Young Writers Society

The pine tree’s interweaving branches that made the dark forest’s canopy failed in their challenge to block all light as some remnants from the moon reflected sunlight managed to seep through, touching the pine needle covered ground in a sort of dim defiance. An ominous mist permeated the air throughout the dreary woods, and the trees themselves shouted a warning of grim danger and deceit to anyone in that place who would listen. Countless centuries, even millennia, had passed without a single person taking the notice of the council of those who had been there since before time was known to men. The trees had seen many thousands of children sucked into the horrific world of the Rat.

There were several children exploring the forest now searching for the items they knew they must find if they were ever to return home. “Find all the treasure, and I shall free you so long as you do not touch any of my other possessions,” the Rat had told them. A scavenger hunt. The children held the horrific image of the Rat in their minds, more than enough motivation to complete the task that they were now faced with, although they did not recall anything of their lives before that.

They had started as one large group, but had now split into smaller cells in hopes of finding all the required items so that they could return home. They traveled deeper and deeper into the forest, although their instincts told them not to. The Rat was a creature who, although truthful, was filled with deceit.

“I found one!” One of the children shouted. His name was Robert, and each time he found an item, he knew he and all the others came closer and closer to returning home. His fear lessened slightly as the discovery replaced the feeling with hope.

“What is it?” Chris, who was traveling with Robert, asked. He felt a slightly ashamed for not finding the item first. He hadn’t found any at all yet, and he hoped that he would be allowed to go home despite that fact.

“It’s a diamond! A really big one!”

“Let me see it!”

“Ok…” Robert reluctantly handed the diamond over to Chris, and he only did so because he felt bad that his new friend hadn’t found anything at all.

“Wow…” After a thorough examination of the valuable gem, Chris handed the diamond back and shouted to the other children elsewhere in the woods, “Robert found a diamond! It’s huge!”

“Abby and I just found a gold crown!” Serena, elsewhere in the woods, shouted back. It was good to know that others were finding things too. I hope this ends quickly, she thought. I really want to go home. She continued onward through the woods with her best friend Abby, whom she felt she knew before the hunt began. “Where should we go next?” Serena asked her friend.

“I don’t know,” Abby replied. “I think we were here before. Maybe we can go that way…” she pointed to the right. She could see some interesting rocks through the densely packed trees.

“Ok.” Serena waited for Abby to go, but her friend shook her head.

“I’m too scared…can you go first?” Abby couldn’t even lift her eyes to look into Serena’s. Serena nodded and led the way. Abby had been scared all throughout the hunt. Serena didn’t mind because it made her feel brave, and gave her all the more courage to continue onward. Anyway, she enjoyed the idea that she was protecting her friend.

As they walked toward the rocks, they heard several creatures scuttling here and there in the area surrounding them. Serena had seen a snake earlier, but hadn’t told her friend to prevent her terror from growing. An owl hooted above from one of the nearby trees, sending Abby into a mild fright. Her steps slowed, her face became pale. A knot in her stomach. The words that came from her mouth sounded muffled so that Serena had to ask her to speak again. “I can’t go anymore,” Abby said. She shook her head, separating a tear from the duct in the corner of her eye.

“It’s ok,” Serena replied, attempting to remain calm. Seeing someone, her best friend, so frightened… “It’s just an owl. We can keep going.” A reluctant nod from Abby, her face a picturesque version of fear.

Serena led slower now, keeping all eyes out for anything that might cause her or Abby harm. She examined the dark, mist covered area around her, fearing that some monster may be waiting in the shadows. It’s a like a spy game, she thought. We’re just playing, and there’s no reason to be scared. I need to protect Abby.

As they came upon the random outcropping of rocks, Serena heard something whisk by behind one of the trees. It was close. Seconds passed, and they heard a twig snap followed with a scuffling sound in the nearby distance. “What is that?” Abby asked. Her eyes were wide as her body began producing the adrenaline that would allow her to flee the scene as a bolt of lightning.

“It’s nothing,” Serena said in a failed attempt to comfort her friend. Although her voice did remain steady, her eyes were searching for possible escape routes.

