PitchforkPrincess's Website

Random Rants and Other Nonsense

For the Sake of the Children
by PitchforkPrincess

If anyone had suspected that something dark and terrifying would soon transpire, they would have taken the time to tell their children how much they loved and cherished them. In the end, they found a way to show them.

The camping trip to the mountains was a yearly event. Three teachers and at least one parent from each family chaperoned the ecstatic children on this adventure to Mt. Bruneau. Many of the fourteen little ones had never been on sure an exciting adventure in the wild. The camp was fully contained, with bathrooms and showers, fresh running water and a tiny market, but nevertheless, it was a new and breathtaking view of nature.

The youngest child of the bunch was six years old and the most mature a ripe twelve.

As the bus pulled into the campground, giggling and cheering children poured out, dashing in different directions.

"I call this spot!" a boy announced. There was nothing extraordinary about the site, only that it was marked "10", which happened to be blonde haired Tyler's favorite number. It was, after all, his age.

One child, with pigtails in her hair, spotted a campsite surrounded by beautiful purple flowers and she begged, "Daddy, can we camp right here?"

"Sure, sweetheart. It looks like an ex-cee-lent spot!" The child, Elizabeth, giggled at her father's pronunciation of the word. Her little sister, Amy, came stumbling toward her smiling brightly.

"Lizz-beth," she grinned. "Let's pick flowers!"

The two girls set off together to gather pretty things. While the children wandered around the area, their parents and teachers began to set up tents. Others unloaded their cars of food and sleeping bags and other important supplies. As they did all this, they chatted amicably amongst themselves. They were all good friends.

"This is the fifth year I've led my little groups of scholars to the mountains to explore and learn," said Jeffery Rogers, third-grade teacher and favorite among his pupils, whom referred to him as 'Mister JR.' "I do believe it gets more beautiful every time."

"Yes. You're certainly right," Tyler's mother, Leann, replied. "It is so peaceful here and the air is fresh and breathable. I can't wait until the children get a look at the stars. They don't sparkle so brilliantly in the city."

Once the tents were pitched and a fire was crackling in the commons area, the children gathered round and began to roast marshmallows for s'mores. They'd finished a dinner of hot dogs, burgers, potato salad and baked beans and hour earlier.

Mister JR gave his students a wicked grin and winked at them. "Oookay," he drawled. "Who wants to hear a ghost story?"

The childrens' eyes grew wide and they all stared. "Really?" one child asked, awe in her little voice.

"Absolutely," Mister JR said, chuckling.

"Yes! Tell us, Mister JR!" Anthony, dark haired and already very wise for his nine years (as he told all his friends) cheered.

"Well, then, sit back and enjoy, and be prepared to be scared out of your wits!" Mister JR cried. He glanced from parent to parent who grinned mischievously at him. They'd heard and approved of the silly story at one of their meetings as they'd made plans for this trip.

The children watched in anticipation as Mister JR turned a flashlight upward toward his chin. It made his face look eerie and Amy snuggled near Elizabeth, who patted her sister's hand reassuringly. Elizabeth was the oldest of the children and she felt very secure protecting the little ones.

"Okay, boys and girls," Mister JR started, "This is a story my aunt told me when I was a young one just like all of you. It is about a boy named Little Teddy Boop Boop and his unfortunate trip to the supermarket." Around the campfire, children giggled at the silly name.

And so, the adored teacher told the story of Little Teddy Boop Boop, who'd been sent by his mother to the store to pick up a pound of liver. Ah, but he hated that foul bit of meat. His mother warned him not to dawdle because the store would close within the hour.

On the way, Little Teddy ran into a group of friends who were playing baseball in the park. He decided to stop for only a few minutes, to join in the game. Alas, he became engrossed and made it to the store just after it closed.

Fearing a grounding, the boy walked home, eyes cast downward. He was nearing the slaughter house, when an idea struck him. He tip-toed into the building, silently lifting a liver from a blood stained table. He packed it in a plastic bag and hurried home.

Knowing the trick he'd tried to play on her, Teddy's mother sent him to bed without supper. Later, she came upstairs and announced that she had to go next door and baby-sit.

Teddy was almost asleep when he heard the creaking of the stairs. It was slow and deliberate. "I want my liver back," something called. Teddy burrowed under his blankets and held his breath.

Creak... creak... "I want my liver back." Creak... creak. "I want my liver back."

