Post by ℜust ℜed ℜose on Oct 15, 2016 17:32:08 GMT -5
wcrpforums.com/thread/12953/official-wcrpf-halloween-writing-contest
Prompt: “When the sun gave way to the moon in the night, that’s when the monsters came out.”
The valley below was filled with massive pines, standing tall and proud among massive stony spires. Silhouetted against the grey sky rose, stiff, jagged peaks, towering up into cold air. Greys, browns and rich, dark greens had stained the landscape, spreading and melting into each other and running together like paint. Whites and silvers streaked the clouds as if Mother Nature had taken a brush and done what she so pleased. It would have been called art, truly, if such a scene had been created by man. But it wasn’t. And to Miles, that was quite the shame.
When the young man looked down, away from the the storm clouds above, he realized he was being left behind. The others had nearly disappeared down the faded trail. “Hey now!” he shouted after them, watching the rest of the group turn to look at him with bored and tired expressions. He gestured wildly towards the edge of the cliff, off towards the valley and the earthy colours. They seemed to be forgetting that they came here to enjoy the views in the first place, but it was pointless, he realized.
“Very nice,” Jana said dryly, arching an eyebrow when Miles frowned at her. She hadn’t even bothered to look. “If you aren’t coming we’re just gonna leave you there, buddy. Let the wolves get you.”
“I thought we came here for the views!” Miles complained loudly, walking faster to catch up with the rest of them. His legs ached and he had begun to regret bringing so much stuff. It wasn’t even all his; he was practically the pack mule; everything that people were too lazy to carry had gone in his bag. “You said so yourself in the Email! Back me up here, Naomi!”
“Change of plans, big guy,” the shorter young woman said, not bothering to turn around. She adjusted her beanie with purpose, as if to say that was that, striding off ahead of the group. She stopped at the bottom of the trail, looking over her shoulder and smirking possibly the widest, smuggest smirk to ever have existed. “Speaking of big guys, you okay there, Dave?” Miles looked back at Dave sympathetically. Dave might have been the definition of out of shape. Not terribly overweight, but slowly dying with each step. Half dragging himself down the mountain side, hunched over and face bright red. The way down wasn’t any easier than the way up; carrying all that stuff back down without falling was probably the worst part.
“Just... trying… to breathe,” the blond man gasped out. He stumbled a little, the rocks crunching beneath his feet, kicking up dust which only made him cough more.
Naomi put her hands on her hips, looking at them like she was completely done with it all. “If you can’t keep up I’m sure Jana would be more than happy to watch you bounce down the mountain.”
“You bet I would,” Jana muttered, and Miles elbowed her. She burst into giggles at that, which, despite being annoying, managed to bring a smile to his face. That smile was short lived when Mary stopped and he nearly ran right into her.
“Guys..." Mary said suddenly. "Where’s Alexis?” Miles froze at the reminder that his sister wasn’t standing right next to him anymore. The rest of the group froze with him. Jana stopped laughing, Naomi’s ever present smirk faltered and Dave nearly fell over from shock. Mary looked at him nervously. “Wasn’t she walking with you, Miles?"
“She was!" he snapped. “But maybe if you didn’t climb up mountains like a bunch freaking goats, we would have all stuck together!”
“I am not a goat!” Dave pointed out crossly. Naomi nodded at that like it was the most logical thing to have been said and Mary simply looked confused by the analogy.
Miles threw his arms up in exasperation frustration, trying to think clearly. “Has the obvious completely escaped you?!” They didn’t have time to argue; where would a little girl have gone when she got separated from the group?
“Why don’t we go look for her?” Jana asked, looking disapprovingly at the rest of the group. They all looked at her blankly like they hadn’t even thought about such an option, and she scoffed. “Wow, okay then. Resounding yes."
Naomi gestured towards the looming pine trees on their right. They bowed their great heads to the wind, creaking and straining as if holding up the whole world on their mighty branches. Not allowing for anyone else to say another word, the young woman marched into the brush. “Onward, then!” she cried. “To rescue the fair Alexis from the clutches of Miles’ inability to watch his siblings!” Miles sighed and watched as the group marched off after Naomi into the trees. He took a last look at the swiftly setting sun and the storm clouds in the distance before joining them in the undergrowth.
