Fighting Back

Chapter 4 - Thoughts

Most teenagers can't wait to get home after school. In Noah's case, however, that was far from the truth. In fact, he would gladly walk forever, ending up in a completely different place to 26 Maple Street; far, far away.

Inevitably, the journey from school always brought him back home. It was as if he just couldn't escape.

The boy made his way through the overgrown wooded area, hearing his small feet crunch noisily against the wood, stones and leaves underneath him. Overhead birds we singing their cheerful songs, as if they did not have a care in the world. Oh, how Noah wished he could fly high into the air with them.

Yet he was stuck here, on the ground, with no wings to fly with.

Noah wondered whether today would be the day that he would end up somewhere other than home. Any place would do... a hidden cave somewhere in the mountains; a tropical island where he would befriend the kind natives; a small cottage in a friendly village. He had always had a vast imagination, so it was easy for him to make up these dream-like locations where he may one day find peace.

After Noah had finished battling with the trees and branches hanging above his head, he made his way down the lonely gravel pathway that told him he was nearly home. He supposed he was lucky that he lived near the sea. It gave him time in the evenings to look out into the vast waters whilst the sun set, making the sky turn red and orange.

His journey had nearly ended. Before he made the turn that would take him home he spotted a small village out of the corner of his eye. When did that get there? he wondered.

He saw thatched cottages that could house one or two people at the most. A dog ran widly around a large, crackling fire that took up at least a quarter of the whole village. There were children playing hide and seek, and adults telling them to come back for dinner. An old man dressed in brown clothes from head to toe was telling a story that intrigued many of the villagers.

Noah decided that this place was too jolly for him, and so decided to walk home instead of joining the happy people below him. With a quick glance back, he realised the village had completely disappeared. A single tear rolled down his hot cheeks. They were gone forever. Maybe, he thought to himself, he could have found a new family and home if he had joined them.

What the boy did not realise was that everything he had just seen was purely a figment of his imagination.

Sulking and whimpering, Noah finally found himself on the doorstep of his house. With a sorrowful sigh, he half heartedly knocked on the breaking door, until it creaked open. He was trapped forever in this ugly box of a home.