Jack be Quick - 6. Chapter 6

It’s midnight by the look of the room, it’s so dark I can barely see the fluffy curtains blowing in the breeze. Something woke me up but I can’t tell what, I was in the middle of a strange dream that I can’t quite grasp. “Jack?” Comes a small quiet voice.

“Tod?” I respond, “what are you doing here, you know you’ll get into trouble if you get caught,” I say in a whisper.

“I know, but I’m scared, I had a bad dream,” he admits.

“All right,” I say, “come over here and tell me about it.,” I tell him as I lift the covers so we can protect each other. “Do you want a hug?” I ask him opening my arms as he climbs into the bed.

We just lay there for what seems like an eternity until he turns and whispers into my ear, “I’m scared,” he confesses.

“What are you afraid of ?” I ask as I play with his hair.

“I don’t know,” he says, “why did you ask me if my dad ever touched me?” He asks with wide eyes.

“It’s not important,” I tell him not sure what to say, if no one here has ever done anything, I really need to get him out of here, I think. “Have you ever been to town?” I ask as a way to change the subject.

“No,” he says, “daddy always just goes alone, momma can’t even go with him,” he claims.

“You need to go back to bed,” I tell him, “if Henry finds you here, he will be very mad,” I inform him.

“Ok,” he says in a small voice, “promise me you will protect me if daddy gets mad, he can be really mean,” he claims.

“Shhhh,,” I say while hugging him from behind, “it’s not so bad here,” I try to explain to him, “at least we have a roof over our head and plenty of food to eat and no one ever hits us or,,” I stop myself and gently push him to his feet, “now get to bed before he finds you here,” I tell him, “we can talk more tomorrow,” I inform him.

“But,,,” he starts, but I interrupt him,

“Go to bed,” I say whispering and urging him to go to bed, I’m getting really worried we will get caught and if that happens, I have an idea of what Henry is going to want, “that’s enough,” I say a little bit to forcefully, “please, just go to bed, I promise we can talk again tomorrow,” I plead with him as I’m looking behind him and all over. He slowly shuffles out of the room looking down and glancing over his shoulder as he walks down the hall. I feel bad, but I feel more afraid than ever. Hiding under my covers I wait and listen for any kind of sound. I’m not afraid of the boogie monster or the the creature under the bed, they can’t hold a candle to real life monsters. “It’s not that bad,” I whisper under my breath, “Tod will get used to it, I mean some kids really like this life,” I say to myself, trying to talk myself into that idea. “I just have to teach Tod the rules, so he doesn’t have to go through what I’ve been through,” I say under my breath, I ponder all this as I slowly drift away to sleep,,

“Michael?” A voice from the other room yells, “are you in bed bed yet?”

“I’m asleep,” I say in a fake sleep voice and hold a giggle in as I cover my head under my SpongBob blanket.

“You better be young man, I don’t want to hear anything else from you or Ted,” she says, “it’s late and you two have to get up early to go fishing with your dad,” she reminds us.

“I told you to be quiet,” I tell Teddy under my breath.

“Me?” He says, “you are the one who is being loud,” he says in a whisper, “have you ever been fishing?” Teddy asks me, “I’ve never been and I hear you can get bit by the fish when you first catch them, so we better be careful,” he claims.

“Ahh, that’s stupid,” I tell him, “fish are dead as soon as you take them out of the water,” I claim.

“No they’re not,” he counters, “my brother told me they can bit off your finger if you get too close,” he says with a note of seriousness in his voice.

“Your brother is stupid,” I inform him, “he’s never been fishing, so how would he know?” I ask with a smirk on my face.

“He has too,” Tod claims, “he went fishing at Boy Scout camp last year,” he proclaims.

“Well my dad would never let that happen,” I say with a slight hesitation in my voice, “we better get to sleep now,” I tell him with a sleepy voice and a big yawn.

“I’m not sleepy,” Toddy tells me as he too yawns, “I want to stay up all night and watch the sun come up,” he tells me, “my brother says if we do it means we are guaranteed to catch one fish for each hour we stay up,” he claims.

