The Woods

“Hey James! Whats Up?” asked Charles.

“Nothing much, School was boring like always.  Wanna hang out after cross country today?”  They both ran cross country and had very high stamina, better than the 9th graders, even though they were only 11.

“Heck yeah!” Charles exclaimed.

“Should we go to the pond? Or maybe we could camp out again.”

“Well I was thinking maybe we could go look for new ponds in the woods across the street.”  They loved fishing and have since they were little.

“Ok sounds great. I’ll go get my fishing stuff and we can go.”

James and Charles walked home after school and grabbed their fishing gear.  They met up and walked across the street into the woods.

“You ready James?”

“Yeah Let’s go.”

They started walking across the road and into the woods.  As they were walking James and Charles found some frogs and cool bugs while searching around.  An hour went by and they were getting tired and sat down on a log for a drink of water.  The boys drank most of the water in under a minute and planned on heading back.  They got up and started walking, but heard someone or something walking towards them.  The two stopped and heard the steps coming closer and closer,  more and more steps.  Then out of the corner of his eye, James saw a coyote with foam dripping from its mouth!  He knew it must be rabies.  He screamed and ran, with Charles right behind him.  Charles heard the animal following them and screamed for help but they were too deep into the woods.  After 30 minutes of running they couldn’t hear the coyote behind them anymore but they kept running.  Zig zagging, turning right, turning left, even splitting up and coming back.  Six minutes later they finally slowed down and fell to the ground panting.  In reality they had been running for a good 60 to 70 minutes.  Although they had jogged for that long before, they had never run for that long.  They fell asleep under a tree and actually had a pretty good sleep.

The next morning they both woke up full of energy but not knowing where they had came from.  They got up and thought about the situation,  how hungry they were, and how thirsty.  They still had energy but not enough.  James still had his fishing gear in his bag, and they heard moving water nearby.  Unfortunately, Charles dropped his bag which had some fishing gear and the snacks.  The boys did have a little water left though and planned to save it.  It was still dark in the thick woods, even at 10:43 AM, and they had to squint their eyes to see the pond.  It wasn’t far or close, but they could see it through the trees, and it looked pretty big!  

“If there is fish in there, we’ll be set for breakfast, and a drink.  Then we can get out’a here.”  Charles said.  While walking over they noticed more frogs and bugs which they could eat if there wasn’t fish in the pond.  James spotted a big rock sticking out into the pond, which they could sit on and fish from.  They walked over, got out all the gear, and laid it out.  James set up the collapsable fishing rods and Charles tied on the bait.  James used the lucky popper his grandfather passed down to him as a birthday present two years ago.  It was his favorite lure because he caught his biggest fish on it.  Charles used a frog since there was many frogs around.  They both casted out three times before Charles caught a small bass!  He reeled it in and got it onto the rock while James took another cast.  He wasn’t concentrating much but he felt a little tap on his bait, then another, and another.  He jigged as his grandfather taught him too and sure enough, the fish bought it.  James felt it and set the hook, this fish was strong!  It was a good five minute fight between the two, but James won.  It was a very big bass, probably nine, maybe ten pounds!  

“This is the biggest bass I have ever seen around here!”

“Me too!  That popper really is lucky!”  said Charles.  They made a plan, 1. Make a fire 2. Cook the small bass and save the big one.  3.  Walk around looking for any signs of where they came from.  4.  If they couldn’t find where, come back to the pond.  5.  If they get to number 4, make a shelter at the rock.  

James and charles had eaten the small bass and were looking for any tracks they might have made last night.  There was foot steps here and there but they couldn’t find a solid track, as they were weaving around trees and bushes trying to escape the coyote.  After an hour or two of wasting energy (as Charles said) they went back to the rock.  Worried, confused, sad, the boys sat there in silence for a little while.  Tears ran down their faces as they started to realize they might be there a while.  Charles though, had a thought, he and James had told their parents they were going into the woods.  Their parents know they are in the woods and are probably going to get help.  They both got filled with hope when Charles said this to James.  The tears disappeared and the two boys brains got working again.

