Another brilliant piece from a GUNNAS WRITING MASTERCLASS writer.
not a slap in the face
more like a brick to the head
put you back in place
no words left unsaid
Viv understood why she got into trouble. They made sure they spelled it out. They had also made sure that she would never forget. She had run back to her room and crawled under the covers. There she silently howled. It wasn’t long before she returned to the kitchen. She swiped some stale biscuits, stuffed them into her rucksack, and then headed outside. It always helped her feel better being out in the open and away from the house where the walls squeezed her in so hard she felt her chest compress into stone, making her insides heavy and black. Outside was the remedy, even though lately events out here were starting to worry her as much as the stuff going on inside the house.
Stomping to the rhythm of her pounding heart, she crossed the park down the street. She didn’t expect to see him there.
“Why didn’t you come to see me?” he asked.
“I was held up. They found out.”
“Come on, let’s get out of here.”
Down the track they came across the sign they had been looking for. The animal had been dead a short while. Picked apart by something and now all manner of insects had started to swarm. The sight made Viv want to vomit.
“Don’t touch it, Ben. That’s foul.” But Ben already had a stick and was poking it in its guts.
“I just want to make sure,” he whispered. Looking up sharply he pointed to something in the distance. “I think we should head there.” Following his lead, Viv stayed close to Ben’s heels as they cut across into the wooded section of park. It was late afternoon and the light here dissipated into bottomless shadows. Viv couldn’t deny that this place creeped her out. She would never have come here alone. Ben pretended to be the brave one, but a look of worry darkened his eyes. Now that the others knew, their time was up. No more guesses, no more theories. They just had to bite the bullet and chase. That was the only way to find out the truth.
When faced with the choice of do or die
you can’t truly know if you’ll make it out alive
The deeper in they went the more curious Viv felt. It was like now that she was in the thick of it, a different person was appearing. As Ben began to fade into a hapless ghost, Viv stepped forward to lead the charge. There was no turning back now. Back at the house she would lose everything, all privileges gone. This will be her last chance and she wasn’t going to back down no matter how terrifying the prospect of facing this creature was. It was time to get to the bottom of this thing and find out what exactly was doing the killing. Squinting her eyes she paused and held her breath.
Viv sensed the movement first and ducked to the right. It whooshed past her left ear and hit Ben’s shoulder full force and threw him to the ground. There was no way he could see it coming as he hid behind his friend. Viv lost her footing and precious seconds as she stumbled to catch herself. By this time Ben was up and they both set for the chase. As it weaved through the tall trees the creature seemed like a shadow in the fading light. It was fast, too. And soon enough it was out of sight. It all happened so fast, neither had the chance to fully grasp what they had seen. They both knew, however, that it was not something that they had ever seen before. Not in real life.
“Was that for real?” wheezed Ben. His breathing started to shut down in the cold air and after all that running.
“I have no idea, ” said Viv. Her breath condensed in front of her as she spoke. “No matter what they say back at the house, we have got to work this out.”