When the creature had nearly reached his door, Little Teddy Boop Boop jumped from his bed and dashed to the closet. He pushed the sliding door shut and huddled against the wall.

The bedroom door opened. Thud... thud... The boom of steps halted. "I want my liver..."

At this point, Mister JR sprang forward and yelled, "BOOO!" The children shrieked and jumped, burrowing against their parents' sides. They stared with wild eyes at their teacher, who smiled and said, "It was only Little Teddy Boop Boop's mother, playing a mean trick on him for disobeying her orders!"

Elizabeth found the story silly, but the younger children continued to gape. "Holy cow," Jamie Bruster breathed, "I'm never gonna disobey my parents again!"

Around the campfire parents chuckled and cast knowing glances at each other. Wait until he's a teenager, their eyes seemed to convey.

The group stayed near the campfire for another hour, before retiring for the night. Tomorrow, they would hike up the mountain, exploring and examining all the different types of flora and fauna. The teachers had great hopes that they might spot a group of deer, something that would certainly amaze the children.

+ + +


Into the wee hours of the morning, before the sun had even risen, a sound exploded. Parents sat up, searching frantically for flashlights. Children began to tremble.

Mrs. Lee, the art teacher at Evergreen Elementary, exploded from her tent, pulling a blanket tight around her shoulders. A Jeep came tearing into the campground, horn blaring for all to hear. It stopped mere feet from the frightened teacher.

From out of the doors of the Jeep an elderly man and woman burst. Before anyone could ask what the commotion was all about, the wrinkled old man with white hair and yellow teeth said, "Quickly now! You must get out of here!"

Elizabeth's father stepped forward. "What's going on?" he demanded, trying to assert his control on the situation. Around him, parents attempted to comfort their terrified children.

"We're the caretakers," the kind, grandmotherly woman said. She tried, unsuccessfully, to explain the situation. Instead she pointed into the distance at the tall evergreens that surrounded the area.

Fire tore through the forest with impossible intensity. The trees were like dry kindling and they burst into mad flames at a horrifying rate. The blaze spread all around them, trapping them in an impenetrable wall of black, curling smoke.

Children screamed. Parents gasped. The caretakers returned to their Jeep to try and contact the forest service on the radio. All they received was static, the hiss eerily threatening.

Quickly, the group was herded into the very center of the campground, where earlier they had enjoyed the quiet serenity of the forest. Now, a horror of such unexplainable malice faced them.

The immense flames flickered and danced, as if alive. They licked at the group of trembling, screaming children, teachers and parents. This hissing, crackling ballet of scorching heat seemed to taunt them. Wave after wave of acrid smoke slithered forward, choking the group of people huddling tightly together.

Suddenly, a sharp, cruel chuckle boomed from out of the lungs of one of the adults. All turned to see where such an inappropriate sound had originated. Many eyes fell upon the cherished teacher.

Jeffery Rogers stepped away from gaping parents and shaking children. He glared at them with such malice they all shrank backward as far as the fire would allow.

"What is wrong with you, Jeffery?" Mark Gilman demanded, casting an angry glance at the teacher whom his own children loved. "You're scaring our kids."

Sharp, red light reflected in Jeffery's eyes and he chuckled once more. Flames began to creep up his legs, engulfing his pants, yet he showed no sign of pain. Fire flickered from his fingertips and the ends of his hair. He seemed to find great, horrible pleasure in burning alive.

"Behold," Jeffery sneered. Children looked with terror on the man that they had just recently agreed should be named 'Teacher of the Year'. All their hard work, writing letters and making a wonderful video for submission, seemed suddenly to be so... wrong. "Welcome to the place where evil lives and souls are harvested!"

Trembling in horror and rage, Mark Gilman brandished a fist at the teacher. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, eyes filled with hate. "What would possess you to scare the children like this, in such a dire situation!"

"Jeffery," Melinda Andrews cried, "You're their teacher, for god's sake! You love these children!"

"Ahh, but you see," the madman before them growled, "I am not their teacher. That poor fool is dead!" The fire overtook the beast that possessed Jeffery Rogers' body and from it burst a vile creature. It stood seven feet tall and its skin was onyx. Its eyes were the color of rotten meat. Wings sprouted from the monsters back, so dark and colossal that they blocked out the sharp light of the fire and cast a terrible shadow upon the group.

