Do not go into woods at night...

Winona is a kind and caring woman from the 1600's who is suddenly taken in body and mind out of the comforts of her home into the nothingness. But who is this creature who took her there?

 

"They say at full moon, on All Hallows Night she will come and get you. She will wreak her vengance on those, especially mothers, who concern themselves with her affecting crys. For it was her own mother, on that faithful night of All Hallows Night, that did not concern herself with them and with that, the girl lay in the deep, dank forest of Hartley Moore Forest, and gave her life to the night sky. Now her spirit wanders every year at midnight on the 31st of October. And on the first Sunday of November, on All Saints day, she will release their spirits to the heavens above. Do not wander through the forest of Hartley Moore on that night, for that shall be the last of your days to come"

 

The brightly lit moon contrasted heavily against the dark and damp night sky. Winona, awoken suddenly in her sleep by soft whispers in her ear, rose from her straw bed and wrapped a shawl around her frozen shoulders. Something didnt seem right, thought she as she made her way to the wooden door, pushing it open to take a look at the night sky. She could feel it as the tree's swayed woefully around her beloved village that slept silently. Over in the corner, the fire from the evening festival crackled bleakly as it started to die down in the cold and the wet. Turning around, she took a look at her children sleeping in peace and harmony, her little David taking in a deep breath of air as he dreamed away, and her beautiful Louisa, tucked up in the corner, her faithful puppy by her side.

Winona took a step outside and into her village, decorated with pumpkins and old bits of paper dyed with various berrys. Each house held a delicate, handmade windcharm to protect them from bad spirits and evil deeds. And, to Winonas much amusement, lay Harry Windermere, snoring on the cold, hard, grassy ground as the bottle of mead in his hand, gently leaked itself onto the green green ground. Her little village was only a few feet by few, with all the houses, shops and stalls rounded into one happy and harmonious setting. Sure, Winona didnt have the joys of being "one of those ladies" whose lives were filled day to day with exotic perfumes and frosted diamantes, but she was happy at where and who she was. A beloved mother of two, with her husband Alec as her sole support.

A sudden and distant cry from over in the woods that surrounded the village in which she lived in pricked her ears with curiousity, Walking into the woods, she became aware of how dangerous this may seem and how absurd she may look, walking out into a nasty, beast filled forest with nothing on her feet but the skin she was born with. Still, the cry seemed that of a childs. And a female one at that, and it was the least she could do as a brave and valient citizen of Hartley Moore.

The woods began to close in on her as her heart beat faster and faster through the woolen nightdress that clung to her slim frame. Her eyes darted wildly to all corners of the forest in which she could see, while a little tingling inside her head was telling her to run. Running her hands through her raven hair she looked around for a source of noise or a shadow of a figure but nothing arose. Yet the scream, the cry of help rang through the forest with a deeper, and more intense depth of emotion to it. There was no turning back now, Winona needed to find this creature, this lost soul in despair. It was her duty, as a human, as a woman, as a mother.

Her hurried feet steadied as the crys came closer and closer to a part of the forest. Walking slowly and cautiously towards a small figure that lay hunched on the ground, she began to notice. She was right! It was a little girl. One who appeared to be crying on the floor with a small red coat upon her frail body.

"My dear, whatever is the matter?" Winona approached the girl carefully and with a smile, afraid that she might frighten her so that she would flee further into the woods and closer to danger.

The girl raised her head so that her ivory curls fell softly on her thin, freezing shoulders. Her eyes, Winona noticed, were a deep shade of blue, one colour that could only be seen in the rarest of sapphires or the lovliest of oceans, one that seemed to hold a sense of wonder to a being.

However, the girls eyes were also cold and distant as were her lips that were beginning to taint themselves with blue. And there, right across the infants left eye and cheek, lay a deep and repugnant scar.

"Will you be my mummy?" the girl spoke in a light and whispery voice, her dark blue eyes fixed upon that of Winona's brown ones.

Somehow Winona felt compelled to say yes, it was impossible of course, but looking into the child's eyes she couldnt reject her. It was not the kind of thing that mothers did.

"Okay" Winona smiled at the child and took her small, cold hand into hers. She was not aware of how much the child had grabbed at her wrist until she tried to reach her village home and was stopped in her tracks?

