One In A Million

Chapter Three

"Max how long have we been trudging through this forest now? It's starting to grow dark and my dad will be here soon." I heard Adam complain once again behind me.

I groaned and turned around, "We're here stupid. This is my special place." I gestured to the vast pond or what seemed more like a lake, that was spread out in front of us. Ever since I was younger, I would run away from home to this pond and stay here for hours upon hours at a time, but I would sneak out of my house to do so.

It wasn't the best thing to do at night because of the dangerous wildlife that lurks in these fields like Hawks and rodents that just love to chase us around.

"This is it? You do know that this place is just a pond, right? What's so special about it, there's probably a million others just like this."

I rolled my eyes at Adam, "Fine, if you don't like it then leave, it won't bother me one bit. You're ruining the beauty of it anyways." I turned my back to him and began to walk to an area full of rocks to sit on.

He huffed and I knew he was going to try and be the bigger person here, "Ok, then I will go, and you're just going to be here all by yourself with no one to protect you."

"Believe me that I can protect myself from danger, I do it all the time." but in the back of my mind a thought about the danger lingered closely, "Just go already."

He said no more after that, all I could hear was the rustling of the grass beneath his feet and the noise growing fainter. Who needed someone like him, I can enjoy my pond alone much easier.

It was pretty silent now, except for the occasional chirp from a cricket or a croak from a nearby bullfrog. I did miss Adam a little, but he was being rude and I couldn't let him tell me off.

I gazed into the water to see a small ripple occur, and then another one, followed my a few more. It almost felt like the ground was shaking, but not like an earthquake. The rumbling kept growing bigger and bigger until I was practically bouncing on my bottom. I was hoping it was a new creature that I could investigate on out of interest, so I decided to go explore.

I pulled back some of the thicker reeds of grass and what do I see? I see a peculiar shape. Outlined in the sunset, water dripping off its moist skin, and small rivers were trickling from a gigantic mane stop its head. As my brain wrapped around what I was seeing, I let out a scream. It was a giant! A giant teenage looking boy! Swimming in the pond that I was standing on the shoreline of.

I did the only thing I could think of at the moment: run as fast as I could.

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I had quickly snuck back into my grandmothers house, just to retrieve my swimsuit and get back out before she could see me. She did know that I was going to be out late, but not swimming. She had a small outhouse that looked like it hadn't been used in quite a while, so I just changed in there and headed back over to the pond.

The sun was beginning to set, and I did know about some of the animals at night, so I was very well alert. I neared the lake and set my items down by the shoreline when I reached it. The water was very bone chilling, but refreshing at the same time, I put my foot in first and then slowly settled in.

I dunked my head under and ruffled my hair a bit to get it soaked, when I resurfaced, I noticed some movement behind one of the bushes and something screaming?

Glancing over to my right I definitely saw something moving, something small and fast that darted between the reeds and grasses. Peering closer in, I hoped to catch a better glimpse of this creature in my imagination. Probably a mouse or some other rodent. I saw a flash of red- so it wasn't a mouse, I decided to reach for it, don't ask me why, I just did. Maybe I wanted to get a better look, or deep down, I just wanted it.

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Sadly I'm not too smart when I'm startled or scared, and I ended up its makes good a bunch of noise and sudden movements. Oh god! Was he going to catch me, and eat me, or rip me apart, or slash me? As I ran I heard noises all around me. This was probably the boy searching among the plants for me, Ha! Hopefully he'll never find me amongst these plants. The sun had almost fully set and the bright shining moon took its place in the night sky. When I heard a screech.

The screech wasn't from the giant, I'm guessing. Mother always warned me about going out at night and to look out for the horrifying hawk. How could I have been so stupid? I had completed forgotten about the hawk the lived on the other side of the clearing. I ran faster, pounding the ground with my feet into the tall grasses of the clearing.

Thud, thud, thud. My heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest! I pumped my arms and willed myself to go faster and faster. Hot sweat trickled down my face and my back under the bright gaze of the moon.

Thump. Thump. It was getting closer! Is the end of me? Was this my fate? Not knowing what else to do, I crouched down into a ball, closing into myself. I covered my ears to drown out the horrid screeching noise.

I waited for death to take me in it's piercing talons.