Stories: The Crevice in My Backyard

Walking over to my friend’s house, Steven, I walked through the thick heat of South Carolina, where the humidity raised high and the temperature was at a nice and low 96 degrees. I’m seven years old looking up at the burning sun. I’m really used to it; it doesn’t bug me at all even with my darker tanned skin. My thick black hair absorbed its heat so when feeling the hair that lightly touched over my eyebrows it would burn a little. I squint my big brown eyes that always seemed to be glazed over with a shine next to my long eyelashes. My well fit body walked well in my brown cargo shorts and white t-shirt. I was surprisingly well fit even though I could eat fast food and junk every day, but it easily got pulled over by the fact me and my friends played outside every day. We wouldn’t get rained out because of the concerns with flash flooding. We then would go inside and play video games or be patient with our lives for once… Unless we came up with one of our famous hyper indoor games.

                When I got just across the cul-de-sac to Steven’s house he came out before I could finish getting through his front steps. He walked over with his unusual tanned skin, he would whisk his hair out of his eyes, though it was the same style as mine, he had thin dark blonde hair that made it look completely different. He has the eyes that looked fake because of how clear blue they were with the long eye lashes, next to the thin face, doesn’t look natural but it looks perfect. We spent all of our time together and ended up with the same body types, though he ended up taller by an inch or two. Steven was a fan of playing basketball as he always wore black smooth shorts with a grey NBA shirt.

                We spent so much time with each other we naturally know what to do. We turned to walk in the same direction, walking straight for the woods. It is our favorite place to go. We would journey out through it all trying to find something new. We had very adventurous blood that always begged us to want more, so these woods were an outlet in a way.

                We are incredibly fond of Native Americans and Cowboys, so we would build out own weapons and set them next to the creek that ran perpendicular to the woods going straight through but was a good point for us to put everything we need before going in. Our parents actually felt comfortable when we brought our makeshift wooden weapons made out of wood in the forest and sharpened by stone. Our parents liked it cause of the fact that there were snakes out there but we got to know the woods so well we could live a week out there.

                Steven likes the one that’s the length of an average sword and I like to have a personal set, one like a spear and the other like a dagger. We both took tai quan do classes together so we did know what we were doing. I learned faster than he did so I was a black belt and he had a blue. We would always practice as we ran through the woods, just like we started doing.

                I looked over to Steven, “Where do you want to go? Here or..?”

                He flipped his hair away to respond, “I’ll start here and you go out there.” He pointed over to behind his house. There is a point out there that we have never passed. It is this desert area that have these crevices in the ground that fell deeper than at least six feet deep. The area makes us both chill, but we’ve been talking about trying to travel through there one day.

                I smiled at him, “Got it!” Even though the area far out bothers me I love going out there and using my stealth to go around and prey on my friend. Before I started to run I looked at him with the asking eyes we give each other. It’s us asking a question that depended on the moment. This time I was asking, “Remember the rules?”

                He sighed and smiled, “If you’re going to attack while sneaking you have to yell first as a warning. If there are any snakes or anything else the fight stops. No head shots, no neck shots.”

                I smiled at him and started running. We both have this silent language with each other where we don’t have to talk all that much in order to have conversations. We would do this in school all the time to talk about class mates or the teacher without getting in trouble. I kept running until I was out of breath and couldn’t see him anymore. I could run about half a mile before I would have to stop. Steven probable gave me a minute. So I started walking slowly still away from Steven.

                After waiting a while I could see the desert area far out so I decided to stop walking and wait for him here. I set up an area for me to hide and waited. Eventually after what felt like forever he and two other friends came into view, Stephanie and Kyle. They probably saw us come out and wanted to join in, so they all decided to be on a team.

                Stephanie, she lives next to me. I have this crush on her and I believe she has one too. She’s so pretty with a small thin figure and long straight brown hair that partially covered her face, she would sometimes show her green eyes with her defined face. She and I tend to talk a lot, but we also like to spar for fun. She’s the person in the neighborhood I would go to if I wanted to watch a movie or just talk. She dresses in straight blue jeans and a loose white top that have these frills on them.

                Kyle, an identical twin to his brother, Cole, they both have this short black hair that Kyle spiked but Cole doesn’t. That’s the easiest way we would tell the difference. They are both again taller than me with skin that was similar to mine, but just a little darker. They wrestled and have wrester bodies, a little bit thicker with more defined muscles, well at least more defined as you can get for seven year olds. Kyle had his favorite color on all the time as his shirt, red. He always wore a different red shirt with black cargos.

