Find My Heart (boyxboy)

2. Electric Shock

Cole

I woke up on Saturday to a beautiful blue sky. Finally spring had arrived, and it was starting to warm up again.

Spring was without a doubt, my favourite time of year. Some of my favourite flowers were those that came out in spring, and I Ioved the lime green colour of the trees with their brand new leaves. Everything looked and smelt better in spring. If spring was a feeling, it would be 'hope'.

As soon as I finished my breakfast I started to put on my beat up old trainers.

"Where you going?" my dad asked.

"You don't want to know," I replied.

My dad sighed. "It doesn't matter what I say does it?"

I smiled sheepishly feeling a little guilty. I wasn't a bad boy at all, and I loved and respected my dad a lot, but this was one thing we could never agree on.

It probably didn't help that my dad worked for the Police.

"I'm not doing any harm to anyone," I argued back.

"That doesn't make it right," my dad said.

We'd been over this same argument hundreds of times.

I finished tying my laces and grabbed my hoodie.

"Just to warn you though," my dad added, "I've heard that Highfield Hall has had some interest, so they may have a buyer soon."

I shrugged and made a sort of "meh" noise to show my lack of concern.

"I'm serious Cole. If you get caught for trespassing, I'm not bailing you out."

"They'd have to catch me first," I mumbled, not in the mood for my dad's weekly lecture.

My dad gave a short glare of warning in my direction but then wisely dropped the subject.

Highfield Hall was an old manor style house that had been abandoned sometime in the early 80's, and so was now in very poor repair.

But it wasn't the Hall that interested me. It was the grounds it came in. Highfield Hall had about 500 acres of land behind it which was mainly made up of natural British woodland so it appealed greatly to the ecologist in me.

You see I absolutely loved wildlife. I guess it has always been kinder to me than people had.

With the manor being abandoned, I basically had free reign to use it as my own back garden for the last four years. Four years ago was when we moved to this area. My dad moved around a lot with his job. Annoying, I know!

I quickly walked the half mile from our house to the manor and soon found myself at the broken wall.

As soon as I stepped through the wall, I felt my body relax. For me, it was like stepping into a different world. A world with no people. It was calming and serene and beautiful. I knew it like I knew the back of my hand. It held no surprises, and asked nothing of me.

I spent a glorious morning making notes in my pad. The first warm day of the year always meant a bonanza of observations.

The first ladybird.

The first open leaf bud on a tree.

The first sighting of a blackbird carrying worms in its beak.

I was sat observing what I believed might be a woodpecker's nesting hole when I first saw them.

I was quite a distance away, and nicely covered by the protection of the woods, but my keen eye was quick to detect movement near to the manor.

I quickly hunched down, my heart rate increasing. My dad would kill me if they caught me trespassing. I crept back further into the trees and kept far away from the manor while I continued my observations.