Relentless

A Story by Dak

It was late in the night, walking down the street, it was impossible to see. There were no street lights and no people, almost as if I were being swallowed by the night’s eerie darkness. Walking aimlessly in the night wasn’t unusual for me, I always found peace in the night’s silence.

Out of nowhere a scream for help pierced my ears. I felt I had an obligation to find the source, because I was certain that I was the only person within miles of the area. Immediately I followed the sound of agony, which led me behind a local store. I saw a child, around 10 years old, being abused by a man. I had to help the kid, but what could I do? I had never fought before, nor was I physically prepared to. I stood in the shadows, frozen in fear, something needed to be done. I saw a figure immerge from the darkness, and I caught a glimpse of his face. I knew him, he went to my school, and his name was Dash. He always hung around shady places, and was an assumed trouble maker. Fear struck all when his name hit the air. He moved swiftly into the fight, and distracted the man for long enough so the kid could make an escape. The child sprinted off trying to get as far away as possible and blindly ran into me; we both fell to the ground. He gave me a terrified expression before he looked back to witness Dash on the ground. I had to help; I ran and tackled the man off of Dash. He was down and out for a few minutes. I took that opportunity to quickly help up Dash and run while I still had the chance. I looked back to see that Dash scooped the kid up off of the ground and was carrying him on his back. By now the man had gotten up and was in pursuit of the three of us.

We were off running into the dark nothingness of the night, afraid we wouldn’t make it away this time. We made our way to a partially lit alleyway to slow the man by knocking down trash cans behind us as we ran past. It seemed that nothing would seize his will to catch us. We needed to think of a plan to escape this criminal. Dash looked back at me and told me to follow him. I willingly went along as I had no clue where we even were. He led us to a nearby forest. Dash looked back and told me to head into the trees with the kid and stay there until sunrise no matter what happened. I reluctantly agreed, took the kid on my back, and went to the trees. We made it there unharmed, but paralyzed with fear. I peeked out of the trees to see the man still pursuing Dash. He had somehow managed to keep the man’s attention while we were heading to safety. Dash handled the situation in a manner much more intelligent than I could imagine. This led me to wonder what his next move would be. He ran onto the train tracks close by, knowing the man would blindly follow him. I saw smoke in the distance, heading toward the two of them in a hurry. It was obvious that Dash knew the train was coming, but I wondered how he would make it out of the situation alive. He looked back at the man, smirked, and took a hard pivot step, stopping abruptly. There was a collision of men, forcing both of them to tumble onto the tracks. The train rushed by.

After the train went by I told the kid to stay in the forest, as I made my way to the tracks. I looked down at the two men, and fell to my knees. A tear slid down my face, and the night was silent once again. This time however, the silence was anything but peaceful.

© 2015 Dak

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Reviews

Delmar Cooper

It held my attention in spite of the fact you tried to explain too much, too often. As written the ending is unsatisfying. I suggest you re-write it using half as many words and see what happens.
Cooper