Fear

• Kyle Robinson, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2009

FEAR
The old oak had fallen a few years back, spending the last few years before it’s death groaning under the weight of mid-winter snow. The trunk had caught on the branches of its close neighbours. The soldier slumped tiredly against that same trunk right now. The soldier had been on sentry duty for six hours. His commanding officer wouldn’t be checking up on him for a while now as it was after midnight.
The soldier was dead tired now. He closed his eyes for a second. He actually dozed for about five minutes before his rifle slipped from his grip and he woke abruptly. At that moment he saw it. His eyes had opened at the exact moment that the creature moved.
The soldier was startled. He flicked the catch off his rifle and proceeded to creep slowly over to the bush, although creeping wasn’t really an option as his boots crunched in the snow. The creature saw the movement and grinned inwardly. Its plan had worked. Now it’s pray was closing in on the beast’s position. The creature ducked out of the bush and ran up a nearby tree.
The soldier saw the movement. He took a step back and raised the rifle to the branches on the tree. He couldn’t see anything but he knew it was there. He turned the night vision on his rifle scope, and peered through. He still couldn’t see anything. He was thoroughly spooked now. His brain was telling him he was stupid and that the thing was an animal and nothing to worry about. His heart was telling him to run and that this was a dangerous creature.
The soldier lowered the scope and was turning around when he saw it. The things’ eyes glowed through the darkness and he could see the outline of the beast. The creature’s eyes seem to paralyse him. He couldn’t move. The creature jumped from the branches and proceeded to approach the soldier. The creature extended its cold, dead hand to the soldier’s chest. The hand curled around the soldier’s heart. The cold, icy fingers wrapped around his heart and pierced it. Blood seeped out like a mighty river after the wet season.
The creatures name was Fear. Fear swallowed the soldier’s life. Fear sucked the soul out of the soldier’s body. Fear ripped the soldier’s body to shreds. There were no remains left when Fear was finished with him. Fear had ended his life.