BEAST OF BOURNVILLE

THE CHASE

Every morning before George left for school he always bidded farewell to a gardener a block away from where he lived in Olton, ' Sir Giles, an old man with a hunchback.

George had sympathy for him because he felt the job was too much for a man of his age. “Morning Sir Giles", George greeted the gardener while doing exercise.

“ Good morning Redhead", Giles replied. George didn't notice as he continued jogging that Sir Giles replied to him, but as he continued he later observed the old man had responded to his greeting, so he called him a red head.

Immediately, he ran back to see the old man but he wasn't there anymore, so he felt maybe he heard this because of tiredness and went home for a shower.

At noon, Olivia and Robert went around to spend time with George at his house. " Who's the old cranky looking man outside?"Robert asked, “ Sir! it's Sir Giles, a gardener ", George replied while he prepared a fruit salad for Olivia, which was her favorite .

“Well, cranky old people can be dangerous", Robert continued, feeling uncomfortable. Meanwhile, George and Olivia burst into laughter because Robert had filled his brains with so many scary stories about Birmingham, that it frightens him out anytime he sees any of its characters in reality.

They had a lot to do that day because William and Cindy had gone to the hospital to see Cindy's mom ‘ Madam Patricia', who had been bed ridden for months now .

Later that evening, while Olivia was reading them a poem, George all of a sudden stood up and walked towards the door like he was tracing something.

He heard the same sound as that calling on him while he was in the woods days ago. It started again, so he turned back and excused himself that he was going to the bathroom and later took the passage that led to the back yard.

On getting out of the house, he saw someone, a man in the garden. He had a second thought this would be Sir Giles, so he called on the man, “ Sir Giles, do you need help? But the man did not respond. Later, the man stood upright. George, shocked, started breathing slowly.

George was sure the man looked old and hunched and found it unfathomable that he could stand upright, so he went closer as he beckoned to get the man. On getting close, the man looked George in the eye, “Red Head" , he said, then George knew he was Sir Giles.

As fear ran through his veins, George mumbled, “ Sir Giles .... how did you ..." Before George could finish the statement, Sir Giles ran into the woods and George, being curious, followed after him.

As George pursued him into the woods, he hit his foot against the root of a chopped tree and fell.

A few minutes later, he heard the sound of footsteps walking in his direction, so he quickly got up in defense.

“ Who's there , show yourself ",he said, and picked up a piece of wood close to him. Immediately, a net pulled from the ground and trapped him.

Hung from a tree, he screamed for help after he saw shadows of men in hats gathering around the trap, but this time they were dressed in black hats. Out of fear, he kept quiet and observed as they argued among themselves.

“ He's a RedHead, his father is Thomas the black smith ”. With cracked voices, they argued until one of them pointed a crossbow at him to take a shot. George screamed and closed his eyes tightly because he was defenseless and felt he was going to die.

Suddenly, he heard sounds like those of blades rustling against each other, moving swiftly in the air and piercing skin, with blood popping from gullets, while the sound of patterned foot movements swayed through thin air like a soft wind and then a sharp slice over his head. Sir, he opened his eyes as he shouted and dropped from the net trap ,“ Sir up RedHead", Sir Giles said to him.

At this point, Olivia heard his voice from the house, so they ran into the woods calling and shouting his name until Robert saw someone coming out of a dark part of the woods, so he held Olivia's hand in fear as he pointed towards the image. Then Olivia took a close look with tensed pupils, since the moving shadow was still afar off in the dark.

As it came closer to the bright side, she looked the more, “George”, she said, and walked towards the shadow before he fell on his knees.

Tired and confused like he had lost his mind, George kept looking at Robert and Olivia as his eyes could tell he needed help. Quickly, Olivia and Robert held him side by side and helped him up to the house .

As George gained consciousness, Robert got so mad at him for living without telling anyone. “ What if you died out there or something bad happened to you” , he yelled at George, breathing heavily.

“ Come on Robert, you're going to run temperature", Olivia tried to calm Robert down while George kept apologizing, not knowing what to say or how to explain what he had seen.

An hour later, William arrived with Cindy. “Hello, why are you all so quiet", William tried to cheer them up. But Robert looked the other way , they decided to keep the whole story about how they found George in the woods a secret before their parents came and took them home.

After Robert and Olivia left, William went upstairs to find out what had happened, so George explained everything but one thing kept George thinking, “ Uncle, who is a Red Head", he asked William. William acted confused.

“ Don't worry boy, maybe it was just a dream or maybe you slept, walked and felt that way , you'll be fine when you wake up in the morning", William replied as he helped George to bed. As William covered him with a blanket , George closed his eyes in pretense.

Later on, William left thinking George had slept, but as soon as he closed the door behind him, George opened his eyes and got up from his bed and looked into the woods through his window. Now, everything became so different, as though someone was watching him from the woods.

He was caught up in the dilemma of what happened that night and kept asking himself the same question William refused to answer, “ Who is a RedHead” ,he wondered. He went back to bed and dozed off.