Jack and the Night

Jack and the Night

It was dark when Jack awoke. He had only meant to have an afternoon
nap, and had intended to be awake well before sunset, but clearly, he
had overslept. He gazed out between the trees and saw that the sky was
black with night. Evidently, the sun had not only set, but the moon had
risen well into it's highest orbit and it must have been close to
midnight.

It was not safe to be out at this time. He knew what the consequences
might be, but he couldn't shake the feeling of tiredness that he
remembered coming over him after he ate his lunch on the large broken
tree stump that he had almost stumbled over. He must have slept for
over 9 hours. How could that be? Normally, he would have described
himself as an insomniac; he had been suffering from sleep problems
since he could remember and usually managed a maximum of 4 hours a
night. He had adjusted to this over his 26 years, and an unusual sense
of fear began to rise in him. Could he have been drugged? No - that
simply didn't make any sense. Jack had made his lunch himself that
morning - using left overs from the delicious meal Katie, his
girlfriend, had cooked for him the night before. The thought of Katie
bought a smile to his face and helped to ease the unnerving sensation
that he was feeling.

So how then, could he have slept for so long? What on earth had come
over him and why did he not feel refreshed and energized, considering
it was the most amount of sleep he had had in one go for over nineteen
years.

The silence was deafening. Night animals were rare in these parts, they
had been hunted and destroyed many years ago - by what exactly, no-one
was certain and those who had attempted to find out, had never
returned. Jack did not belong here and he knew that his only chance to
survive the night - would be to run like the wind to the nearest safe
house...........If he could find one.

He leapt up from his guilty position and set off into a run. Which
direction he headed was of little significance - "where" not important
- only NOW. Go, go, go was all he could hear in his mind and his
surroundings almost disappeared into a blur as he focused his vision
ahead on the furthest he could see. The sound of his heart pounding
became drowned silent as a rumble began to grow in fortitude. His heart
seemed to be competing in strength, until Jack felt that it would
almost explode. In an effort to counteract the sound he roared like a
warrior in a battle. He had no idea where this voice came from, but as
it bellowed out from his lips, it's task had succeeded and the booming
around him became less apparent. Was his voice simply louder or had the
terrifying grumble really lessened? Jack expelled air for the longest
period he thought he ever had with that roar, his eyes were closed and
every piece of energy within him was focused in his throat. How long it
went on for - no-one could say, but boy did the town think he was crazy
when he ran into the street shrieking like a banshee.

Mad Jack McMad they call him He's a nutter!