Get High or Horse?

Kane and Belle, whose friendship is in turmoil have agreed to go for a Magic-Mushroom pick, but sometimes picking the wrong Shroom isn't the only danger there is ...

“Kane, you're such a coward!” a Woman's voice bellowed.

The night was pitch-black, the noise of crickets, bats and strong wind echoed off the nearby gumtrees. Two teenagers, a male and a female had driven to the outskirts of their town, on to a nearby cattle-farm to indulge on some mushrooms that grew in the hot summer season. If timed right one can stumble on a lucky score upon a smelly cow-dropping.

“Belle, this is dangerous! Roger nearly got ran over by that Farmer's truck last time” spoke the skrawnly teenager with thick glasses.

“The Fat-Twit probably woke him up by walking,”

“This is not a good idea!” replied Kane.

“Well why are you here then, Fun-police?”

“You know the stories; There's King Browns the size of crocodiles, kids disappeared in the mine-shafts, and there were Dingo attacks last year!” spoke Kane as grabbed his friend’s hand.

“Doesn't answer my question,” retorted the impulsive blonde-haired girl. “Why-are-yoou? Are you following? Hee-arr?”

Kane grew annoyed by her tone, she had spoken to him like he had a brain injury, as much as she could be irritating when she's drunk and under the belief whatever she does is right, legal or otherwise, he would not allow her to pick these mushrooms alone, despite the dangers and the Farmer's infamous temper.

“Let's just pick the things and go! I don't to be another victim,” sighed Kane. The teenager pulled a clean,brown paper bag out of his pocket. “We should of went somewhere else,”

Belle grew annoyed by Kane's negativity, she had always despised him for being a wet-blanket, but regardless of his inability to live life outside of his computer, he had a vehicle, besides his quick thinking may get her out of a sticky situation. “Look, if you're going to get angry, we can call it a night after this. No point getting high if we're in a grumpy mood,”

“You've drunk half a bottle of Smirnoff! And I bet you can't even remember what else at Roger's before,” replied Kane. “I doubt they'll have any effect on you.”

“Just shut up and start looking, Roger's waiting!” snapped Belle.

The two had already prepared for the heist, they had brought thick and hardy cardboard to lay over the barb wire, as Kane tried to help Belle over the top, she pushed the nerdy kid over the fence and forced him to land on his head, lucky he didn't crack his glasses.

“Lady's first!” she spat. “Soon to be Lady's at least!” She had always loved to target his lack of masculinity, she knew it was one of his biggest insecurities, but she had always loved to target anyone she knew.

Kane, annoyed and nursed a potential concussion just produced his torch and walked into the complete opposite direction. Belle, had realised she forgot hers, and he was not in his charitable mood any more, so she had pulled a small,blue cigarette lighter from her purse, careful to not start a fire she had waved the small flame in and around the large yellow Spinifex. She saw how stupid she looked as she often had to extinguish the light every few seconds to avoid burning her thumb.

Kane turned his head and sniggered, his torch had obviously lit up more ground, which had made his search more efficient. The pair had quickly and quietly scanned the ground, careful not to arouse the soft-mooing cows or their harder to see offspring. Also Kane remembered there was a large, black Brahmin Bull last time he had entered this paddock.

“Muuu-URRGGGHH!” groaned the largest silhouette in the yard.

Then as the other cows quickly moved at the sudden noise. Kane looked over to see that Belle had not only spooked the Bull, but had accidentally tripped with the lit lighter and set the dead, dry spinifex on fire. Her drunken state was not in her favour.

“F****N' JESUS CHRIST!” she squawked. Her exclamation was so loud it would of made a Heavy-Metal Musician deaf.

There was nothing more hilarious than a drunken person doing something stupid, but this was not one of those funny situations, as this fire would not only cause a stampede but wake up the Crazy, old Farmer. They had realised they had wondered very far from where Kane had parked, there were so many trees that the two could not even remember which way the road was. They were doomed, if they had gotten out of this situation unscathed or incarcerated it would sure of been of divine intervention.

Kane had to think on his toes, if there was a water trough nearby, he could pour it on the blazing flames before they had spread. He could not see where he had ran, he had panicked in his desperation to find a water bucket or any wet container. He could here that Belle was screaming and severely freaked out over the startled heard. She had tolerated them when the large beasts were docile, but in a frenzy of charging half-tonne projectiles in all directions she had managed to dodge a large head that was crowned with huge horns that looked like it could spit-roast an elephant.

A the noise of wind had became silenced by a chorus of frightened cow-noises and hooves that struck the ground like meteorites. The rhythm would of made a perfect drum sound to match the tempo of their heartbeats.

