DAMIEN

Damien. Meaning sweet and harmless. That is what his mother intends to raise him to be. She wants him to be the opposite of his father. He's six years old. Years of his mother protecting him from his father. Yesterday was the last straw. Yesterday Damien got hurt. He has a bruise just below his left eye. After accidentally breaking the coffee maker, his fathers only idea of punishment for an accident was to smack the problem away. When his mother got home, there was a very loud argument. Crying and yelling echoed in their house as Damien sat by the back door looking outside. He could hear his father crying in anger of losing his family. He could also hear his mother crying in fear of losing her sons and her own life. The house was too tense. Damien grabbed his bag and walked out the back door quietly. Whenever things get too stressful he likes to collect things. Outside they have a fairly small backyard. But the fence that outlines their property is very old and flimsy. Damien crawled under the fence and was out. They lived right in front of the wash. Over time all of the rain and dirt that gets through has caused tall wild plants to grow. Perfect for a place to run away to. Damien had recently discovered a gigantic rain pipe and was on the way to explore it some more. On his way to the pipe he looked on the grown for anything interesting to pick up. Cool looking rocks, strange sticks, anything. He looked up suddenly when he neared the pipe. His eye stung. He gently put his hand to the eye, touching it didn't help with the pain. His mother had told him before that if anything else happened that they'd finally go away. Today might be his last day here. Last day to see his friends at school. Damien ignored these thoughts and began to crawl into the giant pipe. It was really dark. He opened his back pack and took out a flashlight. It was a bit spooky inside, but Damien wasn't afraid. He knows what real fear is like. He shined the light around the pipe looking on the ground for anything interesting. Just more dirt and some old dried up leaves. He continued to delve in deeper. After a while he looked back. He could see the light filter in from where he came. He didn't want to go back. So he continued to explore. The further he got the more water there was in the pipes. It had rained just a few days ago. Damien heard something. The distant sound of splashing. He walked further in. Not only did it sound like splashing, but crying too. It sounded like a child was crying. "Hello?" Damien spoke. Suddenly the splashing stopped. "Who's there?" the voice sounded scared. Damien slowly walked closer. "My name is Damien.. what's your name?" "Sroggie." the voice sounded very young. The pipe made a turn that lead to where this voice was coming from. Damien followed the pipe and finally reached the child. The child wasn't exactly a child. It had big eyes, slimy looking skin, no hair, finned arms, webbed hands, and a tail. It gasped and screamed flailing in the water splashing again when it saw Damien. Damien screamed too and fell over in the water. "Stay away human!" the frog looking kid splashed at Damien. "Don't eat me!" Damien sat up flashing the light back at the creature. "I-I won't eat you!" "You're lying!" it continued to splash. "I promise! I don't eat frogs." Damien walked closer despite being splashed at. The splashing slowly stopped. "Y-You don't? My mama said that humans eat anything that isn't human." the child sat up in it's little pool of water. "Well maybe some people do. I would never eat frog though. Especially not a talking one!" Damien knelt down in the water near the kid. "Is this where you live? Why were you crying? Wheres your family?" Damien was excited to have discovered this creature. Sroggie began to weep again. "I lost my family. I'm stuck here." it flailed in the water. "Oh.." Damien noticed that the creature did have legs. They were small, weak looking, but they were there. "Can't you just walk back?" "I've tried! I can't walk yet. Mama said my legs won't grow in until next year. I can't wait here for a year!" the child cried. "I-it's ok! Can I help you get home somehow?" Damien felt bad for this creature. "Maybe I can carry you home?" Damien opened his backpack it was filled with rocks and sticks. "I-I don't think humans are allowed in our home.." the frog kid looked worried. "Humans are dangerous!" "I'm not dangerous! I promise I won't hurt you or anyone." "How did you get that black eye then?" Sroggie pointed at Damien's face. "Uh.. It was an accident.. I fell!" Damien became a bit defensive. "Oh.. sorry.. do you really think you can carry me?" the kid looked up at Damien. Sroggie was just a bit shorter and thinner than Damien. "I think so." Damien dumped all of his collection into the pipes waters. He put the bag down and Sroggie climbed into it. It was a bit snug but Damien could zip it half way closed. Damien put the back pack on sitting down and slowly stood up. Sroggie wrapped its arms around Damien's neck feeling imbalanced. "There. Now