Explorers

I tied the frayed, ragged laces tight around my boots
and stuffed the blue pen with the torn, half-finished map deep into my pocket.
Dean and I turned towards the swamp,
the sun hanging low above it leaving a slight twilight to cover the land.
Now we were adventurers,
brash and brave,
eager to chart and explore where no one had gone before.
Soon we saw the
faint,
  wavering,
     trickle
of the soothing secret stream,
guiding us slowly to the uncharted swamp.
Ahead of us stood the secret guardian
a still and silent hill
protecting our precious uncharted enclave.
The stream went under and we went over, ascending the tall green slope.
Slowly now, slowly and silently, or else we risk waking the dog.
I felt my heart pounding my chest,
My palms sweating rivers
Snap!
A stalk broke beneath my foot.
We simultaneously shot each other a look that seemed to mean one thing:
“Run!”
Each thunderous bark drew nearer
as we darted as fast as our short legs could carry us.
A thick layer of plants shielded the ground from our view as vines stuck out to strangle our feet
We could see the immense dog now,
towering and terrifying
sprinting down the hill right at us
We slid and stumbled all the way down
catching every rock and root on our patch
The shrill barks grew louder in a crescendo of terror and it seemed the dog was right behind us
as I began to to fill with dread.
It felt as though time had stopped as the fear paralyzed me
but truly as I drew farther away I understood that it was merely a few moments,
packed to the seams with action,
and in that time we left the chain link fence containing the dog long behind,
turning a corner to leave it out of sight
but still we kept running.
Far away we fell to the ground,
panting and puffing,
contemplating our next adventure.