“Cool,” I say, “I bet I can stay up later than you,” I brag.

“I bet you can’t,” he says and reaches over and starts to tickle me and I tickle his back and soon we are wrestling on the bed and then end up on the floor, giggle and laughing we are making quite a ruckus and mom bangs open the door, making us freeze in mid struggle, looking up at her we both point to each other and say at the same time, “it was him, he started it.”

“THAT’S ENOUGH,” my mom forcefully says in not quite a yell, but still a very loud voice, “Toddy,” she says as she points to the other side of the room, “take you sleeping bag over there and Michael, you get into your bed,” she commands us, “MOVE,” she demands when we both just sit there.

We quickly start to move and run into each other and fall down and get tangled in each other’s bodies and start to laugh until we hear a growling coming form mom, that stops our antics and we untangle ourselves and head to opposite sides of the room, as I pass Toddy I look at and point at him and mouth the words, “be quiet,” and he does the same thing. Soon I am in the bed and Teddy is in his sleeping bag with only his face looking out.

“Goodnight boys,” my mom says, “if I hear one more peep out of either of you,I’m calling Teddy’s dad and let him deal with both of you,” she says as she states to close the door.

“Peep,” I say in a very soft tone of voice and giggle just a little bit. Mom just looks at me and points her finger at me and then does the shushing motion and closes the door to a crack, I can barely see Toddy in his sleeping bag I whisper “good night, don’t let the fish monster bite you in you sleep,” I say in a teasingly tone of voice.

“Don’t be stupid,” he says, “you better be quite or my dad is going to kill you,” he reminds me, and that makes me shut and and snuggle under my spongbob blanket and am soon asleep.

“Don’t let that monster bite you,” I tell Toddy as he holds up a 5 inch fish twisting on his line. He jumps back as the fish flips and he shrieks and falls over the edge of the boat we are fishing from. The next thing I see is my dad jumping over the side of the boat and the boat tips and I lose my balance and I find myself under water, the water tastes dirty and I can’t see or say anything.

“Where am I?” I ask to no one in particular, “HEY!” I yell, “is there anyone there,” I say as I try to sit up, I realize I am tied down, “what the,,,?” I say under my breath. I look around and start to get really scared.

“You are awake finally,” I hear a voice from somewhere outside my range of vision, “struggle all you want,” he claims, “you now belong to me,” he informs me and it scares me so much I start to cry out loud not caring who hears me, I just want o go home.

“I want my mommy,” I blubber, “please let me go, I have to pee,” I claim.

“Well go ahead and pee,” he commands me, “I’m not going to ever let you go,” he threatens me and as he comes into my vision I can see he is an average looking man with an evil looking grin on his face, “would you like to see what happens to little boys and girls who don’t do as they are told?” He asks, as he lifts the biggest knife I have ever see, “this baby is sharp enough to split your pubic hairs into two,” he claims, “do you even have pubic hairs?” He asks as he moves his knife down to my groin.

“AHHHHHHHEEEEEE,,Don’t,,,,, let me go you bastard,,,,” ,,, “I’ll kill you,,,, “,, NOOOOOO!”

“Hey Jack, wake up,” I hear as hands are grabbing my throat and squeezing the life out of me, “shhh,, it’s only a dream,” I hear as I struggle to get away, “I’ll do as I’m told,” I say as I come fully awake and look around for an escape. “It’s ok,” Donna tells me in a soothing voice.

“Where am I?” I ask as I look around a bit confused, “where’s ,,,, that man?” I ask as the dream fades away into just a shadow of a memory.

“What man is that?” Donna asks me.

“No one,” I reply, “is it morning?”

“No it’s still the night,” she tells me, “go back to sleep, everything is ok,” she instructs me as she kisses me on the forehead, “go to sleep my little boy,” she sings in a sing song voice and I slowly drift back to sleep.

