“Yeah, Tiff,” I sighed, “It’s all ready. I’ve been here for, like, half an hour. Come on! I’m not going to picnic by myself. Gosh.”
Slowly I walked through the woods, looking for our spot. Eventually, after multiple run-ins with hidden branches and cobwebs, I found it. The only bare spot in the whole woods, we worked for months raking leaves, slinging branches, and planting grass to make the thing look halfway decent. I set down a blanket and put the basket on top. After taking out all the food, I decided to sit down and relax. When Tiffany still wasn’t there in ten more minutes, even though she only lived about five minutes away, I decided to call her again.
“Hey, where are you?” I inquired. “I’ve been sitting here, and all the food is ready. I even made the stupid deviled eggs you wanted even though I hate them, and you’re not here to eat them.”
I listened to Tiff’s stupid excuses about not finding a comfortable pair of shoes to wear. It really wasn’t that big of a deal. She’d be here eventually. Soon I just told her to get here quickly and hung up.
Vanity Woods sat on the corner of Vanity Street and Maritime Avenue. It was average in size, and no one really noticed it as they drove by on their daily commute. That was why it was so perfect to Tiffany and me. That woods was our place alone, where no one would be able to hear us share our secrets, scream our problems out to the world.
Right now, though, it wasn’t quite so special, considering I was all by myself.
After another five minutes, I whipped out my phone and called another friend from school, Terra. Just as I was really getting into a discussion about the tenth grade camping trip, I heard a howl behind me.
“What was that?” Terra asked.
My reply was that it was just a coyote or something, and she needed to calm down because I didn’t want her to die of a heart attack before she was 20.
Another cry came a few seconds later, and I turned around to get a look at the animal. I didn’t see anything, so I hesitantly turned back around and continued my conversation.
Suddenly, I heard the sound of breaking twigs behind me.
I whipped around and there was the most hideous creature I had ever seen. A half-wolf, half-man animal with tusks like an elephant and reddish-brown fur; it stood at about 12 feet tall, and had long, sharp claws that could slice a man’s neck with ease.
It stared at me for a second, as if it had no idea what I was and what to do with me. Its eyes were huge, and pitch black, but all I saw in them was rage. Murderous rage.
Suddenly, I snapped out of my trance and let out a scream. It pounced, and I managed to jump up and out just fast enough.
I started running, leaving behind my phone. I made the horrific mistake of looking back, only to see the beast crush my phone as it ran for me. It was traveling at an impossible speed for something so burly.
I kept running. The only thing left to do then was pray, and pray hard.
Dear God

, I began, please let me live. You said if I ask I shall receive. Please Lord. I trust you. Oh please, please, please.

Then I started screaming.
“Help! Please! Somebody, anybody! Please help!! Save me!”
My screams turned to tears as I began to face the fact that I wouldn’t make it. There was only about three feet between me and that thing. In fact, it could jump now and get me. It was as if it was playing with me.
Time slowed down; memories of seemingly meaningless times in my youth suddenly popped into my head. Blowing bubbles with my workaholic dad, my first grade teacher putting a sticker on my first math test and telling me good job. Questions about adding and subtracting, when memorizing math tables was all you had to worry about.
Now, here I was at 16, running for my life.
Then I had another thought: I didn’t say “I love you,” to my mom this morning when I left. She said it, but I was running late so I just didn’t bother.
I wished I had.
All of a sudden I was on the ground, tripped by a large tree root. The monster was looming over me, gnashing its teeth in hunger. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed it clench its fist.
This was it.
I tried to scream just once more, but nothing came out. It bent down and studied me. Then, it moved a hand toward me and brushed my cheek with its claw.
It wasn’t in a sympathetic way. The creature, whatever it was, was near human. It was mocking me, its snout going up in an ugly grin.
I pushed its arm away in anger. It took all the energy I had left, but there was nothing to lose. I was going to die anyways.
Suddenly it stiffened up completely. Then, it fell over like a 200-pound board, landing just a few inches away from me.
I examined it. There was no tranquilizer, no bullet wound. Just a perfectly normal body.
I took a deep breath, got up, and ran home, calling Tiffany to call off the plans.
Thank you, God.

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Publication Date: 08-15-2011

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