---
The canopy had gotten thicker, or the sky had gotten darker. They couldn’t even see ahead of them without the flashlight, now. Still, they couldn’t just leave Alexis out in the cold out here. Nor themselves, but they had forgotten that, it seemed, wandering out into the woods and losing themselves in the process. “Alexis?!” Naomi called, cupping her hands to her mouth as if it would help. Dave put a hand on her shoulder to get her to stop, then gave it a try himself, but he wasn't much louder. She had a lot more practice yelling at people that Dave could never hope to rival.
“Where are you?” Miles yelled. No reply, but the group had stopped expecting one after the last hour. It had gotten almost too dark to see, and though nobody said it, they were all starting to get worried.
“Come out, come out wherever you are,” Jana muttered, the grim humour hanging in the cold silence. An owl hooted in the distance, and the silver wind whistled, icy cold, through the pines, bending them and swaying them back and forth like reeds.
“We really need to start a fire or something,” Mary said flatly, waving around the clearing. She’d been the one to say what the group had never wanted to hear. She said it so plainly, too, like it didn’t even sting. She might as well have said 'We’re lost, and she’s gonna freeze.' Miles stared at her (or what he could see of her in the faint light of Naomi’s flashlight). She stared back defiantly, brown eyes narrowed.
There was silence among the others. Silence so cold it rivaled the icy winds, so cold it bit like frostbite, deep into the skin and left everyone black and blue. “Mary’s right,” Naomi announced loudly, breaking the silence as only she could. She leaned against a large rock and undid the straps of her backpack, leaving it resting there while the others wandered around in hopes of dry firewood. Naomi popped the clips of her bag open, searching for something that could be used as a fire starter. Miles stared out off the edge of cliff at the valley, regretting ever coming with the others. Dark grey storm clouds had gathered now, casting shadows over the land. He looked away from drop, heading off into the trees to his right, looking for something useful. The howl of a pack of wolves made him shiver, and he tried to ignore it; blame the wind. He found a decent sized log halfway tucked beneath a bush, and got almost excited it, if that word could be used to describe collecting sticks. He had to take his pack off before he could kneel down to get it, but when he went to pick it up it was ice cold and covered with dew. The young man stood up and glanced over his shoulder at Jana. Her expression flickered hopefully, but it disappeared when she went to take it from him. She drew her hand back and wiped it off on her pants.
“We can’t use that,” she muttered in annoyance, and Miles dropped it back down on the muddy ground. “It’s soaked.”
“I know,” he sighed, staring down at it like it was the saddest thing he’d ever seen. It wasn’t, he could think of several other things far more sad, like his sister when she dropped her stuffed kitty in a puddle and their mom had made her throw it away. But that was how it felt. Like that log was Alexis’ stuffed cat, soaked and useless. He looked back at Jana, unable to see her face in the dark. The opening of cliff behind her let only a little light through, casting a silhouette on her figure. “I’m starting to wish you never invited me on this hike,” he admitted.
“It was supposed to be a fun get together,” the young woman said indignantly, crossing her arms. “Not a whine fest. You weren’t asked to bring her.” Miles only shrugged at her, and they walked back to the little spot the others seemed to have picked to be the camp. Naomi looked up at them expectantly, setting a box of matches down on the rock. Miles held up his empty palms and she let out a long sigh. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the cry of wolves. She looked off into the trees, which bowed and swayed to the wind. The creatures were not far away, and they all knew it.
“This is your fault, you know,” she snapped, looking back at them, singling out Miles with her dark brown eyes. “If you hadn’t let her out of sight, we wouldn’t have had to wander out into the middle of nowhere! We would have been back by now!"
“My fault?!" he yelled, staring at her. She had the nerve to blame him for this? He had never asked to be hunted down my murderous wolves; why would he have wanted that? “You guys are the ones who made me come on this damn hike!”
