All they had to look forward to was to play football with their neighbourhood friends, Jamie and Richard. They were both relatively similar ages to Chris, who was fourteen, and so Mark was often the one the lone soldier. The four of them knew each other well, as they had been living next to each other for four years. Having all grown up together, they trusted one another completely and tended to spend as much of their holidays together as possible.
To Chris’ surprise, early that afternoon, workmen came to fit new floorboards that Chris’s parents had ordered recently. They had been thinking of changing the old wooden floorboards for some time now, but their arrival was very much unexpected. They were both slightly perplexed that their parents had not warned them in advance and were initially reluctant to allow them to enter their house. After some deliberation Chris decided to let them get to work. The workmen seemed to be professionals in fitting the boards, as they ripped out the old ragged ones and started fitting the new ones in. Watching the workmen, Mark had an idea and asked politely, “Can I keep some of these boards?”
“Why sure, we were just going to throw them away,” he replied, and handed over some floorboards to Mark.
Mark ran frantically towards Chris, and explained the great idea that he had. Chris whispered, “You are a genius Mark!”, we can make the den, which we’d always wanted to do! We needed some scrap wood like this, it’s tough, hard wearing, and it’s laminated, so it would be perfect from rotting in the rain.”
Chris started sorting out the wood, while Mark rang up Jamie and Richard to see when they could start building the den. Jamie and Richard jumped at the chance to manifest the idea that they had in their minds ever since they were friends, and decided to arrive at their house later that day.
Late that evening, the floor boards were all fitted in and the workmen left. Mark and Chris decided to inspect the house for anything that wasn’t fitted correctly, yet they found the work was immaculate.
At six o’ clock, Jamie and Richard arrived, eager to start their long awaited project. The four of them planned the layout for half an hour to see how they were going to build it. They were finally satisfied with their detailed plan and made their way into the nearby woods, to find a suitable place to build the den. After continuous arguing on what was the best location, they finally all agreed on an appropriate site which wasn’t too far from home and made sure it was easily accessible.
The next morning the two boys and their friends, Richard and Jamie, met up at the site where they were going to build their den. They brought all of their building material including the wood, a drill, nails, and some safety protection for themselves. They started building as a team, and by nightfall they had nearly completed the den with the exception of the decorations. They painted the wood and put a lock on it for security. They then brought the interior decorations, food, and candles as a precaution if the batteries ran out, ensuring the place was perfect.
They glanced outside. It was pitch black. Suddenly, Chris began to panic as he couldn’t find his new mobile phone, making the situation even worse. It was impossible to find it in the dark. Their worried faces brought fear to Mark, being the youngest. In a hurry they had lost their way back as they could not find their way in the dark. They frantically searched for the phone but could not find anything in the dark. Being unable to contact anyone, they finally came to the decision of returning to the den. At this point, the four of them were evidently tense about the whole situation. They could easily spend the night in the den with the supplies they had yet they were more worried about not being able to inform their parents.
Having found their way back to the den, they felt anxious but safe. They lit a fire outside to heat up some food for dinner; with the flames growing gradually as they heated the food. The fire was getting bigger and it suddenly broke out of control.
After anxious efforts to control the fire, the boys failed as it eventually broke out further. It was now heading towards the den. Chris rapidly tried to cover it with mud, while Mark broke into tears. They realized that Jamie was inside the den and was howling for help. Richard’s efforts to cover the ever rising blaze were also in vain as the fire reached the den within seconds. The three boys were horrified. Without giving a second thought, Richard jumped into the burning den to save Jamie. He used a spare floorboard which he found in a frantic rush. In no time Richard came out of the den with Jamie lying unconscious in his hands, which brought relief to the faces of Chris and Mark. Jamie lay on the floor, seemingly lifeless. Richard immediately used his first aid knowledge in resuscitating his brother. There was a pin drop silence for a few minutes till suddenly Jamie coughed. Everybody breathed a sigh of relief as they were over the moon to know that Jamie was alive and moving, despite the burns he had all over his body.
A wave of sirens echoed in the background as it seemed the neighbourhood had already informed the fire brigades at the sight of the blaze. The firemen immediately made their way towards Jamie and had started treating him. The water jets were in full blast and the blaze began to die down.
The firemen took the boys’ home safely with their parents shocked to know what happened, yet undoubtedly relieved to know they were safe. What had happened seemed to be beyond their comprehension. The boys were ashamed of their immature idea of living independently and adventurously in their own den.
The next morning all four boys again visited the site of the den. It was awful for them to see what had been their dream for so long, burnt into ashes, having toiled to build it for hours together, just the day before.
