PROLOGUE
973 Words
PROLOGUE
The boys were unaware of how quiet the forest had gone in their presence. All they cared about was enjoying the day. School started next week, after all, and they wanted to milk every bit of fun they could from these last few days.
PJ led the duo through the forest as they quickly approached the mucky grounds of the swamp. Donald, or just "Donnie,” ran a bit behind him, raising a hand to swat away the branches that came sailing back at his face as PJ passed by.
"Not so fast!" Donnie said. "Keep it up and your a*s will end up in the swamp!"
He said the word "a*s" louder than the rest. They were ten years old and words like that could only be spoken out here in these familiar woods, away from parents and teachers.
"That's the point!" PJ responded.
They'd been out here thousands of times. When they were younger, they played ninja out here, battling with sticks as swords. Things were a bit more mature now, though. Now, it was all about seeing who could do the dumbest thing of all. And today's dumb thing was dipping a foot or maybe even a whole leg into the swamp waters.
They'd never been out quite this far, as the swamp loomed ahead somewhere. Of course, they'd heard all the warnings about the dangers that lurked deep in these woods, especially once you reached the swamp. Leeches. Snakes. Gators.
Jimmy Elridge, a kid from their rec-league soccer team, swore he'd seen a python out here one time.
But as a ten-year-old boy, wasn't the danger part of the fun?
Suddenly, PJ came to a stop. He stopped so abruptly that Donnie almost ran directly into his back.
"What is it?" Donnie asked.
"We're there. Look...right there. And you were right. I did almost fall into it."
The boys looked out to the swamp and Donnie was already thinking of the tales of bravery and exploration they'd be able to tell on their first day back at Hen Creek Elementary. He studied the swamp closely, wanting to make sure he got every detail right. It looked like a pure sheet of mud at the start, and then it became something more. It looked like what Donnie imagined a broken sewage line might spill out. It looked dark, like the stuff of legends where people were drowned in moats and eaten by large fish.
"I didn't think it would be this bad," Donnie said.
And this was just the edge of the swamp. The real danger lay ahead. The boys continued forward, stepping over cypress trees that had fallen to the ground, long ago victims of a hurricane. The fallen trees made a slow-moving river in the forest, a river that led straight to the swamp and into the muck.
The boys approached the edge of the swamp, to a place where a fallen log met the edge of the mud. The log lay on its side and this was the edge of the safe area. Once they stepped off the log, they'd be in the deep waters of the swamp.
"It looks pretty gross in there!" PJ said.
Donnie looked down into the murky waters. The muck was too deep for him to see a thing.
"You first?" PJ asked.
"Sure." Donnie hoped PJ couldn't tell just how scared he was. What had they been thinking? They didn't have to do this. They could still brag about it back at school.
"And be quick," PJ said. "I wanna get out of here before the snakes meet up with the gators and we get caught in the middle."
"Not funny."
Donnie's gaze roamed the sludge-green waters, the occasional lily pad and reed. Then, holding his breath and with his heart slamming in his chest, he dipped his toes in the water. He almost stopped to take off his flip flop, but it was too late. His foot was already going in.
His first thought was that the water was much warmer than he'd been expecting. Like, much warmer. There was also a lot of movement as tadpoles and God only knew what else went flitting against his ankle.
"Go to the knee!" PJ said, chuckling gleefully.
Donnie put more of his leg in. It really wasn't that bad. Hell, maybe he'd go in all the way to his waist. He'd have to explain the wet shorts to his mom, but he could—
His foot hit something. Something big and solid. Something that felt alive.
Donnie screamed and yanked his foot back. He moved so quickly that he tripped over the log behind them. PJ cackled with laughter, one hand clutching his laughing stomach and the other pointing at Donnie.
"You klutz! You should see yourself!"
"PJ, there's something in there! Get away. It might be a croc!"
"What? You serious?"
"Yes! Let's go, man!"
Donnie got to his feet and when he did, his eyes instantly went back to that murky water. He was sure there would be a croc or a python coming out of the water for them at any moment.
He did see something, but it was not a croc or a large snake.
It was something that seemed much less dangerous but looked a bit scarier.
It was a person.
A dead woman.
It bobbed to the surface of the water, having been disturbed by Donnie's foot. The skin was waxy and pale, the dead eyes nearly colorless, opened and looking up at the sky.
The boys shared one look, PJ nearly in tears, and then they ran.
Donnie let out a scream that tore through the forest, so horrified and panicked that those birds that had gone quiet in their presence took flight, the beats of their wings like little claps of thunder.
- Writer
