In Laymon's Terms

His vision was blurry, his head was hurting like hell and the fireworks still exploded in front of his eyes. But he was up. He was up and free to leave this horrible place forever.

Billy could see the outline of the barn through the tall trees of the forest. At some point during the night, thick clouds had crept over the forest, shrouding the earth from the bluish glow it had once been cloaked with. Even the moon was gone, completely hidden behind the thick rain clouds.

Something moved in the bushes in front of him. Billy stopped his running and pricked his ears. He was close to the old man’s house now.

He had to be careful. Maybe Bradley had finished Mark off and was now looking for him.

He listened to the forest. Somewhere in front of him, a branch cracked and leaves were being spurred.

Someone was coming towards him.

Before he had time to even think about it, his whole body jumped to the side and crouched behind a large tree trunk. From this vantage point, he could clearly see the trail. He made himself as small as he could, trying hard to blend with his surroundings as he waited for whoever was on the trail to show himself.

Another twig cracked, the noise only a few feet in front of him.

And then, through the shadows and the mist, Mark appeared. His body was covered in blood and his face was cloaked by pain, but it was Mark all right. A great wave of relief swarmed through him. Mark was okay! He was alive!

As a grin widened on his lips, Billy stepped out of his hiding place to meet up with his brother. Everything would be all right.

Everything would be just fine.

With every step he took, the forest seemed to thicken. The trees were looming over him, hitting him with their branches, causing even more pain to his already aching body. He could barely see through the thick darkness of the blood that kept flowing in front of his eyes. If he could just get home, if he could just make sure that Billy was all right, then all of this would be done and over with. He’d crawl into bed and close his eyes and hopefully sleep for a very long time.

If he wanted to do that, however, he’d have to push his body even harder instead of listening to that little voice in his mind which told him he should just lie down right here, on the damp ground in the middle of this dark forest, and sleep for a little while before going home.

Then, just as he thought his legs wouldn’t support him any longer, just had he thought he’d finally give in and let his body fall to the ground beneath him and succumb to the darkness that threatened to invade his mind, something jumped out of the darkness. He blinked and rubbed his eyes as hard as he could, thinking he was dreaming what he was seeing. There, on the path in front of him, stood a tiny creature like he’d never seen before in his life. It had large oval eyes in which a strange green-gray glow swam, thin lips and long, bony arms that were attached to a three-fingered hand. The creature didn’t even look like it had a nose, only a small little hole in the centre of its elongated and triangular face.

Its faint lips parted and a low, guttural snarl escaped through its mouth.

Slowly, Mark felt himself bending down to the ground. His eyes never strayed from the thing that stood in front of him. Mark searched the ground with his hand until he found what he was looking for: a long, thick piece of wood. The thing took a step in his direction just as he brought his body back up, holding the stick strongly between his fingers.

Smiling now, feeling as though this horrible night would never end, Mark ran toward the thing as fast as his legs would let him. He screamed with all his might as he brought the branch down hard against the side of the thing’s head. It never even tried to coil back or run away from him. It just stared back at him with those big lidless eyes and took the blow without even as much as a grunt.

Its body fell to the ground at his feet, motionless, very much dead. A greenish substance seeped from the wound on its head. Blood.

Forgetting all about his pains and his fears and his angst, forgetting all about that man and that horrible thing which he had just killed, Mark ran down the pathway and returned to the soothing darkness of the woods. He ran until he couldn’t breathe anymore. He ran until the world blurred and his breath threatened to leave him forever.

And finally, there it was. His home. A safe place where everything would be all right again. Where everything would be normal and where that little monster would never be able to get to him.