which way do I go?" Damien pointed his flashlight forward. "If you go down that way," Sroggie pointed forward, "There will be another tunnel. My family and our whole town lives down there." "Wow." Damien was excited to see this frog people town. After a few minuted of walking Damien spoke, "Hey Sroggie?" "Yeah?" "Are you a boy or a girl?" "I'm a girl." she answered. "Oh." They continued to walk. Soon they reached a hole in the pipe. It was a very rusted old pipe and a giant piece of it was missing. It lead down another tunnel. "Is that where your town is?" Damien pointed the flashlight into the darkness. "Yep! We're almost there." Damien went down the muddy path. It all steadily slopped downward as he went. His socks and shoes were filled with mud after a few minutes. Sroggie was starting to fall asleep in his backpack. She made very gentle croaks in her sleep. Damien could see a small glow in the distance of the tunnel. When he finally reached the glow, it was just a rock. A glowing rock. He looked up and found more glowing rocks. They were a gentle blue. The further he went the more rocks there were. "Woah!" Damien smiled. They were beautiful. Soon he reached an area where there was also strange glowing plants. Little glowey bugs danced around these plants. They must be really close. Damien nudged the backpack. "I think we're almost there!" "Hmmm?" Sroggie woke up, "Oh! There!" Sroggie hopped within the backpack pointing forward. There was what looked like two wooden posts. When Damien reached them, he noticed that they were there to hold up the small bridge that he had to cross. Below the bridge was darkness. He pointed his flash light down and there was nothing. It must be a really long way down if he fell. He quickly crossed the bridge. “Wow..” he looked around in wonder. He was now on this gigantic stalactite within a cave. Big enough to hold a whole village on it. The rocky surface had indents and craters filled with water. There were small strange looking rock houses and things. Their roads were small rivers. Strange plants grew everywhere covering some of these houses. Glowing rocks and plants lit up the town. Stalagmites dangles from the ceiling. These stalagmites were carved into and were made into buildings. Someone walked out from one of those buildings. They saw Damien. “A Human!” one of the frog people shouted. This one was a little bit taller than Damien. It had no tail, but the same bulgy eyes as Sroggie. The frog man jumped off of the stalactite, onto the cave wall and then leaped from the wall onto the stalagmite. He landed in front of Damien. “What is a human doing here?!” “Wait, wait!” Sroggie wiggled within the backpack. “He’s a good human. He brought me home!” “Sroggie?! Your mother has been looking everywhere for you!” the frog man then glared at Damien, “How do you know this human wasn’t trying to use you to get here?” “He doesn’t eat frogs!” Sroggie tried to defend Damien. “I-I don’t.” Damien stammered. “You humans are all the same. You are all dangerous and violent.” The frog man stared Damien down. Other frog people began to appear to see the commotion. Many of them gasped when they saw the human. “N-no we aren’t!” “How did you get that black eye, kid?” the frog man pointed at his eye. “I…” “He fell and got hurt! Leave him alone, he helped me get back home.” Sroggie tried to crawl out of the backpack. Suddenly another frog person came running to the scene. “Sroggie! Honey, is that you?” it was a more womanly voice than the other frog. “Mama!” Sroggie reached to this woman frog and was pulled out of the backpack. They were reunited. Damien took a few steps back away from the crowd as everyone cheered and “aw’ed” at this event. “Oy, where you goin’ kid?” the man frog grabbed Damien by the backpack before he could leave. “I uh..” the crowd suddenly fell silent and everyone was staring at him. “Where you goin’ Damien?” Sroggie spoke. “I have to get back to my mama.” Damien suddenly missed his mother. She was probably panicking over where he is right now. “You better run home quick. Your mother is probably worried!” Sroggie’s mother spoke. “Remember kid. You were never here. No one should ever know we are down here.” the man frog said. “I understand.” “Good, now get outta here.” “Bye Damien!” Sroggie waved to him, “Thank you!” “You’re welcome.” he waved back and crossed the bridge again and he was gone. Damien finally got out of the pipes. On his way back home he marvelled at the small glowing rock he had picked up on his trek back. He climbed back under the fence and into his backyard. His mother was sitting on the back porch. She knew he had been running around in the wash. He ran up to her and gave her a big hug. “Damien, why are you covered in mud?” She was fuming at first. She was absolutely worried. “I was hanging out with frogs!” he said excitedly. His smile made his mother smile. He was what got her through the day. Once she got him all cleaned up, they left that house and never went back. That was the summer he would never forget.

RAR