Devoured -- an exam piece

“Are you scared. Jake?” mocked Stefen, my best friend. “Definitely not!” I retorted. But there was this feeling somewhere inside my saying, “Come on! The mere thought of going into the forest can send shivers down your spine, not to say actually going into it.” “Then let’s go, unless you’re… …” I growled and stepped into the forest. Cautiously walking into the forest, I turned around to make sure that Stefen was following me. He was not. “Hey, you should come in too, unless you’re … …” I never got to finish my sentence. As I turned around again, I heard the bush rustle. “Who’s there… …” Wrong move. What ever that thing was, it pounced onto me. I yelled and pushed it off desperately. I felt something warm, and saw something black. Without looking, I pushed it off and headed for the abandon construction site. Yet another wrong move.

With Stefen behind me, we soon reached a dead end. Blocked by a stiff brick wall, we had to think fast. I grabbed a stone nearby and hurled it at the thing that was chasing me, what appeared to be a huge, black dog. The dog evaded it professionally and growled at us. Once or twice we tried to scale the wall, but to no avail. There was nothing that could help us climb. Behind me, I heard the dog growl again, preparing to pounce on its prey. “I have an idea,” whispered Stefen. “What is it! Tell me before that dog gobbles us up or before I die of old age!” “Fine, fine, but you won’t like it.” He told me his idea, and I didn’t like it. It could save at least one of our lives, but I didn’t like it anyway. “It’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard in my life!” I spat. “It’s not. You’re just too cowardly to accept it, or even carry it out. We’ll just sit here and let that stupid old dog devour us.” I inhaled deeply, then said, “Fine, let’s do it.” Stefen smiled. “I’ll be the one to run first, since it was my idea to go into the forest.” I opened my mouth to protest, but he interrupted, “That’s what friends are for.”

He stuck out his fist and raised one finger. The second one went up. Then the third one. Before you could say “STOP!” he was off. The dog pounced onto him just as we expected. I ran pass the dog without it knowing. Before Stefen was out of sight, I turned my head for the third time in the day. There he was, desperately fighting with that dog, defending his neck and here I was, running away. “GO!” he yelled, “AND DON’T TURN BACK!”

I could feel the boiling hot tears welling up me eyes. I ran, stumbling several times. I continued running despite my wounds, they didn’t hurt back then. “It’s over, his dead,” said the voice in my head when I heard Stefen scream. I shoke the thought out of my head and dodged every obstacle I encountered until another brick wall stood before me. Angrily, I howled, “DON’T YOU DARE BLOCK MY PATH AGAIN!” and I scaled it. This time, there were a few boxes beside the wall and I used them. I soon arrived at the busy street. “HELP! HELP! A BLACK DOG IS DEVOURING MY FRIEND.” But everyone just stared at me as if I was mad. I might be, but I’ll never know. Knowing that no one would come to my aid, I ran to the nearest police station and informed the policeman on duty. They rushed to the construction site without delay, but all was too late. They were gone. Stefen and the black dog, both gone. Traces of blood were found, but no body nor bones. I cursed the dog, and joined the policemen in searching for Stefen. His body was not found after hours of searching. “That’s it, it’s over,” said that voice again. I thought for a while, then replied, ”No. That’s what friends are for.”