Tod comes bursting into her room, or I guess my room. “hey wake up sleepy head,” he commands as he jumps on the bed, “daddy went into town early this morning and mom has breakfast on the table,” he tells me as he jumps up and down shaking me awake.

“Cut it out,” I complain, “can’t you wake people up like a normal kid?” I ask as I cover my head with my blankets, he just jumps up again and lands right on top of me and squeals with delight.

“Come on, we have to hurry,” he complains, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” he claims, “besides I want to go play outside,” he tells me excitedly, “Mom says you can have the day off from you chores and are allowed to wear a pair of dads old sweat pants, so you don’t have to look like a girl,” he informs me as I slowly look out from under the covers hopefully, “but we have to hurry because it’s a secret and when dad gets home you will have to run inside and get changed really fast so he wont know,” he informs me.

“Ok,” I say as I drag myself out of bed and look at him to see if he is teasing me, “your kidding?, right?” I ask with my eyebrows raised.

“Come on,” he says, “we have to eat fast so we can play, daddy will only be gone a few hours,” he says as he tears out the door heading down the hall.

I get up and see there is a pair of grey sweat pants on the door of my bed as well as an old black t-shirt, “wow, I never knew a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt could ever look so good,” I say to myself as I grab them and start to get dressed.

I walk in to the kitchen a little hesitantly and look at Donna to see her reaction, she just looks in my way and says in a cheerful voice, “sit down, I have pancakes and bacon all ready,” she points to a chair and I sit down not making a sound, “what’s the matter?” She asks, “cat got your tongue?”she says with a smile on her face.

“I didn’t think I was allowed to wear regular clothes,” I say in a whisper, “Tod Said it was ok?” I say more as a question then a statement.

“That’s your uncle’s idea, “she informs me, “I always thought it was ridiculous and unnatural,” she informs me, “your uncle will be gone till around noon, I will call for you, so listen for me and don’t go too far, your uncle will have a fit if he comes back and see you in his clothes.”

“He’s not my uncle ,” I whisper under my breath as I nod my head.

“It’s ok,” she says, “I know the change can be hard, you will come to accept us soon enough,” she claims. I realize at that time, I’m captured like a caged rat, if I ever want to leave I will need to go soon and start to plan an escape.

“Can I go play now?” I ask as I look towards Tod, who has a mouth full of pancakes.

“Make sure you don’t get too dirty, if you uncle knows you were wearing his clothes he would tan your hide,” she warns me.

I leap up from the table almost knocking my chair over and grab Tod’s hand and drag him outside, ‘come on, let’s go,” I say urgently.

“Hey, I wasn’t finished,” he says with a mouth full.

“Yes you are,” I scold him, “we have to go now,” I say and think to add, “before uncle gets home,” I wink at him as I pull him out the door.

“You kids be careful out there and stay out of trouble,” Donna says as we slam the door behind us.

“Ouch,” Tod says as I drag him all the way across the yard past the out house. “Not so hard, you’re hurting my arm,” he complains.

I pull him behind the out house and turn to look him in the eye, squatting down and putting my hands his shoulders, “we have to get out of here,” I tell him in a hushed voice. I look around and I don’t see anyone around, turning back to him I ask, “do you know which way is town?”

“I think it’s way over that way,” he says pointing up the road, “but it’s like 100 miles, we could never walk that far, no one could,” he claims, “you have to have a car or something,” he says and before he can say anything else I’m pulling towards the road.

“STOP,” he whimpers, “the wolves will get us,” he says as his face turns white, “I’ve seen them, “he claims, “or heard them,” he admits, “but they will eat little boys like us, Dad says so,” he proclaims, “and besides, no one can walk that far,” he complains.

I stop and look around listening for what seems like a long time, “I don’t see or hear anything,” I tell and start to pull him a little slower this time, wondering if there really are wolves in the woods. “I saw wolves on the TV once, but they lived in the mountains and it was always in the snow,” I tell him, “so I think they hibernate one only come out in the winter,” I say trying to reassure him and build up my courage at the same time, “it’s not a thousand miles,” I say and get interrupted by Tod.