Another few moments later, and a shape jumped from behind one of the larger trees shouting, “GOTCHA!” Both the girls immediately jumped, and were on the verge of fleeing in terror until the realized it was one of the boys that they had started the hunt with.

“Don’t do that!” Abby had meant to shout angrily, but her statement left her mouth as a horrified shriek. Tears flowed from her eyes, down her face, and fell onto the needle carpeted forest floor.

“That was mean!” Serena succeeded where Abby had not.

“It was just a joke,” the boy said. He had a pitiful look on his face, and it seemed as though he was sincere, so Serena forgave him while rubbing her friend’s back. “I’m sorry.” He tried to approach Abby in an attempt to comfort her, but she backed away as he came forward. “Fine…I’m just gonna go somewhere else.” He left, stomping his feet on the soft forest floor while cursing under his breath all the worst words he knew.

“It’s ok now,” Serena said after the boy left. “We can keep going.” Abby nodded but as Serena started searching the rocks for anything out of place, Abby sat down on the ground and buried her head between her arms and her legs.

“I can’t do it anymore!” Abby shouted a muffled, tear interrupted whisper. “I just want to go…go home…” Serena didn’t know what to do with her friend. I’ve tried everything, she thought. I can’t keep pushing her along.

“Abby…” Serena found tears coalescing in her own eyes, but gained control of herself before any of them managed to fall to her cheek. “We’re almost home…almost done.”

Abby said nothing and only lifted her head to stare into the forest, where she saw something glint underneath the pine needles “There’s something!” she said. Her torment immediately turned to happiness as she lifted the silver tiara from the ground. “We’re almost done now!” Although Serena was careful not to get her hopes up, she didn’t stop her friend from doing so.

“Let’s keep going.” They continued walking with a more confident Abby, filled with hopes of escaping the forest and returning home.

“Do you think we get anything if we win?” Abby asked her friend.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe we’ll get more things like the tiara,” Abby was wearing that now, “or maybe our own candy shop!”

“Maybe we’ll get a puppy, I’ve always wanted one!”

“Me too! Maybe we can get a puppy and a kitten! They could be friends, and we could even get our own pet store!” They went on back and forth like that for a little while as they traveled aimlessly through the trees. As they walked, a growing thickness of the mist that surrounded the woods lulled their conversation into silence.

“Serena?” Abby said.

“Yes?” was her friend’s reply.

“I think I’m getting scared again…”

“Just a little further…”

“No,” Abby said. Determination derived from fright. “I think I’m just gonna turn around.”

“Don’t do that! I don’t want to be alone.” It wasn’t that Serena would take on Abby’s personality if she were left alone, but more that she enjoyed the company.

“No…I’ll just stay here. I’ll wait for you, though.” After one last attempt to raise her friend’s spirits and drag her along, Serena continued alone. A few steps away from Abby, and they could no longer see each other through the mist.

I can make it alone, Serena told herself. I’ll be ok. Those thoughts were little solace to her, but as she was about to turn around and return to Abby, she came to a large ditch where the mist slackened. As she walked a few feet into it, the mist quickly dissipated and she arrived at the bottom to see a golden key floating a few feet in the air. Serena approached it cautiously, feeling that picking it up would be the wrong thing to do. Every instinct told her to leave, but she knew that this was the final piece for her to find in the scavenger hunt. Only the thought of returning home and leaving the dreadful forest tempted her into reaching up and grabbing the key.

Suddenly, all the children that had started the hunt with her surrounded her in the bottom of the ditch, including her best friend Abby. They hugged upon sight of one another as Serena said, “I told you everything would be ok.” When they released each other, they turned to see what everyone else was looking at.

The Rat.

Man-sized, grotesque, disease ridden scavenger. Fang protruded mouth. Saliva drenched lips and chin. Dagger whiskers piercing the air. Nine spike covered tails escaping the clutches of its ragged garments. Its eyes. Its eyes were the worst. Evil gleam made its horrible smile even worse.

