The woods...

The trees shaking
The wind whistling
The night of Halloween

Running, waiting to be found

By Amber Brooks
Rivendell Academy, Grade 9

The crisp air bit at my cheeks, and my shirt clung to me as I ran through the woods. I pushed the hair off my forehead and kept sprinting through the forest. I leaped over dead logs and broken branches, yearning for my hiding place; I stopped quickly. My eyes scanned the area and my ears started ringing from the piercing silence. A twig snapped. I whipped my head around and found myself catching my breath. I dashed and tore through the trees and came to a halt by a large oak. I leaned my back against the rough bark and closed my eyes, listening. I could hear leaves falling, trees creaking, and the steps of my sister's feet. A smile wavered on my face and a giggle bubbled in my throat.
"Ready or not...here I come," she laughed, and it shook the trees. The leaves rustled underneath me as I waited to be found.

i ran through the woods
to find
you
i stumbled over the cold roots
to see
if you were still there
i sprinted across the sand
to maybe glimpse
the history
i slowly walked across the creaking wood
only to find
the end of our
memories
i ran through the woods
never to find
you

I'm running threw the woods, my head is spinning and I can't breath hardly.
I try and look over my shoulder but can't,
for I am running to fast and everything is blurry.
Why is he chasing me in an angry manor?
What did I do to make him so mad I ask myself.
Did I even do anything?
My mind wonders when it shouldn't at this point and time.
I'm starting to run out of breath now.
Behind me all I hear is screaming from his voice.
I can't hear what he's saying from the noise
of my feet running on the crisp sound of the leaves.
I can hear him running closer and closer as
I get more and more tired.
I look back and he is further back then I thought.
I can't think of what I'm going to do next to get out of this.
I need to hide somehow.
My legs are getting tired now, but then my luck changes.

I run through the woods,
happy to be free,
my feet pounding on the rough ground,
my heart beating.

The birds sing a melody that I do not know,
the trees hovering over me,
protecting me.

I trip over a root.
I get back up;
my knee is bleeding, but I do not notice it.

I see light ahead of me.
I have reached the forest edge;
disappointed I lay on the grass.

I fall asleep, no longer feeling free.

I ran through the woods
Birds singing like a beautiful piano
I ran
The trickle of a stream
I ran
The stream went on like migrating birds
I jogged
Chipmunks, their cheeks full of nuts
I walked
A deer eating by a tree
I stopped
Against a tree
I sat
The sun like a warm blanket
My eyes closed
I fell asleep

I ran through the woods! The fire raced behind my paws! I am an otter. Today started normally. I fished by hand like always. After, I was walking with my catch when suddenly I smelled smoke! I ran toward the fishing brook! The brook was in sight! Suddenly I felt intense heat on my tail. I looked and realized in horror that my tale was on fire! Suddenly SPLASH! I was in the brook! And my timing could never be better!

The woods are something you just can't comprehend.
From a distance, you see their greeen tops- perhaps like hats covering an ugly face below. You see the colors, flashing..
Red. Yellow. Gold. Are they warnings? Are they welcoming signs?
People have entered, and returned without scratches. Others,
have never been found.
Do they choose their victims? Or do their victims choose them?
The calls of the crows, bellowing you to stay out? Or asking you to come in?
Come in.... Come in...
If you dare.

The sun burns hot,
the shade sizzles cool.
My thoughts become distraught,
as i begin to mewl.
The incantation of my mind,
has reality twisted,
i've found nothing to find,
except fact that fades to fiction,
i yern for recourse,
but i run these woods forlorn,
this is lifes remorse,
my mind to me it suborns.

I ran through the woods,
Heart pounding,
Breath burning the
Lungs.

Darkened branches
Reached through
Stiffened air.
Their grasp of
Knobby twigs
Growing
Ever
Closer.

My eyes dodged
Left and
Right,
Right
And left.
My heart mimicked the sound of
An old junk-bucket
Careening down a washboard
Dirt road.
The crunch of gravel
Embodied by my
Scratchy
Breaths.
Bunches of stones in
Raspy waves
Of icy air.

