FICTION
BRITTANIE MACCARONE
Jan Price, artist
DANNY
Danny scooted closer to his small fire. He was still close to the entrance of the cave and the wind outside kept making the flame flicker. But he was too scared to move deeper into its cavernous depths. Of course, Danny didn’t admit that to himself. He was eight and a half. And a Boy Scout. The wilderness didn’t scare him.
No, Danny kept telling himself he was close to the cave mouth so his dad could find him. He had been camping with his dad his whole life. All eight years of it! And his dad was his troop leader too. He had always told Danny that water, then shelter, were the most important things to find if you were lost in the woods. So his dad would come find him, here at the caves, next to a creek.
Danny also kept telling himself that his dad was okay. That he fooled the bear and got away. At least, Danny was pretty sure it was a bear, since his dad said it was. Then his dad had made a bunch of noise and ran away to protect Danny. But it hadn’t really looked like a bear when it started to follow his dad. So if it wasn’t a bear, then his dad had to be okay, and then he would come to the caves and find him, and they could go home.
He wondered about his mom. He wanted to go home and see her. It had been a whole day since he got separated from his dad. She would be worried when they didn’t call to check in. Mom always made them promise to call every night. They could camp as long as they wanted but they had to call every night. He and dad always kept that promise, so she was sure to be worried that they hadn’t called last night.
Danny laid down near his fire, using his backpack as a pillow. He remembered to grab his bag when he ran, he found water and shelter, and his dad would find him. He would be okay. Danny shot upright, realizing that it had been two days since they got separated- one running and one waiting. Two days was a long time for his dad to be looking. But he was a good dad and must have run far away to protect him. Danny swore to remember to thank his dad for that.
Danny laid down again, but kept his eyes open. A third night alone suddenly made him very nervous. Again, not scared. He wasn’t scared. But he stayed awake for a long time, staring out into the night. He trembled as the night grew louder, until he saw a large shadow outside the cave mouth. The silver shine off the shadow took away his fears. He really wasn’t scared now.
Brittanie Maccarone reconnected with writing in a creative writing class at her alma mater. Since then she has been writing short stories and poems in a variety of genres and has had works published (print and online) by Longshot Island, Medusa's Laugh Press, Burnt Pine Magazine, and a local literary magazine. When not writing she's working in the Circulation Department in her local library (because what writer wouldn't love that!).
Brittanie Maccarone reconnected with writing in a creative writing class at her alma mater. Since then she has been writing short stories and poems in a variety of genres and has had works published (print and online) by Longshot Island, Medusa's Laugh Press, Burnt Pine Magazine, and a local literary magazine. When not writing she's working in the Circulation Department in her local library (because what writer wouldn't love that!).
Artist Jan Price’s poems and artworks appear in literary journals, anthologies, magazines, on literary journal covers, in print, online, through universities in Australia and across the US. She loves photography poetry competitions and poetry readings. Jan also studies Thought Distraction for depressed people.