Chicken Scratch

The Teenage Writing Site

Clara ran. She started, and didn’t stop until her chest was screaming for air and her legs couldn’t support her anymore. Her normally pale skin was flushed from exertion, and her long brown hair was tangled from the wind. She slumped against a tree, catching her breath. Wait…. A tree? She had run into the forest without noticing!

Clara looked down, and was surprised to see several cuts and scratches from branches that she’d brushed past along the length of her long legs. She hadn’t even felt them at the time. She had only been thinking about…no. She couldn’t say his name. It hurt too much. Even just thinking about it brought back the pain, which rose up in a wave, threatening to overwhelm her again. She tried to fight it, but it was too much, too strong, too soon. Clara gave in, and the tears flowed freely. The sobs broke through, despite how badly she wanted to keep them in. Curled up in a ball at the base of a tree, she let go.

Eventually she stopped crying and regained control of herself. The first thing she noticed was how cold she was now that the heat from running had fled her body. Clara wished for a pair of strong arms to hold her, keep her warm, make her know that everything would be okay. Just like…wait, no…don’t say it….. But it was too late. The word was slipping out from her grasp. Just like Daniel used to do.

Daniel. Those 6 letters, two syllables, just a name. And yet so much, much more. With that name came a thousand memories, good and bad. Feelings of friendship, trust, growing love, and also more recent ones of pain and rejection. That name used to mean home. Now she didn’t know. All of it came rushing back to her.

Clara arrived at Daniel’s house, walking up the lawn as she’d done so many times over the last 8 years, ever since they met in 3rd grade and became best friends. But recently it had seemed like more than that…. She had tried to deny her feelings for him for a long time, but in the last few months he’d finally seemed closer than ever. She remembered when they had gone to the school play together. She had looked over at Daniel, studying his profile in the semi-darkness as he gazed intently at the stage. He looked over, catching her watching him. At first his eyes questioned her, and then he shook his head and grinned. That was when Clara admitted to herself that she really loved him.

Letting herself into what was almost her second home, Clara called Daniel’s name, but knew he wouldn’t be able to hear her over the loud music he was blasting. She recognized the vocals. It was Death on a Beach, Daniel’s new favorite band.

Grinning, she strode down the hallway. She could imagine what he’d say to the news. “You got it? That’s so awesome! I’m really proud of you Clay!” Clay was his pet name for her, used only when it was just the two of them. “Let’s go celebrate!” He’d smile his gorgeous smile, the corners of his lips lifting, lighting up his whole face.

Already looking forward to spending the night hanging out with him, Clara burst through the door, proclaiming as she did so, “Make way for the new editor of –“ She choked on her words as her voice died at the sight in front of her. The image of Daniel, her Daniel, kissing another girl. Wait…not just any girl. Monica, her old best friend. She used to be friends with both Daniel and Clara, until she suddenly decided she was too cool to hang out with them. And now her tongue was in Daniel’s mouth. It made Clara want to puke.

“Clara! What are you doing here?” Daniel gasped after hastily pulling away from Monica, surprise clearly written on his face.

“Me? I come here often, in case you’ve already forgotten. What is she doing here?” Clara demanded, her voice rising with her temper.

“Clara, it’s not what it looks like! Just let…just let me explain!” Daniel stammered.

“No. How long has this been going on?” She had to know. After a second, someone answered, but it wasn’t Daniel.

“A couple months,” Monica responded before Daniel could say anything.

“That’s all I needed to know.” She was barely containing her emotion. A couple months? But he had been seeming closer than ever! Why wouldn’t he tell her? But she had to control it for just a little longer. She couldn’t let them see her cry, especially not Monica. “Goodbye Daniel,” she stated and started backing out of the room.

“Clay, what’s going on?” Confusion colored his words.

“Don’t call me that! Leave me alone! I hate you!” She followed her words with a sharp slap across his face. The blow rocked his head back, and her hand stung, turning red. And here came the tears. She turned and ran out of the room, seeing Monica’s satisfied smirk out of the corner of her eye. She left the house, and instead of going towards her house, she ran away, away from everything. Faster than she’d ever run before, trying to escape what just happened. Running to…

…here. Where was here? Clara looked around again, but still didn’t recognize anything by her. She was lost. Pulling herself together, she was about to go try and find a way out of the forest when she heard a rustling noise behind her.

Spinning around, she frantically checked for anything that could’ve made the noise. A light glanced off of something in the corner of her eye, and she whirled around to see, but all that were there were two yellow circles that disappeared too soon for her to be sure they were ever really there.

After waiting a few seconds, she decided that nothing was there, and relaxed her tensed muscles. Suddenly she thought of how to get home! It was so obvious! Her phone…which was at home, charging. So much for that.

Clara shivered, and looked around; the forest no longer seemed full of life and energy. It seemed cold and dangerous with shadows and trees pressing in on her. It was getting dark…. In the twilight, shapes seemed to glide just out of view, indistinct. Bushes changed into hunched over forms. Branches became groping hands.

She shook her head and curled into a ball under a thick part of branches. Even though it was early spring, nights were still cold, and she was freezing. Her exhaustion wrestled with her coldness over consciousness. Clara couldn’t fall asleep, but stayed in a half awake state into the middle of the night, until she was startled completely awake by the sound of a branch snapping.

Looking up, she saw the two yellow orbs again, but this time she realized what they were. Eyes. Huge eyes. But in the darkness she couldn’t tell what they belonged to until the creature padded into a clearing and the moon struck it.

