The Short Cut (Challenge #132) --PG-13

[librarian_7]

This is for Champagne Challenge #132, “Short and Scary!” Yes, it really is 1313 words. No copyright infringement is intended. And a big honking shout out to Allegrita and Lilly, who helped me get the words cut down to the right number, and tightened up the story considerably in the process. You guys totally rock!

Please note, the rating is for strong language.

The Short Cut

Beth knew better. She really did. Even if it was shorter, cutting through the park after school was a bad idea. Oh, sure, during the summer it was okay, when she was walking in the evening sunshine. But at the end of October, with Daylight Savings gone for another year? She was walking through the wooded area of the park. At night. By herself. Dumb.

In the light, it was a perfectly normal walk, the path dappled with shade, and usually with the faint, reassuring sounds of children playing nearby. But once darkness fell, it became a different place. Shadows felt dangerous, evil lurked behind every tree, around every bend of the path. Tonight, especially, she was jumping at every little noise. She’d swear she heard footsteps behind her, scuffing through the dried leaves that had drifted over the gravel path.

She laughed to herself. She was being silly. No one was waiting to jump out at her. She’d walked this way a thousand times; it was safe.

But that didn’t ring true, even to her ears. This evening, she’d been working late on the new issue of the high school paper, and the feature article had been a story on how to stay safe. And it sure didn’t include anything about walking alone through isolated park areas at night.

What was that noise? Beth stopped, turning around. “Who’s there?” she called out, her voice less steady than she liked.

The footsteps behind her—and there had been footsteps—stopped.

This was getting spooky. Beth started down the path again, walking a little faster. Sure enough, she heard something in the leaves behind her. Could be a raccoon, she supposed. But she didn’t slow down.

There it was again. A sound like leather wings slapping against a tree trunk. She had a sudden flash, one of those dreamlike memories of the scary lady, who’d taken her when she was little. She still wasn’t sure what was real, and how much her mind had created, out of fear. She shook her head, trying to clear out the cobwebs. Childhood trauma, so not the point right now.

A twig snapped, and she jumped. Okay, almost running now. Pretty soon, she wouldn’t be able to hear anything but the pounding of her own heart. Somehow the path seemed much longer than usual, and she realized that she must have missed the fork that led to home and safety.

Wait, was that a light ahead? And voices? Beth hurried forward.

In the clearing, a fire blazed in a metal grate, with several young men who looked way too old for high school standing around it, drinking beer and talking. They looked up as Beth entered the clearing, and one of them grinned.

“Well, hello there, sweetheart,” he said, pushing a hand back through his hair. “Wanna party?”

Beth stopped. This wasn’t a safe haven after all. She glanced to either side, assessing the situation. “Uh, not tonight,” she replied.

One of the boys, a stocky dishwater blond in a Metallica t-shirt that had seen better days, was moving out to her left. “Oh, I dunno,” he said. “You look like you could use a good…party.”

While she looked at him, trying to formulate a response, his friend moved closer. “I think we could show you a real good time.”

Beth tensed, and backed up a step or two, slowly. “No…if I don’t get home on time, my mom will call the cops. And I’m late already.”

Metallica grinned, “You’re gonna be a lot later,” he said, and to his friends, “Grab her!”

Beth broke to the right, trying to run from the clearing, but the third guy, a skinny man with thick brown hair, was too fast. He caught her by the shoulder and spun her roughly back toward the other two. She grunted and stumbled, trying to avoid the hands reaching for her.

One of them taunted, “What’s the matter, honey, don’tcha wanna play?” and another chimed in.

“Come on, baby, we’ll show you how it’s done.”

“Let me go,” Beth shouted, “or I’ll scream!” She was thinking fast, desperately looking for a way out. Maybe she could fake her way past these guys, get out of this mess. But the hands were on her, now, groping at her breasts, reaching for her hips as she tried to slap them away.

“Go ahead and scream,” Metallica panted, shoving her closer to his buddies. “No one’s gonna hear you.”

Beth elbowed him in the stomach, and tried to kick his shin. She was afraid he was right, though. No one else was stupid enough to be caught in these woods after dark.

And it was very dark. The fire had died to dull, red embers, and up above, rags of clouds were gathering, obscuring the gibbous moon. Beth was afraid that even if she broke free, she wouldn’t know which way to run, which path might lead her to safety.

She heard a grunt in the darkness, a flurry of leaves scattering, and a soft thud, as something hit the ground. One of the attacking shadows seemed to have vanished. She wondered if he’d tripped on a tree root, and fallen, but she didn’t have time to think about that.

Someone pulled her hair, viciously. There were no more taunts, just reaching hands in the darkness, heavy breathing. She kicked out, her sneaker connecting solidly, and her hair was released. She staggered sideways, hoping it was away from her attackers.

A low growl rumbled around the clearing, reminding Beth of a film she’d seen in Biology class, about big cats. She could feel her scalp prickling in fear—that definitely didn’t sound human. These guys might be a threat, but this sounded like real danger.

Another scuffle in the darkness, more thuds, and a muffled crack. Someone yelled, “Ahh, fuck! My arm’s broke!” Then another sound, a meaty impact, and the voice stopped.

