Prelude
Down on old Crispin Street in a sleepy little town called Lumberville, they say that some kid got mauled by a tiger. Or was it a lion? Nobody really knows. But how did a lion get a hold of a boy? The tale goes that he was walking through the woods after an argument with his mother, when the lion ripped him apart. Some even say that his soul lives on in the forest to this day, cursing anyone who dares enter. Why was there a lion in the woods, though, you ask? You'll know soon.
PART I
Isaac was the guy everybody had always made fun of through his life. It was hard for him to go to school, when he knew that all that waited for him there was the torture of the general 8th grade attitude toward him. They hated him, and he couldn't figure out why. His life was a mess. He was 13 years old, and already he was losing hair. Everybody could tell that he'd be bald by the time he was 30. Isaac's hair was white, the kind of white that's whiter than, say, paper. He was a skinny, average-height guy. He wore glasses because he couldn't see anything farther than 3 feet away from him, and he needed braces as well, although he hadn't gotten those yet.
One lazy Saturday afternoon, Isaac went to fetch something from the kitchen. He decided to start his hunt for something remotely edible at the fridge. While he was searching the bottom shelf, his mother came around the corner. He didn't see her. Being the good mother she was, she began ranting. "Don't I feed you enough? Why are you in here at this hour? I'll cook dinner later, get out."
Of course, with his luck, he was startled by her sudden tirade, causing him to hit his head on the middle shelf of the refrigerator. The pain shot through him, straight to his spine, which made him topple over backwards, flying straight into the rack that held the family's pots, which, when hit, fell on top of him. This set his mother off again. "Why'd you go and do that? You're going to clean this up. Come back here! Don't you walk away from ME, mister!!" She might as well have saved her breath, though, because Isaac was already out the front door.
Overhead, Isaac could see a white owl, which was a strange thing to see, especially in the daytime. What he didn't know was that this owl was a killer. This owl was responsible for the deaths of multiple people who had gotten lost in the expanse of woods behind Isaac's house.
Meanwhile, as Isaac set off toward the woods, something was happening somewhere down the road. An 18 wheeler transporting a lion from some zoo in Florida was turned over during its trip to California. While the driver was on the phone with the insurance claims guy, the lion took the opportunity to try and escape. He rammed at the heavy double-doors that had been nudged open during the turnover, and found that they budged a little. The lion rushed at them once more, and they burst open, and he made his getaway toward the woods.
PART II
Isaac was moving through the woods, traveling the same path that he had plowed down uncountable times before. He eventually found the clearing that he had cut out when he was still in elementary school, and he sat down to think. A little further south, a moose was listening to someone's footsteps.
After a while, Isaac dozed off into a quiet nap, using his shirt for a pillow. He was eventually awakened by the hooting of an owl. He didn't think anything of it, and just went back to sleep. He didn't expect a thing.
By this time, the moose had found the source of the footsteps. It was waiting for the right opportunity to attack. The moose staked out near Isaac for about two hours, and he only woke up once. When he fell back into his slumber, the moose charged, while making one of the most horrid sounds imaginable. "UrrRRNGHHHRRRHrR!!" Of course, this was a dumb thing for it to do, since it brought Isaac back to the Earth.
Isaac knew from experience that the noise had come from an enormous moose. He hadn't really ever heard one before, but he did watch Animal Planet. And his instincts told him to run. He pushed himself up from the ground and shot off through the woods, as fast as someone who is being attacked by a killer moose can run.
He ran so far that he lost track of the time, and more importantly, his location in the dense forest. Once he realized that he was lost, he broke down and started crying. That was when he noticed the gash in his side. Wait, his side? Then it hit him. He had left his shirt back at the clearing. This had to be the worst day of his life. It was only going to get worse.
Once a good distance off from Issac, but now very close to him, the escaped lion had caught the scent of an injured creature's blood. It trailed in a twisted path through the trees to a small boy. The boy was sitting in an extremely convoluted position on the ground, crying his heart out. To the lion, this was the perfect opportunity for a quick meal. It inched a little closer, and laid in the grass, invisible to the boy. Overhead, an owl flew by. It seemed to be circling the boy. He didn't notice; he had bigger things to worry about. How would he get home? Would he see his mother again? Why did he always have the worst luck?
Isaac got up from the ground and straightened himself out so that he could study his dilemma. He couldn't concentrate though, because of a constant echoing hoot of a creature coming from every direction around him. He looked up just in time to see an owl as white as his own hair. It was diving towards him, its talons outstretched, as though it wanted to pick him up and carry him off somewhere. Isaac ducked just in time to save his life, and at that moment, the lion decided to come out of hiding and pounce. Isaac saw it coming from the corner of his eye, and he dove into a barrel roll to avoid the predator. The lion missed its mark, and instead landed on the owl, which caused the fowl to break both of its legs, leaving it helpless. The lion didn't want the bird though. It wanted the child. Isaac tore through the woods once again, with no idea as to which direction he was heading.
The lion, having used most of it's strength in its attack, was having trouble keeping up. The more Isaac ran, the greater his chances of survival became. No one actually knows whether he escaped the monstrous zoo animal or not, but one thing is for sure: He had the will to survive. So how does this story end? Well, some say the lion finally caught him. Others say he must have starved to death. But still, many believe that the boy named Isaac lives on in the forest, a hermit with no place to call home, always lending a helping hand to the weary passerby who is lost and without hope.
Alternate Ending
...Isaac tore through the woods once again, with no idea as to which direction he was heading.
He couldn't make it too far though, because the beast had pounced, striking his back and ankles, tearing the skin from him. He couldn't stand the pain. He staggered a few steps and fell to his knees, and tears formed in his eyes as he held his breath, waiting for the unavoidable gruesome end to this tale.