Memories

This is kinda a prolouge you could say that i wrote in order to explain a series of events and great games that went on in the woods behind the neighborhood.


Every Weekend, saturday and sunday, we would meet at the preserve, a good few miles of pure woods that sat behind our houses. We would play what we called Battles and Adventures. We would pretend to fight in wars, and hunt down dragons, and save princesses. We had fun, i wish i could have that much fun again, but today, our kids play the same games, in the same woods. We meet every so often, to have a beer or two, and talk, maybe about the games, maybe about life. But i want to tell you about the games now, and the fun we had.

We had a gang of guys that always showed up, first, there was me and Damion, we started it all. Damion would play the evil guy, it was something he liked, he would weild a long stick, pretending it was a long sword, he would use the old tree house south of our houses as his base. He drew in alot of kids, with speeches that made him seem powerful and supreme.

I was different, i was quiet, i liked to sit in the tree's with my stick and a couple of guys. We pretended to be some type of elven rangers, that scouted around and sat in trees. There were never alot of us, but most of my friends liked being the elves. It was something no one else could pull off.

With me were the Twins, Jim and Sam. Jim liked to have 2 sticks he used as knives, like a assassin or a rogue. While Sam used a curved peice of wood as a bow. They looked elven too, with long blonde hair with blue eyes, there parents were german. It scared me.

Ralph was another guy that stayed around alot. He was different, he was the only kid that could ride a bike in those woods, he used a pool stick as some sort of lance. He would pretend to be knight of some sort, always fighting for the light or holy god. He would get a bunch of kids to follow him. He was the leader of the good side, and damn good at it, he could give orders like no one else. he was also the kid who went around before the games and make shure everyone had a stick or that the barricades and walls we built were ok.

Burny was dumb and big, no one told him that, or he would toss you like a rag doll. He used a big log as a weapon, but knew not to swing to hard so that no one got too hurt. He played as Damion's Captain, kinda like a troll or ogre. He also told great jokes.

Now there was also some kids that only would show up every 2 weeks, but they always came back for more. The higher count we got was something like 30 kids of Damion's side, and about 21 on Ralphs. That match was insane, Damion called it a minis tirith moment. The Good guys won by a slim chance, we knocked down the enemies tree fort as soon as ours was in sight of Damions guys.

Now, we had a certain way to play, there was capture the flag, capture the castle, conquest, and destory the castle. Capture the flag was self explainitory. Capture the castle was alot like seige, in terms you had to knock down the defenders flag on top of the tree house. Conquest is were you had to take and hold each of your five areas. The two tree houses, the creek, the cave we found, and the Big oak log. Whoever took all five areas won the game, and some kid that was being the Observer,(most of the time some kid that got hurt and couldnt play) would shout wether Damion of Ralph won. Destory the Castle was the most fun. What you had to do was run through the woods to the oppents tree house and destory the flag on it, once that was done, you won.

Im not saying that people never got hurt. People had to wear army, sometimes there football pads and helmet, or hockey gear. Lets say Damion hit you in the stomach, a good player would pretend there stomach was spilt open and would fake death and lie there till the match was over. A bad player would ignore the slash and keep fighting, they were taught the rules as soon as possible. We didnt want to kick anyone out. I know wat your asking, about sam and other kids being archers, what would they do in terms of arrows. Well we determined that if you knew you got hit, youd would act as if you got it, if you tried to deny it, the archer might draw sword and duel you, to see who was right, this happened alot. We had medics too, Damion called his Necromancers, Ralph called his Paladins, they would go around tagging kids that were dead, bringing them back to life. But if a Necromancer or Paladin got hit, they were dead for good.