Serena took a step back as it spoke, “Congratulations to each and every one of you for completing my rather difficult hunt.” It looked over the children with the slightest hint of desire. “You have all worked very hard to complete the task that I set before you. As I said, I will free all of you should you wish it. However, there is a reward in store for those who wish to stay.” The children’s disgust at the Rat became excitement as each of their greatest desires flashed through their minds. “However, before I give you your reward, you must tell me who found the last item in the hunt, for they shall receive the greatest gift of all.”

Before Serena had a chance to raise her hand, Abby’s shot up. “I did it! It was me!” Serena didn’t mind the fact that Abby was taking credit because Serena didn’t want any kind of attention from the Rat. She’s so shy, anyway, Serena thought of her best friend. I can be nice for her this once.

“Ah…” said the Rat. “Then you have the absolute privilege of coming with me.” Abby immediately wished that she had never taken credit for finishing the hunt, but before she could retract her lie, she vanished. Serena became worried for her friend, but the reward that the Rat revealed soon cleared her mind of that thought. “For the rest of you, look to the right for your reward, should you wish it!” All of the children eagerly turned their heads to see a world of incomprehensible joy that the Rat had just opened for the with a simple wave of its hand.

Not a single child neglected the rewards open to them now in order to gain freedom and return home. They walked into a palace of pure, shining white marble lined with candy shops, toy stores, pet stores, firework shops, and countless other things. The sight gave each of the children a feeling of elation, running all through the palace to play with whatever they could get their hands on.

I need sunglasses, Serena thought as she looked upon the blinding marble walls. Blinding, with little light to reflect. I can get some there! She ran to a room littered with sunglasses, and grabbed a pair before she could even determine which style would best accentuate her features or even whether they would fit her or not. They fit well enough, she thought as she ran to a pet store.

Puppies!

Everywhere, there were puppies of every breed. Which dog to get? Sunglasses were easy to choose, but all the puppies here tormented her with their sad looks and barking pleads. Serena picked one out that looked a little shy. She saw the thick layer of dust on his otherwise black nose, and said to her new pet, “I’ll name you Dusty. Do you like that name?”

Dusty wagged his tail for an answer and licked her cheek with appreciation. “Now you just need some food and water,” Serena told him. She pet him as he ate and watched him with love as he drank. Everything I ever wanted is here, she thought as she stepped outside the pet store and looked amongst the other shops and stores. She walked into a toy store with Dusty at her side, and found an underwater Lego set with a mini-sub. After working on it for a short while, she moved on to the Barbie dolls. There was scientist Barbie, rock star Barbie, housewife Barbie, and so many others to make Serena dazed.

She picked out a lawyer Barbie and a car that she could drive to work with. She ran the car all along Dusty; he was chasing it and yelping and playing. This is so much fun, she thought. I wonder what else there is? She left the Barbie doll to find out and walked through the palace with Dusty at her side.

So it was with all of the children, never giving a thought of what might have happened to Abby. The Rat looked over them all. Its fangs formed a smile as it watched, knowing that they would all soon be his. Let them have fun. Let them feel joy. The Rat would soon show them the price they must pay for its generosity.

Robert was carrying Ralph, his new kitty, in his arms as he walked through the palace, wondering where to go next. A couple of the other kids who had been with him in the pet store said that Ralph was a stupid name for a pet, but Robert felt that animals should have people names because that was more fair to them. He never understood why some kids gave their pets’ names like “Rover” or “Shiloh.” A fireworks store caught his eye, but before he reached it, he saw a woman who was old enough to be his mom. She looked incredibly sad, so Robert went to talk to her. As he approached her, a few of the other nearby children joined him.

He looked to them for courage as he spoke to the woman, “Hello.” Robert had to fight to keep control of Ralph. The woman didn’t answer him. She only stared into an invisibly deep abyss. “What’s your name?”

Silence.

Robert went on, “My name is Robert, but you can call me Rob. I think my parents did.”

“Your parents can’t help you now,” the woman replied. Lost hope, desperation. Staring into nothing, still.

“Huh?”

“Did you think that all of this…was free?” All of the children stepped back. Rob held his ground against fear, setting Ralph loose on the floor. The kitty took flight.