Every pound
Of my soles
On the
Sturdy,
Cold
Ground,
Freckled with
Amber leaves,
Sent shock waves through
My legs,
And blasts through
My bones.

Spider's
Silver
Silk
Suspended
In the midnight
Air;
Harboring the
Hollow carcass shells
Of victimized
Insects.
Gleaming eyes of
Black depths
Followed my every turn.

I thought of the
Beast.
Behind
Me.
Mocking me by
Mirroring
My every
Move of a
Muscle.
It remained concealed
In the darkness.

Its claws and teeth
Unsheathed.
Its mouth drooling
At the thought of blood.

I ran through the woods, my backpack flailing madly behind me.
I had my pillow in one hand and my stuffed bunny in the other - I wasn't turning back.
I didn't even want to look back, for fear that I would chicken out and crawl back into my mothers arms telling her that I would never run away ever again.
But I didn't look back.
I liked the sense of freedom, the sense of thrill.
I lived for it.
I wanted to let fear swallow me whole before I went back.
I wanted to actually be afraid - something I hadn't felt in so long.
Some things are just worth it.

I opened my eyes to find moonlight pouring through my curtains and onto my bare feet, uncovered by my restless flailing. I sat up, wide awake despite the hour, every sense alert. I slipped out of bed and onto the cold floor, glancing at the clock as I went into the hall and crept past my mothers’ bedroom door.
My feet pitter-pattered on the kitchen tiles as I padded to the door and unlocked it so I could escape onto the porch. My pajamas had been worn thin and were no protection from the late September chill, and I stood stalk still, eyes facing the heavens to search out the constellations. I was so enthralled with my stargazing I didn’t notice my little brother beside me until I turned to sneak back inside. He looked at me with fear in his big brown eyes.
“What’s wrong Andrew?” I tried to persuade him to tell me with my soft tone.

One day a girl went to pick apples and she saw something, and she started to walk away. She heard feet following her so she RAN! I ran through the woods trying to get away from the ugly thing that was chasing me! I couldn't really make it out but I couldn't stop now. What should I do? It was a dead end. Then I saw a hole, just big enough for me. I squeezed in and didn't make make a sound. Feet came near, I froze and couldn't move and the feet went away. I peeped out to see if it was safe and then I heard it again. I went back in the hole and I stayed there for 2 hours, and I thought it was safe but it wasn't. OH NO! It came back!!! but I couldn't just stay there! I should fight or warn the town.

As I ran through the woods
my hair whipping in the wind,
these were the woods
i grew up playing in.
They're the same,
no trees cut,
just more planted by
mother nature herself.

It's unbelievable
the owners of my parents
land let me run through
these woods again, acting
like a little girl
i used to be, chasing
fairies and leprichons.

I ran through the woods, unbeknownst even to myself as to what I was running from.

My parents? The people I called my friends? The world?

The world didn’t care what I had to say about it. It just keeps turning, oblivious to what’s

happening on it. It turns so slowly that even someone with A.D.D would get bored with it.

Pointless.

As I thought to myself, the autumn wind skimmed my mostly bare arms and face. It was cool

and refreshing. I felt like I was swimming in an Olympic race – but through the air.

Before long, I wasn’t thinking about anything at all. Not concentrating on where I was going,

or what was happening behind me.

Whoosh

Swishhh

CrackleCrackleCrackle

I ran through the dead, dried leaves, leaving an unmarked trail of me.

Maybe if I started flapping my arms, I could fly away...

I ran through the woods, the pounding of hooves right on my heels. As the noise became louder it was inevitable; I was going to get caught. Like a foreign infiltrator, I was in for a lifetime of woes, that is if I did not make my final stand here. A foreign infiltrator was one way to describe me; I just liked to refer to myself as "one with a better idea of how the empire should be run." My insight could cost me my life.

