A Strange Night

I lay in bed staring at my clock. 9:43p.m. At 9:45 I would leave. It was a tradition of mine and my friends to meet once a week at 10 o’clock but this week was special. At midnight it would be October first; my favorite month. The trees would become bright with their vibrant colors of orange, yellow, and red. The air would be getting colder which meant warm sweaters, cozy socks and blankets, boots, beanies, hot chocolate; everything cozy.

9:45. I got up and pulled on my boots and grabbed my blanket which was wrapped around a flashlight and a canteen of hot chocolate as I headed to my window. I wasn’t exactly sneaking out... my parents would be fine with me meeting my friends but going through the window gave me a sense that I was headed out on some kind of quest to save the world. My bedroom was on the second floor of the house but by now I had mastered how to get to the ground even in the dark. I stepped out of the window onto the edge of the roof and quietly closed the window, leaving it open just enough for me to easily open it when I returned. Holding my arms out for balance, I carefully put one foot in front of the other, walking towards the elm tree at the end of the house. Once I reached it I stepped onto the branches and climbed down to the ground. Grabbing my flashlight, I ran into the woods and found my familiar markers which marked my path to our spot. Our meeting spot was only a ten minute walk through the woods so it didn’t take me long to arrive.

“Boo!” Ella yelled as she jumped out from behind a tree.

“Ella, you know it never works anymore,” I laughed. She had scared me twice but after that I’d come to expect it.

“I know but it’s still worth a try,” she laughed, greeting me with a hug. “Come on. Nick and Will are getting the fire started.”

Ella started for the clearing where I could see a small fire burning.

“Jenna’s not here yet I’m guessing?”

“She’s probably sleeping,” Ella laughed.

“Well usuaully that’s typical but tonight’s different. It’s the last day of September!” I rolled my eyes and laughed. Jenna was probably fast asleep. “Let’s hope Sarah wakes her up,” I said.

As we drew near the fire I could make out the colors on the trees. The leaves were just starting to change colors and some had already fallen to the ground. I heard and felt their crunch each time I took a step. Around the fire were two logs we had dragged to our little clearing so we would have a place to sit.

“How’s the last day of September feel?” Will asked, adding another log to the fire.

“Great!” I answered smelling the air and looking up. The sky was filled with millions of stars shining brightly through the opening in the trees. It was a perfect night.

“We’re here!” Sarah announced as her and Jenna entered the clearing. “Someone fell asleep,” she looked at Jenna with an eyebrow raised.

Jenna rolled her eyes at her sister and held a hand up in defence. “I was tired guys!” She laughed and took a seat on one of the logs.

“Too tired to come to our bonfire?” Nick asked, pulling his beanie down over his ears.

“Obviosly not!” Jenna gestured to herself who was clearly sitting by the fire.

“Sarah probably had to drag you here didn’t she?” Ella gave her a playful punch.

“Not exactly,” Jenna said with a laugh.

“I brought hot chocolate!” I sang out, unwrapping my blanket from around the canteen.

We swapped stories from our week for two hours as we waited for midnight to come. The night was peaceful, with the stars shining down on us and the gentle breeze rustling through the leaves. Occasionally, a leaf would gently fall and join the others that lay on the ground.

“It’s 11:59,” Will announced.

“Almost time,” I squealed, hugging my blanket tighter around me as if somehow with one second changing the month it would get colder.

“So when do we start decorating for Christmas?” Ella asked, hiding a grin.

“Oh my gosh Ella! It’s not even Thanksgiving yet!” Sarah, a horrified look coming over her face, said.

“O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,” Nick sang with a twinkle in his eye.

“How lovely are your branches,” the rest of us joined in laughing as Sarah covered her ears.

“Twelve o’clock everyone!” Will said, glancing at his phone.

“Eeeek!” I squealed, getting up and doing a dance around the fire. “I can smell October!”

“Funny how one second can change so much,” Nick whispered to Will just loud enough for everyone to hear.

“But Nick, it’s October!” Jenna said, as if that explained everything.

“Ohhh... I see,” Nick nodded, sarcastically.

Ella jumped up and grabbing a handful of leaves, threw them at me.

“Now you’re in for it!” I laughed, raking together a pile of leaves with my hands and throwing them back at her. A breeze blew just then and the leaves were swept away right at Jenna’s face. Everyone jumped up and a leaf war began.

I went deeper and deeper into the woods after each handful of leaves I threw, trying to find the most leaves in one spot.

I grabbed some leaves and turned around just to get a mouthful of leaves. I spit and sputtered as I watched Will run off laughing.

“You’re gonna get it!” I yelled after him.

I was just standing after gathering the biggest handful of leaves yet when I heard I step behind me crunching the leaves underneath whoever it was.

“You better run Will-” I said turning around but stopped when I realized it wasn’t Will. It wasn’t any of my friends. A boy who looked to be about my age stood staring at me. “Who are you?” I asked, a little louder than I should’ve, hoping the others would hear me.

“I don’t mean to scare you but please, hurry and get your friends. We have to hide,” was his only answer. He glanced around us as if something was about to jump out of the shadows.

Something about him made me shiver but he spoke urgently and anyways, I figured it was best if I went back to the clearing to get the others.

“Come with me,” I said, gesturing towards the clearing.

Ella, Jenna, Sarah, Will, and Nick were still engulfed in the leaf war but stopped when they saw me.

Will squinted his eyes as he looked past the fire. The look on my face must’ve said something wasn’t right. “What’s the matter with you?” he asked.

The strange boy stepped out of the woods after Will finished and instinctively Will and Nick both took a step toward us.

“Who are you?” Nick asked.

“Please,” the stranger said urgently, “we must hide! There’s no time to explain. You have to trust me!”

“Hide from what?” Will asked, frowning at the boy.

“Not what... who. Hurry!”

Something about the boy’s urgency finally made us listen to him. Will and Nick followed him first gesturing for us girls to stay behind them.

“Stay together and remember, we don’t trust him. Let’s just play it safe,” Will whispered to us all as we left the clearing.

The strange boy led us just far enough into the woods so that anyone who entered the clearing wouldn’t be able to see us. He motioned to a thick cluster of bushes for us to hide behind.

“Should we be doing whatever he tells us?” I whispered to Will as we knelt down behind the bushes. “We don’t know anything about him!”

“I just want to play it safe and besides, we outnumber him,” Will whispered back.

The stranger held a finger to his lips and pointed to our clearing.

We all squinted our eyes, peering through the bushes to see. I heard some rustling at the other end of the clearing and suddenly four men emerged... holding guns! I put a hand to my mouth to cover my gasp. Who were these men? A glance in Will’s direction and his expression told me to keep quiet.

“Logan! You said they’d be here!” one of the men said in a gruff voice, pointing an accusing finger at the man to his left.

“They should be!” the man who appeared to be Logan said, holding up a hand in defence. “I guess they left early.”

“You know we’re supposed to have them by now.”

“No worries. They’ll be back next week. Now that we’ve found their spot we’ll keep a close watch on it,” Logan pointed out.

The man who had spoken first growled. “You know the boss doesn’t want to wait that long.”

“We’ll the boss will just have to.” Logan said the word boss in a mocking tone.

“Don’t let me hear that tone of voice from you again!” the other man roared, his voice raising.

“Sorry Jack. You know I didn’t mean it,” Logan mumbled.

Jack growled again, mumbling something under his breath.

“We’ll come back tomorrow with a watch. Let’s go.”

I turned to my friends, eyes wide. Who were these men and why were they looking for us?