Ember

I leaped over a bush and ducked under a tree branch as I sprinted into the forest. I quickly turned my hat backwards as I ran, so It wouldn’t fly off. I have to admit that the dog was really fast, and of course he was. He was running on all fours. Though I doubted it would help me much if I started running on all fours too. So I stuck with running on two legs and chased after Sarge.

A tree branch scratched against my cheek and a root tried to trip me. I swatted the branches aside and jumped over the twisted roots. Though it became harder to concentrate on both the stinging branches and the tricky roots. Crap. Which way did that dog go? A bush caught my shirt and another branch scratched across my forehead. I slammed my foot against a rock, hurdling through the branches and landing roughly on a patch of grass.

“ Uh…Ow.” I grumbled, sitting up. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to run that fast when the forest got so thick. Oh well.

I looked up, and there the dog was, sitting comfortably with his ears pointed. I sighed deeply and ran my hand down his back. He didn’t even look at me. Sheesh.

I stood up and dusted myself off, picking a few twigs off my shirt. My knees were grass stained now and one was scraped up. Sarge stood up and started walking off. “Hey! I gotta take you back, don’t-”

Holy crap.

“WHAT THE HELL!?!” I shrieked, grabbing for Sarge’s collar.

At first sight, it looked like a giant cocoon. Just standing there all sprouted with pink and white flowers. Then I realized, there was a face. “HOLY SHIT IT HAS A FACE!!! RUN SARGE RUN!” I picked up a rock and threw it at the thing as hard as I could. I turned to run when I heard, “Owwwwwww!”

I froze. Holy shit, it speaks! Sarge hadn’t even moved. In fact, he was wagging his tail now. At the monster. That has a face. And speaks. I walked over to it and realized; it was a boy. The monster with a face that spoke was a boy. All wrapped up in vines and flowers and dirt. His face was all mushed together like someone was pressing the two sides of his face together. I laughed. “How did you manage to do that?” I mused.

“Help me.” The boy whined in a muffled voice. I laughed again and started pulling at the vines surrounding him.