The Things In The Woods

There were two rules when it came to playing out in the back garden,

One, stay where mum can see you and two, be gentle with each other. John and Mary Carter weren't very good at following the second rule. When you're busy playing pirates and thieves, there isn't much time to be gentle.

You see, the Carter family lived on a large estate that included a large family house with too many bedrooms and bathrooms for just four people, a horse stable at the east end of the property and a service house at the far west side of the property that had housed actual servants for nearly a hundred years. Instead it had been used to store old toys and games that the children outgrow through the years, something or the other about ‘old money’. A large estate meant 5 ers of land with more than enough space for john and mary to run wild and live out the adventures of their imagination, there was even a large flower garden bordering the edge of the property that gave way to an even larger and dense forest, the only thing separating the two separated only by a short wire fence.

Though John and Mary didn't care much for the first rule, they were always careful to follow the first one, stay where mum can see you, they didn't want to take the chance of wandering too far and getting lost. Their mother had warned them many times not to go into the forest, to not even think about going near it, ‘it's not a part of our property so don't even think about it. Besides, it's a tricky woods, you would get lost in an instant.’

Though mother had given them many warnings, once had been enough for the young Carter siblings. The thought of never seeing their parents again, of never seeing each other again, never eating Margaret’s homemade ice cream ever again, it was too much to even think about.

Summer was coming to an end and in two weeks time John and Mary would be starting grades five and four, but they weren't ready to say goodbye to all the summer fun, there were still so many adventures yet to be had. All week John and Mary pestered their mother to take them to just one more place, the zoo to see the mountain lions, the aquarium to see a shark up close, somewhere, anywhere as long as it was fantastic. Mother settled on letting them spend the night in the garden, “if it's fun and fantasy you want then you two can spend the night camping in the garden and, i don't know, pretend you're explorers.”

She helped them set up their tent in a spot visible from her bedroom window and Margerat brought them hot chocolate and sandwiches. With a kiss on the forehead for both of them she left with a reminder to finish all their food, “even the crusts, you don't want to attach any critters.”

After a long afternoon and night of endless playing, John and Mary settled into their tent and decided to finish off the night trading their best adventurer stories, waiting for sleep to overcome them.

“Nomes aren't fairies,” John grumbled, interrupting Mary's story about a war between magical creatures.

“Yes, they are.” Mary argued back, “I read it in a book, in school, not all fairies.”

“You can't read,” John snickers as he sips his hot chocolate.

“Yes, I can! Mom even says I can read better than you,” Mary says matter of factly.

This time John outright laughed, but before he could reply, there was a ruffling sound from outside the tent, as if someone was walking through the leaves towards them.

“Did you hear that?” Mary asked

“I'm sure it's just the wind. Now, when did mother tell you that you read better than me because that is not true. I'm the best reader in my-’ John’s grumbling was interrupted when the ruffling sound came again, this time from right outside of the tent. ‘Maybe that's her right now. She can tell you, ``I'm the best reader in my class.”

With an exasperated sigh, Mary leaned over to unzip the front of the tent. “Mummy,” she called out, “tell John that I'm a better reader than him,” but when Mary stuck her head out of the open flap, there was nobody there.

“I think you were right, just the wind,'' but as quickly as the words left her mouth, Mary's eye caught a flash of brown moving by the wire fence. After a moment of hesitation, she stepped out of the tent to see what it was. John followed his sister out of the tent to see what exactly she was looking at.

“It's a deer,’ Mary exclaimed, her eyes widening in excitement.

John couldn't see anything.

The two siblings stood silently for a moment, Mary supposedly looking at her deer and John searching the tree line.

John hadn't noticed when Mary began moving close to the fence, he had been distracted by the sound of the wind that had seemingly started up out of nowhere. The wind didn't sound like wind, or rather, there was a very peculiar sound mix in that sounded like a wounded animal groaning in pain, or maybe not an animal, maybe a person. The sound filled his head and overwhelmed all his other senses, so much so that he could barely hear himself when he called out to Mary.

“Do you hear that Mar?” John whispered, looking in the direction he thought the noises were coming from. “Mar? John repeated, then he looked to his left and he finally realized that his sister was no longer standing next to him but was in fact standing on the other side of the wire fence.

“Mar, what the hell are you doing, get back here right now!’ John ran towards her. “Mother said to never cross the fence, what are you doing?!” John hissed at his sister, the voice sounded almost too loud as it carried through the night.

“John, do you still have your sandwich, we can feed it to the deer.”

“Mary, I don't see any deer, now get back over here this instant.”

“No, I want to feed it,'' she whined, pulling her own sandwich out of the pocket. “Come with me.’

“Are you mad!?’

“Fine stay here, but do not get mum! I'll be right.”

Despite John's protests, Mary continued on, disappearing into the tree line.

