Chapter One: The Storm

Annabelle's brother is kidnapped, and the journey to save him has begun.

Chapter One

The next few days went by fast, and before you knew it, it was the last day of school. As the bell rang at the end of the day, kids scrambled to the nearest door, screaming and cheering, welcoming the summer.

 

Melanie and I met our small group of friends outside. Alyson, another good friend, attacked me with a hug. I almost fell over; she was so excited. Next came Macy and Jacob. I’m not that close to Jacob; he’s closer to Macy, so I just talked to him for a few seconds and gave Macy a hug.

 

Last came Shayde. I gave him a small quick awkward hug. “I’m going to miss you over the summer,” he said, staring at the ground. “Yeah, I’ll miss you too,” I muttered truthfully, eyeing the sky, which was growing pretty dark. Shayde fixed his gaze off the ground and looked at me through those blue-gray eyes. “I’ll text you during the summer.” “I’ll text you too!” “Okay.”

After our “end-of-year” greetings, we headed off to the local park. Every year since sixth grade, we would go there of the last day of school.

 

The weather wasn’t getting any better. Soon, there was a light drizzle. That didn’t stop us though. We stayed at the park.

My little sisters and Trevor were there also, with my mom. They were happily playing on the playground, while my group settled down under a tree to avoid the now-growing drizzle.

Melanie noticed my younger siblings were here. “Hey, Annabelle,” she tapped my arm. “Your little sisters and brother are over there. “I know,” I told her. “They need to head back home, this rain is unbearable…”

 

The rain was now coming down in violent sheets. Our tree provided no protection any more. I glanced quickly at my mom; she was gathering up the kids. Everyone was there except… where was little Trevor?

I decided he couldn’t be far, so I turned to my friends. Little did I know, they had all scattered back to their houses, or so I thought, leaving me and Melanie with my mom, who was quickly walking towards our street. “Melanie, head home, I don’t want you getting hurt.” I asked for her to go home, since this storm was getting pretty bad and I could just catch up with my mom. “Are you sure?” She asked with concern. “Yeah, I’m sure. My mom’s over there, I’ll be fine.” “Alright,” she said, heading in the direction of her house and spitting wet hair out of her mouth. “Bye, be safe.” “You too, Melanie. Bye.”

 

I turned around to find my mom. “Mom?” I called out through the booming storm. “MOM?!” I yelled even louder. Still, no response. She clearly didn’t notice that I was there, and left without me.

I decided to head home. As I turned around to leave, someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was Shayde. “Hey,” he said, moving his sopping we hair our of his eyes. “Is that your brother?”

My eyes followed to where he pointed. Sure enough, there was Trevor, soaking wet from rain and standing right at the edge of the forest no one dared to enter.

We hurried over to him. “Trevor!” I cried, as the thunder boomed louder than ever. “Trevor, TREVOR!!!” He turned around and looked at us.

Then, there was a drumming of footsteps, a scream, and he was gone, vanishing into the shadows of the woods.

 

* * *

 

It was like the world stopped. My brother was gone, vanished right before my own eyes. There was nothing left to do other than go after him myself.

I started to cry, and I hardly ever cry. All I could do was hope that Trevor would be ok. Wiping away my tears, I turned around and looked at Shayde. He was staring blank faced at where my little ten-year-old brother had disappeared. “Annabelle,” he said slowly. “He’s… gone.” “I k-know,” I choked out through my failing attempt to hide my tears. I never let anyone see me cry. “Hey,” he stepped closer to me. “We can go look for him, it’ll be okay.” Then, he unexpectedly wrapped him arm around my shoulders. I just stood there, staring at the ground and crying silently. “No,” I whispered. I’ll go. I don’t want you to get hurt. It could be dangerous.”

 

Shayde’s answer came faster than a speeding train. “Nah-uh, I’m going with you! I want you to be safe! Don’t try to argue with me!”

I thought for a moment. “Okay, your right, I really don’t want to go alone. You can come.” “Good.” Then I cried silently into his shoulder.

It was either let the culprit get away, or go now. Go now, off into the deep unknown darkness of those hated woods. To go now was our only choice, or I might never see my brother again.

We walked closer to the forest, and with one big gulp we headed in.

 

Darkness surrounded us through the booming thunder and the beating rain outside of the woods. Everything was quite. No rain, and just occasional thunder in the vicinity. The silence was overwhelming, along with the darkness.

I have never been in these woods, I have only seen them. They looked dark - and dangerous - somewhere I wouldn’t want to be. And here I am, in them right now.

“Where do you think they went?” asked Shayde. “I don’t know…” I replied slowly, glancing around. This is now a place I would want to be. “How about we just walk forward, and see what happens.”

We timidly stepped ahead, staying within arms length of each other in the almost pitch-blackness. The last thing I want is to be separated.

So far, all we saw was nothing but trees. Trees…trees…trees. “I don’t see anything!” Shayde stated the obvious. “Well Shayde, I never noticed.”

 

Walking further, everything stayed the same. Just trees, surrounded by lingering blackness. The floor was covered with leaves and twigs, and the sky was only a little visible through small patchy openings in the trees.

It was getting late. Seeing as we had no luck, Shayde and I found a small area of smooth earth near a tree and settled down for the night. He got the front side of the tree, I got the other.

