I had fun writing this ‘suspense’ story in July 2018. One almost has to close their eyes and visualise while someone else reads the story.
Eddie was exhausted. His little six-year old legs had been churning away for what seemed like forever. His heart was pounding so fast that his chest was hurting. He was gasping for air, sucking up everything he had. He was surprised that his feet could even keep moving forward, and had almost tripped several times not only because of his fatigue but because he was scared.
It had all started a couple of minutes before as ten others began to chase him. Eddie knew he could run fast but he had never been in such a situation. As he took a quick glance over his shoulder, he could see a couple of faces that he knew amongst all the others but most of those chasing him looked unfriendly and seemed intent on catching him and perhaps more. They were yelling at him – threatening him, and even encouraging him to fall. Arms were being waved in the air.
The colours of their clothes were all mixed up with blues, greens and reds. There were at least four of the chasers who were bigger than him and they appeared to be closing the gap. Fear was causing him to shake and tears began to stream down his face. He was all alone. He simply had to keep going.
All around him the noise was almost deafening. He could not make out the words being hollered at him, but it was loud and never ending. In fact, it seemed like it was getting louder if that was possible. Out of the corners of his eyes, he could see walls of colour setting up down both sides as if they were fences. There were people running but not after him. He could only run forward; there was no change in direction possible even if he wanted to. There was no space. What was going to happen to him? Could he make it before his chasers caught him? Would the noise ever stop?
Adding to the noise was the wind, which was howling in his ears. The trees were a blur in the distance but they were bending with the wind, and their leaves were now blowing past him and swirling around his feet making it more difficult to keep his feet moving. The dark storm clouds seemed to be racing ahead of him, adding to the sense of foreboding Eddie was feeling that it would be only moments until he was caught.
He took one last chance to look back, trying hard not to lose his balance or to slow down. Two of the big kids had moved ahead and their eyes showed their determination to track him down. And joining them was one of the smaller kids – where had he come from? And the crowd of others was still there although struggling to keep up. The first three however were closer and he had but a few seconds if he was to beat them.
He stared ahead. The tears continued to flow. His arms were pumping, doing their part to pull him ahead. His legs were feeling like jelly but he pushed them to move a bit faster. He had no more energy.
Out of the blue, he heard his grandfather’s voice which was funny as he had died a few months ago. “Eddie, you are strong! I believe in you. Focus.” He was no longer alone nor afraid. All of a sudden, he felt as if he was flying, running on air. But he was not yet there and he could hear the others right behind him, their voices loud in his ears. Only a few more feet to go.
The moment had arrived. He smiled. As he felt his chasers come along his side, he swerved to the right, looked up and ahead. And drove the soccer ball past the keeper into the goal net. It was over. His team had won the championship. Eddie had won the race.