The children screamed. A teacher fainted. Parents tried to hold onto their last wisps of sanity. They had to protect their children from this terrible beast.

"You stand, now, on a great nexus of evil," the monstrosity taunted. It shook its wings at them, sharp heat pulsing against their faces. The adults had stepped in front of the children, protecting them somewhat from the scorching flames that licked at them. The caretakers stood with them, each holding tightly to a child's hand.

"Just tell us what you want!" Mrs. Lee screamed, turning her scorched face and singed hair toward the creature.

"Ahh, cut to the chase, huh?" Jeffery Rogers' abducted voice chuckled. "Very well then. I give you two choices."

Everyone waited in terrified anticipation of what this defilement would demand. It seemed to contemplate, sharp claws drumming against what must be its chin. It simply watched them, eyes gleaming with utter mischief, and bided its time. The more terror these people felt, the easier it would be to take what he wanted, it surmised.

Finally, it spoke, and its words were pure antipathy. The monster held up one long skinny finger, as if ticking off an option. "You may all stand here and die together," it snarled, "or..."

They waited, breaths held, arms encircling their children. When it seemed the foul thing would not answer, Mark Gilman demanded, "Or what?"

"Or," it began once more, ticking off another option, "you, who love these children, can die in their place."

Parents and teachers cast glances at each other, taking but a fraction of a second to accept this dark fate. "Fine then," Mark Gilman cursed at the beast, "we will die for our children."

Amy began to cry. Elizabeth held her baby sister to her, hoping that somehow an appearance of strength would sooth the girl. The other children joined the weeping girl, sobbing in terror and holding tight to those around them.

A loud, cruel laugh shattered the night. "Ahh, but it is not that simple!" the abomination cried in perverse glee. He turned toward the fire at his back and with one long claw split the very fabric of reality. He stepped away to reveal the outline of a warped doorway.

Through the rip, they all gazed upon Hell. There was no other word more fitting for the place. Lava flowed, unchecked, from crags in the earth. Pyres blazed toward the black, inky sky, crackling and hissing and taunting. Inhuman creatures glided through the air, bodies gripped between their teeth, claws tearing at bruised and swollen flesh. The horrible stench of decay brought many of the adults to their knees. Enormous insects crawled over sharp boulders, their mouths lined with razor-like teeth. Screams echoed without end from the farthest corners of this hell.

"You will spend eternity there," the horrid beast proclaimed.

Stomachs turned and vomit burst from the mouths of the group of doomed souls. The adults looked at each other, first in revulsion, shaking their heads to deny the terrible place that awaited them. In the end, it took them all of three seconds to make one final decision.

One by one, they stepped through the doorway and into Hell. Last to come was the beast, who glanced back at the children and the only two adults left to protect them. It had no need of the souls of the elderly couple, though the two had been willing to sacrifice it all for a group of wee ones they'd only just met.

The monster sneered, lips turning up at the corner to produce an evil grin. When the tips of its wings slipped through the blackness and into the place on the other side, the doorway vanished.

Above, clouds rolled across the sky, and a deluge of rainwater suffocated the fire.

+ + +


The firefighters and rescue workers didn't know what to make of the odd site before them. Fourteen children and two elderly people stood rigid and unmoving, as if they'd become blocks of granite. Their clothes were burned, their faces were red from exposure to the high degree of heat, and their hair was singed to the roots.

After some time of whispered conversation, one firefighter stepped forward and demanded, "What happened? Where are the parents of these children? Where are their teachers?"

All remained silent until finally, little Amy cautiously said, "They was tooken."

"What do you mean?" the firefighter demanded.

"The bad one who stole Mister JR's body took them away," Amy wept. She pressed her tiny hands to her eyes and moaned.

Seeing that he would get no coherent answers from the children, who were all suffering cases of shock, he turned to the elderly couple. "You wanna tell me what's going on here? Did their parents just up and leave 'em here to die?"

The old man gaped at the firefighter. He surveyed the burly man's face for a moment, trying to determine if this civil servant was serious. Slowly, he met the firefighter's eyes and answered.

"No, the parents of these children didn't leave them here to die. They left them here to live."

+ + +



Authors Notes: I wrote this after seeing an "Only you can prevent forest fires" billboard. My mind works in mysterious ways. The tale about "Little Teddy Boop Boop" was a story one of my aunts used to tell me and my brother as children.

First draft completed July 30, 2004
Edited Nov. 30, 2004