“Annabelle, I’m sorry,” whispered Shayde through comforting words. I looked at him hopefully, but all I saw the silhouette of his face in the dark. “It’s - it’s okay. We’ll find him, we’ll bring him back, everything will be as it was before.”

Though my voice sounded confident, inside I wasn’t. I hoped and prayed with all my might that we would succeed. I want to find my poor brother more than anything, and I want him to be okay, more than anything.

 

A little while later my mom called. “Where are you? It’s way past your curfew! Is Trevor with you?” “Mom,” I sounded nervous. “Mom, Trevor has been kidnapped. He’s gone; vanished. I’m looking for him, and probably won’t be back until I find him. Don’t worry, I’ve got one of my friends with me.”

I heard loud sobbing, and the phone hang up.

I myself started sobbing; I couldn’t control it. The tears just flowed out. I looked around at Shayde, but he was already snoring softly. Great, I’ll never get to sleep.

Finally, my tears gently put me in an uneasy sleep.

 

I awoke to a deep growl. It was still dark, and a little chilly. Reaching around the tree, I shook Shayde, to scared to get up myself. What was that growling at us like a madman?

“Shayde, SHAYDE!!! WAKE UP!!!” I yelled. He stirred sleepily. “Shayde!!!” I proceeded to push him over. “What?!” He sounded grumpy, but he’ll have to deal with it. “Th-There’s something out there,” I squeaked, like a frightened little mouse. “D-do you hear it?” “Hear what?” He asked, now more alert. “The… the…” I trailed off. The animal growled again, sounding closer than it was before. “Oh… my… gosh…” Shayde gasped.

We knew the animal was close. But, we couldn’t see it. That was until we caught sight of two large glowing yellow eyes, piercing us like swords in the darkness.

“Annabelle…” whispered Shayde. “Lets… RUN!!!”

 

Shayde quickly grabbed my hand and we were off, running through the brush like a scared rabbit running from it’s predator. The animal, supposedly a wolf, was not far behind us. We could hear its feet patter, and its deep growl and bark through the silence.

All that was on my mind was running. And that Shayde was holding my hand… but it’s not that I like him or anything. We were running for our lives.

 

There was nowhere to hide. We just had to keep running away from the hungry beast, hoping we wouldn’t become his midnight snack.

We ran as long and fast as we could. But, the running soon tired us out. We were slowing down, but the wolf sure wasn’t. Still bolting at us at full speed, and getting closer and closer every second, we were running out of options. “Wha-what are we going to do?” I panted between huffs and puffs. “Just keep- AHHHH!!!!”

 

I lost Shayde’s grip as he fell, down a hole. Oh, no, what are we going to do? If Shayde’s stuck in a hole, we will probably get eaten…

As Shayde hit the bottom of the hole I froze in shock. What if something happened to him? “Annabelle,” he cried. “What are you doing? Keep running! I’ll be fine! GO!!”

Shayde wasn’t fine. If you fall into a hole by surprise, of course your not fine. Who would be?

I wasn’t fine either…

 

I felt a tug on my leg, and it sure wasn’t Shayde. The wolf had grabbed my ankle, and was pulling hard, with teeth sharp as knives cutting into my skin. “Oww!! He’s got me, HELP!!! DO ANYTHING, PLEASE!!!” I yelled with all my might, while gripping a near-by low-hanging branch to avoid being hauled in for the kill.

Shayde did the best he could to wrench his foot out of knarled vines on the floor of the hole. Apparently when he fell, he got one of his feet tangled in a bunch of weeds. Almost managing to stand up, he reached with both hands towards my now outstretched arm. He grabbed it, and with all the strength he could muster, tried to pull me out of the jaws of the animal.

The wolf was still pulling, and each pull meant a deeper cut in my ankle. I cried in pain and tried all I could to pull free, and Shayde kept trying to drag me into the hole.

 

The wolf must have been getting tired, because he started to loosen his grip on my foot. At the point where he almost let go, Shayde finally managed to free me from him. I tumbled straight down into the hole, landing on the soft ground. “Thank you so much!” I cried faintly. “Your welcome, but don’t mind that. Are you okay?” He asked. “I- ow, my ankle’s stinging like mad, but other than that I think I’m okay.” The pain though, was overwhelming.

I couldn’t stand without yelping in pain. Shayde was first to climb out of the hole, but he had to drag me out. I leaned on him heavily for support as we hobbled to the nearest thicken. We had to find a sheltered spot, and quick. My ankle was bleeding really badly.

 

We found a place near a small stream and sat down. “I’m going to get some water,” said Shayde, heading towards the ravine. “Stay here,”

I stayed put while Shayde grabbed some water and poured it on my cuts. It stung like crazy, but at the same time I knew it was better of clean. “Ouch! Gosh, that stings.” I screeched. “Sorry, but it needs to be cleaned, or else you could get an infection in your ankle, and we don’t want that, right?” “Right.”

I cleaned my socks, then wrapped them both around the wounds. Though they weren’t very thick or long, they’ll do until we find something else.

We had enough action for tonight. By now, it was the about six in the morning, and the first rays of the sunrise were beginning to poke through the thick brush. Setting down in different spots on the soft ground, we both fell asleep.

 

Yesterday we found no evidence of where my brother might be, we will continue after we get some decent sleep. That is if there is no more bumps in the “night.”

Author's Note

So, this is chapter one, where the journey begins :)