Prompt Write!: Would have put this up earlier. Was hoping to after more people had responded.
The young boy poked his stick in the ground in front of him letting it sink into the water before using it to vault to the next plot of soggy earth. Once over he turned to wait for his friend to do the same. She landed next to him with a squish and they kept moving, taking little hops to more stable ground as they went along. Their parents had told them not to go wandering in the woods because they could easily get lost and who knew what kinds of things were hiding in there, but they pair had a need for adventure. They’d been so many times before that they knew how to move around it without becoming soaked. They’d learned that the hard way and had gone home with more than their fair share of soggy clothes and leeches and had been reprimanded.
They came upon a tree that had long ago fallen across a particularly large stretch of water much to their luck. Many of the branches at what had been the top had broken off in the fall and scattered about and had been taken by the children and used in their various projects around the swampy area. The boy adjusted his backpack and took a tentative step onto the log, sliding his foot about to check how slippery the log was. When he was satisfied, he stepped up and walked across holding his stick out to help keep his balance. Halfway across the tree, he heard a splash behind him and twirled around quick fully expecting to see his friend in the water, but she was a few steps behind him and had stopped moving. He started to fall himself but a combination of him thrusting the end of his stick into the muck and his friend grabbing him, he stayed up.
“You heard that right?” He asked. She nodded while moving a strand of blonde hair out of her face and looking around the area. The two stood as still as they could, after the boy regained his balance on the tree, and looked around trying to find the source of the noise. Finding nothing they made their way to the end of the tree and lept off. Another splash sounded behind them and they both turned, this time neither at a risk of falling. There was nothing though.
“Probably just some animal,” the girl suggested. “Let’s just get to the house.” He shrugged and let her lead the way this time, mimicking her steps until the swamp gradually grew more solid and they could walk side by side. They continued to march with a little more haste once it was safe to despite the sounds having stopped already. They eventually slowed their pace as they came within sight of the crumbling stone house. Since they had found the place on one of their expeditions a few years ago they had been going to it whenever they went into the woods. They’d never found out why it was there, and they were too afraid to ask their parents and teachers for fear of scolding. So they kept it their secret and given up reading through the library for answers. It was a nice place, on top of slight hill at the back of a clearing. The walk was never too far, as long as they were careful and their had been no recent storms.
It was old, that much they had guessed from the first time they saw it. It wasn’t very tall and parts of the wall had fallen away and littered the base. There might have been a door, but in the times the children had come to the house there had only been a doorway. Most of the place was empty, except for one room which they had never been able to check due to a large iron door that had become rusty but had still stood firm. They had tried kicking and hitting with various sized sticks and even brought a hammer once, but it never worked and they had decided to let it be. The main room had been overrun by plants when they first found the place, but over their visits they cleared it out as best they could, discovering a fireplace, a stone floor with many cracks, and not really much else. They had eventually rolled a large rock in from outside and using branches, bark, and other things from home to build a makeshift table on its surface.
Once safely inside the two sat down on small logs. The boy took out a thick tablecloth to spread over their table. Paper bags were placed on the table, lunches were examined and items were swapped. Both the kids were supposedly going to a park to play with some friends and their parents had made them lunches since they didn’t plan on being back until dinner as was usual in the summer.. They ate while they talked, ignoring the ‘don’t eat with your mouth full,’ rule. Sometimes they made jokes and stuck out their tongue at each other and sometimes they just looked out what they assumed might have been a window, but could have very well just been hole in the wall. Outside the sunlight filtered through the leaves bathing the area in a green haze while the birds were swooping around picking up bread crumbs that the boy had tossed out. The girl followed suit and tossed a few of her chips out to the frenzy of birds that had started to gather. The birds chirped as they fluttered around giving the two a nice song to eat to.
“Did you hear about the-” the boy had been saying but the girl held up her hand and he quieted immediately. She took out her phone typed something into it and then placed it onto the table. “People?” he mouthed to her, but she shook her head. She hadn’t typed anything for him on the phone so he was forced to listen. There was nothing for a long time prompting the girl to forget whatever it was she had heard.
“Sorry.” He shrugged and tried to remember what he was going to say but it escaped him and he moved on to the upcoming school year. They would be going into middle school soon and they both seemed relatively excited for it. “My mom was saying that it would be good to meet new people.” This time the boy heard something and the girl didn’t have to be told to stay quiet. The world shook as something crashed outside the building shaking the more loose stones from the building. They looked at each other quietly before slowly pulling on their packs. The world shook again while the girl picked her phone from the table the boy held three fingers and counted down. He yelled go and they bolted after hopping out the window. The sound of breaking limbs echoed behind them as the made their escape.
After ten minutes of full sprinting they sat down at a tree glancing back the way they came. No energy left, they had accepted their fate. A lumbering figure made its way slowly towards them. They both reached into their respective packs pulling out their only weapons when the girl let out a laugh. She tossed her pack down and jogged to the beast. The boy got up to race after her, but when he saw what had been following them, he laughed too and slowed to a walk.
“I thought you learned last time not to go there,” the girl said as the boy caught up. A huge humanoid figure towering over them at twelve feet was shaking its head and muttering. It was as if a child has shoved together whatever it could find to make a human. It was mix of wood and stone with vines growing everywhere like it was holding it together. On its head the vines had formed a sort of nest that resembled a crown. The creature raised on of its hands, made from small delicate rocks with more vines intertwined with them, and placed it to its mouth.
The girl placed her hand on the giant who looked at her with its purple crystalline eyes. She ushered over the boy who put his hand on next to hers. They closed their eyes and their hands grew warm and glowed purple. When they finished there was a loud sigh from above them.
“I am sorry,” the giant said. Cracking and creaking, it stretched its body out and shook its limbs. The voice was deep and slow, but not unintelligent. “Another had been caught. I had to.” The children nodded as the giant hoisted them upon the shoulders and walked back to its home.
“Did you at least save anything?” It nodded.
“I have discovered nothing more. Have you my friends?”
“I have not,” the girl said sadly. The boy shook his head as well. He had asked his mother about the forest only once after she had forbid him to go into it. She put him in his room and told him not to ask again. When they reached the mossy house the children jumped down from their friend and into the window where they food still sat. The giant fell to the ground with a heavy thud and stuck its roots into the earth letting another sigh escape. The kids moved outside to sit with their friend.
“A rest,” the giant said before closing its eyes. The trees around them shook very briefly causing a few leaves to sail to the ground. No longer fearing what had been following them, the two children leaned against the giant’s mossy trunk. Bird landed on the crown of the giant and gave the trio a song as they napped.