Untitled chapter 1
Grey clouds drifted across the dark sky; the waning crescent moon cast little light, making it hard to see where they were walking. Fifteen-year-old Leah’s tall, thin, dark-haired older brother, Marcus, gripped her arm and marched her through the forest. Her two sisters and several of their friends followed close behind, jeering and laughing.
“Please, Marcus, no!” Leah sobbed, stumbling on a broken branch and falling forward, landing on her hands and knees.
“Don’t be a baby; we’ve all done it and survived,” Marcus laughed, grabbing her arm and dragging her through the leaves and dirt to the edge of the ditch.
“No, you haven’t!” Leah cried; her heart painfully thudded with fear; she could barely breathe as she stared into the deep trench everyone called the devil’s ditch.
All her life, she’d heard about the devil’s ditch; the story was, if you ran up and down it six times and summoned the devil, he would appear. Leah and her friends had visited the devil’s ditch many times on Halloween to work up the courage to run it, but halfway through, they would hurry out, too scared to continue.
“Go on, I dare you,” Marcus smirked, crossing his arms.
“Do it!” Leah’s older sister Kimberley ordered, stepping forward. “It’s not like anything’s going to happen, right?” She slyly smiled. “It’s only a myth.”
“So, what’s the point in doing it then!” Leah cried, glaring at the thin, dark-haired figure of her sister.
“There is a point,” Marcus snarled, pointing his finger at Leah. “If you don’t do it, we’ll tell dad we caught you shagging Rob in the fields.”
“You know that’s not true!” Leah screeched, staring wide-eyed in shock at her brother. “Why would you say that!”
“To make you run the devil’s ditch,” Marcus sniggered.
“I’d run it if I were you,” Kimberley smirked. “Because you know what a beating you’ll get when we tell dad about you and my boyfriend.”
Tears welled in Leah’s eyes as she stared at her sister in disbelief. “Why are you doing this to me?”
“Because it’s fun.” Kimberly’s eyes narrowed. “Now do the run!” she ordered.
Leah couldn’t believe how much of a fool she’d been. When her younger sister, Anna, suggested they go to the devil’s ditch, she thought they would walk halfway there and return home like the previous years; she didn’t expect it to be a setup, or that everyone would be waiting for her in the forest.
Leah’s chest tightened; she could barely breathe as she stared in disbelief at all the sniggering faces in front of her. She already disliked her family, but the sudden surge of hate she felt right then for her brother and sisters raged inside her like a spewing volcano. Leah began to shake as she stood, wiped the dirt from her knees, and stepped towards the edge of the devil’s ditch. “Ok, I’ll do it,” she said, smiling slyly. “And if the devil does appear when I summon him, you’ll all be sorry, especially you,” she hissed, pointing towards Marcus.
“Just get on with it!” Marcus growled, rolling his eyes as he pushed Leah closer to the edge. Everyone laughed as she stumbled, nearly falling into it, but she caught her balance.
Leah’s stomach churned with nerves as she glared at her siblings and their friends; she didn’t want to run, but she knew she had no choice. “See you in hell fuckers!” she called as she ran down the ditch towards the other side. “One!” she yelled, running back toward everyone, then down again. “Two!” she called. Leah’s head felt light as she ran the third time. “Three!” she yelled as she kept running; the crunch of leaves and the snap of small branches echoed in her head. “Four!” She called. Out of breath, Leah wanted to stop; her leg muscles ached, but she kept going. “Five!” she choked, gasping for air.
Everyone’s laughter slowly faded as nerves set in; they didn’t think Leah would finish the run. Leah’s hair was soaking wet with sweat, and her cheeks were bright red. Every time she ran up the ditch toward them, they saw steam rising from her body heat in the cold air, lit by the faint moonlight. “That’s enough now!” Kimberley shouted, suddenly feeling worried.
“No way,” Leah grinned, running back down the ditch to the other side. “Six!” she called, dramatically throwing her arms in the air and looking up at the night sky. “Devil, show yourself; I summon you. Come to me!” she demanded.
The forest fell silent; Leah slowly lowered her arms, looked around, and choked out a little laugh. After years of fearing the devil’s ditch story, she now knew it was made up to scare people. Hoping everyone would leave her alone now, she stepped forward to leave and noticed everyone on the other side of the ditch staring wide-eyed at her. They looked terrified.
A cold shiver ran down Leah’s spine when she heard a deep growl behind her; she froze. A large, warm arm slid around her waist from behind and raised her off the ground as it began to shake. Leah helplessly watched everyone screaming in fear as the earth violently shook them to the ground. Suddenly, everything stopped shaking and went deathly silent. Leah sensed something terrible was going to happen. “Run!” she screamed, struggling to break free from the strong arm holding her.
An almighty explosion ripped through the ground; everyone flew up like ragdolls. Trees and bushes exploded from the ground; soil sprayed everywhere.
Marcus screamed in fear; his arms and legs thrashed around as he was thrown through the air. His body slammed against a large oak tree; its thick branch impaled his torso. Marcus’s body twitched as blood poured from his mouth; his eyes bulged out of his sockets.
Leah watched everyone slam onto the ground; she tried to scream, but no sound came out.
Everything went black.
That Halloween night, everyone was found unconscious in the forest by another group of teenagers who had gone to run the devil’s ditch for a dare. Marcus was found dead, impaled on a tree. Everyone else had minor injuries and no memory of what had happened. Only Leah remembered, but she never told anyone.
Experts couldn’t figure out what happened that night in the forest; they concluded that the explosion of trees and soil could have come from a buildup of natural underground gases.
THREE YEARS LATER
It was Leah’s eighteenth birthday. Twigs and dry leaves crackled under her feet as she made her way through the dark forest. Teenagers’ laughter and screams echoed in the distance as they chased and scared one another. Her blue eyes sparkled as she reached the devil’s ditch and stood on its edge, running her fingers through her long, glossy brown hair to straighten it. “I hope you won’t make me do the run,” she said, smiling, slipping her jacket off and dropping it on the ground. “Maybe I need to show you what you’re going to miss if you don’t keep your word and come for me,” she giggled, gazing at the full moon as she slowly unbuttoned her blouse, exposing her bare breast to the cold evening air. Tweaking her rock-hard nipples and massaging her breast, Leah quietly moaned, imagining it was his hands. “I’ve kept myself for you,” she whispered, stroking down her waist and slowly easing her hand into her jeans. “I can’t wait any longer; I’m gonna have to break my promise.”
Leah’s stomach tightened when she heard a deep growl behind her. A large, warm arm slowly slid around her waist from behind. Relaxing against the heat of the body behind her, she smiled. “Take me,” she whispered as everything went dark.
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