                They all crept in a position that had them sliding their feet through the ground in a triangle form. Both Kyle and Stephanie having a regular length sword like Steven did. They edged their way to pass me. As I turn around to move to my next spot I see a snake crawling its way to me. I quickly jump to stand and start beating it over with my shaft. When I was done I heard Steven yell and lunge toward me. I threw his shot at me ahead of my body tripping him up. I let Steven recover letting me see where the others are. They got me in a box. It has been the only way they beat me by teaming up and coming at me quickly.

                I pull out the dagger and stare waiting for Kyle to come first, always the rash one willing to jump ahead of the crowd to get the first hit. He charges head on just like in the movies with arms up ready to slash down. I quickly spin around him to dodge and as he turns around I lunge the shaft in between his arms and push him onto his back. Quickly, I turn around to push Stephanie aside with my free hand with the dagger. I pull back my shaft ready in time to hit Steven in the back of his leg tripping him up. I lightly hit Kyle on his back saying that he lost and waited as Steven and Stephanie were still fighting well. I toss the dagger towards Kyle to make it out of my way. Steven comes at me first and I hit his sword straight out of his hands disarming him, right after Stephanie is already there to where I fall on my back and I trip her with my feet while blocking when she tries hitting me. Steven comes at me again with his sword back in his hands and I throw the shaft at him like a spear hitting his chest. He stops in his motion knowing his defeat. I turn around looking for Stephanie and find her nearly hitting me with almost pure silence I catch her hand and take the sword from her and pointed it at her. She lost.

                We are tough kids as we are. We do this all the time out in these woods and inside with lightsabers. We have fun every time, mostly avoiding injury every time. It’s the only way we are allowed to do it is because we manage not to hurt each other.

                We all smiled at each other and I fell back to sit down. I was panting out of breathe as the others gathered around me to take a seat. “How do you always do that?” Kyle says turning to me. “I dunnno, I just do it.” I respond. I glance over to Stephanie and quickly smile to look away the next moment. “I want to go over there now.” I gestured to the desert area. “You sure?” Stephen says concerned with the idea. “Yeah, I am.” I sit up and jump to start running over to the edge of the woods.

                Steven quickly jumps up to follow me with Stephanie following behind him. “I’m going to go home okay guys?” Kyle yells over at us still sitting on the ground. Adventures weren’t exactly his favorite things. They’ve always scared Kyle in a way in the way that he will never leave the small town we started in. I ran over to him and gave him my hand to help him, “Are you ok, Kyle?” Kyle looks over our shoulders to look at Stephanie waiting for me and Steven looking over the edge, “You know I don’t exactly fit in with you guys when you want to adventure.” I give him a hug and nodded him letting him go home, “I’ll see ya tomorrow ok?” He smiles at me and starts walking away with his head up.

                I like being around for everyone. I feel good, like I’m the support for the neighborhood. I’ve always been the most mature and actually gave things thought. I would help anyone who asked for my help in any way. Surprising enough, even at this age, everyone still gets hurt and wants help, and I was there just for that.

                I turned back over to the others gave Stephanie my biggest grin and ran back over. Running over the soft grass and leaves felt nice, and feels better when I can see Kyle walk away with his head up. I notice the difference and like it when everyone walks away from me with a smile under their lips and pride in their heart.

                I gently touch Stephanie’s arm leading her to look to the desert. “We were waiting for you.” Stephanie said to me. “I know, I was just making sure he was ok, are you?” I look at her with a soft smile. “Yeah I am.” She smiled back at me. “Hey Nathan, what do you want to do?” Steven started getting serious; he’s always at his best when he gets that serious face on. Where you can see that everything he is doing makes him smile intensely. “What’s out strategy, sir?” I joke with him. “Let’s avoid going into the cracks, we don’t want to get stuck and use your staff to jump over. We all knew how to pole vault because we are all on track together even Stephanie and we all wanted to “learn how to fly.”

                “Who wants to fly first?” Steven said joking with the staff held out waiting for someone to grab. Stephanie dived for it before I could even touch it. She jumped off of the ground and quickly ran over the crevice without fault. I jump up and down in excitement, “You ready Steven?” We run over to the edge of the deep crack waiting for Stephanie to toss over the staff. She tries and when it’s falling short Steven catches it bending over and beginning to topple in. I grab the back of his shirt, but he falls in feet forward.

                I didn’t see very well exactly how he fell down I try to look at as he lays on his back rocking side to side in pain. “Are you ok?” I said to him in worry.

                He rolls over onto his knees and forearms staring at the ground. His shirt was ripped up and bloody. My heart fell and he yelled at me “No! I’m not okay!” I start hearing him cry.