“What do you mean?” Shaking lower lip. Sadness. I’m not going to cry, Rob told himself, although he found it difficult.

“Don’t you understand? Why didn’t you leave when you had the chance? It watches us…the Rat. It makes us work!”

“The…Rat?” Rob could barely speak now as the thickening air stuffed his throat.

“Yes! It knows what you took…that you took its things…it considers this its home; these things, its property. Now you owe it…” The woman’s words echoed through the children’s minds as the world swirled around them, giving way to the hell where countless generations of children had worked before them in payment for their debt to the Rat…

++++++++

The Rat’s slaves cleaned and maintained both the inside and outside of the palace to give its white marble cause to shine each time the cloud darkened sky above permitted the slightest bit of sunlight to beam through. Pillars and towers touched the sky, conversing with the clouds, tempting them to swallow the palace itself. Weird angles and curves formed the walls to create what can only be considered a sin to the architectural art, and the Rat smiled over it all.

Its factory lay nearby, decrepit in appearance although functional in purpose. Those inside did little to maintain it, working instead on toys and machines that the Rat would use to lure children into servitude. Slugs crawled through the mud inside leaving mucus trails behind their slow paths of inevitability. A young man who had been working there for twenty years now picked one up and greedily inserted it into his mouth. This is how they lived now, looking forward to such treats as delicacies.

When the young man, Chris, had started at the factory, he didn’t know how to work the most simple tools. After years of punishment and torture from the Rat, however, he learned quickly how to build the most magnificent and complex toys. There was no room for thought in what remained of his mind. Only work. He busied himself now with building remote-controlled toy helicopters, working fast so that he could make enough to earn his water for the day.

The food came from a dusty, barely operable farm whose workers were the worst off of all, although the Rat paid no attention to those slaves. It didn’t even consider them its own anymore, leaving them there should they consistently fail to finish their tasks. Instead, the other slaves forced them to grow their food and breed what little livestock they could, brutally beating those farmers should they fail to create enough food to feed the rest.

Sanity was hard to find, if one could find any, in the Rat’s home.

The Rat itself rested in its grand throne as it watched its slave women dance. Slowly, they turned to the wonderful cello of one of the men. Serena was among them, twisting and turning to the harshly gentle serenades. Always in step with the others, she dipped, twirled, and leaped into the air to land on her toes, always possessing a grace that would be uncommon in the most elegant of courts. Should it be any different, the Rat would make it known through torture.

Abby would dance soon, Serena knew. She would come out wearing what could in no way be called clothing, and her ultimate beauty would sweep the Rat into a slumber of lust. How could she escape? Serena felt this thought as a curse day after day. A burning in her mind. Waving her goddess hands, Serena finally knelt, bowing softly until her nose touched the marble floor.

Once all the women had fallen to their knees, bent over on the floor to avoid displeasing the Rat, the cello transformed into a ferocious beast joined with a soft drumming from another of the men. Abby entered the room as contempt filled Serena’s mind. It was me! I found the last piece of the hunt, the golden key that unlocked the gate into this hell. But hell could become bearable with the right luxuries, Serena knew as she watched Abby dare the music to keep pace with her feet. The drums picked up now in order to stay with the beauty, always with a fierce determination to please her master, the Rat.

Most of them are like her now, Serena thought. The Rat had tortured them to make them feel that slavery with torture was infinitely better with slavery without torture. Deranged. I have kept myself. I can still escape. I just need to find out how; there’s always a way. Many years ago, she had imagined taking others with her, back home to their childhood, but the thought became lost as she watched what most of the others became. I can save myself, yes, but everyone else is going to have to take care of themselves.

Serena’s eyes cautiously moved from the floor to the rat. The disgusting Rat. Saliva dripping down from its vampire fangs. It started to change as Abby danced, its fur receding into its skin, its features becoming smaller, softer, more handsome. It liked the dance apparently, and had changed into a human male to show its pleasure. I could dance like that, Serena told herself. I could dance better. Serena moved her envious eyes back to the floor as the dance ended and the music slowed and softened but continued on.

