Oscar M

I woke to the sound of leaves rustling on my front porch. As I crept down the cylindrical log stairs, I tripped, landing on my face in front of Jerry, his tongue halfway up my face, covering me in drool. I heard his chew toy squeaking under his tail. Whilst it reminded me of the cry my dad let out when the moose charged at him, I tried to ignore the fear of death taking over my heart. I reached out slowly to scoop up Jerry’s kibble from the box when I saw mum, struggling to collect a large pile of firewood for the fire. I dropped the scooper and in seconds I was carrying the firewood for our little fire.

As I went for a second pile, mum randomly asked me, “can you go hunt the moose that sadly killed your father?” She had yet to move past his death. I looked at her blankly.

“I’ve two reasons,” she continued. “Firstly because I’m getting hungry and secondly because I kind of don’t want the moose to come.”

“But you know how I get the shivers when you mention dad’s passing to me,” I responded.

“Please Bernie, you can take Jerry with you.” Mum answered.

“Fine,” I replied hesitantly. Maybe an unsuccessful search would put her mind to rest.

The mud squelched as I crushed the evergreen leaves with my Kathmandu boots. My rifle lay in my arms ready to pull the trigger at anything wanting to attack me. I scanned the area, still unable to see any animal of any species. The only animal in sight was Jerry. He sniffed around, trying to find the scent of an animal to follow. As he smelt for a trail, I continued to scavenge on, through the tunnel of trees that seemed to be blocking all the sunlight. The sun, however, moved slightly, becoming a bike light, flashing between the trees. I suddenly felt cold as sun is was blocked again, releasing a darkness which was to cover the rest of my hunt.

As scared I was, I felt safe with Jerry by my side. I continued to patrol through the wicked, wacky woods, hoping to find the moose and get back home, and find everything perfect, but of course that wasn’t going to happen. I was always that unordinary child whose father was attacked and trampled by a moose.

At that moment, I had nothing (apart from trees) in my line of sight, therefore the thought of finding the moose was even trickier than I’d imagined. I was not prepared to stay the night but I can’t find a moose (which is most likely), what would I do?. I felt shivers down my spine as night fell on me, the moon not yet shining; a waning moon. I released Jerry off his leash, allowing him to sniff further ahead than before. He strolled along and suddenly he turned around, pointing his paw towards a large, rustling bush. One large enough to fit a moose, I thought.

I lifted the barrel and… Bang. The rustling stopped and a depressing thud filled the air. I walked towards it tentatively. To my surprise, The moose lay dead. I was blinded for a split second whilst the smoke left the barrel. Caught in a trance at the sight at my feet, I was oblivious to the patter of footsteps coming towards me.

“Ahh,” I screamed, a split second later, as I was shoved into a hole by something hidden in the trees. I quickly realised the positioning of the hole and I figured out that I was meant to fall in. “Bring the moose to mum, I’ll be back” I yelled out to Jerry as I fell. The last thing I saw was Jerry grabbing the tail of the moose with his jaw.

Inside the hole, darkness covers the area making it extremely hard to see. I jumped up and attempted to grab onto the rim but realised that the roof is too high to reach and I could only faintly see. I looked further down to see a small flash about the size of a twenty cent coin. I saw more and more flashes and then one as large as a television. As I strode towards it, I came to realise that it was a pile of cash. Without thinking, I grabbed five coins and afterwards, hearing the ground shake, a huge metal block headed straight towards me. As I sprinted away from the door I suddenly stopped as I looked down to see a cliff. Surprisingly not there was water at the bottom. As I jumped off, I grabbed onto a small crack in the wall, realising that another crack above was forcing me to let go.

“Ahh,” I yelled as I dived down to what was water, however, it changed to a purple sea with black and pink. As I crashed into the purple swirl, I approached darkness and could only see black…

“Ahh!” I screamed as I woke to a shark above my head, peacefully swimming. Bubbles shot out of my nose and I realized I could breathe without needing to seek for air. What's going on here? I wondered, as I familiarised myself with my new found skill. I looked around, still amazed by the fact that I could breathe and swim like a fish. Still scared of death, I looked for shelter from the ferocious beasts above me. I noticed that when I was beneath the bed, I found that my ability to breathe underwater vanished almost immediately. I soon realised that I had to face my fear and go out to the open. I dodged the oncoming sharks, ducking and side sweeping. I continued to dodge until I came up against the great white that I soon realised was what I was required fight. I tugged at its tail, trying to rip it off in one go, but unfortunately, it didn’t do any damage. In fact, it just made it more aggravated. I reached back, fumbling around in my backpack, trying to grab hold of my rifle. Nothing.

