Long Way Home

1. Ollie

The forest burst into life as the moon emerged from behind a cloud, lighting a path for me as it glimmered peacefully through the branches of the towering trees above me. Crickets and cicadas chirped loudly but soon quietened as I got close, taking up their song again when I had walked past.

I heard a snapping of twigs and I pressed my back against the rugged bark of a tree, peeking around it. No more than ten metres away stood a large stag, rearing onto his hind legs to reach a low branch of delicate leaves. The stag paused and he fell back down onto all four feet. His nose twitched and his head span around to where I was standing. In a blink of an eye the stag had disappeared into the trees, bounding away into the distance.

I sighed and stepped out of my hiding place. Rummaging around in my pocket I pulled out a pocket knife, flicking it open and cleaning the blade for the fiftieth time that day. This had become somewhat of a habit for me, checking my knife every so often. I think it was to calm my nerves, to show myself that I wasn't completely defenceless in this vast forest. Picking up a twig I scratched at it with the point of the knife, relieving my boredom.

After a time I found a suitable sleeping spot. I climbed up a tree and slung by bag over a branch, taking one of the water bottles before dropping from the tree and landing lightly in the clearing. I scanned the rest of the clearing, using the moonlight as an aid. I clung onto my water bottle as if it was my last lifeline and climbed up a tree on the opposite side of the clearing.

I settled down in the fork of a tree, wedged between two thick branches that reached up to the skies above me. I took a sip of my drink and rested back against the tree, closing my eyes. I breathed in the cooling night air and drifted off to sleep.

"Well, well...Oliver Chase. What a surprise to see you here again." The police sergeant said to me, his piercing green eyes staring into mine.

I leant back in the chair casually, having been in this position all too many times. I nodded politely, not changing my facial expressions.

The man flicked through a stack of papers and pulled out a file with my name printed on it in bold letters: Oliver Chase.

"What've you stolen this time, kid?" He asked, taking a sip of his coffee, clearly not wanting to be here anymore than me.

"I didn't do it." I grunted, folding my arms stubbornly.

"Well, Oliver, camera footage says otherwise." He leant forwards, sliding an A4 picture over the desk towards me.

I rolled my eyes and reached out, taking it from the desk. Sure enough, it was a picture of me in one of the shops on the high street, looking around as I slipped something into my jacket before stealing out of the store running right into a buff security guy about two feet taller than me.

And so I found myself down at the local police station for kicking up a scene when they tried to get me to give the item back.

"Right...can I leave now?" I asked, looking towards the door impatiently, quickly growing bored of the whole process.

"Wait. Let me just read this to you." The police man smirked from the corner of his mouth.

"What is it?" I asked him, my forehead creasing in discontent. My palms were beginning to feel sweaty, I wiped them on my jeans quickly so he didn't notice my unease.

"Your criminal record." He sensed my nervousness and was taking complete advantage from it.

"Um..."

"First, stealing a video game. Second, vandalism of a public area. Third, unprovoked violence. Fourth, social disturbance...need I go on?" He asked me, sipping from his coffee mug again.

"No, I've suffered enough thanks." I mumbled under my breath and looked down at my trainers.

"Well, we can send you home now. But, oh, what's this?" He looked down at my record. "You're under sixteen. So we have to get your mother to come in to collect you." I wanted to knock that stupid smirk off his face.

I stood up and he put me in a cell while I waited for my mother to arrive.

This was how it was when it actually happened, but then something new occurred in my dream...

A fire bell rang, sending a shudder down my spine. I leapt to my feet and began hammering on the heavy metal door, trying to get the attention of anyone on the outside but no one was there. Black smoke began to billow through the gaps around the edges of the door, filling the room and choking me.

I pounded on the door, screaming for help over and over again but nobody came for me.

My eyes flickered open, taking a few seconds to remember where I was. I took a deep breath but found myself gasping for air. The heat was unnatural for this time of year, almost blisteringly hot.

Only then did I notice the orange glow that surrounded me. My mind began working quickly, trying to wake itself up. Heat, orange, no air.

Fire.

I fell from the tree as I tried to wriggle free from the fork in the branches. I could feel blood trickling down my elbows but that wasn't important right now. I had to get out of this forest.

Animals ran past me, galloping off towards safety. I followed their lead and sprinted after them, leaving my bag in the clearing. Flames closed in on me on my right and I jumped into the river, splashing into the centre and continuing on from there.

The heat was intensely unbearable. I felt it pulling at my whole body, telling me I couldn't carry on any further. I ignored every instinct and kept struggling down the river.

I gritted my teeth and looked up as I heard a painful creaking noise and a thick redwood collapsed right in front of me, blazing with raging flames. Ashes leapt from the trunk and onto my shirt, scorching the cotton away and attacking my skin.

I shouted out in severe pain and collapsed down into the water, quenching the flames. I burst out of the river and bolted to the left, running around the tree and carrying on, my skin blistering where it had been burned.

The crackling of flames grew closer behind me and I could see an orange blaze in front of me and I fell to my knees, completely surrounded by a sea of fire.

I closed my eyes and held my hands together, beginning to pray to any god that might be out there, watching over me.

"Please...p-please...get me out of this. If you're up there, just listen to me! Help me please!" I begged, looking up at the grey, smoky sky.

The flames grew closer until I was completely enveloped. Agonising pain reverberated through my body and I exhaled weakly, begging one last time before falling into nothingness.