The Boy Who Could

Chapter 4

      Chapter 4: Runaway Boy

     I was finally done with this three hour project in the hot, blazing sun. My body was achy and ready to fall to the ground. I crouched down to crawl inside of it. Fixing my fuzzy blanket to the middle, Gordon had just then hogged it.I scooted him over because I didn't care at that point if he felt pampered or not.

        It felt like I had just created my own mini college dorm room. But it was just an epic fort.

              I lay my arms over my head and crossed them. closing my eyes, this had been the most relaxing part of the day. Or couple of days, matter of fact. As I lie there for a few minutes, I grew bored and decided to crawl out.

              Covering my face, I looked like a vampire coming out of the fort. The sun felt brusque to my eyes.

             " Ah, go away sun.'' I whispered.

          A sudden noise came across the hill. I grew cautious of my surroundings, following the strange sound. Not the wisest thing to do, but hey, I had nothing else better to do. A tiny chuckle blew in the wind. This was going to get really weird.

              I saw a person at the bottom of the hill, running towards the forest, I was guessing. I ran after him, but not being too loud so he wouldn't know I was there.

           I got closer to him, but not too close to which he could hear my footsteps. 

          Things got really awkward as our feet took turns making crunching sounds on the grass. I started to get nervous, thinking he was some murderer or psychopath.

           When the creepy following came to an end, we both stopped at a shack. His home,I thought, was probably the shittiest building I'd ever seen. The roof looked as if it was falling apart into the house. The walls looked like they were overlapping each other to stay in place. The windows were blocked up, but had some nooks and crannies in them. It had a tan, pale yellow color to it, with a door. Oh wait, never mind, it didn't have one. It was uneven, rusty, old, and overall, just garbage. It looked like a fifty old barn or shack in someone's backyard. Or the crappy house that Shrek had, only a thousand times worse. That house looked pretty bad and it was in much better condition than this.

               I ran over and hid behind a tree, just to see what he would do next.

         He walked through where the door would be, and took off his straw hat and placed it on a counter. As he turned around, I thought right away he already noticed me, so i looked away. But then he just went outside to his ''backyard.''

         I cautiously walked closer to the place. I went around the house, avoiding the atrocious smell bursting out through it, and went to the back.There I saw an old man sitting in a white lawn chair. 

        He too had a straw hat on, covering his greasy, thin grey hair. He hadn't shaved for months, as he was growing out his beard looking like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. His mouth was open and his eyes were closed, so I was guessing he was sleeping. He barely had any teeth, and I could only imagine the last time he brushed them. His skin was tan and wrinkly, and looked like he had been worked to the bone he was so skinny. He was just wearing overalls, and was probably not wearing any underwear. 

        His arms were crossed over him, and were wrinkly and hairy. He outgrew his nails and looked disgusting, possibly infected, not washed, and had layers of god knows what under them. I could also only imagine the last time he had taken a shower.

             Then I remembered the other guy came out here. Hesitating, I glanced around to see if he was near. He probably went out into the woods. 

         The man in the lawn chair had opened his eyes. I freaked out on the spot and stared there right at him. He didn't look directly at me, which I thought was strange. Then he looked around, and closed his eyes. I was guessing he was blind.

         '' Hey Billy, can you get me a snack while you're up?'' the old man asked.

        I stood there, frozen. He couldn't see me, but knew I was there? How?

             ''Uh yeah, sure thing,'' I said in my best southern voice.

         I walked away backwards as quietly as I could, and when I got to the front of the house, I zoomed past. I grew so nervous I was going to get caught, that I was running as fast as I could.

            After ten minutes of running and then continuing at a jogging pace, I finally got back to the hill. Relieved, I dragged myself upon the hill.

      When I arrived at the top, I didn't have the energy to crawl into the fort. I fell to the ground, crashing onto the dead grass, passing out and falling asleep instantly.