“It’s a hundred miles, not a thousand,” he corrects me, “and that’s too far anyway , no one can go that far,” he says as he digs his feet in and stops me.

“Look,” I say exasperated, “Henry and Donna are evil people and they have been abusing you from the start and now they are abusing me,” I inform him.

“They are not abusing me,” he claims, “they are nice,” he says in a small almost practiced tone, “they love me, my real parents never ever loved me,” he claims, “if they did, then why have they never come to take me back?” He asks with tears in his eyes, looking down he says, “I hate them,” in a whisper.

“Hey,” I say in a gentle voice as I lift hie chin and look him in the eyes, “I won’t let anyone hurt you,” I claim not knowing if I can actually do that, “I promise we will find you parents and then we can ask them,” I say, not knowing what else to say, “but we can’t stay here, I know all about wolves,” I claim in a voice that I hope has confidence, “I’m practically an expert, I can even talk to them, they are my friends,” I say reassuringly.

Looking at me whit a sparkle in his eyes he asks, “really?, do you promise and hope to die, stick a needle in you eye,” he asks with wide wonder in his face.

“I promise, cross my heart and hope to die,” I say secretly holding my hand behind my back and crossing my fingers. Tod suddenly wraps his tiny arms around my waist and hugs me as tight as he can manage. “But we have to go now,” I tell him, “it’s the only chance we have,” I claim, “I can’t very well run away in a dress,” I remind him and start to giggle thinking about how silly that would be, a boy in a dress and a little boy running down the street, this causing Tod to start to chuckle and soon we are both laughing and almost fall over each other because we are still hugging.

“Get off me fag,” Tod says in a playful way, this makes me suddenly stop laughing and push him away forcefully , Tod steps back a step or two and just looks at me with a worried look on his young face, “I’m sorry he says as his eyes fill up with tears, “I didn’t mean it, I promise, you’re not a fag,” he says through silent sobs, “I don’t even know what fag is, but I’m sorry, I’ll never say that again,” he promises.

“It’s ok,” I tell him trying to make my face look normal, realizing that I’m not sure what normal is. “I’m not mad,” I claim, not sure if I am mad or not, “will you come with me?” I ask in a hesitate voice, knowing if he says no I won’t be able to just walk away.

“Ok,” he says in a shaky voice, “but I can’t leave without my coat,” he claims, “I have to go get it,” he insists with a dread look of fear in his eyes.

“I’ll buy you another coat when we get to town,” I claim, not know how I can buy him a coat, but knowing if we go back, we may no be able to get away.

“My mom gave me that coat,” he confuses, “I caaannnn’ttttt, I just can’t,” he says with tears filling his eyes and begins to sob.

“Shhh,” I coo, “we can go get it,” I say reluctantly, “we have to be fast and careful,” I tell him, “Donna can’t suspect that we are leaving,” I inform him.

“I’ll be careful ,” he claims, “I can sneak in the back and be out in a jiffy,” he informs me.

“Do you know what will happen if she catches you?” I ask him in a whisper.

“No,” he admits, “she’ll get mad?” He questions.

“No,” I start to say and then decide to say, “I mean yes she’ll be mad and she will lock you and me in the shed till Henry gets home and then he will take a switch to your back and beat you with in an inch of your life,” I claim, hating myself for embellishing the truth, but he has to be scared so he makes no mistakes.

Tod’s eyes go wide and the fear I see on his face, breaks my heart as I remember getting almost the same story from my dad back in Michigan so many years ago, strange I think as I recall, why would my dad tell me that, I am trying to remember that time more carefully when I feel Tod touching my hand.

“Jack?” a small voice says, “please don’t cry,” he says with a tremble in his young voice.

“I’m not crying,” I say as I wipe my eyes, “I just got something in my eye,” I claim, “come on,” I say, “we have to hurry,” I say as I take his hand and start for home, when did I start to thinking of the cabin as home?, I think as I lead Tod back the way we came.

