure that we stayed long enough soās we headed home after dark. That was easy enough, since Aunt Bella loves to be telling stories about the old days. Only, come dusk, I think she read my mind, because she started in to telling some of the odd things that have happened in these woods.
So by the time we started home Joey was pretty well spooked, and it was as dark under the trees as the inside of a bearās belly. I made sure to use that expression, as we started out with just a candle-lantern to light our trail.
A tree creaks in the breeze, and Joeyās got my arm again. āThatās a bear, isnāt it Sarah? Growling at us, just like Aunt Bella said they do when theyāre hunting.ā
I suppress a little shiver of my own. Iām not afraid of bearsāmuch. There aināt many of them left around here, and anyhow a real bear donāt growl when itās hunting. Joey wasnāt listening to Aunt Bellaās story so close, I guess, because she wasnāt talking about flesh-and-blood bears. Not that I believe a word of her talk of spirit bears.
That creak is just a tree talking. In daytime, you can tell itās just a noise made by some branch or other rubbing on another. At night, itās the trees talking, I guess to each other or the animals. I can tell, but try as I might, I canāt quite make out what they are saying.
Tonight it sounds like a warning.
Maās going to be mad with me for keeping us out in the dark. Sheās Joeyās aunt and she came from the city, too. Pa, he understands that a kid has to roam, even a girl-child, and like I say, there aināt no bears or panthers around here no more. He says there aināt no haunts, neither.
I believe him about the bears and panthers, but suddenly I aināt so sure about the haunts. I wish Aunt Bella had stuck to telling about people getting eaten by real live bears. That was all I wantedāto get Joey worked up about bears, so I could show him a thing or two about whoās brave. But she just had to go on about spirit bears, and ghosts, too.
The breeze is picking up. I donāt like that, because I canāt hear any particular sound when all the leaves are shaking. Their talking picks up, but I still canāt make out the words.
A sudden puff of wind puts out our candle, and Joey screams. Maybe I do, too, a little, but thatās just because Iām annoyed. Once I know my voice is steady, I say, āAw, quiet, Joey. I know the way, and weāre almost back to the road anyhow.ā I reach out a hand. āGrab hold and Iāll lead you so you donāt get lost in the woods.ā That should put him in his place!
The hand I touch is icy, and it sure aināt Joey. Right there, I forget all about keeping my cousin safe, and I start running. I know every story Aunt Bellaās ever told about the ghosts of all the folks killed by critters and snakes and bad men. And every one of them has icy fingers.
I can hear something crashing through the bush behind me, so I run faster. It aināt until I get to the road, where the moon shines in on account of the trees being cleared away, that I slow down and start to think.
Do ghosts crash around in the bush? Once I catch my breath, I decide maybe I made a fool of myself. Maās told me a hundred times that there aināt no such thing as ghosts and haunts, but sheās from the city, so I aināt sure she knows. But even Aunt Bella would tell me that whatever was behind me was made of flesh, to crash around so much.
And then I remember Joey. Aw, shoot. That was him chasing me, and now Iāve gone and lost him, and the trees are louder than ever so I canāt hear him no more.
Why doesnāt he holler?
Why donāt I?
When Pa finds me still sitting in the middle of the road in the dark, I swear that I shouted the woods down trying to find the fool boy who ran off, scared of a creaky old tree.
I donāt tell him that the trees told me to keep quiet and set still.
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In the dark forest... |
As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated!
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