The Chase

I didn't know what was happening. What I had gotten myself into; check that, what my friends had gotten me into. I was running. They were ahead, as I am not the fastest person around, but my time was better than normal. The adrenaline charged me. I figured if I wasn't so damned worried, I’d probably be enjoying the run. At least I was still ahead of my pursuers. I was catching up to my friends, which was comforting. I figured that we were about a mile from the cabin, which was good. We just needed more stamina than them.

I should probably rewind. I was going to Lake Michigan with a group of my friends. We were having some fun, and they decided to sneak out to the beach around midnightish. I protested, but didn't want to miss out on the obviously legendary night. Peer pressure got the better of me and I decided to go, with reservation. We would walk to the beach, which was a little over a mile and a half away.

We were about to enter the beach when I saw a sign. “Private Beach, No Trespassing.” I reiterated my earlier concerns, but my friends dismissed them and said that most signs are just there to keep people away and don’t mean anything. I might have gone back to the cabin, but it wasn't a short walk back, and I didn't want to go alone, and it was dark, with only the moonlight to show me the way.

I gave in and hopped the fence, a definite ‘no-no’ when worried about going somewhere. We had a good half-hour of fun, and everything seemed normal. I had lost my concerns and was having a great time. Right as I got comfortable, a light went on in a beach house about a hundred feet away. We heard a yell that went somewhere along the lines of ‘Stupid kids…can’t you read…trespassing…leave… make me come out there.’ He was already obviously coming out here. I was already out of the water. And then I heard dogs. Don’t get me wrong I love dogs, but these dogs had a bark of mean ferociousness. That was about when I started sprinting. My friends were catching up then over-passing me. I muttered curses under my breath about not working out. By the time we had gone past the mouth of the beach the dogs had stopped barking, I figured they had stopped the pursuit. I had slowed down for a moment, only to see two men on my tail. Needless to say, I started sprinting again.

And now we’re here. I’m running, but I can see the men are in less shape than I am in. They are slowing down while I’m going steady. We’re less than a half of a mile from the cabin, and my friends choose to take a shortcut through the woods. I follow because I don’t want to be isolated from my friends with the men. I’m running, trying not to get separated from my friends and to lose the men.

We’re about a quarter of a mile from the cabin and the woods begin to thin. I look back and there’s no sign of the men. I look forward and there’s no sign of my friends. I mutter more curses under my breath. I’m too out of breath to yell for my friends, I also don’t want to give up my location in case the men are still chasing me. I decide to walk in a straight line. I make my way out of the woods and onto a dirt road that we went on to get to the cabin. I walk down about two hundred feet and find it. I go in to find my friends panicked, they didn't know where I was. They tried calling me, but my phone was in the cabin. We all hug and sit down. I’m still shaking from the adrenaline, they are too. We decide that we should get something to eat and then go to bed. We’ll laugh about it in the morning.