Over The River

This is my first story, so I don't really know what to say. I just hope you can enjoy it.

       Over the River and Through the Woods

Written by

  Tyler Davis

                               

July 3rd

       The sun’s radiance blasted through the air, making my smile grow bigger.  The only thing I was thinking about was that we’ve made it. Only a few hours ago, my family and started our dangerous journey up the Ridgewood mountains. As we hiked up the slope  trees loomed over us like giants peering down on us. We finally stepped onto the slope of the mountain. Together, we stood proud and tall overlooking the valley below. The sun was radiant, and the clouds drifted into

different shapes.

        “Growllll,” my stomach growled.

        “Guess it’s time for lunch,” my mom said. she laid out a checkered sheet and unpacked food. There was ham and cheese hoagies, bananas, and donuts. “It’s ready!,” my mom announced. I raced over, and plopped down right next to the doubts. I picked up a ham and cheese sandwich as if it was a baby, and got ready to stuff my face with it.

    The mayo flowed through my mouth, flaring my taste buds in delight.

    A sudden shake startled me. At first I thought my dad and the chimichanga he delightfully shoveled into his mouth. Then the scream of a few other people down below us completely change my train of thought.

    Then The ground opened up in the valley. Treeś were sucked into the ground, bringing animals down with them.

    “Run!” my dad screamed. Honestly, he sound like my friend Jeff, who is climbing up at the Himalayas. My sister pushed me out of the way to save herself. Talk about selfishness. When I stood back up, my family was running. The sun seemed to have disappeared. Darkness fell over me like a tidal wave. I heard the muffled voices of my family screaming my name. I felt as if my heart stopped at that exact moment. I tumbled down wards knowing I would die. I hit the ground landing on something soft.

July 4th

    I woke to the crack of lightning and the roar of thunder.   I lay flat on the ground on top of some kind of animal.  My clothes were torn and soaked. Rain fell from the sky like  rockets. The moon hovered over made probably laughing.

 “I have to try and get off,” I thought.  I Started to stand, but, pain shot up my leg. “Gah,” I moaned.

    “ It’s hopeless, my legs broken, I can't get off the ground,”  

I tried to stand, but pain seared in my leg.

    “Are you having trouble,” A voice muttered from the  darkness.  I would have jumped out of my skin if it was possible.

    “ Who’s there?” I asked shaking. A man the size of a pine tree emerged from the darkness. The man had a scruffy beard, a ruined jacket, and really bad sketchers.

    “Let me see your leg,”  the man asked. His voice was rough like a chainsaw.  The man raised my leg, and wrapped it with some sort of bandage. The pain somewhat stopped.

    “Who are you,” I asked. The man stood up, looking down at me. I noticed that his arm was wrapped but, it didn't stop the blood seeping down.

“First, tell me what happened to you.” the man bargained.

“Well then, I was separated from my family, landed on a deer, and lost my life. So, yeah, thanks for bringing that up. Truth is, I’ve been really shaken since I've woken up. I’m a 13 year old without a family. I’m lost in the Ride wood mountains with a hairy guy, so I guess I’m pretty shaken.

“That's pretty heavy for a 10 year old to carry around.” Bigfoot stated. “Listen, I-I know how you feel. I was separated from my family to. I guess you could say one of my family left us.” He said sadly. The clouds seemed to get darker, rain seemed to fall heavier. I knew the guy didn’t want to talk but, he kept going. “It was my daughter's birthday today, and she always wanted to go hiking.” The man collapsed to the ground, clenching something in his hands. It looked like a picture. “The earthquake, it opened a hole in the ground. My daughter, Maria, She fell in.” he continued. “Luckily, I grabbed her arms.” She dangled from my hands. Constantly losing grip, until she let go. She sacrificed herself to save me,” the man sobbed. He sobbed, and I just stood there. Lightning flashed across the sky, breaking the silence.

“I feel you man, but if we are ever going to see our family’s again, we have to work together to get out of here,” I said. It felt nice to take charge for once. The man stood up, wiping the tears from his face. He looked at me and smiled.

    “Thank you. My name is Phil,” Phil confirmed. I held back a laugh.

“Guess you need my name?” I asked Phil. He nodded his head. “ My name is, Max,” And so, a friendship was born.

July 5th

    The next day was even worse. Rain fell from the sky like spitballs. Lightning was the only thing giving of light. If you think that's bad, try sleeping with a hairy guy in a one man tent that kept collapsing. The wind was so strong it knocked over a couple tree’s. I rubbed my eyes and yawned.

“Are we seriously going out in this weather” I questioned. I  knew it was a stupid question because Phil already packed supplies.  

“Yes we are,” he responded. He throw his bag onto his shoulder and started to walk away.

    “There better be a coffee place around here I mumbled. half asleep. I heard Phil mumble something back.  I think he's a smart aleck.  

    We stopped in front of a huge willow tree. “This is it,” Phil told me. “There’s no turning back,” I must have looked pretty desperate, because Phil was staring. I mean really. What if my family didn’t make it. I’d be all alone in the city, but what if they're still alive. I have to try.

    “Sir, yes sir. I’m ready!” I responded. Phil said I was annoying, and so, we went into the woods.

        *              *                   *

    It was dark wet inside the woods. Fortunately, the tree’s were so thick that barely any rain got through. Noises came from all around, surrounding me. The other problem was, I really had to pee.  

