Hiss...teria

Water was dripping from the trees… standing tall
and vain like the bullies of the forest. The ground was mossy and moist. The weather was cold and rainy. I was walking in the woods (which I absolutely loved) and listening to the chirping of the birds and tweeting of the forest squirrels.The smell from the basket was too hard to resist. I settled down under the branches of a shady tree and picked a deep red apple from the basket and bit into it. The pure, white juice of the apple trickled down my chin and fell of my shirt. Rest of the juice went down my throat, refreshing me up.

Continuing the journey, I picked up a tune and
sang along with the creatures of the wild. The
gentle flowing of the water could be heard. The
pink flowers looked pretty on the green leaves
of the trees.

Getting nearer to the water, I could now hear
the fluttering of the geese and the calling of a
kite. Coming to the clearing now, I could see the
clear, transparent water flowing slowly and
gently. Few ducks and geese were floating in
the water happily. Sitting on the branches of a nearby tree was a pied
kingfisher with a tiny fish in its beak. To the East was a cuckoo cooing sweetly and melodiously.

Lowering my legs into the water I could feel the cool water of the stream splashing onto my knees. Slowly, slowly step by step I went into the water till it reached my waist.

Blissfully, I splashed water on to myself. In half an hour I was refreshed and cool. I came out of the water, my legs shaking and my teeth chattering. With its many branches and leaves, was a banyan tree. Walking stiffly to it, I lay down, opening up the contents of my basket. There was a cool breeze and along with it from my right side came a rustling sound. Beads of sweat ran down my neck. Was it a snake? Did I hear it right? I listened carefully again. The rustling sound came yet again, louder than before. I didn't hesitate. I hurriedly packed everything up, picked up my basket and sped off. I strode on an orange peel, and kicked a plastic bottle away .... but I didn't care. A squirrel, acting like a spectator gave me what I thought a smirk.

Now that I thought I had gone far enough, I
stopped to take a break. I looked around and I
realized that I was quite familiar with this area.
My house was hardly a minute’s time from
here.

Happy enough now, I skipped, hopped, whistled
and sang a song which I made as I walked. Again, the rustling sound came. It was weird
that so many snakes were there. Without any
warning the snake that was making the noise
came out of the bushes along with the breeze
and showed itself ....and what did I see? A
plastic bag rustling in the wind!

I walked home a puzzled man, still not knowing whether the first alarm was false or not.



This was for a novel writing project in grade 4 ( 2018 )