Hidden Green

The three boys stood at the edge of the woods shifting their weight nervously. Dusk was slowly settling over them. They stared past the tree line hoping to gain some confidence. When they hatched this plan, each assumed the others would chicken out. They had talked about it for months. It was a constant hum anytime they got together, which was nearly daily. They were best friends, neighbors, brothers even.

Bryce was the oldest at almost sixteen. He was tall, lanky, and worked out constantly hoping to put some muscles on his wiry frame. His mom kept telling him it was working, but she was the only one who saw it. He was almost painfully skinny and just over six feet tall, blonde hair, green eyes, with just enough acne to make him a little self-conscious. Archer was the youngest at thirteen. He was a good foot shorter than Bryce, but probably forty pounds heavier. He had wild hair and a mischievous smile. Carson was in the middle and turned fourteen some time ago. His face had an extra dose of freckles; his board straight hair had just a hint of red. His height was also just between that of his two best friends. Often, he felt like all he did was mediate between Bryce and Archer.

As they stood stoically at the edge of the woods, Carson, the comic relief of the group, was the one to break the silence with a poorly executed joke. Bryce gave a little half chuckle. Archer complained about the weight of his backpack and tried to convince his friends that they couldn’t start this journey today. His backpack wasn’t right. They should find better supplies and try again another day. Bryce leaned down, picked up a rock, threw it into the thick wood in front of them, then took one step forward into the darkness ahead.

Carson immediately followed leaving Archer standing there. After a few seconds pause, Archer wrapped his hands around the straps of his backpack and plowed in behind his friends. The boys had actually been in these woods countless times. They knew every weird tree or hidden creek for a solid mile. Bryce had moved in just over a year ago. Archer lived in a run-down camper his dad had pulled deep down the trail, way back before he could really remember anything else. Carson’s parents live in the trailer park that was nestled in a clearing about a quarter-mile through the woods from Bryce’s log cabin.

Bryce’s parents were middle class and wanted to get out of the suburbs. They were thrilled to find a real log cabin in a secluded area in their price range, snatched it up, and moved right in. The little dirt road to their house passed by the trailer park, so naturally, everyone began the whispers and rumors about the new people who bought the fancy house. Carson was a curious creature, Archer always followed Carson, so two days after the move the boys all met. They were best friends from that moment on.

The woods were better than any playground. They swam, fished, hunted, built things, tore things down, camped, climbed trees, and whatever silly notion got into their heads. These were their woods. The truth was it was the front of a very large nature preserve owned by the great state of Texas. The boys had not ventured very far into the area because there was a giant fence blocking the way about a mile in. They had walked back and forth in front of that fence many times posturing what might be hidden behind it. Late at night, you could see an eerie green light glowing from behind the giant fence.

It moved around, almost as though it were pacing. The boys talked ceaselessly about climbing the fence and finding out what Texas was hiding back there. Tonight, was the night. Bryce had finally convinced his mom to let them spend the night at Carson’s house. She normally only let him camp in their back yard, or have the boys spend the night at their house. She finally agreed. So, it was now or never. They had just about fourteen hours to find the light and get back to Carson’s trailer before any of the parents found out they were missing. Archer’s dad never really seemed to know or care where Archer was. He came and went as he pleased so his dad didn’t take any convincing at all.

They decided to go at night, so as it got darker, they would be able to find the light easier. They planned to be over the wall just as night had completely fallen. Since the wall was about fifteen feet high by their best guess, they brought all the equipment they would need to get themselves over the other side. They had this planned out to the T. It had become a growing obsession over the past year. They were ready for this.

The mosquitoes in Texas, which are nearly small, biting birds, were the worst part for the first few hours. It had taken more than 30 minutes to grapple over the gigantic wall, but they did it. Once they dropped to the other side, fear was constantly picking on them. Everything on this side of the wall was new. There wasn’t any significant change in the foliage, but the atmosphere felt different. The well-known landmarks were gone. Bryce was the navigator. After all, he was an Eagle Scout. He would pull his compass out now and then, write something in his tiny notebook, make a mark on a tree, then push everyone deeper into the woods.

