I heard the child before I saw him, running from the forest, the sound of screaming, twigs and dense foliage proving stern opposition to the boy’s underdeveloped limbs, thrusting and kicking as blindly as they were.
I held up my flashlight and the boy’s face lifted, his large eyes hysterical, and like a moth to flame he changed his course towards my direction.
Although I am a police officer stationed in a very remote part of northern England, I knew I had seen enough during my time around these parts to conclude that children should not be allowed outdoors at such ridiculous hours of the morning, in the impenetrable darkness, as it was when I saw the boy.
Especially around the woods. I have seen things that could very easily give people nightmares for some considerable time.
The boy eventually reached me, his tiny chest heaving with exertion. I shines the flashlight into his face, causing him to involuntarily shield his eyes. He couldn’t have been any older than nine or ten. Across the child’s face, tiny scratches from the foliage and splashes of mud had collated there. The boy’s clothes had been torn, too. However, there was no evidence of any sign of foul play. Whoever had attempted to get to the boy, if this were the case, had not been unsuccessful. “Well?” I demanded. “Are you going to tell me what happened in there?”
It took the child considerable time to calm himself. After a few moments, he gasped, “In there,” pointing , “in the woods. There was man.”
Panic surfaced in the child’s eyes again, the sheer reminder bringing fresh trepidation.
“What man?” I asked.
The child shielded his eyes from the intense blaze of the flashlight. “He was like a man, but he had the head of an animal! Like a bear or something he was! He tried to attack me! His teeth! He had the biggest teeth I have ever seen!”
“Teeth?” I asked, incredulously. “Were they as large as these ones, boy?” I asked, lowering my flashlight.
© 2009 Danny Hill
Danny has been published both online and in a short-story compliation, released this year by Byker Books. Expect his debut horror novel The Gypsies to appear some time in 2010. His MySpace page is www.myspace/the_quest_of_iranon
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November 17th, 2009 at 9:06 am
Ello, ello. Very good tale.
November 18th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Nice twist at the end!