CHAPTER 7 - IN THE WOODS
As the days sped on with much intermingling and excitement among the young friends, everyone was feeling quite happy. When on one particular August day Natasha and Ariane decided to head to the woods. They had quite an unusual and scary experience. Paul had been eyeing Natasha all the while from a distance when on this particular day the two young damsels headed towards the woods. Paul had been heading in the same direction. Actually it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Natasha and Ariane spent a lot of time in the woods gathering flowers and twigs and exploring the surrounding area occasionally swinging on the branches of the trees when they bumped into Paul and his friends. After exchanging pleasantries they began playing games with each other and decided to head towards the stream.
One had to get through a dense part of the woods to get to the stream. As they were skipping along the pathway chatting merrily, Ariane spotted a dark shadow a distance away. She stopped in her tracks momentarily. Before Natasha could question why she stopped; a black shadow flashed before their eyes and in an instant it disappeared, Everyone was taken aback. Natasha felt a shiver going down her spine. On normal occasions she is a brave girl but she had not felt this frightened in a long time, she was hoping Damien was standing beside her. But fortunately or unfortunately he was not present on this occasion. As they got their confidence back and started walking again the dark shadow appeared again and in a flash it disappeared. But this time they could hear a loud groan. Now the girls were getting worried and was wondering whether heading towards the stream was a good idea. They stopped in their tracks and were trying to make up their minds whether to head back home. when Paul and his friends came up from behind. They had experienced the phenomenon too. But it was more of the loud groan they had heard more than seeing anything. As the girls explained to Paul and his friends about this strange sight, the boys asked the girls to stay where they were and they decided to head in the direction of the sound. After much trepidation and exchanging of ideas one boy decided to stay back with the girls.
Paul was being very gallant and rose to the occasion fearlessly. As he and the other two guys headed towards the loud groan, the sound became louder and louder. Suddenly there was much movement and they could see a black mass huddled together. They took a step back and pondered what to do. After discussing with each other they decided to approach the black mass from three different angles. As they inched their way closer they discovered that it was a black beast which was groaning in pain lying on the ground. very cautiously they approached the injured beast. The beast sensing someone was close to him tried to lunge at them and let out an even louder groan. One of Paul's friends who is very good with animals made soothing sounds and managed to calm down the beast whilst stroking him gently. Eventually Paul managed to get closer to the beast and he discovered a bullet wound on the beast's hip. while the other boy kept watch; Paul took out his pocket knife and made an incision around the wound and managed to get the bullet out carefully. Then he washed the wound and managed to dress the wound with some paste from the juice of leaves. All this time Paul's friend was keeping the beast calm. The boys then gathered some branches and covered the beast and managed to keep to keep some water for it to drink. The beast sensing that these humans were helping him out let out a happy groan. meanwhile the girls on hearing the noise once again got a little worried. Before long Paul and his friends came back to where the girls and the other guy were waiting.
As they gave an explanation of what took place Natasha was in awe of Paul and her initial idea of him changed to much admiration. Paul was feeling very proud of himself too. The friends carried on towards the stream, had their bath and headed home. After all, the walk in the woods turned out to be an eventful day and new friendships were established.