“My dear wife, my wondrous Queen,” the Rat said to Abby; it always addressed her as no one else existed. “You, I can tell, have been practicing.” Abby’s giggle; disgusting. It turned to its older wife who had preceded the slave women with her own dance. It said something that only she could understand, and left her a gift of her own blood across her face as it slapped her, hard. “I could have another of your fingers!” Its voice instilled terror. To say that evil could shine would be to describe its eyes. “Go! Leave! Learn!”

Where she would go this time, Serena did not know. She’s trying to kill herself…she would be dead by now if I hadn’t found her buried in the mud. How she didn’t suffocate there, I don’t know…the Rat must be torturing the old woman. It must want her to torture herself that way, keeping her in life with only a curse or a spell. It does that sometimes…

Serena could put the old woman out of her misery. The problem would be getting close to her. The Rat hid his queens’ chambers close to his own, which were blocked off to any slaves. The queens cleaned for themselves, a mark on the children’s conditions; even the queens were slaves. Serena mulled over something that had been in her mind for the past twenty years while staring face down at the cold marble floor. I could tell the Rat the truth, she thought. I could tell it that I finished the hunt and not Abby. Then I could be queen! She snuck another glance at the Rat, now in human form. It wouldn’t be so bad…it would be better than dancing and cleaning all day. I could have my own room, and I could keep the Rat happy. I could keep him human…

Wait…him? It’s not him, Serena, she told herself. It’s a monster. It’s not human. I don’t want any kind of attention from that disgusting creep…that’s why I haven’t told it the truth yet. However, the queens must possess many freedoms that slaves do not; it might even bring her closer to finding a way escape. And Serena would find a way to leave; she would have to. The thought of escape tortured her mind, her soul day after day in this endless hell.

She took another look at the Rat, lifting only her eyes and not her chin; she had learned not to make that mistake long ago. She wasn’t sure if anyone had ever attempted speaking to the Rat before; it gave orders, and the slaves obeyed. What would happen to the first person foolish enough to do so? Torture? Death? Death by the Rat’s hand would be the worst imaginable, never letting anyone die quickly. Another reason not to tell the truth; she might be killed before she even got a chance to speak. Serena watched as the Rat took a snail from an assorted platter of bugs and insects that rested on the backs of two of the men.

The Rat. How would she even approach it? Rats themselves are the very symbol of every disease and plague that has stricken mankind. With desolate eyes and grease-covered hair, they scavenge the remnants that others leave behind. Serena was a woman, a life giver, still more a child than adult in mind, the essence of innocence and purity. Communication between two such spectral differences should be impossible, but it would have to be done. Being a queen slave would be better than being a slave in any case, and if she succeeded…escape could even be possible.

Serena made her decision.

Defying the terror that permeated the air covering the rusty factory, dust-covered farms, and dreary marble palace, Serena stood in the presence of the Rat. It immediately took notice of her full upright figure, and transfigured from the handsome man it wore as a mask into the purely evil form of the Rat itself. Standing, it knocked over the platter that the two men had been holding, pushing one of them onto the floor in the process. It reached Serena soon after she managed to rise on her shoddy knees, and used its claws to leave four straight gashes across her cheeks. It then stood directly in front of her, and, gazing into her eyes, asked one simple word, “Why?”

Tears crept from beneath Serena’s eyes to contrast the resolve that she felt only a few seconds earlier. She answered the Rat in a mouse’s voice, “Abby is a liar…I finished the scavenger hunt.” Serena waited for the Rat’s reply as eternities collapsed and were reborn.

“My younger queen?” Sarcasm touched astonishment. It looked to Abby as it continued, “Surely her beauty represents her pure innocence?”

Serena said nothing.

“My dear Queen Abby, what do you have to say?”

“I would never lie, my King,” Abby replied in a voice that rippled across a smooth breeze, although touched by the slightest hint of guilt.

“Then surely,” the Rat went on, “you can tell me what the last piece in the scavenger hunt was?”

Silence.