Dave returned from the trees, shivering and carrying a few sticks in his arms. He went and sat down by Mary, who had rolled a large log into the clearing to sit on. They glanced at the others wordlessly and Mary whispered something to him. Dave only shrugged at her as Naomi stalked up to Jana. Naomi looked about ready to sock the other woman in the jaw, her hands balled into fists. She eyed Miles dangerously. “That was Jana! I didn’t want you to come, anyway!”
That stung him surprisingly hard. She looked like she meant it, too.
Jana looked at the other woman incredulously, and Miles stepped back before he got caught up in a fight. The woman’s grey eyes narrowed dangerously, searching Naomi’s face. The two women didn’t look away for even a moment. “If you hadn’t told me to forward the invite to him, he wouldn’t have come and he certainly wouldn’t have brought his sister!”
It was silent for a moment as the wolves screamed again, the group all pausing to listen. Jana was the first to move. She went straight for the face, palm open, and smacked Naomi right upside the head with a sound so painful it left Miles’ cheek tingling. Naomi stared back at Jana, shocked and disgusted. For only one moment, all was deadly still. The wind roared through the trees, the storm clouds drew close and the rain began to fall. The wolves howled;loud, hunting. The cries drew closer until they echoed in his ears, the pounding of the rain and the constant screams of the storm and the singing of the wolves. Just when the wind yelled it’s loudest, Naomi reached out and shoved Jana hard in the chest. The woman stumbled back in surprise, but lost her footing and... fell.
Naomi’s angry expression instantly disappeared and was replaced with a look of horror as her friend fell back off the side of the mountain. A hand went over her mouth, and her eyes watered. Miles stared off at the darkness of valley below, at the trees lit by only moonlight, a twisting feeling in his stomach. Not a sound could be heard except the distant howls of the wolves as they retreated; there had already been a hunt tonight. Miles looked down at the rocky cliffs below, eyes wide and heart pounding. He looked back at the remaining group, all staring blankly at each other in disbelief. It killed him how cold and cruel they had become, as if they thought no one was watching. All this time they’d feared the monsters, but they’d been the monsters all along.
Prompt: “When the sun gave way to the moon in the night, that’s when the monsters came out.”
The valley below was filled with massive pines, standing tall and proud among massive stony spires. Silhouetted against the grey sky rose, stiff, jagged peaks, towering up into cold air. Greys, browns and rich, dark greens had stained the landscape, spreading and melting into each other and running together like paint. Whites and silvers streaked the clouds as if Mother Nature had taken a brush and done what she so pleased. It would have been called art, truly, if such a scene had been created by man. But it wasn’t. And to Miles, that was quite the shame.
When the young man looked down, away from the the storm clouds above, he realized he was being left behind. The others had nearly disappeared down the faded trail. “Hey now!” he shouted after them, watching the rest of the group turn to look at him with bored and tired expressions. He gestured wildly towards the edge of the cliff, off towards the valley and the earthy colours. They seemed to be forgetting that they came here to enjoy the views in the first place, but it was pointless, he realized.
“Very nice,” Jana said dryly, arching an eyebrow when Miles frowned at her. She hadn’t even bothered to look. “If you aren’t coming we’re just gonna leave you there, buddy. Let the wolves get you.”
“I thought we came here for the views!” Miles complained loudly, walking faster to catch up with the rest of them. His legs ached and he had begun to regret bringing so much stuff. It wasn’t even all his; he was practically the pack mule; everything that people were too lazy to carry had gone in his bag. “You said so yourself in the Email! Back me up here, Naomi!”
“Change of plans, big guy,” the shorter young woman said, not bothering to turn around. She adjusted her beanie with purpose, as if to say that was that, striding off ahead of the group. She stopped at the bottom of the trail, looking over her shoulder and smirking possibly the widest, smuggest smirk to ever have existed. “Speaking of big guys, you okay there, Dave?” Miles looked back at Dave sympathetically. Dave might have been the definition of out of shape. Not terribly overweight, but slowly dying with each step. Half dragging himself down the mountain side, hunched over and face bright red. The way down wasn’t any easier than the way up; carrying all that stuff back down without falling was probably the worst part.
