The Puddle

I had just arrived home, from school, on Friday, and was in a great mood. I had a bowl of ice cream beside me, my phone at my fingertips, watching my favourite T.V. show, and best of all, I had two weeks of spring break ahead of me. I knew exactly what I was going to do for the two weeks, play video games, watch T.V., and get together with friends. It worked out perfectly because my parents would be at work all day so I would be home alone, doing anything I wanted. After my show was over, and my ice cream bowl empty, I finally got up and made the short walk from the living room to the kitchen. On the way, I passed by the upright grand piano that I was supposed to practice. Piano is fun, I guess, but when you're trying to learn a new song, you have to be careful not to die of boredom. I walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table where the family laptop was situated. I logged into my skype account and saw that I had a message. It was from my friend, from school. The message said that a bunch of kids from our class were meeting at the co-op and that I should meet them there. Since I had nothing else to do, I grabbed a five dollar bill, my coat, put on my shoes, and was out the door. The co-op was pretty close to my house, so it would be a short walk. I walked down Familiar Street, that my house was on, then turned left onto Side Street. After a short distance I turned right onto a path. The path was short and was mostly a boardwalk, with forest on either side. I walked out into the parking lot. The Co-op was located off of Busy Street next to a pub, a liquor store, and connected to a coffee shop. I crossed the parking lot and walked in the entrance to the building. The coffee shop is to the left and the Co-op is to the right. I saw the group by the candy section and walked over.

"Hey people," I said.

"Hey, glad you could make it," said my friend that had sent the message, "Should I get the Sour Keys, or the Fuzzy Peaches? Oh I know, I'll get the Sour Patch Kids. Those are the best."

I laughed to myself. I walked over to the chocolate section and grabbed a bag of M&M's. then the whole group, which was about 7 people, walked over to the counter to make their purchases. After everyone had bought their treats, we walked to the other side of the building and sat down in the coffee shop. I passed around my bag of M&M's while other people passed around bags of what they had gotten. Everyone was talking at once so I just looked out the window and pretended to listen. I was staring blankly at the window, when something outside caught my eye. There was what looked like a senior, all hunched up and walking slowly. They had a long black coat that went down to their knees, black pants, black shoes, and a black bowler hat pulled low over their face. Because of the hat and how far away they were, I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. They slowly walked across the parking lot towards the path I had taken on the way here. I heard someone ask me for more M&M's so I looked away and handed them the bag. When I looked back, the black figure was gone. I thought that strange, because at the speed they were walking, they wouldn't have been so far into the path that I couldn't see them. I decided to just ignore it because there were many things that could prevent me from seeing the strange black figure. I finished my M&M's and everyone said their good-byes and went their separate ways.

I was the only one going my way, so I started walking towards the board walk, alone. I had forgotten about the black figure until I was half way across the boardwalk. I suddenly realized they had been walking the same path I was now on. Fear gripped me and I looked side to side, thinking something could jump out at me at any moment. Then I saw him. Standing in the woods, beside a tree, was the black figure. He was sharpening a knife. Everything was silent except for the sound of metal scraping against metal. The black figure looked up and stopped sharpening the knife. The only sounds now were my footsteps on the boardwalk. Thump. Thump. Thump. My pace quickened. Thump. Thump. Thump. His head turned and his eyes followed me, as my pace increased along the walkway. I finally reached the end where the forest opened up into the residential area. As soon as I was out of his view, I sprinted the rest of the way home.

When I entered my house, I locked the front door, and went around ensuring that all the doors and windows were locked. For the next few hours, I just sat on the couch and stared out the window. I don't know why, but my heart didn't slow down its rapid pace until my mom came home. I didn't know if I should tell her or not about what I had seen on my way home from the Co-op. It was probably nothing to be concerned about. There were lots of reasons someone could have been sharpening a knife in a forest. I decided that he could have just noticed his knife was a little dull and stopped to sharpen it. And to not alarm people, he stepped off the boardwalk, into the forest. I also thought up a theory as to why he would have had a knife with him. He may have ordered it online and just picked it up from the post office and was walking to his house. My farfetched theory made me feel a bit better, but not much. That night, it took forever to fall asleep. I was frightened at every sound, sounds that, probably, I had imagined. One time, I even thought I heard metal scraping against metal, like I had heard in the forest.

The next day, I had forgotten about the black figure. I had made plans to meet some friends at the school. I remembered the black figure as I entered the path, on the other side of Familiar Street, leading to the school. It, too, had forest surrounding it. I jumped at every bird that snapped a twig, and held my breath at every branch that was moved by the wind. I had almost cleared the path when I heard someone digging. I peered into the forest and saw the black figure with a shovel. He was wearing the same black outfit as yesterday. Most of me wanted to run away, but my curiosity led me to want to know what he was doing. I could see it was a large hole he was digging, and there was something beside him that I couldn't quite make out. I had to find out what it was. I dropped down on my hands and knees and crawled slowly toward the black figure, at an angle that he would not see me. The undergrowth of the forest ensured my cover. I was just close enough to see what was beside him and what I saw made my heart stop. I was suddenly in a hurry to get out of there. As quickly as I could , without making a sound, I retraced from where I had come. Once on the path, I continued crawling toward my destination, keeping close to the forest edge so as not to be seen. Once I reached a safe distance away, I got up and ran across William Street and arrived at the school. What I had seen beside the black figure, made my comforting theory, from yesterday, disappear. What I was lying on the ground, next to the hole he was digging, was a body bag.

My friends were already at the school, waiting for me.

"You're late," one of them said to me as I walked up.

"You'll never believe what I saw in the forest!" I rushed to say, "He was in the forest, and the body bag, and yesterday, he had a knife."

"Wait…Slow down. You're not making any sense."

"Okay. Yesterday, when I was walking home from the Co-op, I saw a guy sharpening a knife. Just as I was walking here, I saw him digging a hole for a body bag."

My friends were quiet for a moment then burst out laughing, "You expect us to believe that?"

"Ya, it's the truth!" I said earnestly.

"That didn't happen!"

"I'm telling you, the guy I saw was a killer. We need to alert the police!"

"No, we don't need to do anything! You aren't fooling us," they said in disbelief.

My anger and frustration now overpowered the fear, "Fine! I'll get proof!"

"Fine, go ahead!"

With that, I started to walk back to the path and thought about what kind of proof I needed to get. A picture! I'll use my phone! Hoping he was still digging, I ran back to the path and slowed my pace as I got near the entrance. I got on my hands and knees again and started to crawl. Thankfully the guy was still there digging. I took the same route as the first time and waited. He finished digging and I clicked the button to start taking video footage. The black figure started to push the body bag into the hole. Once the bulk was below ground level, he reached into his long black coat and pulled out the knife I had seen him sharpening. I had guessed that was what he had used to do the murder. He then dropped the knife into the hole and started replacing the dirt on top. I then jumped up and ran as fast as I could towards the other end of the path that opened onto Familiar Street. I looked behind me and I saw that the black figure was now standing on the path, looking after me. By now, he knew what had just happened, and was wondering what he should do. I smiled to myself. I had done it! I was going to hand this in to the police and prove my friends wrong. I was running at full speed and saw there was a puddle ahead. I epically ran and jumped over the puddle. Unfortunately, I didn't quite clear it. I landed in the puddle, slipped , and then died.