Kane had fallen over an exposed root of a dead gum tree, as he fell he saw his light had instantly died out. He reached out for it, only to feel the cold, grimy water of a cow trough. He could not see anything now but the flames in the corner of his eye, Belle laid out on the ground screaming and the shapes of startled bovines, some could have been heard mooing in pain as they tried desperately to force over a barb-wire fence.

Kane tried to lift the container with all of his strength, he shocked with horror to find he could not even move it an inch. No doubt the noise would of woken up a hearing impaired old Farmer. There was only two options left; Face the consequences of his actions or better yet, flee.

The teenager knew that the alcohol would definitely make Belle a burden, but Kane refused to leave her, if he did, she would not only never talk to him again, she might even rat him out to get out of imprisonment. The meek young man had quickly ran towards her, to help the panic stricken teen off the ground. She had laid out on her elbows and knees, also she'd covered her head to prevent a stray hoof from kicking her brain out.

Kane charged towards the flames that had now divided the paddock in two, his heart had raced, even more so than when the cows had begun to make noise, after a deep breath he raced as he jumped over the growing flames, after he had thrown his fungi bag into the fire, he grabbed the young Woman and threw her over his soldiers, and darted off into the darkness. With his other hand he covered the mouth of the screaming Belle, to silence her.

After a few seconds of the rustling wind and the uncertainty of falling over, Kane had managed to of hit the sharp barb wired fence. Belle's leg had gotten scratched and torn her tight, blue jeans. Both teens had felt no pain due to the high adrenalin that had been felt. They both could feel the vibrations of each other's heartbeats when the sound of a metallic gate hit a large rock. Kane threw Belle over before he had jumped the fence, no longer concerned over physical pain, he had quickly swept out the now quiet Belle and carried her over his shoulder.

“HOO DONE IT? SHOW YOURSELVES!!!” spoke a thick, bogan-Australian accent. It had the tone of a nightmarish, bad tempered and possibly homicidal Man. “I'LL BLOW YA F****N' 'EADS OFF!!!” A loud crack of a shooting rifle was heard. It had either silenced the horde of panicked beasts or the farmer had opened the gate to save the herd. Kane didn't look back to find out. The braveness had definitely worn off.

After he was sure he was at a distance, he had felt he had landed in a dried up river-bed, quickly he had laid Belle out on the bank, careful to keep his head below the hight of the bank in fear of having it shot off. The gun cracks blasted again and again, but had grown quieter each time, he frustrated Farmer had moved further and further away.

After he had ripped a piece of his torn shirt off to patch Belle's wound on her leg, he felt her hand clap his face as she snapped, “You idiot!”

Kane stood in disbelief, this had not been his fault, he was sure she owed him at least an appology or some gratitude.

“MY PURSE!”

“F**k your purse!” Kane had felt angered. It was like all of the lack of appreciation and disrespect had erupted from his mouth, he no longer could bite his tongue. “YOU LIT THE F*****G PADDOCK ON FIRE! AND NOW THAT FARMER IS GOING TO KILL US! I WAS SO SCARED THE COPS WERE GOING TO COME I HAD THROWN MY BATCH INTO THE FIRE!”

“Not only my f**s are in that fire but my wallet, with my photo ID and my bag of mushies, I am fucked, totally and utterly fucked and all you can do is yell at me?”

“Yes! You are fucked!” Kane spat. “You can crawl back to town for all I care, stupid mole,”

Kane had quickly pushed her off him and started to examine he's own injuries, he had climbed back up to check if the farmer had gone. It was only a matter of time before he'd find the young man's Ute, and if he'd already found Belle's purse they were both in some serious trouble. He had tried to think about what to do, maybe he could phone Roger and tell him to pick up the car while he found a way out.

He had just realised he left his phone plugged into the charger in his Ute. The brief moment of happiness had drained. He had read about youth detention centres and how the stereotypes of the other boys who would of populated them. The thought had made him shook violently.

Belle had done nothing but cry for what was a few minutes but felt like an hour, she had shaken worse than he did.

“Kane... I'm sorry...”

Kane had enough of the weeping Woman, whom he'd realised she had just done nothing but hurt him for the last few years they'd been 'friends'.

“Go to Hell!” he spoke. Just as he got ready to get up and walk off she spoke again.

“I'll be there soon enough!” she said, as she pointed to her leg that hadn't stopped bleeding. There was a large pool of blood that had seemed to appear out of nowhere. “I'll be dead before the ambos even get here,”

A look of horror had grown on Kane's face, even though he was fed up from the way she had treated him, he would not of even wished it on his worse enemy. The boy quickly jumped to his knees and tried desperately to apply pressure to the exposed cut. Her voice grew weaker with her next sentence, like her life was slowly being drained.

