Jared Southwick - Marysvale

MARYSVALE

By

Jared Southwick

www.jaredsouthwick.com

Copyright 2010 Jared Southwick.All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition

This ebook is licensed for yourpersonal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or givenaway to other people. If you would like to share this book withanother person, please purchase an additional copy for eachrecipient. If youre reading this book and did not purchase it, orit was not purchased for your use only, then please return toSmashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respectingthe hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. Names,characters, places, and incidents either are the product of theauthors imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance toactual persons , living or dead, events, or locales is entirelycoincidental.

Illustrations by Bradley O.Fullmer

Cover design by Design PublishingGroup

Library of Congress Control Number(LCCN): 2010932686

ebook ISBN-13:978-0-9845882-2-0

This book is also available inprint.

Hardback ISBN-13:978-0-9845882-0-6

G REAT torrents of hot, humid wind roared through thedark woods, whipping up dust and debris. Try as he might, the youngboy kept getting dirt in his eyes, while branches ripped at hisclothes and scratched at his face. Ten-year-olds dont getscaredor so he kept telling himself. Tears poured freely downhis cheeks, as pangs of fear seized him. The sky swirled andchurned with black, ominous clouds. They hung low over the treetopslike a heavy blanket, withholding their rain and smothering theforest. Jagged streaks of lightning split the air with deafeningcracks and rolling thunder. Everything looked the same. The northlooked just as it did to the south, and both equally resembled theeast and west. Even though it was noontime, the clouds had grown sothick that it felt well past eventide.

A faint sound touched hisears.

Was that a growl? Heworried.

It was hard to tell over the deafeningstorm. His mind conjured up all kinds of ferocious beasts thatsurely lurked in the shadows, behind dense foliage and thick treetrunksmonsters he had fought countless times before in the safetyof his own home and imagination.

There it is again! His heartstopped and he froze, afraid to move.

What is it? Where is it comingfrom?

He closed his eyes and strained hisears, listening intently. There, carried faintly on the wind wasthe sound.

Tepidly, he moved forward and listenedagain.

Thats no monster. It soundslikesinging?

Blindly, he fought the wind. With armsup to protect his face from the thrashing branches, he continued topush his way through the woods toward the sound.

It has to be human, hethought. Encouraged, he plowed on.

Finally, the clouds burst. Sheets ofrain drenched the ground, making it slippery andtreacherous.

The song grew louder.

Almost there.

He wiped the stinging moisture from hisface with a sleeve. In doing so, he failed to see the root thatsnagged his foot. Falling in the mud with a splat, he half slid,half tumbled down a small hill.

As he came to a rest, lightning crackedoverhead. The song was right there.

Not a song, he realized.