An Adventure In The Woods - written by Alfred (a short story for kids)

Once upon a time there lived two little brothers. One’s name was James and the other one’s name was John. They were both Christians and they were both very playful. They loved adventure and they loved to hear tales of adventures. 

James and John were spending their Christmas holidays with their Grandpa who lived in a cabin near the woods. They decided to go hiking in the woods one day when their Grandpa was asleep.

They quietly packed their gear and headed off into the woods. They were off to have an adventure.

20 Minutes later, they were lost. They couldn’t find their way back to their Grandpa’s cabin.

They begin to get scared and for the first time since they set out into the woods they begin to ponder that maybe sneaking off into the woods when their Grandpa was sleeping was a bad idea.

As James and John proceeded through the woods they had to be on the look out for snakes, monkeys and wild bears. With every new animal noise they heard, every strand of hair on their skin would stand straight as they would almost jump out of their skin in fear.

 James suggested that they prayed. He remembered that the Sunday School teacher back home said that God is all powerful and anytime you call on him he would answer.

James prayed that God would help them out.

A few seconds later, they saw an old run down cabin in the middle of the woods. Who would build a cabin deep inside the woods they wondered? 

Normally, people would build their cabin on the outskirts of the woods just like Grandpa did. Why would somebody build their cabin deep inside the woods, James and John wondered. They shrugged their shoulders and decided to check it out. Maybe the person who lives there would tell them how to get out of the woods.

They knocked on the cabin door but nobody answered. They knocked again but they still got no answer.

 James and John began to wonder if the cabin wasn’t even abandoned. John decided they should explore it and while saying, “Hello is anybody home?”, he slowly pushed open the front door.

As they walk into the cabin, they see that a lot of things are covered with dust but at the same time they couldn’t make out if anyone has been there in a long time or not because there was a stove with kerosine in it and a clean glass of water still on the table with a plate of left over food beside it that wasn’t rotten.

As they kept looking around the cabin, they heard someone coming. The sound of whatever was coming, whether it was a person or a thing was so strange that the hearts of James and John beat faster. They think it’s a monster or some mythical creature of some sort. They both hide and James starts praying. Oh! James prayed that the creature wouldn’t suddenly open the cabinet they where hiding in; like a scary movie and then do whatever scary monsters do.James and John hear the footsteps pass the front of the cabinet they were hiding in. John crosses his fingers and James closes his eyes tightly like if his concentration can affect his faith. Then the footsteps come back. Both boys breath ceases. Then the cabinet door swings open. They were about to scream just when they saw it is was an old woman – a kind looking, harmless looking – smiling old woman.

She tells them not to be afraid, gives them some information on how they could get back home but she tells them that they would have to eat first because the journey is long.

James prayers before eating the food the old woman prepared for them but John didn’t pray.

While eating, John suddenly passes out. 

James wonders what is wrong but as he looks at the old woman he could see what he needed to know in her eyes. He didn’t need any explanation.

The old woman knew that nothing happened to him because he prayed before eating. She rushes forward at him; reaching out to grab him but he gets the message; his instincts and adrenaline – rush moves into over-drive and he ducks out of the way and runs straight out the cabin. She starts to chase him but he’s too young and she is too old so she could see there was no point. There was no way that she would catch him. 

James prays for God to help him as he runs away. He hears the voice of the Holy Spirit telling him that he shouldn’t run in the direction the old lady told him to go. The Spirt of the Lord guides him to look in another direction and he sees light coming from that direction.

He heads there instead.

He meets a group of campers camping there and he tells them everything that had happened, including the fact that his brother was still unconscious in the old woman’s cabin.

After quickly drinking some canned soft drink and eating a chocolate bar to regain strength, James followed them back into the woods to help rescue John.

When they got to the cabin, it was empty.

James fell down on his knees and started crying. While he cried, he prayed at the same time. He prayed for God’s help. He needed God now more than ever. He needed God’s help before his brother was gone forever.

Suddenly, James heard the sound of someone sneezing coming from a wardrobe. The campers opened the wardrobe and saw the old lady standing there pointing a gun at them while he held John who was now half conscious with one hand.

The campers had to back down as the old lady pointed the gun at them and slowly moved towards the door dragging the semi-conscious John with her.

James wondered whatever would they do now. Would this weird old lady just kidnap his brother like that? In his heart, James begged God to help save his brother.

Suddenly, the old lady was hit over the head from behind. It was their Grandpa. He had hit her over the head with a stick. Though he didn’t hit her strong enough to cause any permanent damage. He hit her just enough to make her pass out.   John was saved.

It turned out that the old lady was a part of a child kidnapping ring and had been at large for a very long time.

Both James and John learnt the lesson that they should not sneak off from whatever parental guidance they have over them for them to have fun.

John also learnt about the importance of prayer. Next time he would pray before he eats. 

THE END.