The Forest Elf

The Farm

The world was divided into two distinct regions, the urban lands with tall buildings and busy roads. On the edge of these bustling towns were the deep expanse of woodlands. The woodlands were the home of the wild animals and the woodland elves. The elves lived in harmony with nature and rarely ventured out of the woods, to the point that to humans they don't even exist. The humans however stayed mainly in the towns and villages. Rarely the two would mix and when they did it was usually in the out of the way villages that most people didn't go near. There was a fear among humans with folklore tales of elves having magic and even eating humans. 
  An eight year old boy named Callum lived in a town called Silvergrove that bordered the Northern wilderness. His parents ran an eco farm and they were near enough self-sufficient, utilising solar power and they had their own wind-powered fresh water drinking well. Callum loved to explore the farm fields and often ventured into the woods. His parents would often tell him stories about the magical elves in the woods, so Callum made it his mission to catch an elf.
The day was overcast and Callum was dressed up in full camouflage and a large pair of binoculars he borrowed from his dad. He finished his breakfast with his parents and filled his water bottle up. He had packed himself some lunch and rushed out into the farm excited about his day tracking 'elves'.

His mum turned to face his dad, "Harrow, do you think he'll be ok? I don't want to stop him playing but I also don't want him to get hurt."
 
Harrow just smiled, "It's ok Sarai, he'll be fine, we've worked this farm for twenty years. I've never seen a tree out of place, never mind any elves!"
 
His wife just nodded in agreement and they both went about the days chores.        

Callum had by now got about a mile into the woods, along a track he always took. This is somewhere he would practise his catapult. Sometimes the farm cat would follow him at a distance almost as if she was a feline bodyguard. Callum loved the forest and it was a place where his mind would run wild. He had turned one of the treetops into a shelter with canvas on the sides to blend in with the leaves. From here he got a pretty good view of everything around him. The Forest had a certain sound about it which became familiar to Callum. With his food and drink he could stay there all day. He also had a walkie-talkie and his Dad had the other one to check he was ok. Callum took out the binoculars, cleaned the lenses and scoured the trees and forest floor for the elves he was desperate to see.
Unfortunately though as usual all he saw were three squirrels squabbling and some large crows cawing loudly.

Quite often in his den he would sit and draw, to distract him during his pretend elf hunts. He would draw what he thought the elves looked like. Even though some of the kids in his class at school described them as being almost like demons with large teeth, glowing eyes and horns. This however didn't put Callum off wanting to see one and he had his old film camera ready to catch the moment. In a world of his own he barely even noticed his surroundings, but for some reason he looked up from his drawing.

The Forest had become suddenly quiet and the crows all flew off together. Something or someone was in the forest and whoever it was disturbed the animals over by the clearing. Callum held up his binoculars and scanned the scenery all around him, not a things out of place. Callum was now spooked and the hairs were standing up on his neck. He could hear a faint rustling noise coming from under his platform on the tree. Someone was there.