A shower of glass was suddenly launched into the air, soon cascading to the ground. All down the street, front doors began to open and people came out of their houses in dressing gowns and pyjamas, wondering what on earth the noise was. The police cars all rolled to a stop, and officers jumped out armed wih dangerous weapons. A huge array of dogs accompanied them not long after. But everything began to blur up in Jack’s sight, as he saw how bad the damage was to Darren’s car. There was no way he could have survived the crash. Rain mixed with tears seeped down his cheeks. He knew that Jack was a very bad man, but he could not help but feel sorry for him after all that they’d been through.

The dogs began to howl. But their mournful tones started to melt into a very strange noise. Almost like… a whining cat! Jack opened his eyes. He sat up and looked around. He seemed to be still lying in his garden. Amber was sitting next to him whining and whinging, trying to wake Jack up. Jack rubbed his head- he must have hit it on something and been knocked out. Come to think of it… there was a small tree resting right next to him. He got up and picked Amber of the ground, then began to walk back towards his house. Jack’s dream was slowly coming back to him now. He thought it had something to do with all the cats acting strangely, his neighbour Darren, and a lot of police dogs. Jack scratched Amber’s head as he opened the back door.

“Listen, do I have a story to tell you!”

THE END

Jack, as quickly and as quietly as he could, opened his door and slipped out into a shower of rain. Since they had stopped in a suburban area, he was able to find a dripping bush to hide behind. He heard Darren call out his name. Jack crouched down and tried not to make a noise. The last thing he wanted was for Darren to find him. To think he had trusted such a creep.

What am I going to do? Jack started to worry when he realised how desperate his situation was. It was pouring with rain. He was alone with a mass murderer in the middle of some strange town, with no way to escape or get home. Except…

Maybe those animals really are police dogs! It was Jack’s only hope. The footsteps seemed to be getting closer and closer anyway. The sound of an engine revving up met Jack’s ears- Darren must have realised that Jack knew his plan. He was driving away! Jack waited for the sound of Darren’s car to fade, then leaped out from behind the bush. He then started to walk down to the other end of the street. Hopefully, if luck was on his side, there would be police officers with the dogs.

Suddenly, the growing sound of footsteps stopped, and was replaced by a police siren. It got louder and louder, until a line of police cars appeared at Jack’s end of the street, along with Darren’s green van. Jack quickly dived behind a hedge and watched. Darren seemed to be doing everything he could to avoid being caught. He swerved from side to side, and gained speed. The van got faster and faster, finally spinning out of control. It skidded through a puddle, then crashed into a huge tree.

To be continued…

Darren quickly turned around and started fumbling around in his bag.

“Hurry Darren, they’re coming fast!” Jack was right. The pounding of huge paws on the ground was getting louder and louder. Darren turned around. He had a sheepish look on his face.

“Uh… I don’t know how to break this to you, but I packed the wrong bag.”

“WHAT?!” Jack shrieked. “What are we going to do!?”

“Run for it!” yelled Darren. Him and Jack sprinted the long distance back to the van and dived inside. They drove in tense silence for around 5 minutes. Then, a spluttering noise met their ears, and the van slowed to a stop.

“There must be something wrong with the engine”, muttered Darren as he looked at the fuel gage- which was almost full. Darren hopped out of the van and jogged around to the bonnet. While Jack waited, a newspaper clipping met his eye. It was poking out from under the seat.

‘NOTORIOUS MASS MURDERER DARREN HENRY ESCAPES’ read the title. The article had a picture too. it was of a younger Darren holding Cupcake as a kitten. Jack froze. This couldn’t be right. Darren- a murderer? The date on the top of the page read: 12/5/06. This meant that supposedly, Darren had been on the run for over 2 years. Jack now felt even more scared than before. What if all of this was just a plan for Darren to get to Jack? His mind started to work furiously. It was all making sense to him now. Darren had moved next door two years ago. Amber acting strangely- she must have known about Darren’s plans somehow. All of the lies about dogs- Darren must have made them up in an attempt to take Jack away to a remote place. But then what could the huge animals have been? Fake…unless they were police dogs! Maybe the police had found out about Darren’s plans.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps met Jack’s ears. Darren was coming back to the van!

To be continued…

Darren and Jack climbed the staircase to the outside world, and trudged over to Darren’s beat up green van. Jack, following Darren’s lead, threw his bag into the backseat and hopped inside.

“So, where exactly are we going, Darren?” Jack asked.

Darren laughed. “Right to the edge of our town, young man!”

He revved up his engine and the van started to creep along the driveway, windows rattling. Jack breathed a sigh of relief once they reached the road, for he knew that he wouldn’t be in danger of waking up his sleeping parents anymore.

Ten minutes later, the roads started to turn more dusty. Jack poked his head out the open window and could smell the scent of dryed up shrubs. The dark landscape in front of them displayed a desert-like scene. Jack’s thoughts were suddenly halted- he could actually hear the chirping sound of cicadas! Up until now, the harsh rain had blocked out any noise except raindrops clashing with materials. But the rain had stopped, and Jack could even detect a flowery scent among the smell of dryed shrubs.

The old green van slowed to a stop, and Darren jumped out the door, beckoning Jack to follow him.

“Grab the bags on your way out!” he called, and Jack obeyed. Jack and Darren started to trek across the desert. They stopped walking around fifteen minutes later.

“Here we are!” said Darren. Suddenly, a mournful howl consumed their ears. All too quickly, silhouettes of large animals appeared on the horizon.

“Darren! What do we do?!” Jack shrieked.

To be continued…