Photo by Mateusz Raczynski on Unsplash.com
Adam raised his wrist to check the time again. "It's getting dark, Evans."
He could see Evan's scowl as the evening sky darkened. Evans responded, "I'm telling you, I know this road. It leads to my aunt's house. We are almost there. Just a couple of miles more through the cornfield."
Adam sighed, "I promise to never spend my last cash on girls again. I should be home by now!"
Both fifteen-year-old boys were exhausted from walking. They had squandered their pocket money to impress two teenage girls at the trade fair hoping they would get a free ride home. It was a very hot summer afternoon and only two cars drove past them. None of them stopped.
"Are you sure we have not missed our way again?" Adam asked, looking nervous.
"Shut up!" Evans gritted his teeth and turned abruptly, forcing Adam to stop walking, their pointed noses touching each other. "Do you have a better idea? 'Cause I'm the only one coming up with the ideas here. Huh?"
"And you are the one who came up with the ridiculous idea to buy those girls trinkets and ice cream!" Adam retorted.
The crickets and nocturnal insects chirping from the bush around the tarred road made the silence jarring.
"Boys! Where y'all headed tonight?"
Adam and Evans were surprised to know they were not alone. A tall man most likely in his sixties but looking slightly older, skin saggy and sallow from high alcohol consumption, strolled towards them. His bulging, red eyes had bags under them, his thick moustache and beard appeared unkempt.
He stank of sweat, bile and alcohol, making the boys step back a little from him. The man staggered a little, smacked his lips together savouring the lingering taste of beer in his mouth.
"Um, we are headed towards the bayou, sir," Evans said, pulling Adam's forearm so they could walk away from the drunk old man.
"This time of the night?"
"We are almost there."
The man chuckled. "I know but you cannot pass through that cornfield. Don't know if you're from around here but folks here know the scarecrow there moves at night. Seen it myself. I think they are more than one. Kids have been known to go missing in that cornfield."
Adam and Evans looked at each other, communicating with their eyes. Old man's clearly drunk and crazy. Let's go!
"Um, thank you sir", Evans said. He pulled Adam and they both walked away leaving the old man rambling behind.
"Do you think he's right?" Adam asked.
"Pff, you saw him. He's drunk. Don't worry, we are almost at the cornfield. We'll run through, come out on the other side and we are home free!" Evan sounded optimistic.
It was a moonless night with tiny stars in the sky. The boys veered off the tarred road into the cornfield which was a shortcut to Aunt Ivy's house. As they briskly walked among the tall corn stalks, they could see the scarecrow hung on a tall stick in the middle of the field.
"We-we don't have to walk close to it, right?" Adam asked, out of breath.
"No. Don't believe what that old drunk said. Let's walk faster that way." Evan pointed at a distance far behind the scarecrow.
As they walked, suddenly little sounds of thump, thump, thump filled the air. "What's that?" Adam whispered. Both boys turned to look behind them. The scarecrow was no longer on its stick. It walked towards them. The corn stalks around it swayed, creating a path for the scarecrow to pass through.
"Um, are you seeing what I am seeing?!" Adam's voice shook in fear. Evans had broken out in a sweat and breathing through his mouth.
"It's walking towards us!" Adam screamed.
"S-S-S-SAVE ME-E-E." A hoarse whisper echoed on the cornfield.
"Adam," Evans' voice shook. "Don't look at it. Let's run!"
As the boys ran, the scarecrow ran after them. Evans overtook Adam a little. With his lungs screaming for relief, Adam still looked back to see how close the scarecrow was. He sighted another scarecrow, a scarier one, following the first scarecrow.
"Evans! Look! There are two of them!"
"Are you crazy, Adam? Don't look at them!" Evans screamed back.
Then Adam's foot got caught in an old tree stump and he fell hard on the ground. Evan stopped abruptly, rushed back to pull Adam up when the first scarecrow appeared before them in a blink.
"S-S-S-SAVE ME-E-E," it whispered through its mouth that had been sewn with thick thread. Evan and Adam stared wide-eyed in shock. Evan, trying to be brave, went closer and punched it in the stomach area.
"Leave us alone!"
The scarecrow staggered back a little from the blow and whispered again, "S-S-S-SAVE ME-E-E." It raised its hand to point to its mouth area.
Evan was going to hit it again when Adam shouted, "Wait!"
He held Evans' fisted hand, starring at the face of the scarecrow made of grain sack fabric. Adam's hand shook as he raised it close to the scarecrow's face. He gently pulled the end of the thread sticking out from the side of its mouth.
As the thread pulled loose, the scarecrow collapsed like a piece of clothing, straw scattered into the air and an ethereal, filmy form of a lanky, teenage boy emerged from the scarecrow and hung in the air.
Evan watched in shock.
"NOOOOOO!" A deep voice boomed in the middle of the cornfield. It was the other scarecrow running towards them.
The boy smiled at them. "T-t-thank y-y-you-u for s-s-saving me. I am free-e-e. N-now run out of this field-d-d!" The boy whispered as he vanished.
Evans and Adam ran for their lives. They burst out of the cornfield onto a tarred road as the sun began to rise on the horizon. They looked back. The scarecrow was back on its stick in the middle of the cornfield.
This is my entry to The Ink Well Summer Contest. Word count is 986. To participate, click HERE
This story is inspired by one of the Log lines which says - When two boys are walking through a corn field, they see a scarecrow… and realize it is walking ominously toward them.