Easier To Run

For English I was asked to write a metaphorical short story (up to 1100 words) in the style of ancient greek myths.

He ran through the halls, panting as he sprinted away from the threats that followed him.  It was always like this; they chased him through the school, waiting to unleash their force onto him once they caught up.  Aidan turned a quick corner just trying to stay ahead of his enemies.  The shadows that followed him could be heard screaming and laughing at him. With nowhere else to run, Aidan opened the window and jumped out.  Waking up violently, Aidan checked the time on his clock, which read 2:30am.  Aidan sighed and went back to spending another sleepless night hoping he didn’t have to go to school in the morning.

At 7:00am, Aidan reluctantly got up, barely speaking to anyone as he ate his breakfast and thought about the day to come.  Soon he headed off to school, riding the bus in silence as he stared at the various passengers.  Arriving at 7:45am, he wandered around for half an hour just to avoid going inside.  Once it was time to go inside, Aidan slowly pushed open the heavy metal doors.

The school was eerily silent despite the amount of people rushing around and the lights were much dimmer than usual. Cracks lined the old brick walls causing the ceiling to bend and creak as if it were about to collapse over the students.  As he stuck to the shadows, Aidan noticed that some sections of the walls were a deeper shade of crimson than usual.  Sneaking behind a group of students through the hallway door, Aidan turned to go to his locker when he found something waiting for him.  Large reptilian creatures standing about seven feet tall were staring at him from beside his locker.  Each of them was covered in dark green scales tough as armour with massive claws and teeth like knives. Their icy blue eyes casting an almost hypnotic gaze at the student paralyzed with fear.  The creatures began to slowly move towards Aidan, who was too scared to move.  

A voice spoke solemnly into Aidan’s ear, “torquebites,” he said, “creatures that feed off of the pain and suffering of others.”  Aidan looked beside him to see his close friend Nico standing there, attempting to intimidate the torquebites to no avail.

“Leave my friend alone hellspawn,” Nico said angrily.  The torquebites responded with a loud hiss as they picked up speed, moving to kill.  Nico grabbed Aidan’s hand and the two of them ran into their classroom, narrowly avoiding their foes. What was once a classroom filled with students was now a dark and gloomy cave smelling of rotten corpses.  At the far end of the room, a crowd of torquebites sat, staring at them but not moving.  At their end of the room was a large flat stone with strange symbols carved into it.  Next to this stone there stood a grotesque half-human half-stone monster.  The stone side was sharp, dark obsidian with a blade for a hand.  Its human side had the skin shrunken so it sat right atop the bone.  

“I demand of you to solve my riddle, or else you will never escape,” the monster spoke with a raspy voice as if it were choking.  Aidan nervously walked up to the stone, aware of the torquebites behind him staring him down, judging his every move.  Ωµ�'ø´†¥�'∂ç¬˚∂®∫çπˆ∂´≈çΩ, Aidan could not decipher the mysterious language written on the board, and felt defeated.  The torquebites began to produce a sound that could best be described as evil, animalistic laughter.  Aidan could feel his temperature rising as he heard their poisonous laughter, he began to breathe rapidly.  Unable to take the creatures’ laughter, Aidan opened the door and ran outside, his breaths sounding like a steam train.  What had once been school halls was now a dark cave stretching for miles in every direction imaginable.  It appeared that Aidan and Nico had left their world and entered a hellish nightmare.  Aidan ran into the only light he could find, a small sapphire section of the cave, with Nico following behind.

“Aidan you need to calm down, just breathe.” Nico said, trying to comfort his friend.  Aidan only responded with coughing, barely able to keep his focus.  The two were next to a red waterfall, flowing down into a chasm at least a hundred metres down.  “Cave of Amplified Emotion, taking what you feel and making it grow inside you, you have to fight it!” Nico warned, grabbing his friend to protect him.

Staring into the chasm, Aidan muttered weakly, now in tears, “Just let me go, it can only get worse from here.” A bright light appeared over the chasm, taking the shape of a young woman. The light filled the room, reflecting off of the sapphire crystals that made up the cave.

“Why do you run?” The woman asked, confused.

“Why shouldn’t I?” Aidan responded, barely audible through his tears, “What’s left for me out there but those monsters?”

“Nothing if you continue to run away from your enemies, but if you fight back and defeat them, no matter how difficult it may be so much more will open up to you.” The woman said harshly.

“Easy for you to say, you don’t have to go out there and fight those monsters.” Aidan yelled back.

“I never said it would be easy, but you have to at least try.”  The woman spoke with the same harshness as before.  She then presented Aidan and Nico with swords before fading away.  The two friends could hear the torquebites outside the cave, waiting for them to leave so they could strike.  

Aidan got up, grabbed his sword, and walked to the exit.  He and Nico took the torquebites by surprise, picking them off one by one until all but one lay dead on the floor.  The only survivor was the leader, who lunged at Aidan, claws bared.  With his sword Aidan struck and smiled with victory.  Aidan and Nico walked back into the room with the stone, and after staring at the riddle Aidan spoke one word: Hope.  A bright golden light surrounded the two, and when it faded they stood in their class, back in the normal world.

“What if they come back?” Nico asked, worried.

“Nothing’s ever that easy, but if they do I’ll fight back, and eventually they will leave me alone.  Sure, it was easier to run, but where did that put me besides living in fear? If I can defeat them, then that fear won’t touch me anymore, and I will be truly happy.” Aidan said, his voice trailing off. 

Author's Note

To all those who have been in the position of the main character, I advise you to see the story through. I congratulate those who, in their lives, have made it to the end. I weep for those who made the wrong choice in the cave, and I wish the rest of you good luck.