                “Okay I’m going to get you okay?” I said to him. He grunts back in pain telling me he knows. “Stephanie,” I look at her worried, “Jump!”

                She stares at me afraid and quickly glancing at Stephen. I shake my head at her telling her not to look. She sprints over and jumps into my arms pushing us both to the ground. I quickly push her away leading her to go grab branches. “We need to get him out of there.” I wrestle around with branches trying to come up with a plan, tears start to form in my eyes in fear. I look up and a sudden storm came over blocking out the bright storm. It felt refreshing to let the sweat come off over the breeze.

                I turn around with two branches in my arms taking my first real look at the desert. Crevices following all over the land. The land is bare dry with nothing to stand for it, not a tree, not even a bush. I knew in the back of my head that if this storm turns out to be a flash flood that all the crevices will overflow. The sandy brown land makes me even more scared now. When I get over to where Steven is he is laying on his stomach in pain. “Come on guys.”

                I look to Stephanie bringing over the one branch in her arms. “Stephanie, run. Please go home.” I look at her with fear and worry in my eyes. She nods at me and lies “I’m not afraid, let me help.” “Just please go home.” Staring at her she turns her feet starting to run into the forest going beyond my vision. I take a deep breath and start weaving together the branches.

                Just like in the movies it begins to rain. I begin to rush to make something to pull Steven up with. “Nathan, what are you doing?” “I’m building!” I yell at him. He starts laughing, “Just come down here, I saw over there that there’s a high ground. He points further towards the center of the desert. I nod and close my eyes to jump next to Steven. “Ready?” He says looking up to me. “Yeah.” I say with my shaky voice. “Don’t tell me how bad it is.” He laughs. I pick him up, “You’ll be fine.”

                I just now start worrying about the distance with Steven in my arms. I’m worried I won’t be able to make the full distance. “You can do this, Nate.” Steven says with his eyes half open. I start walking with a determined face toward the direction Steven pointed to, all I have to do is walk straight and then I’ll be there.

                When walking I start to feel mud form under my feel as the rain starts to pick up. “That feels really good on my back.” He chuckles. “You know you’re really stupid right?” We both start laughing hard over that. Taking step by step I feel my foot get caught and I fall back on my butt only to hear a splash. It’s a flash flood. I sit Steven down on the ground. “What are you doing?” Steven says looking over to me. “I’ve got an idea, just be ready to wrap your arms around my neck.” I smile. He looks at me knowing exactly what I’m planning on doing. “Yeah okay. I’ll wait.”

                Waiting there, before I know it the water has risen up to Steven’s shoulder. I jump up in urgency, “Okay let’s go Steven!” I sit in front of him letting him wrap his around my neck and adjust himself. Pulling him up to my back I slowly pace through the water that is slowing me down. Without me noticing the flood has reached my shoulder standing up. I start feeling worried about it all, but I take a hold of the wall and feel the water flowing towards where we need to go.

                Holding onto the wall keeping us above the water I let the water take us to where we need to be. “You better hold on, you stupid.” I say to him as I feel him smirk on my back. Seeing the slight slant in the wall where we can get up. Pushing hard off of the crack’s wall I drag the both of us onto the island. Exhausted I lay Steven next to me. I fall to my knees and look at Steven to see him unconscious. My vision slowly starts to fade and I can tell time is passing by fast for me, as I’d wake up from my state of exhaustion every time water rushed over my face. Eventually one time I started hearing voices of the familiar. My mom, Stephanie and her mom are with Steven’s mother and some other people rushing over to us after hearing from a strange man “They’re over there!”

               

                Next thing I know I wake up in a hospital bed. I looked next to my bedside to see my mom and Stephanie talking about something, not about something happy, I can feel it. “Is Steven ok?” I ask them with my eyes half open. “You’re so stupid!” Stephanie yells lightly shoving my arm. “Yeah I know.” I laugh softly turning my head in daze. I notice and feel the IV wiggle in my hand, it tickled a little. “Steven is ok, he won’t be able to fight for a while and you passed out from exhaustion. You swam for a mile.” My mom stated worried about me but I could hear a hint of feeling impressed. I smirked to that knowledge. “Feel better silly.” Stephanie says as she saw me passing out.

                We make fun of each other all the time calling each other names in the cute, I’m-a-seven-year-old-with-a-crush type of way. I saved Steven, I protected Stephanie. I felt like I had a productive day. Passing completely out with one singular thought, I’m never going back to the desert again, but it was a good time.