The Rat did not look away from its younger queen. She stood, staring down. Red-faced. Slow, soundless tears. Shame. Dread. Fear of torture and death itself entered her mind. Finally, the slightest shake of her head.

Force preceded the Rat as it stormed over to Abby, and suddenly it was a twisted thing of claws and spike riddled tails, pummeling her, bleeding her as she raised her arms up in a desperate defense. It covered its younger queen with bruises, welts, gashes, cuts, burns, spit, never stopping, always beating. Abby became a mockery of flesh and exposed bone as the watching slaves felt their stomachs revolt against them at the sight of such torture.

Abby should have been dead, blood gurgling up through her mouth and nostrils, but the Rat, epitome of evil, was not yet satisfied and used a spell to make Abby whole once more. “Stand!” It yelled. Abby only lay crying on the floor, her mind so ruined that it no longer had any control over her body. The Rat grunted and spat on her before he turned to walk toward Serena.

Serena watched, feeling regret. Tear drenched eyes. “Perhaps you,” the Rat said to her, “can tell me what the last piece of the hunt was, slave?”

As the Rat spoke with such disrespect and hatred toward Serena, a well of new emotion conquered shock. Her heart pumping fast. Her body a furious factory of muscles, blood, and veins. Anger. “A golden key.”

The Rat smiled as Serena felt the temptation to spit at its face. She didn’t want to be queen after witnessing that brutal torture. She didn’t ever want that atrocity of a smile directed at her.

The Rat spoke through crooked teeth and thick air, “So it’s true…Serena.” The Rat said her name. Slaves don’t have names; most of the children had forgotten their own. “I am an honorable creature. Therefore I must right the wrong that I have so unwittingly committed.” The Rat slowly paced back and forth in front of Serena, contemplating this new situation while still talking to her. “I could make you a queen, Serena. My new queen, and I could give you unparalleled youth and beauty for eternity. Luxuries such as none of my queens have ever known will be yours, and you shall have absolute freedom in my home.” The Rat stopped to stare at Serena, still clenching her fists in fury, directly into her eyes. “I could make you a goddess…”

Serena said nothing in the face of these promises, although she did feel a strong temptation to accept. She wouldn’t have to spend all of her time with the Rat, after all. But still…I don’t want to be with you, she thought. I never want anything from you. Not after what I just saw. She shook her head for an answer.

“No?” the Rat asked. “Then I will set you free…” Joy that would have been unattainable under any other circumstances replaced anger in Serena while the other slaves felt envy.

Before the Rat finished speaking, a whirlpool of reality surrounded Serena and vanished, leaving her in the forest where the scavenger hunt had taken place twenty years ago. Serena looked over herself. I’m a kid again, she realized. I have my life back! I can remember my parents! I can live my life.

She could indeed, although the thought did not bring her so much happiness as she thought it should. She looked at the edge of the forest and saw buildings, people, and sunlight. Sunlight that had evaded itself from her eyes for an eternity. I can leave now…I can play in the sun again. Mom could take me to the beach and we could get ice cream. I wouldn’t have to eat bugs and slugs anymore…

Again, lack of joy. She looked in the other direction. A weed covered path led into the dark, empty, dead, endless forest where the ominous mist spread itself over everyone and everything who entered there. Could I leave them behind? She thought. I’d think about it for the rest of my life. She knew this although her mental age hadn’t yet reached a decade.

She didn’t take another look at the joys that she was turning down. She did not have to.

The key would have to open something, this Serena knew. Maybe I could use it to free the other children, and I already know the way. It can’t be too hard. As she made her way into the woods, the trees used their long death touched branches to cover the sun and the sky from Serena’s view. She looked behind her after a little while to see nothing but an overgrown path that led into the same void that spread out before her.

She looked for some recognizable spot, something to wake her memory of this place, but twenty years of slavery to the Rat had made her memories of the hunt become dreams, many she had forgotten. Small bits remained with her, but were of little help. I thought I knew the way, she said to herself, sitting and resting against a large pine tree. Where should I go?

