i dreamt of heaven

so nothing ever comes out right

it was around eleven o'clock, the sun not quite in the center of the sky. puffy clouds lethargically made their way across the baby blue surface, occasionally covering the brightly shining sun.

the younger banditos kicked around a ball of hardened leather, filling the air with giggles and laughter. there really was no set goal of what they were doing, just doing their best to have fun in the summer heat.

they were always told to do their best to stay away from the edges of the woods, parents were quite worried they'd send their children off to play one morning, only to not have them return that evening. whether it be at the hands of a bishop, the talons of a vulture, or the jaws of a cheetah. a bishop was the most common reasoning.

one of the boys, who had a head of curly brown hair matched with a pair of deep brown eyes, laughed excitedly as he kicked the ball to one of his bandito friends.

across from him stood his bestfriend, a quieter boy who also had brown eyes and hair, though not as curly as his own. he was quite shy when around the others, though when with him, he was all smiles and didn't care who else was around.

the ball made its way around the small circle of children, eventually meeting back again with the foot of the curly haired boy.

"ready tyler?" he asked, backing up slightly to power up his kick.

tyler nodded, smiling as he prepared himself to stop the ball with his foot, "ready joshie."

josh brought his foot back, then swung it forcibly forward, meeting the leather ball with a thud. the ball soared through the air, and just over tyler's head. all their eyes followed it as it finally fell to the ground, and slightly bounced as it began to slow down, finally coming to a stop. right at the border of the woods.

all the kids froze as they stared at the ball, then at tyler. tyler turned around to be met with the eyes of all the other children, who looked at him expectantly.

"i'll get it!" he shouted, then turned slowly back around.

he took his time to approach the ball, feet trudging slowly through the grass. he gulped slightly, watching the trees intently. the leaves of the giant branches almost completely blocked out the light of the sun, making it harder to make out anything that may be in the woods.

tyler looked over his shoulder, the other banditos still watching him, some hiding behind their hands. he looked at josh, who gave him two thumbs up and a smile. tyler nodded slightly as he turned to look back at the ball.

finally he had reached it, and had bent down to pick it up. once he grabbed it, he thought he had heard an exhale of some sort, though it was more nasaly than that of a human's exhale.

his heart began to pound as he slowly stood up, eyes looking for whatever it may have been. a pair of bright yellow eyes stared back, sticking out from the darkness around it.

tyler had nearly toppled backwards, the occasional tooth sticking out from the cheetah's lips catching a shimmer of sunlight.

"tyler, come on! what are you doing?" one of the kids yelled at him, though it sounded muffled. they didn't seem to see the cheetah.

the tail of the big cat waved itself around, almost hypnotic. they stared at each other for a little while more before it exhaled through its nose again and ran off into the woods.