A Walk in the Woods

1 - Run

England, 1993

"Graham hurry up, you'd better start running now."

I stood frozen on a crack in the pavement, too afraid to move a muscle. I knew I would be dead meat if I didn't run for my life in the next ten or so seconds but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. This was a typical response for me in these kinds of situations, as my anxiety washed over my body making me feel like my feet were super-glued to the sidewalk. I could hear Damon's footsteps getting softer, more distant and his voice calling out for me in a desperate attempt to get me to move my skinny legs and run.

They were getting nearer. I estimated about another six seconds before I would be face planted into a puddle and punched until my ribs turned blue. Four...three...two...

"RUN YOU MORON!"

Damon's hand latched around my wrist and with a forceful tug he dragged me in the direction of the overgrown thicket. I noticed that my legs had started working so I picked up my pace and was now only slightly lagging behind Damon, who had always been pretty fast on his feet. The crisp autumn breeze thrashed past my face causing a stinging feeling, making my cheeks numb. We continued treading through the vegetation until we reached an abnormally thick tree trunk and decided to catch our breath using the dark timber as a temporary cover.

"You're an absolute idiot, you know that?" Damon spat, still inhaling rather heavily. "Those guys could have quite literally killed us."

"It's not my fault that we're targets for every single bully in this goddamn school," I protested.

"Well maybe if you weren't such a nerd and actually participated in PE instead of sitting on the bleachers and reading history textbooks then we wouldn't be the victims in this situation," Damon snapped back at me.

I decided not to argue with him, being on the verge of getting up and stranding me here. This was the most agitated I had seen him all week and I didn't want to push it, I stared off into the far trees and shrubs that were blanketed by a thick layer of fog.

Damon was a childhood friend of mine, I had basically known him my whole life. We met in early primary school and grew an immediate liking for each other. We both shared similar interests, I was into art and we both heavily enjoyed music. However, as we grew older and entered high school I was often labelled as a 'nerd' or 'loser' due to the fact that I was a little more shy than a lot of the other students and I wore prescriptions. Damon was quite the opposite in terms of looks and reputation, he had always been a pretty boy, the type to play football (which he did not) and was a popular conversation topic amongst fifteen year old girls. Although Damon could have left me at any point in the ten years I had known him, he was a loyal friend and that of a great one too. Always sticking up for me and keeping two value packs of band-aids in his book bag for the odd occasion where I would get beat up or pushed over the gravel car park when exiting school.