Walking down the road I see that Donna is on the front porch sitting in a rocking chair knitting something and sees us walking up, “hi boys,” she say cheerily, “how’s the escape plan going?,” she asks with a wry grin on her face.

I freeze and just stare at her, how could she know? I think as I slow down to a shuffle and stare at her trying to think of something to say, Tod is squeezing my hand so tight I think he might break my wrist.

“What,,,, do,,, you,, mean?” I say slowly as I stop in my tracks frozen with fear.

“Well I thought you two might be playing a game,” she confesses,” my brothers, God rest their souls,” she says as she make the sign of the cross over her face, “they were always pretending to me escaped convicts, running from the sheriff, or some such thing,” she states plainly, “ I swear, those brothers of mine were always pretending to be escaping from something or another,” she claims.

“Oh,,” I say, relived, “no we were,, ummmm,” I studded, trying to think of something good to say so she would not figure out that is exactly what we were doing, trying to escape, “playing explorer,” I claim, “you know like Lewis and Clark?” I say with a shaky voice.

“Well whatever you two are up, remember not get dirty,” she reminds us, “and when I call be sure to sneak in by way of the back door and get changed as quickly as you can,” she tells me, “just put those clothes you have on now in the hamper in the hallway, your Uncle never goes in there, that’s woman’s work,” she says with a scowl on her face,

“I will,” I claim, “Tod was thirsty and wanted a drink of water,” I say as I push Tod forward and whisper in his ear,”go inside and sneak out the back door and be quiet about it, don’t let Donna see you,” I warn.

“Oh let me get you two boys some fresh squeezed lemonade,” she offers as she starts to get up.

“NO!,” I say too loud, “I mean, I’m not thirsty,” I say in a more calm voice.

Donna looks at me, a question in her face, “it’s ok,” she says and looks at Tod who looks away really fast, “you would like some cold lemonade, wouldn’t you Tod?,” she asks as he starts to say something, but I squeeze his hand and he just shakes his head.

“Can you show me how to knit?” I say, my heart racing and sweat running down my face.

“Well sure honey,”she says with pride in her face, “come over here and sit next to me and I’ll show you how it’s done,” she beams as she pats the seat next to the rocking chair, I quickly move keeping Tods hand in mine till we are at the porch, “Tod go and get that water,” I say in what I hope is an innocent voice, “and be sure to wash your hands before you get the drink,” I says, hoping he will just go and not say anything else, to my relief, he practically runs into the house right past Donna, who doesn’t seem to even notice him.

Sitting down I look at the garment in her hands, avoiding her face and ask, “so how does the yarn hold together?” I ask trying to mask my true thoughts.

“Well you see it’s really quite simple,” she says as my mind and ears tune her out, “all you need to do is,,,,” I look over to the side of the house and listen for any sound whatsoever, but hear nothing, Tod has to be careful, I think, if she figures out what we are planning, she might just do what I told Tod.

“Jack?” A voice says from a long way off, “are you listening to me?” Donna says.

“Oh, yeah,” I claim, “that’s really cool,” I say not knowing what she just said.

“Yeah,” she says, “I can see something is on your mind,” she states, “what is it child?” she asks me with eyebrows raised.

“Ummmm,” I say, “it’s nothing,” I say, “what is yarn made out of?” I ask as a way to change the subject.

“What’s yarn made of?” She asks with disbelief.

“Yeah,” I say, “is there like yarn tree or something,” I ask widening my eyes extra big.

“Oh child,” she says with a laugh, “where did you go to school?”she questions.

“I was home schooled,” I claim.

“Yarn doesn’t come from a tree, you silly boy,” she teases, “it comes from the store of course,” she tells me in a serious way.

“Oh,” I say still listening for any sign of Tod, what’s taking him so long, I wonder as I try to think of something else to ask, “where does the store get the yarn from,” I say, not really caring.

“Oh, you know,” she says, “they have their sources.”