As she looked around, she felt something push against her back with a faint whistle and a sharp breeze. She looked behind her but saw nothing there; just the tree. It’s probably just the wind, Serena told herself. She leaned back, defying the thing that was attempting to terrorize her. Again came another push. I need to stand, she thought. I need to get up.

When she was crouched on her way to stand, the push came again and knocked her down. Once she was standing again, she looked behind her again to see the tree shake itself back into place. She looked over herself and saw a deep cut on her left leg. She had fallen on a rock. Blood left a dark red stream down her leg and onto the ground which soaked it up as a plant absorbs sunlight. Serena shook, face pale. She was bleeding, and the ground was drinking what blood she shed. Her mind attempted to take this in and comprehend. No thoughts stirred. Slowly, she walked on without looking behind her. Fright.

Evil tree, she thought. Looking around…what if all the trees are evil? What if they’re all out to get me? There are probably monsters here, hiding. The shadows. Everywhere. I can’t see them, but they’re waiting to kill me!

As Serena filled her own mind with terrifying images of the most grotesque monsters that imagination can provide, she began to run wildly, blindly through the woods, picking up her pace each second. She saw the trees bending back and forth in an attempt to block her path and knock her down once more. Branches waved, their tendrils licking the ground, searching for Serena, trying to pick her up, capture her in their arms. Fear pushed her onward into the forest, now trying to find a way out. Escape once more.

Panting, her horrified mind showing no mercy for her body, she sprinted onward, from darkness into more darkness. There’s a way out! Serena thought, frantic ideas confusing her mind. No, keep going. There’s monsters, chasing you. Got to get away! The Rat is coming for me, I know it! Run!

She suddenly felt a harsh pain on her face, and realized that she had tripped. She got up from the ground, but fell once more into a sitting position. Dazed. She looked around, and shook her head to get rid of the dizziness. This was a bad idea, she found, as the pain in her head grew worse. She touched her nose and saw blood on her fingers. Here, sitting on the dark forest floor with the branches above so thick with intertwining needles and leaves and branches that sunlight couldn’t dare to break through, Serena found herself wishing that she had simply walked into the sunlight. I could have told my parents about the Rat. Or the police. They’d have to believe me. I knew some of the other children’s names, and their parents must be as sad as mine about losing them. I miss my mom…

The tears that fell from her eyes carried a desperation that no one should ever have to feel. They mixed with the blood that dripped from her nose to form a diluted droplet of life itself. Amidst so much death, so much suffering, so much pain, no one should expect to survive. No one could be blamed for lying back on the forest floor and bleeding themselves to death as they let sadness soothe them from life. Hercules himself would find hard trouble in attempting to gather the strength needed to rise above such a situation…

As Serena lay there letting her thoughts fade into nothing, she thought of the past twenty years of her slavery and torture. Through all that time, she had retained hope for escape, hope for freedom. Even during those times when she felt her condition couldn’t get any worse, and contemplated taking her own life, she still found room to dream of returning to a better home that she did not remember. Would she now lie here, waiting for Death to take her in his comforting arms? No, she thought. I didn’t get away from the Rat just to die in its stupid forest! I have to save the other kids now, I can keep going!

Finding strength and hope, gathering courage although there was nothing to take it from save her own true will, Serena stood.

She stood, and wiped the blood from her leg. She found a patch of moss on the ground, and held it against the cut on her leg. She tore some more from the earth, and used it to soak up the blood that freely flowed from her nose. She looked around and took several deep breaths while counting to thirty. Calm.

What did I trip over? She wondered. She had to have tripped; her foot had gotten caught on something. Feeling the ground in the dim light, she found a golden dagger lying on the ground. It had a jewel-encrusted handle and its sharp blade reflected a little light through the thick mist. A piece from the scavenger hunt…I found it! I can do it; I can find the golden key.

With newfound resolve at her side, she continued to trek through the dense woods. There are no monsters here, Serena told herself. I was just pretending. There’s nothing here that can hurt me. An owl asked “Who?” in a nearby tree. Serena jumped a little, but quickly gained calm, acknowledging the fear while controlling it. She came to an outcropping of boulders sitting between a few trees, and recognized the area almost immediately. This is where Abby and I were before we found the key. I wonder what she’s going through right now, she started to think, but quickly pushed the thought away. This was time to focus. She looked around, finding the path that would lead her to the key.

