59Chapter 2
"Wait up!" Fat chance. "Come on, this is so not funny!" Actually, it was pretty funny. To me, at least. We were on our bikes, Jeff and I, riding around the block at sunset.
And I was seriously faster than Jeff. While he was passing a corner, I was halfway up the street he was turning onto. And I was showing no sign of slowing. Biking is sort of a hobby for me. And, as my mom says, "it's good exercise."
"Can't you just try to slow down for ten seconds?!" Jeff shouted up to me. I thought for a moment. "No," I shouted back, "probably not." I pedaled harder.
I suddenly saw the park up ahead. You know, the one I was talking about before? And it was my bright idea to stop there and ride through the forest a bit.
You do not know how much I regret making that choice.
I sped up to reach it, and rode in. Skidded to a stop in front of one of the forested paths. A minute later, Jeff rode up next to me. He stared down the path. He looked over at the sun setting down over the horizon. "Are you sure?" he said. "It's getting pretty dark."
"Sure," I said. "We've still got a few minutes of daylight. And it's a short trail." Jeff looked back at the horizon. Finally, he gave in. "Alright," he said. Then he grinned. He put his foot on his pedal, but I was too quick. I quickly sped off down the path before he could. He'd been planning on going down the path first, but I would never let that happen.
That's just how exciting things got back then. The worst thing - well, maybe not the worst thing - we worried about was getting home before dark. Not many strange things going on.
Five minutes later, things got a lot stranger. And scarier.
I liked riding down this trail. It had a lot of bunny hops, and only a few turns. Turns slow you down. And it went on a slight downhill, so I was constantly gaining speed. You've probably already figured out that I like speed. Plus, it was in the middle of forest, and I like scenery.
I sped off down the path. Up, down, up, down, up, down, turn! I went over the first set of bunny hops. I could hear Jeff close behind.
Next set! Up, down, up, down, up, down, turn! I was gaining speed quickly. Since there was a brief pause between this set of bunny hops and the next, I looked over at the horizon. The last sliver of light disappeared. Okay, so maybe we didn't have as much time as I'd thought, but it's easier for your eyes to adjust when the lighting changes so slowly. I took another turn to the next set of bunny hops.
Up, down, up, down, jump! I had so much speed that I could skip over a bunny hop by now. Up, down, turn!
I had come up to another flat straight away. This was the last before the final set of bunny hops. Jeff shouted something to me but I couldn't hear. I turned my head around to see what was up, but at that moment, I lost control of my bike for some reason, and sped off the path. I was now going on a steep downhill. And there was a lot of forest.
I didn't even have time to try and bail! Just as I was completely off the path, my bike hit something and toppled over. It, with me clinging onto it, began to tumble down the side of the hill. And it was not fun.
I quickly let go of the bike, but that didn't keep it from hitting me a few more times before sliding away. I continued rolling through branches, leaves, and anything else you might find in a forest. "Adam!" I heard Jeff call down the slope. I couldn't reply. All I could say was: "Ow! Oof! Ouch! Ah!" And still I tumbled. I hit a tree. The wind was seriously knocked out of me.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, I fell through a bush into a circular clearing. It wasn't that big, maybe 15 feet in diameter. I rolled onto my back and tried to breathe. It took a few tries, but I finally got air back into my lungs. I was exhausted. I was bruised. I was scratched. But mostly just tiny scratches from branches. I tried getting up, but only managed to sit up. I heard Jeff's voice from far above: "Adam! Are you okay?" I still couldn't answer him. I tried, but all that came out was a cough and a choked whisper.
So I just sat there for a moment, trying to regain my breath. But I wasn't given a lot of time, because I saw the bushes in the clearing rustling. I jumped up quickly with a newfound strength, but that was short- lived as well, as I fell back to the ground with exhaustion.
BAM! I fell to the ground.
"Grrrrr." I heard the menacing growl of a creature approaching.