Keep going: a message of not quite optimism

Beat beat beat
My heart races as I run away
I run from my thoughts
Run from the home that
I used to know and love
The home that's abusive now
Thump thump thump
My ears pound as I run
They pound in the rain
They pound in the sun
They pound too hard
Gasp gasp gasp
My mouth gasps for air
It sounds ragged and then
It’s wonderfully rhythmic
My lungs about to burst
Slap slap slap
My feet hit the pavement
Protesting each time
No farther, please
Oh, we’re going much farther
Just wait and see
Blink blink blink
My eyes hold back tears
I need to look back
But I know I won’t
I’m leaving without a trace
Splotch splotch splotch
The wet leaves hit my hands
The weeds grab my feet
The roots for my ankles
Low branches for my head
Duck duck duck
I dodge the low branches
Just grazing my head
Wetness soaking my hair
Going through my shirt
I run through the woods
I finally break through
To a clearing

Hide

By Marissa James
Oxbow High School, Grade 12

I'm running through the forest.
Trees and brambles whip at my ankles,
and tear at my skin.
There is no color,
the night is in black and white,
and the wind splashes
across my tear soaked face.
I can't run fast enough.
There is nowhere left to go,
and no time to get there.
A root of a tree is unearthed and torn
by the tread of my sneaker.
In revolt to this unjust attack,
the tree sends a branch
thundering from the sky,
and I fall,
in a puddle of tears and blood.
But, God is not so merciful,
for I am still alive,
only now I cannot run from my past.
It's finally caught up with me.

I am in the woods
Thundering sky through the trees
I am alone
Listen to my heart beat
Boom…Boom…Boom
Lightning flashes
Boom Boom Boom Boom
Don’t think
There’s nothing there
Sudden gust of wind
Race, Race
Go with the wind
Keep moving
Keep moving
And I am gone I have become the wind

I am running through the woods, clothes torn, face and body cut and bleeding, my flesh pink but hidden under dirt. My heart is trying to blow out of my chest. My lungs feel like they are full of sawdust that keeps scratching with every attempt to get one more breath. My legs are numb. I trip and fall, but get right back up and keep going at the fullest speed I have, ducking under bushes, jumping over roots and logs, nearly falling into a hidden hole. The forest is evil. I want so bad to stop and scream, scream at it to burn, to watch it burn and laugh at how it thought to treat me as it melts away. But I can’t stop. I have to keep running. I have to get away. I can’t let them know, can’t let them find me. My body feels dead, I am no longer in control of my movement. My legs jump and run without hesitation. I can’t see where I’m going, I feel like a blind man and my legs are my dog guiding me to keep going, to keep running, to not fall, not stop.

Running through the woods

By Michele Sterling
Hartford Memorial Middle School, Grade 8

I was running through the woods, enjoying every second. I had not been in these woods for over a year. My family had decided not to come back right after Grandma’s death. I missed these woods so much -- the sweet smell of pine, the setting sun just visible through the trees.
“So beautiful,” I whispered to my dog, Blyss. She was running through the woods just ahead of me. I had named her after these woods when I got her three years ago. She was just a puppy then tripping over every little twig, every little leaf it seemed, until I had to pick her up in my arms so she wouldn’t get hurt.
Up ahead I spotted my favorite spot, my rock. This is my spot. I could sit and read here for hours, from sunrise to sunset.
I loved these woods, these beautiful, wonderful woods.
My woods.

I am running through the woods,
Running away from my fears
Trying not to think about it,
But the images just keep coming back.
Flashing repeatedly in my head
Just like a movie replaying
Over and over again.
So I am running through the woods
Not looking back
At what could have been.

I was running through the woods when I first spotted it. A dainty, little sparkling dot just sitting on a big cumbersome rock. It almost seemed as if that little dot was crying out for me to come and circle it like in those ‘what doesn’t belong’ games.