They had seen the flicker of the green light from the top of the wall as they climbed over, so they had a good direction. The ground was sloping up the entire way, almost like they were climbing a very large hill. The boys tried to be as quiet as they could, but it was hard with Archer. Nothing about him was stealthy. Carson wasn’t the quietest person either, but his own fear was helping tonight. He wasn’t saying a peep. Neither was Bryce. Occasionally he would ask the other boys if they were ok, and if they wanted to keep going. Everyone could see that Archer was getting tired, but he wouldn’t let on. As the youngest and the smallest, he didn’t want them to see he didn’t want to be here.

As the evening wore on, the darkness grew thicker. The woods became harder to work through. There weren’t many natural trails that followed their trajectory. Bryce got out his machete and cut a path for the crew as quietly as he could. They trudged on. Each boy was solely focused on putting one step in front of the other. Words fell away. Thoughts fell away. They even forgot to be afraid. The sole focus now was simply moving.

After several more hours, they came to an unnatural clearing. It appeared the trees had been ripped up from the roots and thrown into a giant pile in the middle of the field. The air smelled putrid. Archer began to gag. The dirt was scratched. Deep ruts were visible all around the wrecked field. The air was thick with green-tinted fog. A bright green light flickered from behind the large pile of destroyed foliage. The air growled and hummed in an unsettling way. It was very apparent something large was moving behind the discarded pile of trees.

The boys hunkered down behind a dirt mound from one of the deep ruts. They stayed still, almost forgetting to breathe, worried whatever was out there would find them. The boys watched in wonder as the largest beast they had ever seen unfurled himself and rose. He towered above the trees when he reached his full height. The creature glowed brightly lighting up the entire clearing. Bryce looked over at the faces of his two friends, eyes wide in disbelief, mouths gaped open, the green hue making them look ill with fear. They returned his gaze. Their eyes pleaded to help them escape.

Whatever they thought they were going to find on this journey, was nothing compared to the sight in front of them. The creature seemed to be at least twenty feet tall. He stretched and rolled his head as if waking up to start the day. Suddenly the creature began to move through the ruts dug in the ground. He slithered from place to place as though he were swimming on land. Incidentally, this made the creature seem much smaller than he had appeared a moment before. The boys were immediately worried about being found by this thing in front of them.

Almost as though he had finished a warmup, the creature leaped above the trees in flight. They watched in awe as he swooped up and down, staying relatively low to the ground, but high enough, they assumed, that they could see him from their houses. Mystery solved, they thought. Now escape was all they could think about.

Bryce motioned to his friends to follow his lead. He began to slowly back away from the clearing toward the path they had made. Carson nervously scrambled behind him. Archer was frozen in place. No matter how much the boys begged, Archer could not move. Finally, Bryce decided to leave the cover of the woods and go back for Archer. He was exposed crawling back to his friend's aid and had no idea what kind of vision this creature had. He assumed this would be the end. He would die heroically, saving his friend's life.

Bryce pulled himself forward on his hands, army crawling to where Archer was. His hand touched something that did not feel like dirt. He brushed it clear to reveal what appeared to be a scale that had fallen off the creature. Once he cleaned the dirt off, you could see the green glow emanating from it. Bryce kept going. He grabbed his friend and pushed him out of the rut and toward the woods. Archer somehow managed to run, despite having no feeling in his legs. Bryce paused in the rut before following. He dumped everything out of his backpack, made his way over to the scale, and shoved it inside. He slung the backpack on his back as he gained speed across the clearing. None of the boys tried to hide or be quiet anymore. They just prayed the creature couldn’t chase them in the woods because of its size or wouldn’t bother.

They made it back to the fence in half the time it took them to reach the monster they found. What took them 30 minutes to climb just a few hours early, only seemed to take seconds now. Once on the other side of the fence they finally allowed themselves to stop and breathe. Even Archer had not stopped one time as they fled for their lives and fled for the safety of their homes. Now the boys fell panting, gasping, grabbing their chests, pleading with their bodies to take one deep breath.

After a long while their breathing steadied again, but they didn’t move their bodies right away. They just lay there thinking about everything they had seen. They wondered if it was even real. It had to be. Bryce had evidence. The glow was illuminating the air around them even through his backpack. They pulled themselves up, sat in a circle around the small part of the creature they had stolen. It had happened. It was real.

They even made it out alive. The boys made a pact to never tell. They buried the scale in a safe place, washed themselves off in the creek, and walked back to Carson’s trailer where they dropped from exhaustion just as the sun came creeping over the horizon.