Crimson Eye

• Milton Li, Grade 5, Croydon Hills Primary School -
• Short Story
• 2022

Excellence Award in the 'Summertime Fun ONLINE' competition

“He must be inside.” A beady eye gleamed through the exit of the sea of infinite pines. Enraged, Shadow continued the ultimate path of death and destruction. Shadow’s only thought was revenge. Revenge on the human who killed his family. Revenge on the human that destroyed his home. Revenge on the human who broke his heart. His old self would have been surprised to find out what he was now. He finally unleashed the strangled roar that had been caged inside him, like a tiger in a cage of metals. The howl echoed through the dark depths of the forest and cave. He was not going to be hunted tonight. He was going to hunt. He had to begin.
The hunter’s knees shook. Sweat beaded down his forehead as he realized the truth. A howl echoed through the dark depths of the ancient cave. The noise ricocheted off the cold and smooth walls of the lush picturesque cave. A waft of fresh air broke to his nostrils. He had come so close. He could not give up now. After all, he reassured himself, it was just a wolf. He did not realize that this wolf was a wolf powered and living on being a victim of bullying, a victim of all the cruel things done to his family. He would never have thought that a wolf’s family dying would affect it as much as it would affect anyone. He had the perseverance, but he was not in charge. A hunter could never understand how much it meant to the animals to lose their family
To the hunter, it seemed as if he was about to leave the lush but deadly cave. To the wolf, the hunter was going to die. This time, the wolf was right. There was no choice for the hunter but to accept his inevitable fate.
In Shadow’s perspective, everything was red. Tears smeared against his black pupils that were once a never ending hole. They were now red slits of hate and anger. Deep down, he knew that there was no way back once he had taken this path. But some impulse gave him the urge to do everything against his heart and innermost feelings. He didn’t feel like he even had a heart now. All he saw in the reflection against the crimson puddle that he was responsible for was a dark red figure, crimson in his eye. He sighed deeply and with obvious regret. It was all over.
Shadow could barely suppress the inevitable rage he was feeling now. Needless to say, he had failed to bite back the seething fury that possessed him to do the villainous deed he had done. As he thought over his wrongdoings, he lowered his head and wept. His heart snapped in two. He was broken.