A Life Beyond by Mark Church (ebook reader web TXT) 📕

eaten for ages' Harvey replied as he eyed up more of the hot dogs that Daniel had moved away from him,

'I only left you a couple of hours ago!!..You can't be that hungry still??, Daniel replied as he pulled the plate closer to him as Harvey leant across the counter trying to steal a hot dog.

'Mum said I'm not allowed anything else to eat until later on because we stuffed our faces at mine and there's not much left in the cupboards now' Harvey looked unhappy as he remembered why he wasn't allowed to eat at home so he had come down to his friend's to feast on his food instead,

'WE stuffed our faces?? That's funny!, if I remember it was you doing all the stuffing!!' Daniel laughed as Harvey's face broke out in the cheekiest of smirks,

'Yeah alright!!!, I admit it!!!.ha-ha' He laughed as Daniel scooped up the last hot dog and chomped it in front of Harvey's face as if to tease him.

'Mmm, best hot dog ever!!!', Daniel said as he devoured the hot dog so fast that he got hiccups,

'Ha-ha that'll teach you for messing around!!' Laughed Harvey as Daniel's hiccups got worse,

'Any way Dan, what are you going to do then?, wait for your mum to come home so you ask if you can go out?' Harvey enquired as he was desperate to go out and play as it was still a warm sunny evening,

'Well, hic, since she's not here and Lillie’s out too, hic, I don't fancy staying in while it's still, hic, nice out' Daniel said between hiccups as Harvey was laughing at the hiccups but was also copying him,

'Well that's sorted then mate, let’s go out before I get even more bored, don't forget the swords and shields we made last time!!' Harvey said as he jumped off of the seat he was on and made his was swiftly towards the door just as Bucksy was coming out, Harvey had no time to avoid the dog and tripped over him in the hallway and landed head first on the floor with a ‘DONK’.

Daniel let out the biggest belly laugh as he saw his friend spread eagled on the floor with Bucksy looking rather sheepish as he knew it was his fault,

'That blooming stinky mutt!!!...' Harvey bellowed,

'Why is it always me who gets hurt??..Owww now I've hurt my blooming knee!! Thanks Bucks you idiot!!', he said as he got up gingerly from the floor.

'Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, Bucksy is coming with us, he needs a walk' Daniel replied, as soon as Bucksy heard the word ‘walk’ he always got excited and bounded round the hallway barking with delight as he knew they were going off into the woods which he loved as it meant he could go off exploring for whatever scent caught his nose.

'Well can you tell your dog to stop whacking me in the face with his tale, I keep getting a waft of his stinky bum!!' Harvey groaned as he pushed Bucksy away from him and said,

'Get away dog, and let me get up',

Daniel called to Bucksy who was still bounding round the hallway all the more ready to go,

'Come on boy let Mr Happy get up then we can go for a walk',

So with that Daniel went and grabbed the makeshift swords and shields they had made days earlier and walked out the front door of the house, Harvey shut the door just as Daniel said,

'Don't shut the doo….brilliant!!, I've left my key inside the house'

'I'm sure you're mum will let you in later when we come back mate so don't worry' Harvey tried to reassure his friend,

'Or maybe Lillie will be back, Depends if her mate gets fed up with her and kicks her out, I know I would!!.Hahaha' Harvey laughed as he didn't really like Daniel's sister that much.

'Yeah I suppose you're right Harv, come on let's just go before it gets too late, I'm sure mum will figure out where I’ve gone if she sees the dog has gone too.

And with that the boy's made their way towards the edge of the woods where they stopped just before they headed towards their hideout, when all of a sudden a wind ripped through the trees, a wind that on a day like this shouldn't even be there, it was almost as if the woods were warning the boy's about entering.

The bushes were being practically pushed to the floor, the trees were swirling and creaking, branches falling all around them, then just as quick as it started the winds stopped, when Daniel swore he heard something on the tail of the wind as it whizzed past the boy's as they stood there.

'Did you hear that Harv??' Daniel enquired as he turned to Harvey,

'Hear what?, all I'm thinking is how windy it's just got!!, I didn't even bring a jacket!!' Harvey moaned as he pulled his arms across his chest to help keep himself as warm as he could,

'I swear I just heard that voice again!!!, the same one I've been hearing in my dreams' Daniel racked his brains to try and recognise the voice again,

'What did it say this time then?, I know..' Harvey piped up,

'I bet it said ‘Your best friend is freezing cold, go get him a jacket so he doesn't freeze!!’, that sounds about right!' Mocked Harvey as Daniel slapped his friend on the arm and said,

'Shut up you div!!, I'm sure I heard something like ‘Nearly heeeere’, It was definitely the same voice again' Daniel recalled that the voices sounded so alike and he was starting to get slightly scared this time,

'I've never been scared by these woods Harv but I’m thinking we shouldn't go in today!!, I have a bad feeling about this'

'Oh now who's the scaredy cat!!' Laughed Harvey as he mocked his friend's voice,

'OOOH the big bad woods are gonna get me!!, I'm so scared, hahaha'

Shut up Harv!!!, I'm serious what if something bad is going to happen, not sure mum will cope with any more stress' Daniel said as he had second thoughts about taking the dog in but Bucksy was strangely desperate to go into the woods today, so Bucksy walked off and made his way up alongside Harvey who was trudging up the downtrodden path as they usually done and off into the woods they walked,

'Come on Dan let's go, we've got a den to protect!' Laughed Harvey as Bucksy barked at his owner as if to say ‘Come on’.

