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Chapter 1

Matthew

Today must be the worst day of my life. That is what I thought of the day until that night. This morning, I didn't get breakfast because the stupid alarm clock didn't sound at 7 o'clock. Then before class, I was intercepted by Josh and his crew. A little bullying later, and in class, I failed the latest quiz. At lunch, the food was disgusting, as usual, and recess was a nightmare as Josh found me again. But that was the day that changed my life forever.

After school, I would just take the alley home, but today I wanted to try something different. I walked through the downtown area of Elm Creek instead of going around. I always walked that route, because someone told me that Josh and his group always hung out in an empty lot of the downtown.

Elm Creek was always a small town that no one visited, except for relatives, so the downtown is pretty small. I kept a lookout for their "hanging place," as I heard Josh say to the crew. Luckily, I didn't see them, but I did see something else. I saw a little shock wave push out of the forest near the town. I had dismissed it as a little mirage as it was nearing the end of school. There were a lot of people walking on the street, but no one saw the mini shock wave, as I could tell. The few people with hats suddenly raised their hands to their heads, but I didn't notice that immediately

I shrugged it off, turned to walk home, and stopped. Right in front of me was Josh with a quizzical face right in front of me. None of his posse was in sight, so Josh must have gone solo today. He was looking at the forest as if he thought he saw a UFO land there. I knew that he didn't see me yet, so I had a chance to run. As I was deciding what to do, he ran toward the forest like a ghost was chasing him. No one else has noticed him running. I somehow knew that I was supposed to run with him somehow. So I did. Call it the sixth sense, but I also sensed danger with the pull of the shock wave.

When I caught up with Josh, we had entered a clearing in the trees. He was looking around for signs that told him something. I didn't see anything that betrayed someone or something's cover. It was a minute until Josh noticed me.

"What are you doing here?" questioned Josh, whose quizzical expression instantly melted into a straight face. "Why did you follow me?"

Being used to insults all the time, I was a bit cynical at his questions. I said, "I followed you, because few people would run into the forest all alone for no reason, and I know you are a person who always has a reason. I believe that you saw something strange coming from the forest, didn't you"

"I thought I saw a cool animal come to the edge of the forest and disappear. I wanted to follow it." Although Josh's words sounded truthful, I saw the lie in his eyes. He was never one to lie without showing some signal, and if you don't know what to look for, he can say anything that sounds truthful. I have caught him many times like this at school.

"You and I both know that there was something that came out of the forest that was not an animal. And you wanted to check it out. So it led you here to this clearing. Something only we can see, because there is no one here but us."

While waiting for an answer, I took a look around the clearing. It was a 20 foot diameter almost perfect circle in the trees, with lots of clover in the center. While looking at the ground, I saw that the clover was leaning away from the center of the clearing, where there was a small patch of dirt. It looked like it was recently dug out by a shovel, but I wondered how they made it so the surface was smooth.

"Well, if you saw what I saw, then a growing air bubble came from the forest," Josh explained finally.

"It looked like a tiny shockwave that brought a little wind into the town. There were a few people who suddenly felt for their hats, as if there was a person going to steal it. Something weird happened here, and I don't think we want to find out what."

"I think so too, but I have half a mind to find out what it was. Aren't you the least bit curious?"

After he said that, I was a bit curious to what happened. But again, I could feel the danger, even if it was like a mosquito biting the back of my mind. I had to find the cause, I was almost sure of it. I had lots of reasons that I should have gotten out of there.

"Alright," I said. "But, if we don't find anything, we should get back to town."

"I agree," Josh pledged. Then, we started looking around. We checked around the clearing, in the bushes on the outskirts, and then finally looked at the hole. It looked like it was a perfect circle with a foot diameter in the ground. The weird part about it was that the dirt inside it was smooth, and the surrounding clover was bent away from the depression.

"How do you think this hole was made? It looks as if someone dug it up then smoothed it out. It definitely does not look natural," said Josh. He looked up, and suddenly jumped.

"What did you see?" I asked, looking around, but seeing nothing. Then eyes suddenly appeared in the bushes at the edge of the clearing. They were slightly slitted like a cat, but too large to be a normal sized cat. I wanted to get out of there, fast. I tugged Josh away, but he seemed to be rooted to the spot. I pulled him as hard as I could, and I got him to run away from the clearing. He didn't start talking until we reached the edge of the forest near the town.

"What was that?" Josh suddenly exclaimed. "It looked like the eyes of a big cat. Like a tiger or cheetah."

"I don't know. I wouldn't want to be in that clearing when it is there," I said. "We should start getting home. Our parents must be looking for us."

As I was getting my bag off the sidewalk, Josh said, "Thanks for getting me out of there."

I was not expecting that, from Josh at least. He was always mean with his friends, but has never bothered me when he was alone. I have always wondered why. His house is on the other side of the block, right behind my house. He has never bullied when no one was around, though. I was thinking about all this when I decided that I needed to get home. I was thinking about the pair of eyes when Josh called after me.

"I don't think those eyes were an animal's."

"Why do you think so? They looked like a ferocious tiger's or lion's eyes."

"There was a human silhouette around them," said Josh, looking back at the forest.

I was afraid for the future right there and then.