The last of Beth’s attackers backed away, moving closer to the dying fire. Looking around wildly in the dark, he grabbed an empty beer bottle off the ground, and smashed it against the metal grate. A few drops of beer flew into the embers, along with the broken glass, sizzling and making tiny flashes as the alcohol burned. Holding the neck of the jagged bottle out like a weapon, he swung around, peering into the darkness. “Zack? Joey?” he said, sounding a lot less confident than he had, “Where are you guys? Quit screwing around.”

He got no answer, but Beth thought she saw a long, shadow cross in front of her, and the next thing she knew, the third creep had gone down. She didn’t stop to wonder how—she turned and ran, hands in front of her to push aside the brush.

She could hear something rustling in the leaves, and she ran faster, heedless of the uncertain footing. Whoever—whatever—it was, didn’t exactly seem to be chasing her. More, well, flanking her. And herding her.

She stumbled and fell, skinning her knee and tearing her jeans. As she clapped her hand to the bloody place, she heard that growl again, and she was up and running without thought.

A few more yards, and she burst out of the woods, on the wrong side of the park, but out in the open at last, not far from the friendly glow of a streetlight. She could get to a house from here, ask to use the phone. She might not be safe yet, but she’d get there.

At the woods’ edge, a darker shadow watched her approach a lighted house, then turned away. Once again, he’d remained out of sight, but when she needed him, he’d been there. He always would be. For now, there was still a scent of blood in the air, and that was his business, wasn’t it? Blood.

[Lucy]

1313 of the most bone chilling words I've read this month..... Great answer to the challenge!

[Marigold]

Oh, poor Beth! What a scary situation to be in. She's lucky she had a guardian angel watching over her.

At the woods’ edge, a darker shadow watched her approach a lighted house, then turned away. Once again, he’d remained out of sight, but when she needed him, he’d been there. He always would be.

Nicely done, Lucky! As usual, I loved it!

Marigold

[cassysj]

Wow! That is really amazing. Beth has always been impulsive and it could have turned out horribly for her.

[MickLifeCrisis]

That one gave me the shivers! But it was a wonderful read! Thanks for the scary tale!

(And the new vocabulary word... I had to look up "gibbous". )

[allegrita]

Lucky, it was my great pleasure to help a bit with this wonderful story. I loved Beth here - already working on the school newspaper, already taking what might be considered to be stupid chances, but smart and savvy and capable, and filled with courage. And, of course, she's got her own personal scary-as-hell Guardian Angel out there in the shadows... thank goodness!

[Luxe de Luxe]

great, scary vignette. this one seemed to be full of sound -- twigs snapping, droplets sizzling, things thudding, rustling, grunting, growling, and cracking -- it really built the tension! Whew, by the end I think I was as relieved as Beth to have made it out and into the light.

[LadyAilith]

I had goosebumps! Nicely done Lucky!

[maggatha3]

13 has always been my lucky number, so 1313 proved even better, Lucky!! What a great answer to the challenge..Short and creepy, and all those sounds made it so lively and even more scary. I wonder ..to what other mess would that young lady get in, had she known she had such a guardian angel beside her!!

[francis]

This was totally awesome. Scary, but also so full of the Beth and the Mick we know later. Beth wrote stories for the highschool paper already, had no regard for her own safety despite knowing it in theory, and fought against the attackers as hard as she could. It wouldn't have been enough, but she didn't wait to be rescued.
Mick, in the shadows, protecting her, staying hidden and only watching her from afar.
I can't shed the feeling that Mick was careless that night. Didn't his rustling and shuffling make Beth run into the bad men in the first place? Wouldn't she have gone past them without a scratch if she wasn't running in panic?
She learned a valuable lesson there. Maybe Mick should have, too.

[Lilly]

Or maybe those footsteps behind her weren't Mick's... maybe he dispatched another unseen threat before he took care of the thugs in the clearing.


I love this, Lucky. Enough detail to get your heart pounding, but enough left to the imagination to make it spooky. And the last two lines? Chilling.

[francis]

Oh Lilly, I didn't even think of that. Bad francis for blaming Mick!

[Lilly]

Well, you never know -- and that's one of the things I like about this.

[librarian_7]

And I'll never tell...

Thanks so much for all the comments! I think, despite the fact that we know she has a very active guardian angel, that Beth...had every reason to be completely terrified.

Maybe it's just me, but I like to think that she did give her guardian angel a bit of a workout...that he wasn't bored all those years, watching over her.

I will say, the park itself, is closely, although not entirely, based on a park not far from my house, where I used to walk. I've never had a bad experience there, but a) I usually don't go there at night b) I often am with my husband and c) I always have at least one 50+ lb dog with me. We do often see evidence that teenagers have been having illicit late night parties in the woods, however...I'm sure most of them would be more likely to offer to share their pot, than attack, but you just never know.

Lucky

[fairytoes]

You know, reading that when it's already dark outside, might have been not my brightest idea of the day. This was quite scary and a wonderful answer to the challenge. Thank you!