Misleading Circumstances

Johnny ran, happy to be out of the house. His mother, Nancy, was driving him crazy. She kept bombarding him with plans for college. Nancy was habitually early for everything; Johnny wasn’t even in high school yet. Throwing him handbooks and letters from the college deans that Nancy had contacted, even at 14 Johnny knew every college wanted their chance to snag him. Johnny had been exceptionally bright for his age for as long as he could remember, every teacher he had wanted him to skip ahead to the next grade. He refused stating that all the kids that skipped grades were thought of as freaks, and he just wanted to be normal.
Running kept Johnny sane; nearly everyday he would grab his compass and rush out into the nearby woods. He loved the feel of the wind blowing past his face, the smell of the dense pine trees all around, and the birds singing their beautiful songs as they flew over his head. When Johnny ran he couldn’t remember the last fights with his mom, his total lack of companionship, or even that his dad hadn’t called him in months. He was free and more content in these woods than he was anywhere else.
Johnny’s legs began to weaken and he broke into a slow jog, pulling out his compass to make sure he hadn’t veered off course. Johnny noticed something lying on the leafy ground just to the right of where he stood. He walked over and kicked it trying to get it loose from the hard ground. It was early spring and the ground hadn’t completely thawed from the harsh winter that still seemed to linger in the trees. He recognized the trashed bag from the supermarket just down the road, it was a dull brown plastic emblazoned with red block letters reading Stop and Go Superstore, a place Johnny had been many times in his life.
As Johnny kicked the bag an object that had been lodged in the ground came free bringing the bag with it. He stooped down to pick up the article glinting on the solid earth. Johnny gasped as he realized that there on the ground of the woods he loved as if they were his home, lay a knife. Cold hard steel shone up at him darkened by the dirt and some unknown deeply colored substance caking its surface. An impulse in the back of Johnny’s mind urged him to pick it up while reasoning told him to leave it as he had found it. Johnny couldn’t resist the urge to examine it, however.  A burning sensation flowed freely through Johnny’s body the instant his hand wrapped around the plastic coated handle, something like a mix of fear and anticipation as he heard slow calculated foot steps approaching from both sides.
Their calm breathing sent tingles up and down Johnny’s spine causing his skin to become pale. The footsteps came to a stop a few feet from Johnny as a deep masculine voice could be heard on the left side of him. The officer told Johnny to put the weapon down and no one would get hurt. He panicked throwing the knife off the path in front of him. As the man approached, Johnny’s mind was whirring with plans of escape. A split second decision and Johnny was running again. This time his journey had him moving quickly down a steep embankment off the path. Johnny danced between trees attempting to block out the shouts from behind him of stop before we shoot.
Johnny’s life was flashing before his eyes. He could feel that everything was only going to get worse from here. Finding a possibly bloody knife in the woods, to getting chased by men threatening to kill him, Johnny’s world was spiraling quickly out of control. He was completely lost in thought not seeing where was going or how he would get out. Johnny could still hear the shouts and footsteps of the men chasing him. Although, they disappeared the moment Johnny’s head hit the ground. Too exhausted to get up the last thing he remembers, before fading into a dreamless sleep, is looking down to see the biscuit sized rock that had caused him to topple over.