JD's Daily Writes 14 Nov 24
He needed to get home, fast and unseen.
“Okay Kaelen, calm down, deep breaths. Time to think about getting home.” he muttered to himself.
Composing himself he got up into a crouched position, scanning the forest around him. He could see the road in the distance below him, recognising it and now he knew what direction to take.
Keeping himself low so as to try to remain unseen he starts half running, half scurrying through the forest, his senses heightened as his heart starts pounding furiously. He headed in the general direction he knew his home to be.
A truck drove past on the road below, suddenly blaring its horn, startling Kaelen. Diving for the nearby bush, crouched on all fours he caught the movement of a startled rabbit from the corner of his eyes. Before he could think, he was off on all fours chasing the rabbit, dodging and weaving with it. A growl came from deep within him, stopping him in his tracks as he cut it off mid-way.
“What the hell?” Kaelen exclaimed, bewildered by the reactions he had felt throughout his body.
Feeling unsettled, he quickly continued his journey home, his mind on edge for further surprises. He could somehow sense he was closer to his home now. This troubled him further as when he looked around, all he could see was more forest. He could still hear the traffic from the main road below. He knew he would need to cross this road to the parkland that backed onto his backyard. As long as no one was in the park, there’d be enough cover from the high fence lines, so his neighbours wouldn’t see him.
His movement, still in a crouched position as he went, startled a flock of birds. The urge to suddenly chase them was strong. He grabbed a nearby tree trunk with his arms to steady himself and prevent further dashing into the forest on a wild chase.
As he steadied himself, his eyes were drawn to gouges on the tree trunk. Absent-mindedly he ran his fingers along the gouge marks. They felt familiar to him somehow. A memory flashed through his mind, watching a large animal claw gouge the tree, and then it was gone.
Kaelen shuddered and started moving again. His mind focused on the large fence and how he was to get over it. From memory, it had been set to 8 feet for everyone's backyard. To give it an aesthetically pleasing view from the park and privacy for the residents.
Kaelen realised he was now at the part of his journey that could expose him the most. Fully aware that his nakedness and blood-caked body would certainly raise more than just the alarm with witnesses.
He braced himself for the final trek, every muscle tensed, and his body felt tight like a rubber band pulled to its limit. His senses were at peak awareness, not only could he see the traffic both ways, he could hear even further. He sat for an eternity, waiting for a break in the traffic. That perfect moment to launch himself to the minimalist cover of the trees and shrubs that separated the park from the main road.
The break he was waiting for arrived, yet he hesitated. Then suddenly a voice in his head that was not his own yelled.
“GO!”
With such urgency behind the voice, he was halfway across the road before he realised he was moving. Launching himself from the halfway point, he dived into the shrubs nearest him. Surprised at how effortlessly that had felt to him.
He rolled, and paused for a second, wondering where that voice had come from. He could now sense someone watching him. It disturbed him, yet he felt no threat to him. He sensed it was time to go so he sprinted across the lush green grass of the parkland. The familiarity of his fence line, despite them all looking the same, was a welcome sight to him.
He hoped he would have enough of a jump to get his upper body to the top of his fence. From there he was sure he would have the strength to pull himself over to safety.
As he neared his fence, he judged his jump perfectly from the ground. Soon he realised he had more jump in him than he expected. He sailed almost completely over the fence until he was distracted by claw marks on top of his fence. His feet caught the top of his fence and he came down hard.
The full story is available here.
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