AN: OK, this was originally written for an English Assignment where we had to write a Short Story based on a poem. I chose the Pied Piper of Hamelin where a Pied Piper comes and plays his flute and all the children follow him into a mountain and are never seen again. However, one boy has a lame foot and wasn't able to keep up. This is my story of that little boy's life after the incident.
First story on Fanfiction. I'm sort of just uploading it to see how we upload a story.
One was Lame…
He didn't know what, but something was compelling him to stay, some sort of connection from when he was young that over time he had forgotten.
"Henry! Henry, please! Let us out! Please, just get us out of this mountain!"
The boy woke with a start, silencing his friends' cries for help. His sheets were drenched with sweat and his face streaked with tears. He looked out his window at the deserted town of Hamelin. It was the Pied Piper's fault, he thought to himself. He was the one who drove all the children away. His friends from school, his family, everyone…
Again, he couldn't help but think about that dreadful day…
It had been eight years since the Pied Piper came and tormented the town. He had taken all the children, danced right through the mountain, and they hadn't been seen since. Henry's foot had since healed, but at the time, he wasn't able to dance the whole way, so he had been left behind. A lonely boy in a childless town. All the adults had gradually packed up and left, scared of the Pied Piper coming back, but Henry had stayed. He knew that if the Pied Piper ever returned, he would welcome him, and have his revenge. He was fighting for his friends, but most of all he was fighting for his sister, Bethany.
Since that dreadful day eight years ago, no one had been brave enough to return to the mountain, but Henry had been preparing to go for weeks. He had raided all the houses, looking for anything that could help him, and finally he was ready.
So at the crack of dawn, he set off. Out of the town, over the river, and up the path to the mountain. By the time he reached the point where the children were last seen, the sun was high in the sky, burning his bare arms. He searched the area for hours, looking for any clue as to what happened that dreadful day. But there was nothing. It was as if no-one had ever touched the mountain.
There had been times when he doubted whether it happened at all, when he thought that maybe all his friends had simply been a vivid dream, but he realised he was wrong long ago.
When night fell, Henry was setting up camp, when a small breeze blew through. He heard something – like a metal chain. He looked up and saw something in the trees, reflected by the light of the full moon. It was a locket, hanging off a branch which he had missed in his search. It was Bethany's.
He reached out and touched it – and the locket became the centre of a blinding light. A rumble came from inside the mountain which built until Henry had to cover his ears. The ground shook, more and more vigorously and it finally knocked him to the ground, leaving him unconscious.
When he woke hours later, the side of the mountain had opened to reveal a dark tunnel that seemed to go on forever. Henry didn't know what he was going to find at the end of the tunnel, nor did he know if there even was an end. But, his determination was more important than his worries at that moment. So, without ever looking back, he walked into the darkness.
THE END