Writer's Block contest entry

Never take a dare from a redneck. Especially not an onery redneck with a tendency to bully. That was my first mistake. My second mistake was not realizing that the woods in my grandma's back pasture would be much scarier at night. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning of my little misadventure.

My grandmother lived in rural North Missouri for most of my life. During the summer, my brother and I would always go spend a few weeks at grandma's house. That was the big treat. She had a 240 acre farm, complete with barns, ponds and woods. Exploring was a big adventure for a couple of city kids.

The second or third summer we spent at grandma's house, we met the bane of our vacations. His name was Chad, and he was a few years older then me. He was also a redneck farm boy to the bone. He liked nothing better then to make fun of the city kids who didn't know anything about living on a farm. Which brings us to the argument, and the dare.

"City kids don't know nothin' about being outdoors. You guys couldn't do jack outside on your own," he bragged one afternoon.

"That is NOT true!" I protested.

"Yeah? Prove it then! I dare you to go out to Shepards pond tonight. I left a lunchbox out there t'other day when we were fishing. I dare you to sneak down there after dark, and fetch it back."

This might seem like a harmless dare, but to get to Shepards Pond, you had to pass through a stand of woods that my brother and I had nicknamed the Wailing Woods. There were several coyotes that made their home somewhere back there, and every night, they would make their eerie howls. We didn't know that at the time, so it really seemed to us like the woods were haunted. However, I couldn't risk backing down, because then he might think I was chicken. So...

"Alright, you're on! But what do I get if I do it?"

"Nothin' but respect!" That might not seem like a resonable reward, but it sounded worth it at the time. All I had to do was walk down to a pond, and bring back a lunchbox. No big deal.
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When I slipped out of the house that night, I was very happy to see that the moon was full. Walking down the hill from the house, being very careful to stay in the shadows, I thought that this wasn't going to be too bad at all. Now let me describe the path that my journey had to take. My grandma's house sat on the top of a small hill. Her yard made up most of the slope of the hill, and at the bottom was a large open machine shed, an old dairy barn, and a farrowing house. All of them were abandoned. Between the hog barn and the dairy barn, a dirt road went out into the pasture. The pasture was pretty large with hills. At the base of the second hill was the Wailing Woods, and Shepards Pond was on the far side of the woods.

Slipping down the hill, I was pretty confident that I would be able to do this dare easily, and then that bully would really have to eat his words! The first part of the trip was easy. It took me ten minutes to make it through the pasture. Once I got to the edge of the woods, though, I stopped. My brother and I had always been afraid of the woods, especially at night. Screwing up my courage, I found the path that led through the trees, and went in.

The first thing I noticed was that under the trees there was almost no light. The second thing I noticed was that it was really hard to stay on the path when you couldn't see it. I was lost almost immediately. Wandering through the trees, it seemed like they were trying to grab me. Errant branches reached out to snag my shirt, or my hair. After a few minutes, I decided to turn around and go back. That was when I realized that I had no idea which way to turn. That was when I heard the wailing and the rustling.

My heart started racing, and I immediatly started hurrying towards the house-at least I hoped so. The noises seemed like they were following me. Every time I stopped to catch my breath, the noises stopped too. After ten minutes, the tears were flowing down my cheeks, and I was scared to death. I tripped over a large branch, and fell to the ground, crying and too afraid to move. The noises kept coming closer, and closer.

Just as I was about to scream, I saw the light.

"Beth, what are you doing out here? I never expected you to take the dare! I am sorry! I really didn't mean to scare you!" I had never been so glad to see him in my entire life.

"Chad, can you help me? I think I hurt myself when I fell over the branch. I don't know if I can make it back to the house on my own."

"No problem, it is the least I can do." Helping me up, he easily hefted me into his arms. The trip out of the woods took a total of five minutes. I had been much closer to the edge then I thought!