Alone in the woods

Alone in the woods

By: Ash Tewierik

I ran out of the house as fast as I could I just had to get out of there, away from the tension, away from the frustration and most of all away from the fights. Yes, Mum and Dad were at it again, this time I had no idea what they were fighting over but Dad had punched Mum in the face and I didn’t know what to do, so I left, I left to go for a walk in the woods like I usually do. The woods were alive at night with the sound of a million tiny little creatures that I have never seen before but though there was sound it still seemed strangely quiet. Out through the back door, through the two bottom paddocks and I was at the entrance to the woods. Not just any entrance, but my entrance, where when we first moved to the farm four years ago I found this entry point to the woods the first day. First I have to step up onto an old tree stump, and then make a mighty leap that I am always scared to do, but always do over the barbed wire fence then I have to stop myself before I run into a tree (I’ve only ever ran into it twice.) Then I have to crawl 3 metres under a bush, it is an easy crawl but you do get a little dirty. Then I am free in my own world, these woods were my escape from the dramas at home and I loved them for it. So I walked through the woods being careful not to walk into any spider webs that were often woven between the trees, I walked and I walked I didn’t care how far I went this time I just had to get away. After a good half an hour walk in a single direction I had to stop and rest I found a comfy tree stump to sit down on where I could take of my shoes and rub my feet, I sat there for ten minutes before I noticed the eyes watching me, they caught me totally by surprise and I never had time to react once I saw them, there was a sharp pain up my leg and then before I had even realised what had happened it slithered away. I laid there for 5 minutes screaming, I had no idea what to do. Then I began to wonder, would anybody even care, they never noticed me anyway, always to busy fighting amongst themselves.