“Oh,” I say once again, “I want to work in a store when I get bigger, so I’ll know where all that stuff comes from,” I say.

“You are such a funny boy,” she tells me and goes back to knitting.

“I think I heard Tod out in the back,” I say, starting to get up, “we are playing hide and seek and it’s his turn to hide,” I say as I start walking around the cabin.

“I thought you said you were playing explorers?” She asks while putting down her knitting.

“Oh, yeah,” I say, thinking fast, “we were, but now we are going to play hide and seek,” I say, backing away, ready to run as fast as I can into the woods.

“Well you boys have fun,” she says as she returns to her knitting, “make sure you listen for me,” she reminds me.

“I will,” I say as I run around the house. “That was close,” I mumble to myself as I see Tod just leaving out the back door with a bang. I look around like I have just been caught stealing and say,“geez Tod, can you make any more noise?” I chide him, he just looks sheepishly at me and shrugs. “Never mind,” I say in a whisper, “let’s get going, Donna is still playing with her yarn.

I head right to the woods out back and Tod stops me, “we aren’t going in there are we?” He asks with big wide eyes.

“We have to,” I inform him, “Donna is our front and she can’t see us leave,” I say as I take his hand and start to pull him towards the woods.

“But what about the wolves?” He asks with a shaky voice.

“I told you they are all hibernating right, that means they are all asleep,” I say trying to reassure him, “so you have to be very quiet so you don’t wake them up, ok?” I ask as I gently pull him along.

“Can’t we just go down the road like before?” He asks while he pulls in the opposite direction.

“No, we can’t,” I inform him, “it’s not even a little bit cold,” I inform him, “Donna will see you have your coat,” I inform him, “what are you going to do then?” I ask him.

“I’ll say I’m cold,” he says.

“Yeah, good one,” I say sarcastically, “and then she will think you are sick and put you to bed,” I chide him, “then you will be stuck here for the rest of your life,” I say in a harsh tone of voice and think this little kid needs to grow up. He just looks at me like he might run to Donna and tell her everything, “ok,” I say, “if you want to stay here all alone,” I say bluffing my way through to him, “I’ll just go alone and you can tell Henry,” I say and then think of something better, “or should I say your DAD, where I went and let him LOVE you,” I say with an evil grin on my face, turning away I pretend to walk away, but hesitating and waiting for him to give in.

“Ok, ok,” he says,” I’ll go, but the wolves had better really be asleep,” he says in a weak voice, “I’ll never speak to you again if your lie if to me,” he threatens.

“They are,” I say reassuringly, “let’s go before Henry gets back, we have waisted too much time already,” and with that settled, we walk slowly into the dark woods hand in hand, both scared of different things, “it’s not far to the road,” I tell him, “I came through these woods when I first got here,” I tell him in a confident voice, “I didn’t see any wolves then,” I remind him, trying to convince myself at the same time.

We walk for what seems like hours and there is no sign of the road or anything for that matter, as we walk we are both silent and looking all around, Tod is looking for the wolves and I’m look for Henry, when Tod says, “I’m tired and thirsty,” as he looks at me.

“Didn’t you get a drink of water when you went to get your stupid coat?” I ask, then realizing that was mean.

“IT’S NOT A STUPID COAT,” he practically yells at me and drops my hand as he is stalking away from me.

“I’m sorry,” I say, “it’s not Stupid, I’m just mad at?,,,” and stop talking and putting a finger to my lips, I listen intensely and hear nothing, I could have sworn I heard something.

“Who are you mad at,” Tod asks me in a too loud voice,” I rush over to him and jump on him and dive for cover as I hear footsteps somewhere out in the woods.

“Be quiet,” I whisper, “I think Henry is looking for us,” I say in a whisper as I cover his mouth with my hands and peer out through the bushes. I can feel Tod’s hot breath on my hand and his heart beat rapidly beating in his chest. We stay like that forever just waiting and looking when I see a set of legs about 20 feet away just standing in a bush,, they are Tod’s shoes, I would know them anywhere. How did he find us I think as I try to figure out a place to run to. I carefully look left and right and see no where to run to. “We need to make a run for it,” I whisper in Tod’s ear, “on the count of three,” I tell him softly, “run as fast as you can to the left,” I say as I prepare to run, “one….two….three” I say and dart off to the left and Tod darts off to the right.

