The Stranger in Delaney Woods WC 294

The Stranger in Delaney Woods
WC 294

My brother, Joey, and me are trapped in this shed at the edge of Delaney Woods. The windows are boarded; there is no back entrance.

“What are we going to do?” my stupid brother asks me.

“How should I know?”

“You’re older, Sam,” he says.

He’s a freshman, I’m a sophomore. Duh.

“What, that makes me a genius?”

“You always say you’re smarter.”

“Well, that’s not too hard, but it doesn’t mean I know everything,”

Kid brothers; Geesh!

Joey unlocks the door and twists the knob. The door creaks open.

“Don’t go out there!” I whisper-scream and pull him away from certain death or at least, maiming; I secure the door.

I retrace our movements. We took our usual shortcut home from school through Delaney Woods. Someone jumped out from the trees and started chasing us. Who, I don’t know; he (I assume) is wearing a mask. Why, I don’t know. We always cut through. It’s public property.

Now here we are in this tiny building at the edge of the wood--the spooky shed that we always take a wide path around because it looks so scary.

“He’s still there. I saw him!”

Joey’s eyes are as big as saucers. I wish I could settle him down but I’m too scared to try.

We have two Twix bars and half a bottle of water; that’s it. We’ve both peed in the corner of the shed and are now rummaging around for items we can sleep on—if it comes to that.

So either you will read the headline about us in the daily rag: "TWO BODIES FOUND IN DELANEY WOODS”, or you won’t, and we will have made our way home to spaghetti and meatballs, Mom’s go-to Wednesday meal.

Either way, adios.