A Short Story Collection

Jaguars And People

Vroom.....

The jeep drove past the forest, through the bridge, and into their new home. His father stopped the car and woke up the boy who had been sleeping in the back.

"Wake up!"

The boy woke up with a jolt and jumped off the back of the jeep.

"Is this our house?"

The father nodded and they went inside with their possessions. They had recently moved to the Amazons because his father was an archaeologist interested in a Mayan dig. It had been recently unearthed by loggers who had been chopping through the forest.

"It looks musty..."

The father looked at the wooden boards and the dust pile that they had walked through.

"Well, we're in the middle of the Amazon.", the father said.

Then he went to the jeep and got out their stuff. The boy began to explore the house. He ran through the house and up the stairs. He romped through the house and looked through every nook and cranny. He looked outside.

It was getting dark, and his father still hadn't come inside. He flew down the stairs and out the front door.

"Dad! Dad!", the boy yelled.

He looked around the barren forest and heard a noise. Looking that way, he saw beady yellow eyes and white fangs that flashed in the night. Next to it was a ripped cloth shirt.

"AHHHHHHH!"

He ran inside and up the stairs. SNAP! The porch broke with the additional weight. He jumped inside the closet door and closed it with a click! He could hear the creature scratching the door with its sharp claws trying to get into the shack. The house shook with the cold draft of wind and he shuddered from the cold. The shack began to rattle from the wind as it grew colder and stronger.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god"

The creature broke through the door and sniffed. Its eyes squinted in the dark and became yellow orbs. It upturned the tables and scratched the sofas.

Vroom...

He heard the sound of an engine. Then he remembered his dad had gone to buy some food. Slowly, he moved toward the door and screamed.

"Dad! dad!"

He heard some more scurrying feet and growling sounds.

"Son?", his dad said.

Then the creature lunged at his father.

"AHHHHHH!", his dad screamed.

He heard a shredding sound and bone curdling screams echo throughout the house. It shook with weight as the creature began to go up the stairs.

He heard some dripping and some paw scurrying as the creature ran up the stairs of the house. Making no sound at all, the creature pounced through doors and smashed furniture to tiny bits. He continued to cry quietly as the creature went down the stairs and through the house romping it to bits.

Then the house was quiet. He knocked on the door. It didn't budge. He knocked it again. It tilted slightly but didn't budge. He pushed it with steady might. The door creaked but stood its ground. He kicked and scratched, but the door stood strong. Then he looked at the door, or otherwise-labeled the bomb shelter.

This house had been built during world war 2. He screamed and pounded his fists.

Clang! Clang!

He looked at the clapping monkey which clapped and clapped mockingly. It's smile now smirking at the boy. The boy punched the door and bit into it, but no matter how the door wouldn't budge.

The boy stood their motionless and was hopeless.

He was the middle of the Amazon with no communication. He cried as the birds chirped, the snakes hissed, and the animals ate his father's dead body.

The closet shuddered with the boy's screams and pounds.

No one could hear his screams, and he himself couldn't hear the creature going back inside the house.