“Just... trying… to breathe,” the blond man gasped out. He stumbled a little, the rocks crunching beneath his feet, kicking up dust which only made him cough more.
Naomi put her hands on her hips, looking at them like she was completely done with it all. “If you can’t keep up I’m sure Jana would be more than happy to watch you bounce down the mountain.”
“You bet I would,” Jana muttered, and Miles elbowed her. She burst into giggles at that, which, despite being annoying, managed to bring a smile to his face. That smile was short lived when Mary stopped and he nearly ran right into her.
“Guys..." Mary said suddenly. "Where’s Alexis?” Miles froze at the reminder that his sister wasn’t standing right next to him anymore. The rest of the group froze with him. Jana stopped laughing, Naomi’s ever present smirk faltered and Dave nearly fell over from shock. Mary looked at him nervously. “Wasn’t she walking with you, Miles?"
“She was!" he snapped. “But maybe if you didn’t climb up mountains like a bunch freaking goats, we would have all stuck together!”
“I am not a goat!” Dave pointed out crossly. Naomi nodded at that like it was the most logical thing to have been said and Mary simply looked confused by the analogy.
Miles threw his arms up in exasperation frustration, trying to think clearly. “Has the obvious completely escaped you?!” They didn’t have time to argue; where would a little girl have gone when she got separated from the group?
“Why don’t we go look for her?” Jana asked, looking disapprovingly at the rest of the group. They all looked at her blankly like they hadn’t even thought about such an option, and she scoffed. “Wow, okay then. Resounding yes."
Naomi gestured towards the looming pine trees on their right. They bowed their great heads to the wind, creaking and straining as if holding up the whole world on their mighty branches. Not allowing for anyone else to say another word, the young woman marched into the brush. “Onward, then!” she cried. “To rescue the fair Alexis from the clutches of Miles’ inability to watch his siblings!” Miles sighed and watched as the group marched off after Naomi into the trees. He took a last look at the swiftly setting sun and the storm clouds in the distance before joining them in the undergrowth.
---
The canopy had gotten thicker, or the sky had gotten darker. They couldn’t even see ahead of them without the flashlight, now. Still, they couldn’t just leave Alexis out in the cold out here. Nor themselves, but they had forgotten that, it seemed, wandering out into the woods and losing themselves in the process. “Alexis?!” Naomi called, cupping her hands to her mouth as if it would help. Dave put a hand on her shoulder to get her to stop, then gave it a try himself, but he wasn't much louder. She had a lot more practice yelling at people that Dave could never hope to rival.
“Where are you?” Miles yelled. No reply, but the group had stopped expecting one after the last hour. It had gotten almost too dark to see, and though nobody said it, they were all starting to get worried.
“Come out, come out wherever you are,” Jana muttered, the grim humour hanging in the cold silence. An owl hooted in the distance, and the silver wind whistled, icy cold, through the pines, bending them and swaying them back and forth like reeds.
“We really need to start a fire or something,” Mary said flatly, waving around the clearing. She’d been the one to say what the group had never wanted to hear. She said it so plainly, too, like it didn’t even sting. She might as well have said 'We’re lost, and she’s gonna freeze.' Miles stared at her (or what he could see of her in the faint light of Naomi’s flashlight). She stared back defiantly, brown eyes narrowed.
There was silence among the others. Silence so cold it rivaled the icy winds, so cold it bit like frostbite, deep into the skin and left everyone black and blue. “Mary’s right,” Naomi announced loudly, breaking the silence as only she could. She leaned against a large rock and undid the straps of her backpack, leaving it resting there while the others wandered around in hopes of dry firewood. Naomi popped the clips of her bag open, searching for something that could be used as a fire starter. Miles stared out off the edge of cliff at the valley, regretting ever coming with the others. Dark grey storm clouds had gathered now, casting shadows over the land. He looked away from drop, heading off into the trees to his right, looking for something useful. The howl of a pack of wolves made him shiver, and he tried to ignore it; blame the wind. He found a decent sized log halfway tucked beneath a bush, and got almost excited it, if that word could be used to describe collecting sticks. He had to take his pack off before he could kneel down to get it, but when he went to pick it up it was ice cold and covered with dew. The young man stood up and glanced over his shoulder at Jana. Her expression flickered hopefully, but it disappeared when she went to take it from him. She drew her hand back and wiped it off on her pants.
