Ni Nadurtha

Leaving my cold house and opening my front door, I felt the change in the atmosphere almost immediately. While inside, I had all the lights on and my brother had been playing a videogame full-volume. Outside,  however,  the air was warm and humid, and it was dark, a shade of blue-grey. The only noise was the sound of a hawk screeching and the wind blowing, along with rumbles of thunder. I made my way to my bicycle, deciding I wanted to go for a ride. I had sat inside all day reading, and had just finally decided at 6 in the evening that I needed some fresh air. Living in an isolated patch of woods had always had benefits, and now was no exception. Because I had no neighbors, I could ride a bike in my dress without caring, knowing that no one would see me. My parents were out celebrating their 20th anniversary, too. My younger brother, Seamus, was 12 and was fine with being home alone. I don’t think he had even noticed me leaving. Going at a leisurely speed, I turned out of my long driveway, lined with willow trees, and went on the main road. I actually did have neighbors, in fact there were seven houses scrunched together. However, they were nearly a mile down the road, near the highway. 

When my parents had moved to our town after getting married, my father bought 700 acres of woodland with inheritance money he received after my Grandfather Frances, chairman of a large law firm in Manhattan, died. Upon exploring the property he bought, my father found an old abandoned house in the middle of it all, left untouched for at least ten years. I had seen pictures he took on the very first day he discovered the building in 1993. Since he was an architect, he was able to refurbish the house, and my mother, an interior designer, had made it into the beautiful house that was now our home, and had been since I was born. Now I was sixteen, almost seventeen. It’s interesting how I can almost envision my parents, 18 years ago, working so hard to create our home into what it now was. I can imagine my dad ripping out old floorboards, my mom painting the walls, creating something perfect. While I had been thinking, I traveled further into the woods then I had intended. My father jogged throughout the woods everyday, and he had paid a landscaper to make a nearly 3-mile long course that curled throughout the forest that we called home. There were forks in the path  in several places, with little signs providing instructions to different terrain and one path led to a main street that lined our property, which I was now close to. I was so far from the house, and it was getting so dark! I frowned as I thought of this, and decided to head back. After riding my bike for 5 minutes, my legs got tired and I was bored. Obviously, I thought, because you’re already pooped. You should work out more! Scowling at my inner monologue, I decided to leave my bike here and walk back. That way I would have to get some exercise from walking right now, and when I came back for it tomorrow! Genius. I smiled to myself and began to walk back home. I had actually only gone on the course a handful of times, never really athletic enough to care for all the walking or bike-riding I would have to do. I was naturally slim, so I didn’t feel the need to bother. 

After 10 minutes of walking, I could see my house, though it was still far away. The sky was now almost black, full of heavy clouds bursting at the seams with water droplets waiting to fall. A tremendous  rumble startled me, and a crack of lightning striked the ground behind me. Shrieking, I started to run home, when the rain suddenly started to pour. Knowing it would take me too long to get home, almost ¾ of a mile away, without getting soaked and getting a cold, I decided to find the gazebo my father had built which I knew was nearby, on the edge of a large pond, and wait the rain out. 

I pulled my cell phone out of my dress’s  pocket, and called my house while ducking under a large tree that kept me dry. I knew this was so hazardous, being under a humongous tree with a cell phone, of all things, and that lightning  could strike me dead any second, but I didn’t care, because I had heard the statistics of getting struck so I figured I was fine. I listened to line ring, hoping that Seamus would pick up. 

“Where are you Felice!?” he yelled into the phone. 

Oh, sure don’t say hello or anything, I scowled to myself. “hey, I went for a bike ride, and it started raining. So I’m just going to wait it out under the gazebo, okay?” 

I loved the gazebos. There were 6 scattered throughout the woods, although I didn’t know where half of them were because I wasn’t allowed to really even go on the course. My dad said he didn’t want me or Seamus out there alone, although I’m not sure why. I always snuck out when they weren’t home. 

“We’re not supposed to ride our bikes out there, though! Why do you get to, that’s not fair.”

I could imagine my brother frowning, angrily swiping his dark hair out of his green eyes. “I know, I just wanted to! Anyways, if mom and dad come home before me just tell them I went to get Roscoe cus she ran away or something, okay?” Roscoe was our German Shepard, she was 4 years old and got loose often.

“Whatever, Felice. Get home soon though! I’m not gonna make some elaborate story up for you!” he grunted and hung up. I frowned. I would, why couldn’t he? Probably because he’s a boy, I thought to myself. 

I started to scan the forest with my eyes, seeing if I could catch the white beams of the gazebo, when a black shadow moved swiftly and caught the corner of my left eye. It was gray outside, not black, and the shadow was out of place, so I knew I wasn’t just seeing things, which made me more nervous. My back and underarms started to burn and I felt perspiration on my upper lip as I slowly looked all around me, although I was too scared to actually move my body and make a run for my bicycle.  

 

I saw something move out of the side of my right eye, and froze entirely. Now that I had seen it twice, I knew what the shape was: a human.

 

 

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ahh! okay so after being on here awhile i decided i wanted to try my hand at writing something! uh, i haven't even thought of anything really for it yet besides this, so it's a work in progress hah (:

so um vote and comment please! constructive criticism is welcome!

oh and Ni Nadurtha means"not natural" in gaelic. so, yeah.! thanks for reading!