"Come on little one, its time to go home..." Fear in the form of a tingle in her belly began to creep inside Winona. This girl was oddly strong....

"But we are going home...Mummy" Suddenly the small childs hand tightened its grip over Winona's wrist as her eyes glowed a strange bright white. Winona screamed, struggled, fought and cried for help.

But no matter what she did. She could not escape the darkness.

 

What a beautiful morning it was. Alec awoke to the sound of the birds chirping outside, and the local butcher calling upon his faithful hound. But something was missing. The dent in their straw based bed was where his beloved Winona was meant to be. But where was she? On a Saturday it was unusual for her to awake before him. Due to his job, Alec had to be up extremely early and it was often rare for him to wake after her. So where was she?

Pushing open his house door, after checking on his children to see if they were okay, he opened the household door and looked in surprise at his doorstep. Upon the grassy ground, soaked in the morning dew, lay Winona's faithful bracelet that he had given to her on the night of their marriage. Picking it up, it felt cold and wet to the touch and it frightened him to see it off her wrist. With its engraved words "Forever yours my darling" written into the gold and emerald encrusted bracelet, Winona fell in love with it at first sight and, even when there was washing to be done or dishes to be soaked or potatoes to be dug, she refused to take it off. In the first time since his childhood, Alec gave a cry out

"Winona?...Winona!"

"You looking fer tha wife o' yours?" Old Harry Windermere enquired as he tried to steady himself up, but ended in a coughing fit.

"Why? Have you seen her?" Asked Alec

"Is she that skinny thing with the long brown hair? Yeah i saw her walking outa that house that your standing by just now and into the woods" Harry began to search for old reminents of food on the floor for his morning meal, paying even less attention to Alec, who grew so worried he was almost in tears or in a state of anger.

"Why would she go into the woods? Thats absurd, what would she need to go into the woods for?"

Harry Windermere, finding a piece of old, roasted mutton on the floor, picked it up and sank his rotted teeth into the cold, fatty joint.

"Well how should i know?"

 

Time passed as swift as the morning swallows, but still no sign of Winona. Alec, who had reached a state of sheer desparity, had rounded up the entire town to search for her through the entire woods. But still no sign. Her oval shaped eyes, her soft brown curls, her slender legs...Alec's heart grew hungrier with the urges for these things that had meant so much to him, as his mind began to forget them. And he was convinced he was going mad too! For he could have sworn he had heard his voice that following Sunday utter into his ear as he slept away.

 

"Forever yours my darling, i shall go into the light now".

 

 

Just a little post happy Halloween story for you's all :)

Author's Note

My first story on here :)

Reviews

[S.A Beach]

I guess I'll just dig in. It was a pretty good read, but it made me stop myself in mid read and question some things. I take it that this is just a fun little thing you wrote for the season, maybe not. What's the overall theme of the story? Don't go into the woods? Don't be a hero or you'll suffer some consequence? I'm not exactly sure what it is. The way you have some of the sentences structured seems off.

"the girl lay in the deep, dank forest of Hartley Moore Forest"

Personally I have a problem with using the same word twice in a sentence. Regardless that the second usage is a name.

"Something didnt seem right, thought she as she made her way to the wooden door"

Thought she as she, it's a mouthful it makes the reader stutter for a moment. I assume it's for the use of older English based on the fact that this is a period piece.

Then there's: "Somehow Winona felt compelled to say yes"

Somehow is a wasted word, you don't need it, it's just fluff. It gives the sentence a slower start.

"And a female one at that"

You have this at the starting of the sentence after the cry happens. Why does it matter so specifically that it's a girl? To link to the prologue paragraph? If so, this makes it too on the nose and can be a bit more subtle.

Once the main character is in the forest and at the girl, I have trouble knowing whether she's actually a baby or a small girl at first since you use the world infant to describe her. But once she says something and walks with her, that demonstrates that she is a little girl.

I don't know about the Alec part at the end. As a reader I didn't care that he really lost his wife and his actions at first were a bit over exaggerated, but that may just be me.

Good start, could use some work. Nice job.

[Wildecat]

I think you have captured the spirit of Hallows Eve, a very nice write. Thanks for sharing.