I put my face into my arms to the fact that I lost my father's rifle. I looked back. I saw it between a coral reef at the bottom about 1 kilometre from me. Fear quivered down my spine as I retrieved my arm from the empty backpack and waited for the shark to make its first move. Its tail whacked me into the reef, fortunately beside my rifle. After I shot the bullet I saw the bullet slowly moving towards its head, it was an easy dodge. After the threat, the shark chomped at my leg giving me a deep wound, I knew I wasn’t safe in the open so I swam as fast as I could through a small hole which I thought was safe. Through the hole, I saw more sharks. However, they were smaller but still vicious. I held my cut trying to prevent the sharks from smelling my blood. I started swimming to the surface, yet after several attempts I, realised that there was a current pushing me down. My only hope was to attack the sharks preventing them from killing me. I quickly weave through the two largest sharks unfortunately they both smell the blood making them sprint in water towards me. I grab the tail of the smallest one just in time to hit the other sharks.

I looked around but saw no shark in range, as I turned around I saw all three gnashing their teeth. I quickly manoeuvred between them and ripped the gills off one killing it. Whilst holding the corpse I used it as a weapon against the others. Meanwhile I grabbed a fin of one, tearing it off in one tug. As it lay dead motionless I was reminded of my father. The last shark was just like him: strong, defensive, courageous yet different to others. I had to kill that shark for my own safety. I pulled out my gun a metre away from the great white, I pulled the trigger hitting them right in between the eyes. I tried to swim to the surface however the current was still pushing me down, though that time my rifle left my grasp. I still wondered why I couldn’t swim up to the crystal surface. I suddenly became aware why I was prevented from going up. I was still afraid of death. I didn’t know how I could stop my fear, it was too strong to overcome. Afterwards I realised the mistake I’d made, I had attacked the sharks first, meaning I had killed innocent animals for no given reason at all, which somehow allowed me to overcome my greatest fear, death. As astonished as I was, I suddenly realised that I was losing my ability to breathe under water.

Bubbles formed as I screamed out for breath, swimming at my full extent up. That time however, realising there was no current pushing me down. I gasped for air as I rushed up to the surface ignoring the fact that my father’s rifle was 400 metres away from me. i breathed intensely as I rushed to the closest beach, fortunately at the time it was unattended. The sand was bombarded with water as waves crippled on the melting sand. As I left the ocean I felt dry as if I hadn’t interacted with water for days. I left no trail in the sand even though I was wearing boots that squelched through the sandy tropical landscape. Travelling through the wood I heard a familiar sound: “Ahrr! Ahrr!” It was Jerry, as happy and relieved as I was. I became confused as to why I could hear him.I scanned the area only to see Jerry out of the corner of my eye, tangled in a net hanging from a branch. I sprinted rushing past the tall oak trees. “Urghh,” I yelled, disgusted at the fact that an arrow was half protruding from his leg. Blood spurted out from the wound as I had taken out the arrow. Jerry shuffled and wobbled on his three legs but managed to project forward. I sprinted through the woods, Jerry in my arms rushing to the nearest shelter.

Night started to fall for the second time, however, this time the moon was waxing. It had been a long time since I initially set off. I continued to scavenge through the dark landscape hoping to fall into a hole that lead back home.

“Ahhh,” I yelled as I tripped over a small rock hidden in the grass, fortunately releasing Jerry in the last minute preventing him from getting crushed as Landed in the dense mud. leaves along with mud and dirt were smeared all over my face and body. I tried to rub it off but it stayed on. I looked ahead and saw a blurred fire. I heard tribal voices and was called over by one of their main members “Mawralgum, you have arrived my son,” he boomed. I hesitantly crouched on one if the logs rubbing off the remaining mud. I suddenly saw them whisper to each other pointing in my direction: “attack!” A tribal leader yelled as he pulled out his crossbow. leaves brushed past my face as I sprinted into a nearby bush spying on them through the leaves.

Suddenly I hear a rustle in the bush next to me and I realise I forgot Jerry.

“Here boy,” I whisper as I see an arrow slam into the bush he was in. “Sprint,” I muttered to Jerry as I pointed in a direction behind the bush. He took off immediately almost running into a tree! I whistled leading Jerry to a sudden halt. I slowly crept to him grabbing him as I crawled back along the path, now able to hear the tribe searching for me. I started to sprint hunched over running to the nearest place to hide. I resist the scream as a tarantula crawls up my face rearing to bite at any moment. I let it crawl aware that if I it bites I may not be able to get treatment in Time. I slowly placed my hand on the trunk of a tree hoping it will crawl off. I started to sprint back realising it was a lot easier if I wasn’t hunched over. Trees passed me quickly as I start to head back to the log cabin now in sight at least one kilometre away. As I started to leap back to the log cabin, I looked around for any traps that could trip me up. The house was now 400 metres away from me and in minutes I would be there. As I got closer, I realised that the old log cabin was now a house. I opened the door to see mum not home and my eyes were immediately drawn to a note that lay on the kitchen table. I picked it up and read it aloud to myself.

“I left to look for my son, Bernie. If you find him before I return, please call me on 555 576 567.” The note was dated: 06/09/2016. I checked my watch, it had re-calibrated. The date read: 07/12/2040 .. .