Now Is The Time To Act

• Daniel How, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2022

The summer breeze blew through my brown hair. I turned and strode into the dark forest, why had I not sent the note? I caught something in the corner of my eye and sprinted towards my house.
I'm Daniel, a friend of Mav. I love to play 2 square and 4 square. Also, I’m scared of monsters so I really didn't like what I saw in the dark forest.
The next morning I made up my mind and wrote this: ‘Dear Mav, I saw a monster yesterday at 3:00pm and I need you to come, now!’ To my dismay Mav said he couldn't come till this afternoon and I didn't have that long.
The air rushed past my ears as I sprinted towards the forest. Pain stabbed into my back like I got shot by a gun and I turned to look what had caused the pain, "Ahhhhhhhh!" I screamed in fear, shoved the thing off my back and bolted.
The bush felt like needles stabbing into me and I poked my head out of it to see if the coast was clear, but before I could run something grabbed me. I turned to see not one, not two, but three pairs of horrible eyes. I punched one of the monsters square in the face and sprinted as fast as I could. I turned and leapt into a bush again, at least I was safe for a while. "Hey Dan." It was Mav. "Mav, we don't have long, now is the time to act."
We slowly made our way through the bush and Mav held his gun at the ready, bang! A monster fell into the undergrowth. I grabbed a bit of vine and tied it between two oak trees and waited. A monster leapt at us but tripped on the vine and then, bang! We silently waited for the third and final monster to reveal itself. "Ow!" Mav screamed and I turned to see him lying on the ground unconscious. I sprinted, holding Mav's body, and trying not to look back at the evil hungry eyes of the final monster. I turned and wrestled the monster. I had him pinned, and with one final heave, I threw him off the edge of the cliff! Then everything went black. The only thing I knew…was that Mav…was dead!
I opened my eyes to see a roof above my head and a familiar face next to me in bed and I suddenly knew where I was. Safe, warm, in the hospital.