Creatve Writing - Caitie Slater

Creative Writing

Choose wrong or right. Darkness or light. Two paths to venture which one will decide my future? I ran, and I ran. Lost. I couldn’t even imagine what would happen to me next, will I get home? Will anyone find me? What will I do next?

I was so terrified when I was at home, the arguing of master and mistress. They were bickering at every single chance that they could get, over the way the knife and fork lay on the table, the slightest smidge of dirt on the floor, although I am guilty, master gets the blame, shirts aren’t ironed correctly, shoes aren’t pristine, no matter the topic, a domestic must take place. Also, the cold, wet beds with no blankets, I wasn’t allowed to stay in the room with the fire, the harsh voices, the stale scraps of food that made your stomach cramp, the dirty, cloudy water that sat for days. All I wanted to do was please but nothing I ever done was good enough. I couldn’t bare it anymore, so I decided to escape from this negative household.

I walked for miles, little did I know, I had entered a forest. Though I didn’t recognise the scents. Normally when I enter a forest, the first thing I smell is the damp earth combined with old fallen leaves. But this forest, this forest smelt of wild mushrooms, damp bark from the rotten old trees, AND, the leaves hadn’t fallen off these trees even though it was already winter. This place was different. The earthy smell of the forest has an instinctive calming effect which then implied that I must go home before anyone noticed I was missing.

I began to walk back down the path that I had already come down once before. Although I begin to hear voices, they were whispering. I listened closely and attempted to block out the wonderful sounds of the forest to hear this mysterious whispering. I head towards it in attempt to discover what it is. The whispering gets louder and louder the deeper I go into the forest, I can’t seem to get my head around it.

The whispering suddenly stops. Silence. I look around me. Two paths, but what one should I choose? No voices to help me. I pondered, shall I take the brighter but less steep path? Or shall I take the dark, gloomy, more difficult path? I need a sign, a reason, I wish someone could give me some form of guidance. I can feel panic creeping up on me, should I turn and go back?

Suddenly from nowhere, a calm descends. There are no voices, no whispering, and no breeze. I don’t feel frightened anymore, and I know where I am going. I don’t know why, but something is drawing me along the darker path. I have a feeling that this is my destiny and I couldn’t turn back even if I wanted to. I run, and I run, not stopping to look either side of me. I don’t notice the trees, the smells, or the noises in the branches, I just know that at the end of the path is something special.

I can feel the sharp thorns catch me as I run, once or twice I stumble over broken branches but still I run. My heart is pounding, and I struggle to breathe, but something inside tells me I mustn’t stop. Suddenly I reach the edge of the forest, but there is nothing there except a wire fence. I am so disappointed. I thought I made the right decision.