The boy who loved to write

Chapter 5

The next half hour was taken up with Leo shouting. He reckoned that he was at least two miles away from civilization but didn't want to get more lost than he was now. His shouts were answered by the roar of thunder.

Great. Now he wasn't just lost, he had a thunderstorm to consider as well.

He sighed and heaved himself into the nearby forest, Stanley following close behind. The first rule of survival was to find shelter, especially when there's a thunderstorm about. Luckily for him, there were lots of branches which had blown down. He found a tree with a few solid branches that wasn't too high off the ground, and with a log he created a ramp which he traveled over and over, laying layer upon layer of branches. He had always dreamed of living in a tree house and he intended to do just that, well, for however long it took for him to make his way back home. Leo made quick work of it and in the end, he had made an almost –but not quite- waterproof shelter.

The air was bitterly cold and he could feel that the storm had come from up north. What made matters worse was that Stanley seemed to be afraid of the rain, meaning that he had ended up in the shelter with Leo who was pretty sure that the fawn had about as many washes as he had, probably even less. To put it simply: Stanley stank.

The first flurries of snow and ice started to seep through the shelter about ten minutes after the storm had started. At first it was barely noticeable, then it started to melt and pool in the floor of the tree house (luckily the floor branches weren't waterproof either, so the pools disappeared quite quickly), then it reached the point at which the branches actually started to fall on Leo's head. This wouldn't be a problem if he was on the ground, but unfortunately, he wasn't.

Branches and twigs started to collapse on top of Leo, and the pure weight of them caused the floor branches to collapse as well. In no time at all, he was flushed onto the soggy forest floor in a torrent of rain and sticks. Leo got up and looked around for Stanley but couldn't see him anywhere. "Stanley, where are you," he yelled, afraid he had lost his friend. The forest was a dangerous place, rivers and crevasses could be anywhere, and people could die out here without anyone knowing. He was just about to get up and look around when the tree fell down...

***

Bella was trotting along the road to home. A broad smile was smeared across her face. The day had gone extremely well, and she felt like nothing could spoil it for her. House after house had gone by and she had not yet had anyone of them turn her down. The paper had worked a treat and she couldn't wait to tell Leo that some extremely happy customers had lent him paper for the next round of books. Supposing that the plan was right, Leo should meet her around the corner to round the final bend to home.

When she saw that Leo hadn't arrived yet she tutted, but not in a mean way. She suspected that he had probably gotten into a nice big conversation with one of the neighbors. He was not one for conversation with strangers, but who knows, maybe he would make a few friends. Instead, she took in the surroundings. There were large beach trees to her right and she knew that these belonged to Mr Monrouse. The beast of a man would never let the children run around in them, which was sad as there wasn't a forest for miles.

The reverend of their nearby church had drilled into them that forests were not to be entered, as they were dangerous places. It had never occurred to her that he was wrong, and as she peered longingly into the snow-capped trees, all she could think of were endless hours of fun and adventure.

In a nearby farmer's field, she noticed a herd of deer grazing. "Hello, has any of you seen my brother," she asked them all, laughing. A few perked up but the rest stayed where they were, munching on the grass. Mostly by coincidence, one of them staggered to the front, still intent on the grass. This one seemed to have something caught on its antler. Bella calmly walked up to it. "Hello sweetie, what's that on your antler?" The deer looked up and Bella gasped. She recognized it as a piece of cloth and leaning in, she realized it belonged to Leo's jacket.

"Oh no oh no oh no."

This only meant one thing, Leo could be in trouble.

***

Leo was searching for Stanley when suddenly he heard a loud crack and a rumble that echoed through the forest. It turns out that the wind was incredibly strong outside the shelter of the forest, and when a monstrously tall pine tree is hit by winds travelling at who-knows-how-many miles per hour, it goes snap and plummets with such force. Seering pain engulfed Leo as branches from this majestic pine struck him in the back. He felt as though a knife had been scraped across his skin. Already soaking wet and bruised, the tree chose exactly the wrong time to knock him out and almost kill him. If he didn't die from the tree, he'd die from hypothermia.