The Boy and the Beast of Hollow Road. By CutesyJigglez.
Chapter 1:
It was a quiet, lifeless and gloomy night on Hollow Road. There was not a single soul that the moon could cast it's weak and foggy light upon. The dark, tall and stiff trees were whispering to one another, and the chilling breeze was monitoring the dead streets like a hawk, searching for a small, helpless mammal to feast upon. If you were to go for a stroll during this time, you'd almost instantly be engulfed by a wave of unforgiving frost, total emptiness and ruthless isolation so strong that you'd feel it washing over you, as if you were a surfer caught in a tidal wave. Everyone was either sleeping, out of town or dead. Except for one person. From within the neighbourhood, there was a house. A house with a tiny window on one of it's sides. Peeking from that dimly lit window, was a little boy. His name was Todd Feathersoul, and he had just woken up from a nightmare.
Todd was always a frail and shy boy. He was a scrawny, blonde and pale child, and his eyes shone an illuminating sky blue shade. From the very day he was born, his parents sheltered him from the great outdoors. Up until his 10th birthday, which had taken place last week, he was always forbidden from going outside. His parents saw him as a shining pearl, and they didn't ever want to run the risk of Todd getting hurt. Whenever Todd went to school, he often shied away from conversation with other kids. He had never made friends with any of the other children in his grade, let alone kids of other grades. He was never bullied or anything of the sort, he just wasn't very social. When he wasn't finishing his homework or doing a few chores, he'd simply separate himself from the world by watching television, or reading one of the many books his parents had bought for him. That's what he was always expected to do. His parents loved him ever so dearly, to the point of never letting him explore the world and experience life for himself. No inviting kids over for birthday parties, no sleep overs, no camping trips, nothing. The closest thing Todd had experienced to being out of his parents' supervision was a class field trip to the library. But sometimes, when he was secluded to the familiar comfort of his own room, Todd would sense a feeling of unease. A sort of paranoia, as if someone or something was watching him.
Throughout his life, Todd had always lived on Hollow Road, and that paranoia had always been tickling the back of his mind from time to time. Eventually, it grew to the point where that feeling would sometimes follow Todd into his slumber, and tonight was no exception. In Todd's dream, it was a gorgeous sunny afternoon in the midst of an untamed grassland, and Todd was sitting in a tree. He was enjoying the second part of Gumdrops and Ghosts, a series in which a young girl explores an abandoned candy themed amusement park, and discovers the sorrowful spirits of it's deceased staff, who ask her to help them move on, by completing a special recipe they had committed their lives to finishing. Just as Todd was halfway through a particularly uneventful chapter, he shut his eyes and felt the sun cast a gentle, golden shine on his eyelids. But all of a sudden, that warm touch from above disappeared, and it was replaced with a dull and uncomfortable cold. Todd opened his eyes, and was greeted by big, swirling grey clouds that soaked up the sun's rays like a sponge in water. The sky grew more and more dark, and Todd noticed something circling around the tree, hidden underneath the tall grass as if it were a shark, swiftly cutting through the ocean and surrounding a defenceless swimmer in the midst of drowning. Just like a shark's fin would protrude out of such water's surface, Todd could make out two black, erect and wild ears that indicated the position of whatever was hunting Todd. As the weather quickly increased in violence, a burly stray gust of wind nearly blew Todd off the branch and into The Beast's newly claimed turf. His book, however, wasn't so lucky. The only thing keeping him away from the grasp of The Beast was one hand, desperately fighting to keep grip of the branch. "There's nobody here to help you, Todd," The Beast cruelly spat. "Not your mother, not your father, and most certainly not your stupid books!" Todd then heard the sudden tearing of paper, and felt tears begin to well up in his eyes. His grandmother had given him that book before she passed away, and now it was gone. A strike of thunder went off, mere feet away from the tree Todd was clutching onto. The spontaneous noise had scared him so badly that he felt his fingers give up from fright, and Todd began to fall. He felt time around him slow to a near halt, as he peered below his descending feet. Below him, he saw two white, empty and soulless eyes without pupils that expectantly stared back at him. But before Todd hit the ground, he woke up in a cold sweat.
Looking to his right, Todd checked his bedtable, and saw his book comfortably sitting next to his lamp. He let out a sigh of relief, and wiped away his tears. Still a little shaken from his nightmare, Todd turned to his left and slowly stood out of bed. As he creeped towards his window, he saw something rather peculiar. You see, Todd's bedroom window faced his backyard, which directly transitions into a neglected piece of woods owned by one of the neighbours. His backyard doesn't have a fence, which is surprising, considering how protective and overcautious his parents are. And when Todd looked out of his window and down upon his backyard, his eyes caught an abnormal, shadowy figure standing menacingly, just outside of the unbridled woods. Todd shuddered in fear and disbelief, as he saw the same empty, piercing eyes from his nightmare. "What are you…" he whispered to himself in awe and uncertainty. "Surely," Todd started to think to himself. "I'm dreaming still!" But before he could even finish thinking, the figure turned to the woods and slowly began strutting into the woods. Before it completely dissolved in the dark of the untamed land, it turned back to face Todd, and it gave him a smug, evil grin. With that, it once again faced the woods and disappeared.