The Sprout

Burning Embers: Part Two

Posted by Sambow from Cardiff - Published on 11/05/2010 at 15:15
3 comments » - Tagged as Creative Writing

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Please read part one first.

Burning Embers: Part two

So the man hunt had begun, huh?
No.
The man hunt had ended, because, there, in that forest, stood the women who was about to kill us. Or at least cart us off to be killed.
I heard Flint’s breathing deepen. He didn’t dare turn around in fear of being shot. I just saw the woman’s devious grin broaden in acknowledgment of our defeat.
What did I do?
What did I do!
Surrender? Run? I was searching through a scarce amount of options, and I was also running out of time.

“Well?” twanged the women, her Oklahoma accent full of pride, “What y’all got to say for yourselves?”
Flint and I were both silent. Another one of her laughs sliced through us and almost made me wince.
“We... We need to get out of here.” Flint half whispered, half grumbled back towards me.
"Yeah, Well Done" genius I thought but kept it to myself - not wanting to give away anything to the women before us.

“Did ya say something?” The women probed, still trying to get us to speak. Again we didn’t say anything. She raised her gun. Nothing. Her brow creased. Nada. “All right, If you won’t speak I’ll just shoot you...” she began, but the thought made me jump and I couldn’t stop my next out burst.
“No! Wait!” I screamed, not being able to help myself. Great, the stalling was now over. Her devilish smile returned “Now honey, I don’t wanna say anything anymore.” The women’s voice had started to become more than a little annoying.
However, I needed to keep her talking. “We’re only kids - please don’t hurt us!” I pleaded taking the pity approach. It didn’t seem to faze her. I stuttered while I searched for another option “Well, uh, we’re the wrong kids - what ever you want it’s not us. Just a pair of normal, average run aways.” I realised how pathetic that excuse was but the women did seem to pause.
“Listen. I don’t care how old y’all are, you’re gonna make me rich. And I know y’all the right two ‘cause I’ve seen pictures of ya.” She laughed beginning to step closer. Every option seemed to evaporate from my mind and panic started to take control of my actions. “Okay! Okay! We admit it - we faked the whole breathing fire thing so we could run away together! Because we’re in love!” I screamed burning red with the upfront lie. I heard Flint stop breathing as he heard what I just said.

To my utmost surprise it looked like the women believed me.
“What?” She asked, genuinely sounding confused. I had no choice but to play along with it. “Uh... yeah! Isn’t that right, sweetie?” I stammered, my voice almost squeaking with embarrassment.
“What? No!” Flint turned and whispered but soon turned to stare the women in the eyes “Uh... Yeah. We faked the whole thing!” Flint practically shouted at the women, his nervousness showing clearly as well. I was sure that would have given us away but again the women seemed to believe us. She lowered her gun. I let out a huge sigh of relief as she swallowed our lies.

“I’m sorry kids; I guess I got caught up in the excitement. That was a stupid thing to do - I bet your parents are worried sick.” She droned on like another usual adult. As she continued with her drabble I began to relax. After about five minutes it sounded as if she was about to finally leave when I felt a tickle in my nose. And that was when my heart started racing.

“Go! Go please!” I screamed at the women, making her eyes bulge in surprise.
“I beg your pardon, missy?” She countered but before I could respond or push her away it happened.

I sneezed.

To my horror fire escaped my mouth and lit up the space in front of us. Unquestionably, the women soon realised the truth. Adrenaline seemed to pump through my body as everything raced and happened so fast. The women lifted her gun and fired various shots blindly, probably fuelled by rage.
“Liars!” she screamed at us trying to run around the fire. I saw Flint take charge and create a wall of fire to separate us from her to then take my hand and pull me from the scene. He yanked me so fast it felt as if my arm was going to fall off and I only had the chance to grab my rucksack. He pulled me and pulled me even when I had gained my own balance and began running with him. It was only when we had ran until our lungs were bursting that we stopped and sat down for a rest.
“You idiot!” he shouted. My face dropped at his horrible tone.
“W-what?” I could barely mouth the words. With a depressing sigh he rubbed his hands through his muddy hair.
“Oh Jeez... She’s gonna come after us and get more hunters... and every one knows where we are now!” he breathed sounding almost like he was hyperventilating. I couldn’t respond to him when he was so worked up like this, so just decided to keep quiet.

After a momentary pause he looked up at me, “Sorry. You don’t need to be so quiet, I didn’t mean it.” he mumbled kicking dirt from beneath his foot.
“Yeah, whatever.” I nodded. My tone was just as careless as his. But everything, if brief, of what he said was true, including me being an idiot. I watched Flint with sad eyes feeling the life drain from me... as if preparing myself for death at any second. My eyes followed Flint as he paced back and forth, still rubbing his head.
“Get up.” He ordered, abruptly snapping me out of my trance.
“Huh?” Was all I could manage.
“We’re running away again, it’s our only option.” Flint continued to pace before grabbing my hand. I yanked it from his grip.
“No thanks, I don’t want you to drag me half-way across the forest again.” I protested standing up. “It’s what we always do though, isn’t it?” I asked throwing him a piercing look.
He shrugged. “What do you mean?”
“Run! Run Away!” I flailed my arms in the air like I always did when I was worked up.
“Yeah, we do. ‘Cause it’s all we can do. Now move.” Flint was eerily calm about everything after his ‘freak-out’ a few moments ago. I got up and followed Flint to whenever he was leading me.

But above all I decided not to argue, because like always Flint was right.

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IMAGE: Kevin Tiqui

Burning Embers: Part Three