Night Flight

The first line is absolutely horrible, and doesnt start the story out on a good tone. If it were up to me it would be out in a second, but its for a stupid class and im supposed to "expand" off the trigger line. Crit would be great

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It was silent and dark and the children were afraid. They huddled together as they knelt down below the towering pine tree. Cally, a young blonde-haired girl, cried softly as she looked longingly back down the path towards their home. Off in the darkness, a red blotch of flame stood out in relief against the black night. The smoke that rose from their smoldering house melded with the sky.

"Cally, I’m sure mommy and daddy are okay, but we need to keep going. We don’t want those men to find us." Cally sniveled as the older boy pulled her close to him, hugging her frail body against his.

"Who were th…those men?" Cally sobbed as she spoke, her tears flowing freely as she looked pleadingly up at her older brother.

"I don’t know, we’ll find out when we meet back up with mom and dad. Let’s get going." Cypher grabbed her hand and started out at a slow pace. A branch bit into his face and he stumbled as he hit a protruding root, but he managed to stay afoot.

"Be careful, it’s hard to see." Cypher made sure that he stayed ahead of Cally. The ominous moonlight glow afforded them a little visibility, but did more to elongate the foreboding shadows that stood out everywhere like lurking beasts. Cypher and Cally did not speak as they ran through the forest. They followed a barely visible pathway, as their parents had instructed them if such an event were ever to occur.

"Who’s there?" Cypher stopped, pulling Cally close to him as a large twig snapped to his left. They stood still for a moment, straining their ears for any sign of whatever snapped the twig. Two beaming eyes peeked out from behind a tree. Cypher sighed with relief, and his heart slowed in its pounding. A solemn dear darted across the path in front of them and took refuge in the trees on their right.

Cally was shivering, whether from fear or from the frigid cold he was not sure. He assumed it was the latter; they wore only their pajamas, for the attack had allowed them little time to flee.

"Cypher, do you know where we are going?"

"Yes." He reassured her and left it at that. He was not sure how far their voices would carry through the night. It was silent outside save for the wind buffeting leafless tree branches and the sporadic call of a nocturnal creature. Their pace had slowed down, and Cypher was on the lookout for the fork in the path his parents had instructed him to take. He remembered doing drills of such an escape, and remembered as well that the pathway was easy to miss—and that was in the light of day.

When he finally came to the verge of the intersection, he recognized the lazy bough that hung down to mark the split. He turned left, pulling Cally along behind him with his right hand. Cypher was beginning to worry. His parents were supposed to have met him by now—where were they? Just past the intersection the trees fanned out and broke way to a small clearing. A rock in the center provided them with a spot to sit down. From overhead, the moonlight was not guarded by the overarching tree branches and shone freely down upon them.

Cypher could see for the first time how scared Cally really looked. He brushed a long curl back from his eyes and ran his hand along her cheek.

“We’ll wait here; mom and dad will come soon.” He really wasn’t as confident as he sounded, but he did not wish to share with her his fears. This was the spot—the place that they were supposed to meet in the event of getting separated.