A huge, grey monster was now right in front of Clara. She whimpered in fright, and the wolf’s ears twitched in response to the soft sound. She slowly stood up and backed away, edging around the tree to get it between her and the wolf. Its eyes never left her, always watching warily.

As soon as she got around the tree, she started sprinting blindly away as fast as she could. She couldn’t hear the wolf start running, its heavy paws somehow making less noise than her feet, despite their weight. She had never been a very fast runner, and after a few seconds she could hear the wolf’s breath right behind her.

She abruptly stopped running, not because she paused, but because the ground had disappeared from beneath her feet. She had tripped over a branch, and fallen into a small hole beneath the roots of a tree.

The wolf was momentarily confused, and Clara used that second to try and scoot over to under the roots. As she moved over, a sharp stab of pain shot up her leg. She looked down for the source, and found it immediately. Her ankle must have broken in the fall. It was twisted at a grotesque angle, and the sight nauseated her. Trying to slide over again, the pain brought a gasp out of her lips, alerting the wolf to her location.

It pounced, but couldn’t break through the strong roots. Clara shrank away as it reached its paws through gaps, trying desperately to find her. Eventually, the wolf seemed to give up, and the attacks ceased. Clara was too scared to breathe for a minute, but her heartbeat finally slowed to a more normal rate. Just when she thought it might be safe to move, the wolf’s jaws burst through a gap, snapping, grasping for something. Its fangs found purchase in Clara’s right arm, and they clamped down, making her shriek. She was going to die. She knew it. The weight of the wolf was pressing on the roots, making them sag. Soon they would give in, and her slight protection would be gone. It would be all over….

The weight disappeared from above her, taking the jaws, and the flesh enclosed in the teeth, with it. Clara didn’t realize at first. For a second, she didn’t feel the pain. Not until she glanced down at her arm and saw the chunk missing. Then it hit. She fainted from the pain and shock, and the last thing she saw as she blacked out was a pair of boots standing next to the hole.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When Clara awoke, the first thing she saw was a group of anxious faces watching her. The second her eyes fluttered open, the faces and their bodies crowded around what seemed to be a hospital bed. Her mind panicked from the group surrounding her, claustrophobia kicking in. She could feel and hear her heartbeat speed up, corresponding with the tones from the machine next to her bed.

One face, tanner than the others, seemed to notice her hysteria, and said sharply, “Everyone back up. Give her some space. Can’t you see that she’s overwhelmed?”

She knew that voice. No. She had to be sure. Clara forced her eyes to focus on the faces, moving from one to the next. Her mother and father, her parents’ best friend Andrew, someone who had to be a nurse, and…there he was. Daniel was here.

“What is he doing here? Make him leave!” she called frantically to no one. Then directed at Daniel, “Get out!” She saw that her words cut into him, saw the pain in his eyes. This made her even madder. What right did he have to be hurt? After what he did to her? “Get him out of here!” she pleaded again, desperately looking for support from her parents. She didn’t get it.

“Sweetie,” her father began gently, “Daniel saved your life. He saw you run into the forest and got help. If it wasn’t for him, that wolf probably would’ve killed you.” He placed a comforting hand on her arm. “Please just hear him out. I’m not sure what’s going on with you two, but listen to his side of the story first.”

Everyone else slowly exited the room, heading into the hallway outside. Clara was left alone with Daniel. Neither of them spoke at first. She ignored him, and instead took the opportunity to examine things more closely. First she looked down at herself. There was a heavy cast on her ankle, and bandages covered her arm. Looking up, she saw that there were two beds other than hers, but they were empty. The walls were covered in ugly flowered wallpaper. Over in the corner to her right, a TV was on some cooking show, muted.

For a few seconds Clara just watched the mouths move without words coming out. It was just how she felt. She wanted to talk to Daniel, say something, anything, but the words wouldn’t come.

When she finally began to speak, Daniel started at the same time. After an awkward halt, he told her to go first.

She began. “Daniel, I’m sorry that I reacted the way I did. I know that whatever you do with Monica, or any other girl, is none of my business.” Although she hadn’t been able to find the words before, now that she had started, they just spilled out of her mouth, tripping over each other. “It’s just that, well, I like you, and I thought that…maybe…well maybe you liked me too.” Clara blushed. “Apparently I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

When she finished, she waited for him to say something. He was speechless for a moment, then found his voice. “Clara…. I know how this sounds. But I swear that it wasn’t what it looked like. Monica came over because she said she needed help with PreCalc. She kissed me right as you walked in!” He was leaning towards her now as he spoke, desperate for her to listen, to believe. “I didn’t want her to, I promise! She took me by complete surprise. I don’t like her. And she lied about it going on for months – there’s nothing there in the first place! You have to believe me!” He blurted, warm chocolate eyes pleading with her. “Monica just wanted to hurt you. She was jealous.”

Clara was shocked. “Jealous? Why would Little Miss Perfect be jealous of me?”

“Because I like you,” Daniel stated plainly, as open and obvious as if he were commenting on the weather.

“You…what? You like me?” she managed to ask, mind reeling. It was a good thing she was already lying down.

“Clara, I have been madly in love with you since the day we met.” Daniel was smiling now.

“Why didn’t you say something?” she demanded, trying to take it all in.

“I didn’t think you liked me back. I didn’t want to tell you and risk what we had. I’d be nothing more than your friend for the rest of my life if it meant I got to be by you. Can you forgive me, Clay?” he questioned, eyes worried.

“Maybe if you buy me dinner,” Clara replied, grinning. Daniel’s smile was brighter than the sun shining through the windows.