Eagle News

Issue date: 10/28/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment

This is a fictional story, not based on true events.

I'm crouching low to the ground and waddling behind the black form of my roommate. She moves slowly through the palmetto branches, and tilts her head sideways to try to see underneath them. She moves a branch out of the way, lets it go, and it hits me in the face.

"What the heck, Traci?" I say.

"Sorry, Mel," Traci says. She makes soft clicking sounds and bends lower to the ground, moving her flashlight around. The batteries are about to die, and the yellow half-moon that appears on the floor of the woods only allows for a few faint traces of pine needles to show at a time. Then, lightly, it starts to drizzle. Thanks, Florida.

We are wandering through the pathless part of the woods by the dorms at eleven at night, searching for a hamster named Mellow, who is kind of illegal (we aren't allowed to have pets in the dorms). Traci claimed he "needed some fresh air," and as soon as the little devil hit the ground, he made a mad dash for the woods and disappeared.

I think Mellow is snake bait, but I don't want to tell Traci that. Traci stops walking, and I bump into her. She spreads out her arms and says, "I heard something."

"What? Mellow?"

"No."

I am silent for a few moments and stop breathing so I can hear … nothing.
"Someone told me there are wild boars out here," she says. "I think I hear one."
"How do you know it's a boar?" I ask.
I think I see her shrug.

The wind moves through the woods, and the water in the leaves drops down on us. One fat drop lands in my eye. I can hear the palmettos rustle and invisible creatures scamper through the woods. The wind dies, and everything is eerily silent, but just for a second. I feel as if we are enclosed in the woods, and we might never be able to leave. "It's freaky out here at night," I say. "Why don't we look around for 10 more minutes, then call it a night?"

Traci looks both ways and behind us and says, "I think we are being followed."
"You are just being…" I stop talking, because I can feel someone's warm, moist breath on my neck. Something grabs me by my shoulders and growls in my ear. I shriek, kick at it and jab it with my elbows until I'm free. I scream, "Run, Traci!" I'm already sprinting through the woods.

"Mel!" Traci shouts. I turn around. I see Traci standing next to someone, and I recognize my stupid friend Dan.

I walk back to him and punch him on the arm and say, "You're a jerk. Why are you stalking us, creeper?"

Continued...

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