“I'm sorry I treated you like s**t, I don't hate you, Kane,”

“Look Belle, you're not going to die! We may even be near the car by now,”

“No, we're not... I just want you to know why I treated you ...”

“TALK LATER, SAVE YOUR STRENTGH!” he interrupted.

Kane had picked her up, he had noticed she had became noticeably lighter. He threw her over his shoulder and proceeded to navigate the darkness, he did not care that he was caught. He wanted to save her life, if he could get back to her purse he could call for some help, she always kept her phone in her purse. He had staggered as he walked, though she had gotten lighter, the adrenaline that he had experienced had long faded, he felt her breath whisper in his ear.

“I love you and always have, you've always been there for..”

Kane's heart had stopped while he felt a sudden stop in her breath, quickly he had thrown her down to feel her pulse, he had buried her head into her breasts, he wanted to hear her heartbeat, despite he had felt he'd never talk to her again five minutes ago, he did not want that to be the reality now.

“Belle... Belle … W-wake up... please … BELLE!”

The young woman had died, her skin had glowed in a pale white that reflected off the moonlight, there was light finally, Kane could her his Ute, just half a kilometre away from a mushroom shaped smoke signal. The farmer had extinguished the fire, Kane could of seen the half charred remains of their actions. They'd thought they'd knew the risk involved, at most a trespassing or possession charge, nothing like this, horror had crept into his stomach. He was not concerned any-more if the farmer had shot him, anything was better than facing the consequences now. What would Roger say? How will Belle's Mum cope with the loss of her only child? How would he's Parents feel when they learn their only Son will face Manslaughter? He had sobbed for an hour as the position of the moon shifted.

“HORSE! HORSE!” called the Farmer's voice.

Then a large shadow emerged from the distance, it ran at a huge pace. Almost like it had driven over to him, The large black shadow pushed him down and forced him flat on Belle's lifeless body. Kane turned his head to look but only saw what looked to be a paw, it was gigantic almost the span of a car tyre.

Kane had rolled over to see what looked like a Giant Dingo, possibly it was the size of a house. The creature roared ferociously as it had looked into Kane's eyes, Kane had felt a horrid depression, worse than when he lost Belle. It had felt almost as the monstrous beast had induced the affliction deep into his soul.

“HORSE! RETREIVE!” yelled the Angry Farmer.

The Beast hag gripped Kane by his foot and dragged him upside down, Kane felt very scared as his head had dangled two feet above the ground.

“So you were picking my mushrooms, eh?” said the Farmer.

The Old-man's tone had seemed calmer now that he had seen the meddlesome children punished. He told Horse to take the scared, and injured teenager to his house. Kane was too in shock over the death of Belle and the sight of the Gigantic creature.

Kane's heart had pounded ferociously, he could not speak, he had dangled over an upside-down version of cow plops that were littered with thousands and thousands of mushrooms, as he was dragged closer, he had noticed the fungi, that grew out of cow-dung had grown in straight columns and lines, almost as if somebody had planted them.

The Sun had only started to rise, it had stained the once dark bushland, surrounded by a wall of canopy trees, and gumtrees that were christened with missile-toes. He had felt that his foot had been supported by a socket in the large canines mouth, almost like one of the teeth had been deliberately removed for this purpose, Kane had dangled for what seemed like a life time, as he looked outward he saw a beaten down old shack and a large barn, most likely it was built to house or hide Horse in it.

The teenager had finally got his movement back and desperately tried to get free of Horse, but Horse's chest was too far away for Kane's foot to even reach. The teen had felt very helpless, being carried around in a Great big dog's jaw, like he was a kitten or a gecko about to be buried.

Kane had wondered; What was going to become of him? Surely, the Farmer would just turn him into the Police? But a Giant Dingo, That isn't legal is it?

Author's Note

Thank you for reading ...
Please let me know what you think :) All comments are greatly appreciated.

Reviews

[Tony Jordan]

I'm a real fan of dialogue in stories and I'd have liked to seen more in this but the story itself is sublimely frightening.

[EJ's Horror]

I'm re-working this one, Tony. Thank you for reading it. And I'm glad you told me this now :)

[DIVYA]

I like the dark ending to this write. You are a great writer in the horror story genre. Kudos.

[EJ's Horror]

Thank you again, Divya, there;s some elements I want to work on though

[DIVYA]

Every story or poem has endless possibilities...

[AcasualPawn]

Two lovers behaving like enemies. Not acknowledging their feelings. In the end when they acknowledged one is dead and other's future cant say............

Good story but death event could be more dramatic........

Nice keep it up ejheather.

[EJ's Horror]

Thanks again,It's a long read and I appreciate you going through that Death, I'll see what I can do, I want dramatic as possible