My tires flew across the crackling leaves and the dry twigs strewn across the forest floor. I was riding down a steep and technical trail leading down into the Chanburg Valley of western California. The closest town was over 20 miles west of here. This was my 11 hour of unforgiving climbs. My entire being burned with fatigue and exhaustion but I still had 20 miles left before I could rest.
My friend Steve planned to come along but 2 days before we had planned to leave he had gotten a case of severe case of pneumonia rendering him unable to come along. Me and Steve were both 25 and had grown up together near Tallahassee, Florida.
Once I reached I reached the town of Olympia I could rest for the night in a motel and go back tomorrow at first light. Finally I was within a few hours of the town and this last part was the best part of the entire ride.

I was running through the woods, running away from everything. I am sick of this life, this town, this everything. I wish I was dead. Just like my dad. He got shot this morning. He was my best friend. I stop to take a breather when I hear someone calling my name. “Julie! Julie!” It sounded like my dad. Then I hear it again. “Julie! Come back!” I almost start to cry. Then I feel someone touch my hand. It is him. We’re running through the woods now together. I hear him whisper something. “I…”Then I wake up. As I sit there in my bed, wishing this was all real, the door creaks open and it’s my dad saying, “I am so sorry.”
And that’s when I really wake up.
With tears all over my face.

It was a sunny afternoon, not a cloud in sight. I heard my phone ring and saw Julianne was calling me. I really didn’t want to talk to her right now so I hit the “Ignore” button. I saw my mom pull in the driveway. Then the house phone rang. I knew it would be Julianne so I let the answering machine get her message.
“Hi mom, I went for a ride on Noco and he was pretty crazy. We met up with Anne and her pony Acorn. He definitely was easier to handle the Crazy Noco! I ran through the woods. Anne followed me on the path. We cantered over some cross-country jumps. Anne said Noco was too big to jump them, but we jumped them anyways. Obviously he over jumped, Ha ha!” I blurted and at the last second my mom walked away. I was going out to ride Hughey in the woods.

I was running through the woods. I could feeling the beating of my heart with every step I took.
“I’m gunna get you!” I heard. He was close. I picked up the pace, running faster, everything a blur. Then I fell into a ravine. “Come out, come out wherever you are,” I heard him say softly. I couldn’t stay here. No tree or river or ravine would keep me safe, I stood up and ran, forgetting about him, the man that had been following me for the past two hours. Birds flew over head, and with two bangs and many cries they were dead. I ran faster and farther. I kept thinking, faster and farther, faster and farther. You’ll be safe just go faster and farther. I heard a dog bark. Since when did he have a dog? Then I realized it wasn’t his dog. Was it even a dog? He will find me. He will kill me. I knew it. I ran even faster. Don’t look back. Just keep going. I kept going, feet barely touching the ground now.

I ran through the woods when all of a sudden I feel into a hole, breaking my leg on the way down. From what I saw it looked like a trap, but it seemed I got away from that crazy farmer. (it was one chicken I didn’t think he’d miss it ) But now I’m stuck in a ten foot hole, and I can’t climb out because my leg is broken. Then I heard something. Like the sound of horses. It must be one of those farmers son’s trying to kill me. Just when I think it’s over a rope is thrown down. I look up and it’s a friendly gypsy she hoists me up, I look around and I see a entire caravan of the gypsies. They nursed me back to health and I joined them travelling the region selling incense and ponchos.

I ran through the woods, my hair whipping my face. I was never looking back again, EVER! The horrible creature I saw was not a pretty sight. It was chasing me throughout the woods. All I could think of was that despicable face. The giant stared at me like there was nothing wrong with hideous giants landing in front of you, dropping from nowhere. I screamed. The chase was on! That huge ugly giant was lumbering after me. Every step he took made an earthquake. I knew there was no escape. I was just running because I was not going to give the creature the satisfaction of having food quickly. If he wanted foof he was going to have work for it. But, then before I knew it, I was in the giant's mouth. I couldn't bear to hear the gulp. All I will say is that pretty soon, he was one happy giant!