Lizard's Leap: Chapter Sixteen: Hungry Eyes.

Chapter Seven: Hungry Eyes.

Although it was still summer, typical British weather was the order of the day and it was wet and drizzly. They’d been cooped up all week and were going round the twist with boredom so they had decided to go for a picnic.

Nana was lied to and told that they were having a movie picnic, a lunch of good things to eat and a big bottle of cherry cola while they watched a couple of Netflix films. Normally they weren’t allowed to take food upstairs, but they’d been complaining about being bored so Nana was more than happy to get them off her back by packing up an interesting picnic hamper. If it kept them occupied for a couple of hours, she could live with the crumbs in the bedding.

While their grandparents thought they were sitting in their rooms, they were unlikely to be disturbed.

They were going to leap into a picture of a forest glade for lunch. Emma had found the picture in a magazine and thought it would be a perfect place to visit and the others were impressed with it, too. The trees were cleverly painted. They parted to show a hazy mountain range way off in the distance.

The scene focused on the mid-section of the picture featuring a forest clearing. A carpet of bluebells, hyacinths, late daffodils and crocuses covered the grassy area; dropped leaves and pine needles softened the mass of deep blues, pinks, purples, yellows and greens and a fallen tree would make the perfect bench to sit on or lean against. A shaft of strong sunlight speared through the trees to illuminate the scene. It was perfect.

They’d stuffed their reading books and sketchpads into the top of the hamper and were looking forward to a few hours of exploring and relaxing in the enchanted forest. Kerry reasoned that something that pretty had to be enchanted. She was convinced that she would find a real, live, fairy to sketch, and, if not, then she would just draw the one that would come out to see them if it wasn’t so shy.

They held hands, Mark and Emma having one hand each on the hamper. Mark had reminded them several times not to leave it behind. A picnic was one of his favourite things on earth.

Sand Lizard. Sand Lizard, cautiously creep.
Shim. Sham. Shally wham. Lizards leap.

The forest glade was everything that they’d expected it to be, apart from the fairies. The densely covered trees lost their battle to keep the strong sunlight out, making the spot cosy-warm. The flowers bowed their heads in greeting and the tree branches whispered to each other above the four visitors.

They laid out the picnic and Mark hopped from one foot to the other getting in everybody’s way. Emma spread the yellow-and-orange checked tablecloth in an area that was surrounded with flowers. She was by far the most domesticated of the four and liked being mother.

They found four rocks to hold the corners of the cloth down and stop it blowing away in the warm breeze. They dug into the hamper to find out what delicious goodies Nana had packed for them. There were four sandwiches, each one cut into quarters so that they could share the varieties: a sandwich of ham and pickle, cheese and onion, tuna and sweetcorn mayonnaise, and, Mark’s favourite, pork and stuffing with apple sauce. There were four sausage rolls, a packet of crisps each, some marshmallows and four huge slices of rich, dark chocolate cake.

‘Blimey.’ exclaimed Kerry. ‘There’s enough here to feed an army.’

‘No, there isn’t. We’ve got Mark with us,’ Vicki replied, grinning. Mark made a screwed-up face and threw a twig at her.

They ate. Mark ate all of his share and half of everybody else’s. He munched in ecstasy, his cheeks bulging like a hamster’s and his long, skinny body accepting without complaint anything that was put into it. As they made short work of their picnic, some sparrows settled on the floor of the clearing, about ten feet away from them, and cocked their heads with hungry interest. They threw some bread and pastry crumbs for the birds and laughed as they fought and squabbled over the food.

Suddenly, the birds flew up into the air, cheeping loudly. They looked round to see what had startled the sparrows but there was nothing to see. But, something had frightened them.

They sat quietly and listened. An unnatural silence had fallen over the forest. Something was out there. A rustling in the undergrowth broke the silence. It came from the cover of the trees, somewhere to the left of them. A twig snapped loudly to their right making them wheel around and peer between the trees. They weren’t alone.

The glade that just a few seconds before had seemed so friendly and welcoming suddenly turned sinister and dangerous. A wind stirred the trees and the leaves hissed, rustling together. Something was out there, hiding in the trees and watching them. They all felt it and drew closer together.

‘What is it?’ Kerry whispered. ‘I’m scared.’
‘I don’t know, but, whatever it is, there’s more than one of them and they’re coming closer,’ Vicki said, quietly.

The rustlings in the foliage continued. Somebody, or something, was hiding in the trees all around them, circling them. They were trapped. The leaves seemed to be whispering: danger, danger, danger, there’s no way out.

‘Let’s leap,’ Kerry decided. ‘I want out of here.’

They threw the remains of the picnic into the hamper. Nana would be furious if they lost it and they’d have to think of an explanation for its disappearance from their bedroom.

There was another rustle in the trees, this time much closer. It was so close to Mark that he slithered forward on his backside towards the middle of the clearing. He stared through the trees to see if he could see anything and the hairs on his arms rose as he heard a low, rumbling growl just a few feet in front of him.

The thing, whatever it was, moved closer. This time, although he still couldn’t make out anything more than a blur in the trees, he was aware of the size and shape of it. Whatever it was, it wasn’t a human being.

On her haunches, Vicki scurried forward towards a long piece of broken branch that lay at the edge of the clearing. As she reached her arm towards it she was sure that something was going to grab her and pull her right into the darkness of the forest. She picked up the branch without being attacked and moved towards Mark. He was the closest to the creeping thing that was coming towards them.

The other lurking things had fallen still and silent. Vicki stood up and moved in front of Mark. She knew that if she was standing she would have a better chance of defending them.

‘Stand up,’ she hissed, ‘and stay close together.’

‘Be careful, Vicki,’ Mark said. ‘It’s huge.’

They had all shuffled back towards the farthest edge of the clearing. Whatever the thing was, it stood just inside the trees and to get the picnic basket they would have to walk past it.

‘Let’s just grab the hamper and leap,’ Kerry said, crying now.

‘We can’t.’ Instinct told Vicki that if they moved within the line of the thing it would jump out of the shadows at them.

Another rustle as it moved a foot closer. The undergrowth parted. A pair of large, amber eyes glared coldly at them.