Into+the+Woods

Anna Harris 3/4B Into the Woods  Lucas walked in the door, and immediately Panther started to bark. “Hey Natalie,” Lucas said. “Hold on 1 second,” I responded. “I got to go get Panther to stop barking. It would be nice if he could hear me!” At that moment Panther jumped the fence and ran into the woods. “Panther… Come on Natalie I’ll help you catch him.”  We walked out of the house and into Deadview woods. It wasn’t called Deadview woods for fun; anyone with a brain knew that it was the creepiest woods in all of North Dakota. It was dark and gloomy. Huge twisted oak trees surrounded us, letting the moonlight occasionally shine through. The grass was damp, because a light dew was just beginning to form, and a fog sat on the top of the trees.  As we began walking, Lucas had to scare me with his current events stories, most of them involving creepers, which I really didn’t want to hear about while we were walking in the woods.  “Did you hear what happened to the girl over on Fall Street? A guy murdered her. The police said he was tall, with black hair and he was wearing a dark sweatshirt. If anyone finds him they could get a reward of up to $1,000.”  “That’s cool, but remember we’re trying to find Panther. If only that dog could hear, but of course he’s deaf,” I responded. I changed the subject since Lucas was scaring me, I thought, and I knew he was trying to creep me out, so I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he was doing a good job.  “LUCAS! That isn’t funny! Making creepy noises isn’t nice, so quit it OK?” I shouted angrily.  “Natalie, I didn’t do anything ok. I heard those too, but they aren’t me.” Lucas responded seeming disturbed.  “Well then who---” I was startled mid sentence with shadows behind the trees that were defiantly not those of any animal I have ever seen.  We kept walking, but no one asked any questions because we were too afraid of any answers we might get.  After about 5 minutes Lucas stopped quickly and shivered.  “Natalie,” he whispered, “please tell me those are your footprints in front of us.”  “Lucas, seriously quit it,” I responded. “I’m done with your stupid games. Trying to scare me isn’t nice.” After about 10 seconds I realized a scary truth hidden in my words. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">“Lucas those are way too big to be my footprints or yours. It only rained about an hour ago, and I doubt anyone ever comes in these woods for fun.” Shivers passed through my mind as I realized my thought could easily be true, and is if on cue, whispers started from behind the trees. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">“RUN!” I shouted to Lucas. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">We ran until our legs burned, but no matter how fast we moved the man was never any more than 30 feet behind us. Slowly we both started running slower and slower, and then I didn’t know what happened. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">I think I tripped on a tree root, and Lucas tripped on me, maybe the other way around, but either way we both ended up on the ground. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Suddenly I saw a huge man, with black hair a sweatshirt and jeans. It was the man who killed the girl on Fall Street. I knew right there, and right then, that unless I thought of something quickly, we were going to be the next victims of this man, and no one would ever know. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">“I see you found me,” the murderer whispered. “I was hoping you would never know, and you wouldn’t have to be the next to die. But we never really get what we want… do we? It would have been easier for you and for me if you didn’t see me.” <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">I shivered so hard, I thought that there was an earth quake. Tears fell down my checks, and I wondered what I did to deserve this. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Slowly he pulled a gun out of his pocket. He aimed it at our heads. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">“This won’t hurt a bit,” he promised. “Well it might, but not for long.” I held my breath, ready for the pain that would shoot though me before this horrible death sentence was over. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Suddenly Panther jumped from behind a tree, hit the man in the face with his huge black paws, and bit him ferociously in the leg. I exhaled quickly, scared that this gift from heaven would only last a minute before the man got up and shot me. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">In my mind there were many things in going through my head. Some odd, some smart. Would Panther get hurt? Where’s my phone? I need to call 911! <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">I stood up and felt some of my long, blond hair rip from my head from where it was attached to some branch. My knee bled, and my arm felt big, and swollen. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">I grabbed my phone from my pocket and called 911. A young female answered the phone. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">“What is your emergency?” She asked. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">“Hi my name is Natalie Cermin. I am in Deadview Woods, and I was just attacked by a man who I believe is the man who also killed a woman earlier this week. He is out cold right now, because my dog just jumped on him, but please send someone over, and hurry!” <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">He’s out cold, I thought to myself, he had to be out cold. Then I remembered Lucas. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">“LUCAS. LUCAS,” I yelled nervously. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">“Over here Natalie,” he moaned. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">From only looking at him I saw that his arm was dislocated from the fall, but other than that, he only had a few scratches. Next to him, his glasses lay, with one of the lenses on the ground, and covered in mud. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">After about 10 minutes the police arrived, and the man was still out cold. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">“You were very lucky,” an older looking male police officer said. “This man is a professional criminal.” <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">The ambulance arrived about a minute later, fixed Lucas up, and said we could go home. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">“Here I’ll drive you,” the police officer from earlier said. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">We caught Panther and leashed him up with a rope. “Panther, you old mutt,” I spoke to Panther as if he were human and not deaf. “You got us into this problem, but you also saved us, good boy.” <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">I put Panther in the back seat with me, and Lucas got in the front seat as we began to drive home. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">The officer talked to us on the way home, but it was mostly a 1 way conversation because we didn’t say much. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">“You know,” he said, “there’s a $1,000 reward for anyone who catches the man who killed the woman on Fall Street, and that man back there, was him.”