Creatures

• Emily Pender, Grade 9, Nagle College
• Short Story
• 2015

Excellence Award in the 'Read Write Repeat 2015' competition

As I bound through the forest and dodge between the trees, I scan the treetops for a hiding place. The skeletal branches don’t hide me as well as I would like. Quickly, I take a sharp turn and scale up a trunk, hiding in the few remaining leaves. I hear running feet crunching on the undergrowth, and a bitter autumn wind carries my followers’ rancid scent towards me. Peeking around the branches, I count the fleeting shadows as they go past.
1…2…3… Three of them, I sigh. I hear their raspy voices signalling each other as they hunt for me. As the last one goes past and away into the distance, I wait a minute before silently dropping to the ground. I pause, listening, before stealing through the scrub in the opposite direction. “Rana!” Someone yells abruptly. I turn and see Beniah my companion, in another tree above me. “To your left!” He cries. I swivel and see it, one of the Creatures. It must have doubled back. Its humanoid face sneers at me, showing its sharp-edged teeth, clenching and unclenching its taloned hands. This one’s the size of a stag with the customary large wings, shadowy outline, half human half bat physique and twisted horns on its head of a Creature. As it hurtles toward me, I draw my knife ready but it goes unneeded. Beniah leaps out of the tree just as it comes towards me and lands on its back, impaling it with his knife. My brother has always been quicker than me. The Creature lets out a shriek before collapsing on the ground a mere inches from my feet. As we watch, it fades into a dim shadow, leaving Beniah’s knife lying on the brittle ruby and gold leaves. He picks it up and sheaths it in its scabbard. “Let’s go,” I say. “The others would have heard it, they won’t be far behind.” Beniah nods. Turning away, we run back the way we came. Speed is of the essence.
By the time we get back to the clearing where we started, the sun has almost set and the shadows lengthen, hiding any peril that could cause harm to us. I pick up the bag of berries I had previously picked, which lay abandoned by the Dewberry bushes, while Beniah quickly collects the rest of the rabbits we caught. Hastily, we head through the forest and back to our village, leaving no time to enjoy the beauty of the fading light shining on the trunks. Just as the first stars break up the darkness of the sky, we stand on the hill overlooking the village. The last few people are going into their houses, hiding from the danger of the dark. As we head down to our shack, I silently vow that we will not always live with this daily terror of our tormentors. I pull open our lopsided door and enter the comfortable warmth, promising that one day, this will all change.