(Chapter 4) Larry: Sweet Dreams

I took off out of town, under the tunnel out onto the seemingly never ending Main Line. It cuts right through Kingston and all the way down to Bridgewater but if you looked at it from the north tunnel, you’d swear it led to nowhere.

There’s not much to the main line, tall scrubs on either side, the odd turn off into a country lane and just on your left of the tunnel a line of beach apartments. One which my mother was probably sat in right now, expecting me to come home.

I had already left home prepared though, in case this was the day I would finally leave I had packed my backpack with all my basic needs; even my bus pass but at a time like this I don’t think I would be catching any bus anytime soon.

I didn’t really have a plan so I let my feet carry me and continued walking down the Line, maybe I’d get to Bridgewater maybe I wouldn’t I just wanted to get away especially before mother called out a search and the first place they’d look is along the Main Line. Kingston might be a small town and only have a small authorities station, but if someone goes missing the whole town will hear of it and the whole town will be looking for you. 

Reaching one of the country lanes; I stopped at the end of the entrance to my real home, and glanced down, placing my hand onto the now weathered and old gate. It would be so easy to go up the lane to my old home if it weren’t for its new owners; the faint lights of the windows sat in the distance. I missed those times.

I took my hand from the gate and took a few steps up the line and stared down at the bottom of the shrubs. If I remembered correctly, there was an entrance here into the woodland. The Kingstown Woodland Forest was once a popular national park in the area, with a small snack hut and recommended walks, it brought in many from Bridgewater and popular in the spring. Around ten years ago though the woodland was closed for an unknown reason. Police said it was simply for safety reasons but failed to give any evidence.

 

We were conspicuous and the closed gates weren’t enough to keep people out, so many had found ways to sneak in and dig their way through, at points were the ground or shrubs were weakest.

This entrance was particularly worn out from it’s over use, perfect for a way in. Diving down, I managed to squeeze my way through, the bottom thorns just scraping my back, my front and hands now covered in the wet, sopping mud, thick from the rain still coming down.

Finally I knew where my feet were taking me and I carried on trudging towards it.

After the wood had closed and we continued our sneaking into it, including my father, we had found a rather good spot deeper into the trees. Father got some supplies and a good friend of his to help, and weeks later we had our very own tree house. Me, Ashley and my father spent most of our time up there; we would even sneak belongings up each time we went, like board games and blankets just so we had something. It was one of my favourite spots and many times an escape. Who knew ten years later I’d be coming back here.

It was still in good condition just as I remembered it, the wood dark from the rain but age has not taken it probably as much as it should have. Carefully placing my now oversized hands and feet onto the damp nailed wooden planks on the tree, I began climbing up.

 

With not a leak in sight, it was good to be on dry on land. Everything was still in place, the board games stacked in the back right corner and the blankets straight in front. I was certain no one would find me here; at the very latest it would take until tomorrow afternoon before anyone would get this far into the wood and call a search party. I had to crawl across of course to the blankets, but after brushing off any dirt left on them, I decided to curl up and hopefully embrace a night’s sleep.

***

 

I woke to the bright early sunshine searing past the window and into the tree house. I sat up squinting whilst trying to regain my groggy thoughts. My head and muscles were throbbing from the night on the hard wood, but my body was quick to wake up when it knew it wasn’t the morning sun which woke me.

Sirens, faintly in the distance and voices were drawing nearer. The search for the son of one of the richest men had just started and I needed to make a quick escape. They would stop at nothing to keep me home but I would stop at nothing to get away.

I grabbed my bag and swung my feet over the edge of the small entry, poking my head out the side. I couldn’t see anything yet, but their voices were too loud to ignore. I jumped down, luckily the tree wasn’t quite as tall as I remembered and I landed in a lunge position. My legs still ached, they hadn’t quite woken up just yet but I didn’t care I needed to get away. Which way? Which way?

I was certain they were coming from the direction of the entrance gate, south from the tree house, but in woodland like this, where everything looked so similar it was difficult to tell. Each tree mirrored another and the autumn leaves covered every inch of ground, I wasn’t certain. They’re getting closer. Choose now.

I couldn’t bear it any longer, I couldn’t just stand here like a sitting duck I needed to move and I took off in the north direction, sprinting as fast as I could.

I couldn’t hear the voices or sirens anymore, only the sound of each crunching leaf beneath each of my dashing footsteps and how they changed rhythm as I dodged the odd tree in my path.

Even if I couldn’t hear them anymore I wasn’t planning on stopping, the wood had to end at some point, whether I ended up in Bridgewater, a village or a field I just wanted to escape. I had to get as far away possible.

I carried on running…and running and running, until suddenly;

I wasn’t running anymore.

My feet fell and before I knew it I was falling forward onto the ground, onto the leaves.

But then I went past the leaves, past the ground; submerged into a bright, white empty space.

I was falling into somewhere unknown.

Author's Note

Any suggestions are welcome - Looking for any improvements necessary :)

Merged with previous Chapter 5

Reviews

[Daring Darling Didi]

Another great chapter. I think I've got the format down; the prologue, then the first 2 chapters are basically from a book that Summer is reading, and then chapter 3 you introduce us to Summer (who has picked up this journal that belongs to Larry Oak) and then in this chapter she continues reading. Just a few things to help you out - number 1, if this is indeed his journal and Summer is reading it, I'd suggest you leave the journal in 1st person, but switch the parts with Summer into 3rd person. Unless you plan on combining their stories somewhere in the middle, that might be a little easier to understand. Your grammar could use some work, but hey, that's what we have editors for! This is basically a rough draft for a larger story, I'm guessing. Don't let anybody steal this - it is magnificent, and I can't wait to read more of it. Keep on writing, you're doing fantastic!

[Elle Telorve]

i'm glad that there is some difference between how larry and summer narrate otherwise it would be very confusing, again. you're missing alot of punctuation in this. the conspiracy theroist in my randomly thought that larry is derek pre-ghosting and derek lead summer to the book for some random reason. maybe interupt the action after action with how larry is feeling that he is finally running away consitering that he was thinking about it long enough to prepare for it. maybe look up on google maps how far he would have to be walking if this is set in the real world (even though it has a ghost) and go out one day and walk that distance to see if you think that is realistic with the pack that he prepared also try sleeping on hard wood after you do something like that, mostly i mean research everything that you don't know first hand about. depending on if he ran away before his dad disappeared or the other way around the police might not worry as much about him, and an heir of a foutine might be better protected so that might not happen. interesting way to end it, you could add mystery to it by saying how indescribably unknown it is. interesting, i'm hooked now and ready for the next chapter. if he had gone to that treehouse before then he would know the woods a bit better than how he describes it, and depending on who knew about it, that may have been one of the first places the cops look, a place that he is comfortable and familiar. love the irony of him wanting to leave and so he disappears into an unknown, but im kind of thinking that something is targeting him or someone he knows for some reason. depending on who that someone is and why this could end up really good with great potential for red herrings

[Patrick B]

This story is like a delicacy. I love how it's in first person, so it's in a Diary perspective, and you can place yourself as the character. I wonder about the future of Larry, and I will probably be staying up at night considering the hundreds of possibilities that you can produce. I love the strong, defiant voice you place him in, and I'm also curious about Summer.
This is an excellent, strong beginning to a great story. I wish I could take my computer to school that way I actually have something good to look over in NFA reads. :)

[Gretchen Clarke]

Okay! Am looking forward to reading chapter 5!!