    “Hey, you never said that the animals here,” I muttered. “ We've been walking for hours can we take a break,” It was probably a horrible idea.. With all the noises, there's probably moves out there. Plus my leg still broken, so I’ve been limping the whole way.

Suddenly, a dark shadow shot across my vision. Phil turned to face me. And expression, was hard as stone.

“Run,” Then I heard a growl fierce and loud.

“I know this is a bad time, but I really have to pee.”

“I said run!” Phil screamed. I tried to run you know my legs broken. The dark shadow circled around us  growling snarling. , I decided to run which is really just hopping, and of course the wolf attacked at the same time.  

    Phil lay  on the ground, wrestling the beast. Its snarled and drooled on Phil's face. I stand there, paralyzed to fear. A Million ideas racer crossed my mind but I didn't move A muscle. The wood seemed to grow darker.

Fear grew me, I turned and hopped. I got to at least a 30 feet distance until the noises stopped.

“Well, good time to camp out.        

           *          *          *

“So much for a camp,” I groaned. Today was not a good day. I couldn’t start a fire. I‘m freezing cold, I lost my Phil brand survival pack, and Phil. Don’t forget Phil. Now my life sucks. The only thing thing I managed to do was let Phil die. Worst of all, I was starving. The ground was wet and soft. Guess I could use the opportunity to take a nap. I Layed my head down onto the ground. I shut my eyes, which turned out to be a really bad idea. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw my family dying. Phil scolding me for letting him die, and the occasional wolf laughing at me. The wind howled like a wolve.

JUly, 7th

    Bright expanded across my vision, waking me from my beauty sleep.

    “MAX!” A loud voice boomed.

“Great, just great. I’m now officially dead,” I mumbled. My eyes opened to a furry face. “It’s Ralph, wait no, bigfoot!” I exclaimed sarcastically.

“Your getting on my nerves with your smart aleck comments,” Phil complained.   

“Get over it,” I responded. Phil looked offaly non neanderthal like. He was in clothes, and reeboks, Instead of a bear skin cloak and skechers. He also did some grunt work. He started a fire cooking some kind meat. I decided to eat my trail mix instead. He also had a sleeping bag.

    I sat down by the fire. Oddly my leg didn’t hurt.

Warmth came back to my hands and legs.

    “Here,” Phil said. He tossed me my survival pack. It had tars in the front. “Listen, I found a way out when escaping the wolf,” he said confidently.

“How did you-”

           “It involved a lot of running and a rabbit,” Phil interrupted. He explained the plan in perfect detail.

“Ok, as long as there are no more wolves.”

               *          *               *

                I wish there were more wolves. I stood in total disbelief as I stared up at the range of mountains. The rose up into the sky like giants. “We have to climb that? Can’t we go around?” I complained. Phil didn’t respond. He tossed me A pair of gloves.

                “Let’s go,”

                        *        *         *

               “Bad idea! I screamed at about fifty feet up. Did I mention I was deathly scared of heights. At about Ten feet up I lost my trail mix. Just imagine what I was like at fifty. My Heart was literally beating out of my chest.

            “Hey, can we take a break?” I Yelled up to Phil. But of course, Bigfoot doesn’t understand human language.

The rocks sharp like daggers. Thing was, they were breaking.

Rocks tumbled down the side of the mountain, like they were trying to kill me.

            Suddenly it all fell down. literally. Phil let go of the mountain, plummeting to his death. “No!” I screamed. Time froze around me. I thrust my arm out trying to save him. The rock I was gripping to dug into my hand making me bleed. The mountain grew colder. The odds were never in my favor. He fell through the air like a dead fly.

            I know what you're about to ask. Did I catch him? I...I failed. The knight has fallen. I pulled myself over a ledge , and looked down in guilt. Phil lay there, dead. All those times I teased him and made fun of him, felt absolutely wrong. I realized, I couldn’t bear losing this guy.  I, thought I couldn’t go on. I’m just a thirteen year old. But, I still, I felt the urge to go on. I had to tell the world of what Phil did. He’s a hero. So I made my final decision. I’m going to continue my journey. I took of my gloves and replaced them with the other pair in my bag. These ones were neon green and black. Now, I’m ready, for terrible, horrible, no good, very suckish day.

                I stood up and walked to the edge of the ledge. I looked over the view of the view. I saw the valley and forest I was once scared and lost in. “I’m ready.”

                Climbing seemed to get harder as I started to climb. Dust stung my eyes making it difficult to see. I held back tears as I stood on the stop were Phil let go. My new gloves were ripped and stained with blood. Jump after jump. Annoying squirrel after annoying squirrel, I made it. The sun was as radiant as ever. I pulled myself onto the top and overlooked the city skyline. I inhaled deeply, knowing was finally safe.  From here I knew what to do. I swiftly grabbed a flare gun out of my bag that Phil gave me. I raised up at the sky.

                Then it went wrong. Again. The mountaintop started to split. I felt the last minute tremble race through the mountain. Before I tumbled of the mountain, I thank fully grabbed part of the ledge.

                I hung from it with one hand. Blood seeped from it staining the stone. In my other hand was the flare gun. At that exact moment I knew I failed. My arm was giving out. I couldn’t continue.I failed my possible dead family, and Phil possibly dead family. But  still had to try. I tried to pull myself up, but my arm grew weaker by the second. I tried to swing my other arm up onto the ledge but missed. Finally, I did it.  I felt a sudden gust of relief. With my last shred of power, I raised the flare gun into the sky. SNAP! The rocket fired into the air. ¨Eat it Jeff,¨ Then, my vision went dark