  Charles made a fire with a fire starter, James gathered wood for a shelter and the fire.  The big bass would soon be going bad so Charles cut it up with his pocket knife and roasted it over the fire.  Charles also used a piece of scrap metal they found as a bowl to boil water and make drinking water.  After the boys were full, they got to work putting a shelter together.  It was just a bunch of branches leaned up against a branch of a tree but it would work.  They also put leaves and smaller sticks on top to make it a tiny bit more covered from the wind and rain.  On the inside, Charles put moss on the ground to sleep on.  When they were finished, they still had a little light left and went fishing again.  With three more small bass and one big bluegill, they were set for tomorrow.

The boys slept surprisingly well on the moss and the fire was out but still warm.  Charles didn’t want to waste his fire starter so he got some dry pine needles, put them on the coals, and blew.  Sure enough, the fire started and they were able to cook two bass for breakfast.  Once again the scrap metal came into play and water boiled over the fire for more fresh water.  James knew that the dead fish were going bad quick so he started making a hole with a stick.  He then put tree bark, mud, then leaves on the bottom and sides so the water wouldn’t escape.  James got the water bottle from before, scooped up pond water, and started filling up the hole.  Charles had already eaten his fish and started fishing when James was eating his.  The bass were not good,  but they weren’t bad either.  Charles caught another bass and this one was pretty big too.  They were pretty happy about finding a good fishing spot, because thats what they came into the woods for, but this was not what they expected.  It was actually pretty funny to them, they found the perfect fishing spot, but they didn’t know where it was!  Charles put the fish into the “fish hole” as James called it.

As another day went on nobody came looking for them and they were getting nervous again.  So, they went looking for where they came from but this time they traveled farther, making sure not to lose the pond though.  They thought the woods would end petty soon, as they seemed to be running for not that long, but as they went on they were not seeing a way out.  James and charles went back to the pond and into a different direction than before.  Little did they know, they were going the right way the first time.  

After an hour or two of searching, they decided to just go back to the pond and look for anything or the other side of it.  They walked around the right side of the pond and back into the woods behind it.  After 5 minutes of walking they found a beehive in one of the trees and they knew what they had to do.  Charles gathered the long leaves off of a plant and weaved them into a ball and a rope.  He also made a small basket type thing out of the leaves.  James started a fire and lit the ball of leaves on fire but just a little bit.  Charles held on to the fire ball as he climbed the tree and he tied it to a branch below the beehive.  All the bees started coming out because of all the smoke from the fire inside the wet leaves.  Charles grabbed the beehive and ripped it open, then took some honeycomb out and climbed down.  The boys learned this trick from Boy Scouts, although they had never done it before, their counselor told them about it.  They took the honey back and used it on the fish they cooked that night, making sure to save some.  

In the morning the fire was still warm and they were able to light it up again by blowing on it and putting dry leaves on it.  They cooked another fish and went looking for where they came from again.  They were surprised that nobody had come and found them yet.  This time they planned to walk father, probably an hour and a half in all the directions as last time, leaving a trail of pebbles as they went.  The leaf bowl came in handy for holding all the pebbles but they also had some in their pockets.  They would drop one every 5 or so feet so they could save pebbles but also see a little bit of a line.  Charles also told James just to remember if they took any turns but they didn’t.  As they walked on things seemed like they looked familiar and all of a sudden, they saw a car zoom through the woods, or at least it looked like it.  Then there was more cars and they knew there must be a road there.

  They ran to the road and knew where they were, just down the road from their houses.  Although, it suddenly got a little darker as they got closer to the road.  They checked the watch and it was about the same time as they had gone into the woods days before!  They walked back to their houses and hugged their parents tight.  Charles asked if anyone had came to look for him and James but his parents just looked confused.  His parents said that nobody came looking for them because they had only been gone 30 minutes!  It seems the woods made time pass by faster than outside the woods!  James also had a talk to his parents quite like this.  They both ran out of their houses and met up to ask each other what their parents said.  Charles checked his watch and now the date was back to the first day they went into the woods!  James and Charles agreed to tell their parents but only their parents about what they experienced and lived with a very big question for the rest of their lives.