“We can’t use that,” she muttered in annoyance, and Miles dropped it back down on the muddy ground. “It’s soaked.”
“I know,” he sighed, staring down at it like it was the saddest thing he’d ever seen. It wasn’t, he could think of several other things far more sad, like his sister when she dropped her stuffed kitty in a puddle and their mom had made her throw it away. But that was how it felt. Like that log was Alexis’ stuffed cat, soaked and useless. He looked back at Jana, unable to see her face in the dark. The opening of cliff behind her let only a little light through, casting a silhouette on her figure. “I’m starting to wish you never invited me on this hike,” he admitted.
“It was supposed to be a fun get together,” the young woman said indignantly, crossing her arms. “Not a whine fest. You weren’t asked to bring her.” Miles only shrugged at her, and they walked back to the little spot the others seemed to have picked to be the camp. Naomi looked up at them expectantly, setting a box of matches down on the rock. Miles held up his empty palms and she let out a long sigh. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the cry of wolves. She looked off into the trees, which bowed and swayed to the wind. The creatures were not far away, and they all knew it.
“This is your fault, you know,” she snapped, looking back at them, singling out Miles with her dark brown eyes. “If you hadn’t let her out of sight, we wouldn’t have had to wander out into the middle of nowhere! We would have been back by now!"
“My fault?!" he yelled, staring at her. She had the nerve to blame him for this? He had never asked to be hunted down my murderous wolves; why would he have wanted that? “You guys are the ones who made me come on this damn hike!”
Dave returned from the trees, shivering and carrying a few sticks in his arms. He went and sat down by Mary, who had rolled a large log into the clearing to sit on. They glanced at the others wordlessly and Mary whispered something to him. Dave only shrugged at her as Naomi stalked up to Jana. Naomi looked about ready to sock the other woman in the jaw, her hands balled into fists. She eyed Miles dangerously. “That was Jana! I didn’t want you to come, anyway!”
That stung him surprisingly hard. She looked like she meant it, too.
Jana looked at the other woman incredulously, and Miles stepped back before he got caught up in a fight. The woman’s grey eyes narrowed dangerously, searching Naomi’s face. The two women didn’t look away for even a moment. “If you hadn’t told me to forward the invite to him, he wouldn’t have come and he certainly wouldn’t have brought his sister!”
It was silent for a moment as the wolves screamed again, the group all pausing to listen. Jana was the first to move. She went straight for the face, palm open, and smacked Naomi right upside the head with a sound so painful it left Miles’ cheek tingling. Naomi stared back at Jana, shocked and disgusted. For only one moment, all was deadly still. The wind roared through the trees, the storm clouds drew close and the rain began to fall. The wolves howled;loud, hunting. The cries drew closer until they echoed in his ears, the pounding of the rain and the constant screams of the storm and the singing of the wolves. Just when the wind yelled it’s loudest, Naomi reached out and shoved Jana hard in the chest. The woman stumbled back in surprise, but lost her footing and... fell.
Naomi’s angry expression instantly disappeared and was replaced with a look of horror as her friend fell back off the side of the mountain. A hand went over her mouth, and her eyes watered. Miles stared off at the darkness of valley below, at the trees lit by only moonlight, a twisting feeling in his stomach. Not a sound could be heard except the distant howls of the wolves as they retreated; there had already been a hunt tonight. Miles looked down at the rocky cliffs below, eyes wide and heart pounding. He looked back at the remaining group, all staring blankly at each other in disbelief. It killed him how cold and cruel they had become, as if they thought no one was watching. All this time they’d feared the monsters, but they’d been the monsters all along.
