Cole
I woke up on Saturday to a beautiful blue sky. Finally spring had arrived, and it was starting to warm up again.
Spring was without a doubt, my favourite time of year. Some of my favourite flowers were those that came out in spring, and I Ioved the lime green colour of the trees with their brand new leaves. Everything looked and smelt better in spring. If spring was a feeling, it would be 'hope'.
As soon as I finished my breakfast I started to put on my beat up old trainers.
"Where you going?" my dad asked.
"You don't want to know," I replied.
My dad sighed. "It doesn't matter what I say does it?"
I smiled sheepishly feeling a little guilty. I wasn't a bad boy at all, and I loved and respected my dad a lot, but this was one thing we could never agree on.
It probably didn't help that my dad worked for the Police.
"I'm not doing any harm to anyone," I argued back.
"That doesn't make it right," my dad said.
We'd been over this same argument hundreds of times.
I finished tying my laces and grabbed my hoodie.
"Just to warn you though," my dad added, "I've heard that Highfield Hall has had some interest, so they may have a buyer soon."
I shrugged and made a sort of "meh" noise to show my lack of concern.
"I'm serious Cole. If you get caught for trespassing, I'm not bailing you out."
"They'd have to catch me first," I mumbled, not in the mood for my dad's weekly lecture.
My dad gave a short glare of warning in my direction but then wisely dropped the subject.
Highfield Hall was an old manor style house that had been abandoned sometime in the early 80's, and so was now in very poor repair.
But it wasn't the Hall that interested me. It was the grounds it came in. Highfield Hall had about 500 acres of land behind it which was mainly made up of natural British woodland so it appealed greatly to the ecologist in me.
You see I absolutely loved wildlife. I guess it has always been kinder to me than people had.
With the manor being abandoned, I basically had free reign to use it as my own back garden for the last four years. Four years ago was when we moved to this area. My dad moved around a lot with his job. Annoying, I know!
I quickly walked the half mile from our house to the manor and soon found myself at the broken wall.
As soon as I stepped through the wall, I felt my body relax. For me, it was like stepping into a different world. A world with no people. It was calming and serene and beautiful. I knew it like I knew the back of my hand. It held no surprises, and asked nothing of me.
I spent a glorious morning making notes in my pad. The first warm day of the year always meant a bonanza of observations.
The first ladybird.
The first open leaf bud on a tree.
The first sighting of a blackbird carrying worms in its beak.
I was sat observing what I believed might be a woodpecker's nesting hole when I first saw them.
I was quite a distance away, and nicely covered by the protection of the woods, but my keen eye was quick to detect movement near to the manor.
I quickly hunched down, my heart rate increasing. My dad would kill me if they caught me trespassing. I crept back further into the trees and kept far away from the manor while I continued my observations.
After jotting down a few more sightings in my notebook my stomach started grumbling, wanting lunch. I groaned and started heading back to the broken wall.
At the edge of the woodland, there were only some shrubs and the odd tree that would provide cover before I could reach the hole in the wall.
I glanced around nervously, the Hall somehow looking ominously quiet.
I couldn't see anyone, so I slowly and quietly made my way out of the woods.
I hadn't got more than 20 meters when I suddenly heard laughter.
My head snapped round and I saw two figures emerge from the side of the manor.
I bolted for the nearest bush and dived head first into it.
My arm scraped along a particularly pointy branch and I bit my lip to stop myself from crying out in pain.
I could hear the two men talking. And it was getting louder.
I twisted round slightly to try to see where they were.
They were stood around 50 meters away from me. One man was pointing at various things, while the other looked and nodded.
My attention was immediately drawn to the second man in the black jeans and army style jacket. He gave off a certain domineering quality. He was at least half a foot taller than the other man, and looked like he would be able to take him out with one punch.
They were both wearing hard hats, like you would on a building site, but I could see that the man had dark hair that just peeked out underneath.
They started walking closer, and I felt myself hold my breath.
That was a stupid idea as eventually I would have to let it go.....which I did with a sort of 'ppffft' noise.
It wasn't a loud noise, and they were still a good distance from me, but to my surprise, the bigger guy snapped his head round in my direction.
I froze. Partly out of fear, but partly because his eyes rooted me to the spot. I couldn't tell the exact colour from here, but I could see that they were light, and very, very cold.
His gaze seemed to pierce through me sending a shiver down my body.
It was only when he started moving with purpose in my direction, that the spell was broken and my mind just screamed one thing at me. RUN!!
I shot out from my hiding place and made a dash for the wall.
I heard a shout, and running footsteps behind me.
'I can't get caught, I can't get caught,' I chanted to myself, imagining the look of disappointment on my dad's face.
I'd nearly made it, when I felt myself trip over something on the ground and I face planted into a patch of newly opened daffodils.
I cursed my stupid eyesight, then cursed myself for damaging the beautiful flowers, and then I cursed myself for worrying about flowers instead of myself.
I scrambled to my feet but it was too late, and I felt a hand wrap itself around my arm.
"What do you think you're doing?" a voice commanded to know.
The voice itself was intimidating and made me cower back, but when I turned and actually got a close look at those piercing grey (yes I could see them clearly now) eyes, I felt like I wanted to shrivel up like a leaf on the ground.
"Answer me," he growled, while shaking my arm quite roughly.
My zip up hoodie, that was slightly too big for me, slipped around my arm, giving me an idea.
I quickly unzipped it with my free arm, then pulled with all my might, wiggling my arm free of the top.
It worked and I managed to slip away.
For a second.
Almost like he had super speed, he had hold of me again almost immediately, this time his hand grabbing my bare arm.
As he touched my arm a spark of what felt like static electricity pinged at my skin, and he jumped back in alarm.
The shock also made me freeze for a second, and I watched as his face changed from one of complete surprise, to downright anger.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" he said, while kicking angrily at a lump of moss on the ground.
I cowered back, stumbling away from him and closer to my escape hole.
"How can this be happening again?" he mumbled to himself, but I didn't wait to hear anymore.
I turned round and bolted as fast as I could over the wall and back towards my home.
I didn't stop running till I reached my front door, where I sank down on the front door step to get my breath back.
What was that all about?
The guy sure had a strange reaction to a small electric shock.
I felt another shiver run through me as I pictured his intense gaze.
That guy was one hella scary.