Adventures of Joe Gray: Dark Woods

I trekked up the hill of a steep wooded slope. Thick ferns and blackberry vines covered the forest floor making any climb slow and painstaking. Though the sun shone bright in the sky the wood was as dark as the evening promised to be. It was only about half a mile up the side of the ravine and God only knows what was waiting at the top. Whatever it was I was determined to find out.

Birds swooped over head as I continued my winding way. The trees began to thin and the brambles receeded as I got closer to the tree line and the hill flattened. I could see a barn straight ahead and a house to the right. As I scanned farther to my right there was a bench and at the bench sat the gnarliest old man. His beard was long, white and dirty. His skin dark and leathery. His yellow rotted teeth gnashing together slobbering chew spit down his cheek. With one hand around the neck of a chicken his other hand slammed a cleaver down with a thud sending the chicken's head rolling off the bench.

He looked up and our eyes locked. I paused, frozen with fright. He stood up to reach for a shotgun by his side and as he began to rack the pump he yelped,"You get outta here!"

I spun and ran back where I came from as fast as I could. I rushed down the incline staring at my feet. Over stumps, ruts, roots and ferns I sprinted. With gravity and adrenaline pulling me forward and down I flew. I heard one loud bang of a firearm at my back compelling me to run faster through the treacherous undergrowth. Dodging limbs and spikes I flung myself down the muddy slope and then all of a sudden I was ass to the ground with my feet in stream. At the bottom of the ravine was a small creek and it meant I was back on my parent's property.

I took a deep breath and looked back at where I had come. No sign I was ever there, the dark woods unexcited by the prior events and oblivious of my flight from death. It was only a short distance up the other side to the house where I would do my homework and then watch TV. Maybe Josh would let me play the Nintendo with him.