[Fiction] Run, Peanut, Run

Read the second-place entry for our week of November 9 contest, Lights, Camera, Action!

Run, Peanut, Run
By Jonathan Josephson

Paige is finally outside.

After months of hell – finally unchained, freedom! A chance at freedom.

Run.

Her bare feet don’t move. What if the peanuts aren’t enough?

Run! Her brain screams… and she’s gone, bounding over rough forest earth, putting as much distance between her and the red cabin as humanly possible.
It won’t be long before he finds the window broken, the horrible, sticky chain in a heap.

There’s no moon tonight, a mixed blessing. Harder to be seen means harder to see, and this is dangerous terrain. Still–.

Run!

Her bare feet shred dried leaves but the leaves stab viciously at her soles before crackling to bits. She must not stop. Stopping could bring back the chain.

Run!

2500 steps to the shrubs.

Another 6,000 to the road.

Another 20,000 to the next cabin. And there, maybe—

BLAM!

Night birds scream and flee into the inky sky.

The gunshot is a warning, surely fired from the same gun her captor pointed at the peddler about ten days ago. The peddler was only trying to sell preserves and kitchen brick-o-brack, but at the sight of peanut butter, friendly banter became vile threats.

It’s a gamble that the peanut shrubs will provide Paige the cover she needs. But it’s a gamble she must take.

Run!

It’s a treacherous route to the shrubs. Left at the fat grey trees.
Run!
Avoid the poison ivy and hornets nest.

Run!

Muffled threats howl from the direction of the red cabin along with the flickers of a lantern. Echoes of rancid breath reach Paige’s nostrils. He’s coming.
Paige’s heaving breath deepens, her energy starts to fade from exertion and stress.

Her feet bleed, trackable, though not in the dark. Tomorrow’s problems are tomorrow’s.

Run!!

“Here Chickee-Chickee!” calls the wicked, tooth-rotten voice.

But she’s nearing the shrubs. It’s pitch black at the shrubs!

Run!!

100 steps to the peanut bushes.

“Gotcha now, Chickee-Chickee!” roars the rancid breath.

50 steps.

20 steps.

5 steps.

Leap!

Through the darkness, Paige buries herself in the leaves and thorns of the peanut bushes, yanking the roots, crushing the pods, and crawling through the seeds. She shuffles through the shrubs, her body well covered by the plants, leaving a trail of deadly brown shells in her wake.

The breath roars in disapproval.

“Hide in them peanuts all you want!” he screams. “But you’ll need to come out sometime, and I’ll be waiting.”

By the sound of it, her pursuer dare not get within 20 paces of the peanut bushes. Her gamble has paid off. At least for now.

…Breathe…
Paige feasts on peanuts and pockets as many seeds and shells as she can carry, grinds fistfulls into oil, covering her body.

Now it’s through the peanut shrubs, then 4,500 steps to the road. Then 20,000 steps to the next cabin. Where hopefully… there’s a phone. There’s help.

And then back for the others.

She cannot, will not leave her brothers and sisters in this horrible place.

A Note From Our Guest Judge, Jordan McGarry

This writer has not wasted any time dropping us straight into the kind of very stressful situation that means we must keep reading, and quickly. We are absolutely with Paige as she makes her escape and while we think we understand the horror of her situation, just as we start to feel relief the sucker punch of the last line makes it devastatingly clear that this story is only beginning.

About Jonathan Josephson

Jonathan’s published short fiction includes “The Pain Critic” (Danse Macabre), “Jorge Hosts Chanukah” (Paragon Press), “The Monster is Confused” (novella excerpt: Zoetic Press; podcast: 4LPH4NUM3R1C), “Dark Druids and Their Dark Jars” (Masque and Spectacle), and “Tall Grow the Bones” (Fabula Argentea, Jan. ‘26). He is also an award-winning, internationally produced playwright with twenty-five of his plays being published by Concord Theatricals, YouthPLAYS, and others. [jonathanjosephson.com]

This piece piece was written in response to the prompt Lights, Camera, Action!