We played that game for years, must have been four or five. Well the games ended when we all turned 15, because, well someone got really hurt. Ralph was riding through the woods after a skirmish, he had some men down and was shouting for a paladin, some new kid thought it would be cool to be a spear thrower, he didnt know the rules.NO THROWING. Well he jumped out of the woods infront of ralph, ralphs lance went up, that kid threw his spear, the spear nailed ralph in the shoulders, knocking him off his bike. He landed right on a big rock, something snapped, i was running behind him and saw it all. The kid that threw it cheered, several of his team mates shut him up by pig pilling him. Damion ran up asking me what happened. I told him that ralph was hurt. He whipped out his cell phone, called his down. Damions dad is russian, and hes huge with a bushy beard, it makes me laugh, he kinda looks like that street fighter. But he didnt make me laugh today, he was also a doctor. He examined Ralph, and after a few tense minutes, proclaimly explain. His Spine is broken, right here at the base. He hit the rock at the worse possible angle. Several kids began crying, even at 15 this was shocking, Ralph was a great guy, a good friend, a good leader. After playing WW2 games were the squads sarge dies, i know how those guys felt, i cried myself. Damions dad called a ambulance. Ralph was in the hostipal 5 minutes later. Leaving us all there shocked.

Damion, fed up with the silence. Made one last act to end the game. He said we should hold a memorial for a fallen Hero. Build a Shrine with Ralphs Armor and weapons, and we should put the New kid on trail. The Memorial came first. Ralphs Gear was stacked in a nice neat order. Damion stole matches and lit a fire in the middle of our clearing. Everyone sang Ralphs Battle Cry. A confusing song that sung of the deeds of the games before. Damion and i said a few words, Exclaiming the games were done for good, but the last act would be too Trail the new kid.

The Trial was serious to say the least. Me and Damion were the High judges, the veteran players were the jury, the new kid had no lawyer, no one would stand for him, taking out Ralph sealed his fate in the woods behind our houses. The Kid pleaded that he didnt know the rule. Damion silenced him, and pointed to the tree beneath him, were we had etched all rules into its bark with Burny's Knife.

The new kid explained he couldnt read them, Damion took this escuse at fodder, i nodded in agreement. Then it was time for the Jury to decide his fate in the woods. Being all of them veterans loyal to the game and its veterans. The Jury voted him banished from the woods for as long as one of the ruling veterans owned a house in the neighbor hood. The kid began to cry. We made him run home in his Boxers, crying the whole way, well Burny did. The kids all went home, i went to the hospital with Damion and the Veterans. We only got to talk to Ralph for a few moments. But he smiled when he heard what Burny did, and smiled with a longing in his eyes when we mentioned the Shrine. He said he was upset the games couldnt be played anymore. But it was probally for the best. No one wanted to end up like Ralph.

I still own a house in our neighborhood, so does Damion, but everyone else moved further into the state. Ralph died 5 years after the accident, he shot himself with a note saying his goodbyes. He couldnt live like a cripple, not him, he was born to lead. Burny went to jail, for murdering some poor kid when he was 21. Sam and Jim joined the navy. Sam got himself killed. Jim lives on. The Three of us just sit in my living room, gazing out my big glass doors, at the woods that we fought for. We taught our sons how to play the games. How to honor the shrine and keep to the rules, and injuries are reported and my son Bobby tells me all about the battles that happen and how he leads the forces of good into combat, and how they found new areas and all these things. Damion smiles, his kid is the Evil guy, a favorite in the neighborhood, just like his old man. Jim has a daughter, Sammi, named after his dead brother. I hear shes a feirce Valkary.

I miss the days in the woods, i wish Ralph never got hurt, even if we would have had to quit and year or two later, it would have been worth it. I still have the stories, Not only the Fall of Ralph, but many more, in my old age i am urged to write them down. So they can be Rembered Forever.



Im also hoping to add some of the stories that went on, like the Capture of Burny or the Civil War.

Feed Back would be nice please! :)

Edited with spaces so it inst a *eye sore*

Eek... sorry I didn't read it, but that's an eye-sorer...

Can you please put spaces in between each paragraph? You know, press the enter bar twice after each? Example, what I'm doing with this post?

Notice the spaces in between each paragraph?

Yeah, I think you get it.

Awww, that was really sad.

It was nice though. I wish there were enough kids in my neighbor hood to do that.