'I've got a bad feeling about this' murmured Daniel as he gingerly walked off after Harvey and Bucksy who were ahead of him.

Daniel was feeling so paranoid that he felt his every step was being watched by someone or something and it made him feel so uneasy especially as Bucksy had ran off ahead of him so he had nothing to hold onto, the further he walked into the woods the faster his footsteps became until he finally caught up with Harvey who was waiting by the slightly covered twiggy path which led to their hideout,

'What's the matter now Dan?, are you still feeling a bit off...Look let's go to the den for a bit and if you still feel uneasy then we will go back, I've been itching to get out of the house since earlier on and I don't fancy going back now, c’mon let's go', Harvey gestured to his friend as he made his way through the collection of bare branches and long grass covering the start of the path towards where they had built their den some months earlier,

Bucksy sat waiting for his owner to move, wagging his tail as he sniffed the air, Daniel was looking around nervously then he let out a big ‘SIGH’ and trudged through the undergrowth as Bucksy followed him through, sniffing the ground as he went along behind Daniel.

They reached the den finally which was a crudely made log and stick den, it seemed to be very sturdy from a distance but on closer inspection it looked like it might collapse at and second, the entrance was just big enough for the boy's to fit through and was big enough inside for them plus Bucksy to sit in and relax as they usually did.

As Daniel got closer to the entrance he called out,

'Harv...Harvey??,' He was nowhere to be seen,

'Where is that stupid boy Bucks??..Go find him!'. He gestured to his dog to go search around the den,

So Bucksy let out a yap as he bounded off into the undergrowth looking for Harvey sniffing at every tree and bit of bush until he got his scent, then he must of picked it up as he shot through a hole in the trees and barked as he did so,

'Bucks….Did you find him??' Daniel called out as he sat nervously by the entrance,

'Come on boy, I'm getting worried now…' The air was filled with an empty silence as Daniel sat as still as he could, listening for any sort of noise of maybe his dog or Harvey might be making when all of a sudden Bucksy appeared in front of Daniel who stood up to greet him,

'Did you find him boy?. Where could he be?'

'Bucksy sat there wagging his tail as Daniel looked around at the trees and bushes, looking for a sign of his friend hiding, Bucksy then sat up as rigid as he could, tail wagging faster as Daniel wondered what he was seeing.

'What is it boy?. Have you seen something??' Daniel said to his dog as Bucksy tilted his head to the side as if looking at something behind Daniel, Then all of a sudden Daniel felt something grab him from behind, arms wrapped around his body

'Wha…..' He shouted as he managed to spin round and just as he did that he swung a punch in the direction of whatever it was holding him back, connecting with its face,

'OWWWWWW my nose!!!' It was Harvey shouting in pain as he pulled his hands up to cover his face,

'You punched me!!!, Why did you do that?' He screeched as Daniel tried to focus on his friend's face,

'You sneaked up on me you idiot!, why would you do that to me!!, It's lucky I didn't hit you harder', Daniel's heart was beating fast as he tried to calm himself down, Harvey on the other hand had pulled out tissue from his trousers and was holding it over his bloodied nose,

'That really hurts!!, if you've broken it I'll never forgive you!!' Harvey wailed as he sat down against the tree holding his back, tissue still attached to his face,

'Oh shut up Harv, Just don't do that ever again alright!!!' Daniel angrily replied as he took deep breaths trying to calm himself down.

'Alright, alright mate, I'm sorry, but I didn't deserve this!!! Owww, it hurts so much, you've ruined my beautiful face!!' Harvey replied as he pulled the tissue away from his nose.

'Well at least it's stopped bleeding now!!' Daniel said looking at his friend's bloodied face,

'My good looks are ruined now' whined Harvey as he sniffed constantly,

'I've improved them I'd say Harv' laughed Daniel as he helped his friend up onto his feet,

'I'm sorry Harv, but you know how I'm feeling at the minute' he replied in a sad tone,

'Yeah I won't be trying to scare you anytime soon, not after what you have just done!!', Harvey said as he sniffed a few more times before the boys made their way into the den and sat around just talking about everything that had happened earlier,

'Tell you what mate I'm so tired today, think I'm gonna chill here for a bit before heading back' Harvey yawned and stretched as he lay down on the blanket and pillows that he had managed to take from home when they first built the den,

'Good idea mate let's just chill for a bit, Just hope mum's home when I get back!!' Daniel sighed as he remembered how much he had hurt his mum earlier.

So the boy's