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Short Stories Non-Fiction Managing Expectations
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Managing Expectations |
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| Written by Calvin | |
| Sunday, 23 March 2008 | |
It stalks into town almost every night. It is impossible to see and you wouldn’t know it’s behind you until it has you in its hands and tears you in half with one bite. The beast stands about twelve feet tall and its sienna brown hair helps keep it camouflaged in the dark nights. It is a sneaky beast whose intelligence is that of primal man. No one knows what it is or where it came from. It is rumored to live in a cave several miles from the small town it plagues, but those who know for sure never make it back.
The heroine makes her way through the evening forest as the sun just beings to set. Last night, the beast crept through town, again undetected, and snatched our heroine’s sister from her slumber. The young girl’s screams sounded the alarm, and it raised the warning all over the village. In this particular instance though, the girl wasn’t killed but carried away from her home and into the depths of the forest. Her voice could be heard for minutes as she screamed. No one ran after her or the beast, afraid they would meet a similar or worse fate. The only thing that matters is our heroine’s scream after her sibling, “I’m coming!”
As the sun is setting, long orange fingers stretch across the sky. The sky is trading its blue tint for a disheartened grey and the forest our heroine has entered is becoming a heart of darkness by the second. Within the hour she will be blind and be forced to stumble through the forest. Her bravery is matched by her wit, and she carries no weapons and no form of light. She is very much on her own.
The heroine’s mother and father tried to dissuade her from searching for her sister. Most were positive the younger sister was never to be seen again. Our heroine refused to believe her tough little sister would not succumb to such a fate. Our heroine will live up to her promise, whether it kills her or not.
She followed the footprints left by the beast in the deep spring mud. About two feet long and at least a foot wide, the prints show the markings of a malignant force that has been a curse to the forest for at least a century. A group of 30 or so villagers watched our heroine march into the forest. It was recommended she carried a weapon. She replied she had one already. And her light? She needed none and had faith her heart would carry her directly where she needed. They called her brave. They called her foolish. She refused to listen.
Now our heroine finds herself deep in a darkened wood, sloshing through inches of mud. The mud tells her to slow down but her motivation defies its words. She cannot see more than ten feet in front of her as most of the moonlight is caught by the treetops. An owl sounds belligerently. She must be at least a couple of miles into the forest she knows, and at this point she begins to call her sisters name. First softly and finally growing louder until the whole forest is shaken with her noise.
Her chest is pounding from her heartbeat and tears are running down her face. She beings to run and doesn’t care to see if she is following the footprints left as a trail. She trusts herself more than any direct line. As she runs, her foot catches the upended root from a large tree. She trips and lands forward. She sits up and looks around, looking for any sign of her lost sibling. She notices something yellow tucked underneath a bush not far from where she has fallen. She crawls to it and finds it is a ribbon from the clothes her sister was wearing upon her abduction. Her determination grows stronger and she begins to travel in the direction she feels is correct.
Again shouting her name, a flapping of wings is startled above her and a group of bats fly loudly overhead. She turns in the direction the bats flew from and continues her stumbling trek. She never pauses to second guess herself and she tells herself she won’t return until she has her sister with her.
She notices a dark formation in front of her. Its contour is not of that of the vertical trees, but is large and rough. As she gets closer she notices a rock formation and guesses she has found caves and it also explains the bats moments ago. She walks up to it and places her hands on the cold wet rocks. Dragging her hand along them she uses them as a guide. Again she falls, and again she picks herself up. The staggered progress only strengthens her resolution. She comes to a wide opening and notices the trampled ground around the entrance. She concludes this is the beasts home.
She enters with caution, trying not to make her presence known if the beast is home. She walks along the edge of the wall and now she can see nothing. Ten feet in, light dies. She shuffles along the wall and stops as she thinks she hears the rustling of feet. She knows she is in the beast’s company. Her tears are continuing to roll, but her motivation is greater than her agony and she continues. Our heroine shuffles along and how hears whimpers, crying almost. The beast cries? She listens longer and recognizes the low pitch of the whimper from the long nights of sisterhood and bonding. She calls her sister’s name. She hears nothing for a moment.
Our heroine hears a response of her name questioned? The noise comes from the center of the floor and our heroine crawls across and finds a very large pit. She speaks into it and her sister replies. She cannot make out the depth of the pit, but can see the outline of her sibling’s body against the dirt. Informed the beast has left but a moment ago, the heroine looks for something to drop into the pit to pull her sister out.
She finds nothing but returns to the cave entrance to search out a makeshift rope. She finds a heavy branch and drags its back and drops it into the pit. Her sister climbs out and the two embrace.
‘Which way is home?’ the sister asks.
‘We’re not going back. I promised to come for you. Now I promise to keep you safe’ the heroine replies.
‘You can’t protect me from everything’ the sister rebuts.
‘No, but I can try’
The heroine grabs her sister’s hand and they travel in opposite direction of the village. Several moments later a thunderous roar echoes through the woodland and the sisters begin to run.
Comments (2) |
 03-24-2008 00:12, Not my cup of tea but it was good.But I found "heroine" very annoying, I would have put a name in.It is your story though. » Reply to this comment...  03-24-2008 10:51, it totally shows the bond between younger and older siblings...I know that if my brother were in trouble I would stop at nothing until he was out of it...great story » Reply to this comment... |
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