Once she resumed walking, the trees seemed to bend back, away from her, and that gave her strength, courage. Almost there, she thought. You can do it. This isn’t scary. You’re going to save your friends, and they’ll be so happy! Especially Abby. Serena remembered something very simple that her mother had told her over and over again, every time she was too scared or too frustrated to continue with some sport or activity or schoolwork. “Never, ever give up,” was all her mother had said. She would always tell Serena not to be afraid of anything, to be confident in everything she did and with everyone she met. Serena now felt as though she knew what that meant.

The mist became thicker, oppressing Serena as she walked. Into its depth she went, despite the warning that her pumping heart and adrenaline filled muscles gave her. She was so close now, the fog getting heavier and denser. Breathing hard, she came upon a ditch…the ditch where the key would be! She ran down the small slope as her fear became the hope that she would soon free all the other children that the Rat had captured along with her. She could even rescue the Rat’s older queen.

When she finally reached the bottom of the ditch, she found the thing that had caused her to turn her back on her home: the golden key. And standing between Serena and freedom was the Rat.

“Serena,” her name came from its mouth with a twist of grim intensity. Despair had conquered the hope that filled Serena only moments before. “I understand why you came back here. Other children have in an attempt to save their lost friends after I freed them. You are not the first.” Murder made itself clear and present in the Rat’s eyes.

Silence from Serena.

“I am a merciful creature, although you may not believe it. I will give you this one last chance to leave my home. Leave now, and I will harm you no longer.”

Serena gave the slightest shake of her head, terror turning toward hate and anger. The Rat gave no more words, but instead charged Serena. She gripped the dagger in one hand and ducked, turning and twisting to avoid the Rat’s many tails and claws. In one smooth moment, she was behind the Rat, thrusting the dagger into its back.

The Rat. Disgusting, greedy, scornful, and treacherous. Its eyes retained the evil that was the creature itself, although a glaze faded into existence over the gleam. It fell to its knees as Serena pulled the dagger from its back and walked around to face it.

It deserves nothing, she thought. No words, no legendary escape from life. Without thinking, without pity, she thrust the short blade into where the Rat’s heart would be with an epic force. Blood made a pool for the Rat to rest in as it fell to the ground. Dead.

Serena had never killed anything that large before. Flies and insects were one thing, but to kill a larger creature, even an evil one, shocked her. She felt disgust mixed with a twinge of pleasure and hatred of herself for feeling pleasure in murder of any kind while she watched the Rat die. Serena listened as the last breath of life left the Rat, sweeping over the forest and clearing the mist which so short a time ago permeated its depths with evil intent. More sunlight now trickled down through the forest, and the trees seemed to have more life in them.

Serena moved only by bodily instinct to grab the floating golden key. Not aware of what she was doing, she laid it down on the Rat’s chest as it lie there on the cold, dreary forest floor, and the key shone light to surround Serena as well as the scene around her. Serena closed her eyes from the pure, blinding light and when she opened them again she was at the edge of the forest once more.

And all the other children that had ever been slaves to the Rat, living or dead, joined her there. Most walked across the edge into the sunlight and faded back into their own time and place where they could once again be home with their parents and family and friends. Joy expressed itself on all of their faces, filled with smiles and laughter.

Some, very few, walked over the edge and stayed solid. These were the children who had been in Serena’s scavenger hunt. Among them was Abby. She, instead of escaping into the sunlight, walked toward Serena. Abby couldn’t look into her best friend’s eyes nor say anything to thank her. She didn’t have to. Serena embraced her friend with the love that can only be found in those, who through all that they have been through, are able to still find courage and hope no matter what their condition. “We can go home again,” Serena told her best friend.

Together, they walked out of the forest and into the sunlight…

…and as they crossed, all memory of the Rat, of their torture, and of their slavery faded from their minds to be replaced with the hopes and dreams that only children can imagine.