“BOYS,” I hear a booming voice yell, “YOU HAVE NO WHERE TO RUN,” he says as I hear him start to run as well, I run like hell itself is after me and before long I’m deep into the woods no longer able to hear the running footsteps, I stop to catch my breath falling down behind a bush and realize that Tod is nowhere to be seen. I look all around and whisper as loud as I dare, “Tod?,,,,where are you,” and wait, but I get no response.

“UMPH,” I hear, followed by a thud and crying, I freeze trying to determine which way the noise is coming from., looking all around all I see are leaves and trees, so I just listen and whisper as loud as I dare, “Tod?” And I hear nothing, then I hear a whimper and a yelp and then a muffled cry, I can’t take it anymore, I jump up from my hiding place and yell, “YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE YOU BASTARD, ILL KILL YOU, “ I threaten.

“There you are you little faggot,” Henry says as he grabs me by the neck choking me till my vision starts to go dim.

I hear someone saying “PLEASE DON’T HURT HIM, I PROMISE I’LL BE GOOD,” Tod begs, “I promise,” in between sobs.

I struggle and struggle, but it is no use and soon I am, falling and falling, down a deep dark well, where all the light is slowly fading. “This is not so bad,” I say as the darkness seeps in, “I thought death would hurt more” I say to anyone who is listening, “I’m just going to go to sleep now” I say as I give into the darkness, my last thought is, “I hope Tod got away” and then I’m in total darkness, but it’s not scary like you would think.

I’m float down softly on a shore of a great ocean and I can see my ship just waiting for me, beckoning me. There is nothing holding me to this desert shore so I start to walk on the water and feel the most calm I have ever felt in all my young life, a little more than half way across I hear something behind me and I turn back to see Tod standing on the shore looking at me. “TOD,” I yell joyfully, “you made it,” I say and see that he is just standing there yelling something at me. “I CAN’T HEAR YOU,” I yell, cuffing my hands around my mouth.

“You promised to take care of me,” he claims, “you said I would be alright, why did you leave me?” He asks in an accusing voice, the waves start to rise and fall and I’m no longer feeling calm and I want to run to him, to make him understand that I didn’t leave him, he is right there, all he has to do is walk on the water, but he is too afraid., I think and decide at that second to go to him and I start to run and fall flat on my face and begin to sink into the waves.

“H,,,E,,,L,,,P,,” I scream as I taste the bitter salt water fill my mouth and lungs, I try to swim, but it’s no use, I feel myself getting weaker and weaker, then a hand appears out of the darkness like a beacon in the night and pulls me with great strength to the shore. I struggle to my knees and It is Tod’s had that has saved me. I stare at him, tears in my eyes and say, “you saved me, how?” I ask astonished, then he changes to a beautiful woman who just smiles and points to the darkness behind herself and fades away. I look at the darkness and see nothing for a while and soon I see a dim light in the distance. I start to get up to go see and stop, I remember the last time I followed a light like that, it got me killed, so I hesitate, unsure what to do.

“Come back to me,” I hear a young boy’s say, “who are you?” I say in a whisper, but I can’t hear anything else. I get up in shaking legs and slowly start walking towards the light and it gets brighter and brighter. It keeps getting brighter and brighter that soon the darkness is all gone and as I open my eyes I see I am on a bed with Tod hovering over me with tears in my eyes.

“What happened?,” I ask him in a raspy voice.

“I’m sorry,” he says, “I didn’t know which way was left,” he confesses.

“What?” I ask completely confused, “I’m not feeling very good,” I say as I close my eyes, “tell mom that I can’t go to school today, I’m sick,” I say in a slurring voice and promptly fall into a deep sleep.