A Whisper Of The Wind

Hide and seek, but if you're found you're dead. I should never have agreed to do this. It was a dare set up by my friends. Why why why? I don't want to die. I know it sounds selfish, but I'm only 15. I'm too young to die. I mean I could survive, but it's only a small chance. Do I really have to do this? I have no choice, I have too much pride to back out now. I hate my pride sometimes. I kick the dirt around me. Now the death march begins. I march into the woods, making sure that no one followed me. We all enter the forest at different points. Only the seeker knows who they are. Basically just stay away from anyone you see. I look around, trees cast shadows all around making the wood gloomy and eerie. A few animals scutter around my feet. This is it. I find a tree and tuck myself behind it. A big boulder sits just behind it concealing me from sight. I stay completely silent and still. I have to survive this. It goes for five hours. If you don’t get found you survive. If you get found you die. I gulp dreading the future that looms before me. How can I do this? I stay close to the tree and silently pray that everything will be fine. Footsteps approach and a leaf cracks. Someone is approaching. I hold my breath as fear takes over my body. I hear the person stand still, probably looking about for some sort of clue as to if someone is here. I hope and pray that they don’t go to the side of the tree. If they do, I’m dead meat. I hear the person spin and check out the landscape around where I’m hiding. I hear laves crunch and twigs snap as the footsteps slowly go away. They didn’t find me! But it doesn’t mean that they won’t. I need a better hiding place. Before I’m found. I’ll wait a while so that the person can get far away and then, I’ll run. To another hiding spot. Somewhere I can’t be found. I wait fifteen minutes. Or roundabout. It feels like fifteen minutes to me at least. I inch my head out from behind the tree. Nothing. Just forest. Trees are dotted around the vast area. Anyone could be hiding behind them. Waiting and waiting to pounce on anyone who hasn’t been found yet. I look up at the big clock that looms over the forest counting down the remaining minutes. It’s only been an hour. I slowly creep out from behind the tree and look around thinking of possible hiding places to go to. A cave is up ahead but there could be someone camping in it. I look to my right, just trees. I look to my left, a tree sits lodged to the right a bit, it’s branches are low down and look easy to climb. There are trees all around. If I have the high ground, I think I can win this thing. I rush toward the tree try9ng ti stay silent and out of sight. I reach it and look up into its branches. The lowest onie is about 6 ft up the tree. I grab for it. And miss. Why do I have to be so small? I jump. My hand catches onto the branch. I use all my core strength and pull myself up onto the branch. I made it. I swing my legs over and look for the next branch. It sits just above my head. I haul myself up onto it and continue to do this for the rest of the tree. I reach the top of the tree. I’m now dangling with my leg over the side of a branch about 28 ft above the ground. I gulp. It’s a long way down if I fall. I look at the ground below me. I can see everything from up here. All the trees block my sight so I can’t see any people but at least I’m safe. I look up at the large clock. An hour and a half remain. Only a little while longer I tell myself. I can hear leaves crackling beneath my tree. I look down. A person is standing there looking all around my tree. Uh oh. Please don’t look up, please don’t. I say over and over and over again. I can probably jump to the top of the next tree if they do see me but it would be risky. There’s about a 3 meter gap between the trees not to mention an 800 meter drop below me. I make up my mind. I have to jump. I have to take the risk. If I don't I’ll die. I have to take the risk. I prepare myself and grip the ends of the  branch. I take a deep breath in. this could be it. I could die like this. I brace myself for the ground that will surely hit me. I jump……………………………… My face hits the leaves of the tree next to me. I  made it. For a moment it feels like it’s a dream, and I’m lying on the ground hallucinating right now but no. I can feel the leaves as they run through my fingers, I can smell the scent of wood and the soft breeze of the forest. I look at the clock. Only half an hour left. I’ve almost made it. I can get home. I have a chance. Hope fills my body and I feel overwhelmed at the thought that I might actually get a life. I might get a life that I can live.The person that was below my tree has disappeared and I’m counting down the minutes to when I can leave this darn forest for good. I slowly climb down the tree. Branch by branch, leaf by leaf. I hit the ground. Everything goes black. I find myself staring at me. My body is lying on the ground with leaves around it. I look to the clock again. It’s almost finished. I urge myself to wake up to move to do something. But nothing. It doesn't move, doesn’t even flinch. The buzzer goes off and confetti is released into the air. I’ve made it. Or have I? I reach out my hand to touch my body. It goes straight through. That fall killed me. I look at my hands. They’re almost see through. I’m a ghost. I died. I weep, loud and clear. Noone comes. No one even approaches the sad sight of my dead body lying there on the ground. I’m a ghost. I’m dead. No one can see me, I can’t touch anything. I am nothing. Just a whisper of the wind.