John didn't know what to do. He knew he should go after her, she was his little sister. What if she ended up getting lost or hurt? That would be worse than never having Margerat’s ice cream ever again. But he was also very afraid, could blame him, mother had always told them if they ever set foot into the woods they were as good as dead. There was also the fact that the groaning that he heard had only gotten louder the closer he got to the trees.

John took a deep breath then dipped under the fence before he could change his mind. He thought that made him pretty brave, he was only 11 year old.

Almost as soon as he stepped past the tree line, John was shrouded in darkness. The moon's light was unable to penetrate through the dense canopy of branches and leaves. He could barely see his hand in front of his face.

Despite not being able to see too well, John tried to spot his sister. “Mary,” he called out, his voice laced with worry and fear. What if something had already to her, he waited to long to follow her, he should have-

“John, John i'm over here!” Suddenly there was a beam of light shining on to his abdomen, then John saw Mary running towards him and let out a sigh of relief.

“There you are. Can we go back now?”

“Not just yet, come look, the deer is over here, it's eating my sandwich.”

John was about to follow after Mary when the wind picked up and groaned, once again, growing louder.

“Mary, do you hear that?”

The groaning was now more of mangled yowling; it didn't sound like an animal, or a human. The sound left John worried and wondering what creator that lives in this forest could possibly make that sound. He hoped he never had to find out.

“What are you talking about, I don't hear anything?” Mary chided as she continued walking back the way she came. John trailed after her apprehensively. He just wanted to get back to the house and never even think about the forest again.

The brother and sister pair walked in silence for a while, the only sound coming from their feet shuffling through fallen leaves, the wind and mysterious yowling.

Mary holds her arm out to stop John when they come close to a small dark mass moving steadily back and forth. Even though they had stopped, the shuffling sound of the leaves continued, mixing with the yowling and coming from all directions.

“I can't believe she's not hearing this,'' John whispered to himself as he turned to see if anything was there.

“John look,” Mary cooed as she pulled on his arm, trying to get him to pay attention to the animal, ‘isn't it cute.”

When John turned back around, the light of Mary’s flashlight was pointed directly at a small brown fawn. The fawn was facing away from them but John could see its head bobbing up and down as it nipped at what was left of Mary's sandwich.

“Oh, it's so adorable, John, don't you think so?”

Even though John was looking right at the small animal he wasn't really paying attention to it, he was too worried about the sounds and where they were coming from and why Mary seemed unfazed by the cold, dark forest.

The sound of a branch cracking came from their left, both John and Mary’s heads snapped up to see what it was. Mary moved the beam of light moving in the direction of the sound and the fawn's head moved with it.

And then, well John’s not really sure what happened next.

The fawn looked as if it was about to rear back onto its hind legs and topple over except it was completely steady and balanced and when it rose up, it just kept on rising.

Up and up and up. Taller than mummy, then taller than daddy, then half the size of the trees, only stopping when the siblings could just make out the underside of its head. The hairs at the back of John’s neck stood on end and Mary’s grip on his arm tightened.

“Johnny, what is that?” Mary whimpered.

They began to take slow steps away from the creature that was definitely not a deer. Then Mary let out a loud yelp, her fingernails digging painfully into John's skin.

“Do you hear that johnny, what's that sound? It sounds like, like...” but Mary did not finish her sentence, unable to think of anything she had ever heard that would compare to terrifying yowling that carried through the forest. She began frantically looking in every direction trying to pinpoint where the sound was coming from.

“Yes, I hear it Mary. I've been hearing it all night.’ John whispered in reply to Mary's question. The steadiness of his voice surprised him, he definitely didn't feel stead, John was sure he was shaking all over. Mary stopped her swiveling to give him a scared look, but John didn't see it, no, he couldn't take his eyes off the creature that had now begun to change color.

The brown fur that once covered the thing looming before them, was now being overtaken by a slick, veiny, pail white skin that almost looked translucent.

"John, we need to go," Mary begged, pulling on his arm. Her voice sounded like water in his eyes, like she was about to cry, he couldn't blame her. But John found that he was unable to move.

“John, please let’s go, we have to go now! I'm sorry that I came in here, but we have to-!” Mary cut herself off suddenly and stepped closer to him.

“Johnny, look,’ she sobbed into his ear, her voice was so quiet, if her mouth wasn't so close to his ear he wouldn't have heard her. John turned to the left again and he immediately saw them, three more tall white figures leering at them from behind the trees. Their skin basically glowing in contrast to the darkness surrounding them.

John noticed for the first time that the sounds had stopped, leaving only the whistling wind. It was obvious that the sounds had been coming from them, whatever they were, but now standing there fully acknowledging that fact, a fresh wave of terror went through his body. “We should not have come in here.” John whispered, as his eyes began to brim with tears.