Innocence Lost

It was late that summer night when Joe Joe and Izzy snuck out of their perspective homes to meet Mack at old tree stump by the river. They had been planning this all day.

The moon was almost full so the night was brightly lit for their excursion.The three boys headed up the bank of the river. They chatted excitedly about the adventure they had embarked on. Mack was 11, the oldest of the three, so he was kind of the leader. Joe Joe and Izzy were both ten going on 11 within the next couple months. As the boy's trekked along side the river they heard all the noises of the night. This made the adventure even more delicious. The big plan was to sneak up as close as they could get to the hobo camp up river and see what hobo's do while their away from the prying eyes of the towns people. "I bet they eat raw animals they kill with their bare hands" Izzy speculated . Joe Joe Piped in " and they probably drink the blood". Mack laughed and smiled at his friends and said" well, we'll see as soon as we get round the north bend."

It took the three adventurers almost 30 minutes to get to the north bend of the river. They moved to the right to hide in the trees as they drew closer to the hobo camp. They could see the camp fire in the distance and quietly moved toward it. soon they were close enough to hear voices but couldn't make out what they were saying. Inch by inch the boy's moved in closer and closer to the camp. Joe Joe could feel his heart pounding furiously in his chest. He was sure his friends could hear it. Izzy and Mark were to busy trying to quiet their own fear to listen for Joe Joe's heart pounding. Soon they reached the edge of the camp. They lay hidden in the bushes as they watched the five men that were around the camp fire. The men were talking and laughing about their own adventures hopping freight trains and riding from town to town across the country. Suddenly the mood turned as one of the men said something that another didn't like. They started to argue and it escalated into a fist fight. The boys were terrified as they watched the two hobo's fighting as the three others egged them on. But they couldn't move. They were to afraid of being caught spying on the men.

Suddenly one of the men was on the ground and the other grabbed a burning log out of the camp fire and started beating his head in. Blood flew every where and the 3 other men started shouting "kill him. Kill him." Before long the man on the ground was dead. Then the three men stood over him and were staring at their one time companion. Soon one of them bent down and emptied the dead mans pockets. The hobos lifted the body and headed to the river to dump it.

The terrified boy's jumped up and ran through the woods until they were far from the encampment then they carefully inched their way back to the river and headed down the bank back towards home.

Once the three adventurers reached the old tree stump where they started from, they made a pact never to tell anyone what they had seen.`

Each of the boy's headed to their homes knowing that they would never again be the same . Their innocence was lost for they had witnessed the brutality of men. It would have a profound effect on their lives from that night forward.