War Of Imagination

• Letitia Law, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2015

Shattered voices. Far off horns. Crouching in the bush, with my hands sealing my ears, I waited. Waited for that illuminating moment when all would be clear, when I saw that 'tunnel of white light'. Dampness was enveloped on my scratched and tortured skin, my legs were burning in a ring of dazzling fire, and my ears were ringing in the silence. I felt safe, in an ironic way, in that small alcove of leaves and thorns. I should feel safe. Not when that dreadful metallic sound is still in my head.
Shake it off. Stupid song, really, to be singing, when my life is at stake. Then I heard another sound. Not another of Taylor Swift, not another intake of breath, not another shuffle from my pain-riddled feet, not even another sob from my paranoia-gripped brain. No. It was another type of song, another type of shuffle through the crackled brown leaves, another type of sob. Footsteps. Each sound as loud as the beating drum in my chest, each intake of breath as harsh as I remembered.
Pain shot through my cheek, and at that instant, a metallic taste flooded my mouth. It was, in a way, damnation. Come to take me to my eternal destiny. Come to drag me away, kicking and screaming, as the breath of fate breathed its last, icy wind on my frozen limbs.
The sun glinted off the golden chainmail as the soldier shuffled about-loudly. I could not hold this poise any longer. This crouched over, horror-struck poise, hair drooping down my face in an eerie waterfall, eyes wide, fist stuffed in mouth. Oh, gracious, help me. So this is what animals felt like, caught in the headlights. Accepting their fate, accepting their...oh, please, no... death.
I would not be caught. My muscles protested as I heaved myself off the floor-swirls of light danced before my drooping eyes as I rolled over, under... Soon I would be free! Exhilaration swept my body-drowning out all coherent thoughts... Then, CRACK! I froze, as a deer careened out the bush in front of me and leapt into shadows.
What I did next was stupid. I screamed. Why, I asked myself later, did I scream? Surely this wasn't me, the war-trained escapee.
His head turned, and I winced, expecting a crack, from the speed he spun. Then he bellowed. So loud, the birds flew off their branches.
What did I do next? I ran. The only thing I could do properly. Trees stretched ahead of me- a rock loomed ahead. Oh, DAMN, no!
The soldier grabbed my arm and twisted me forward, his steel grey, metallic eyes boring into every inch of me. Deciding what to do before the kill. Blood red lips twisted into an almost mad grin, frozen in place. Then his hand reached up, and...a scream lodged in my throat as he pulled off his mask.
"Found you, Jesse." The boy laughed.
Damn you, Sam, damn!