The Changelings

      The sun shone brightly, illuminating the large, yellow-grassed field as if it itself were the sun. In the summer heat the yellow grass, one could barely open their eyes comfortably.

      Many young girls skipped and played in their clean, pretty little sundresses, hurrying hither and thither, carrying teddy bears by any which limb.

      Mothers sat idly by, fanning themselves and discussing the heat, and other numerous adult matters.

      Many little girls sat, sipping sweet fruit juice from plastic tea cups.

      The day was a very much celebrated day by all young girls in the town, for the day was the long anticipated Teddy Bear Picnic!

      Little Madeline was only five years old, and small for her age. Madeline was unlike most girls in the small, sheltered town they lived in. She had hair as black as coal, but as fine and soft as silk, and her ice were a pale, ice blue as clear and crystal as a glacial lake.

      She lay in the itchy, irritating grass that poked and prodded at her pale skin, staring up at the sky. Hey blue eyes wide open, taking in the blinding sun, the vibrant blue sky turned a violet colour as she stared at it for a long period of time.

      Satisfied and amused, and aching from a slight headache, Madeline sat up again, rubbing her eyes incessantly. After a moment or two, she looked over the the young girl a few feet away from her.

      Madeline did not like Sammy much, as she was usually very loud, obnoxious, and bossy, but today she sat silently, not even twirling her hair around her finger as she usually did, or fiddling with the pristine, pale pink material of her dress.

      “Sammy.” Madeline said, examining the girl.

      The blonde slowly raised her eyes and met Madeline's eye, staring at her with an eerie, distant look that seemed almost blank.

      Suddenly a few girls skipped merrily by, teddy bears flailing singing the song of the day:

If you go into the woods today,

You better not go alone.

It's lovely out in the woods today,

But it's safer to stay at home!

For every bear there ever was

Will gather there for certain, because

Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic!

      Raising herself from the ground, and turning from the glaring, blank stare of Sammy, Madeline ran towards her mother, clutching her soft, black teddy bear to her chest.

      Her mother sat fanning herself and talking to Sammy's mother. Madeline stopped a few feet behind the mothers for just a moment.

      “No, she just woke up and was different.” Sammy's mother stated.

      “Today?” Madeline's mother asked.

      “No, about a week ago.” Sammy's mother's voice whispered hoarsely, sounding distressed.

      Taking a step forward, Madeline's shadow fell over the two older women. They both looked up with an expression of slight surprise on their faces.

      “Hi Maddie.” her mother greeted her, her worry turning into a small smile.

      “I want to go home.” Madeline complained quietly.

      “Alright, give me two minutes to say goodbye to everyone.” her mother said.

      Madeline nodded and slowly began walking towards the path in the forest that would take them home.

      Stopping at the treeline, she peered into the gloomy shadows inside. A soft crack resounded emptily through the forest like a cracked twig, and a few bushes in the underbrush rustled.

      “Hello?” Madeline called.

      “Hello?” a high-pitched delicate voice responded.

      “Who's there?” Madeline called, peering around the whispering, completely still forest.

      “Who's there?” the soft, sweet voice answered.

      Madeline peered around the now silent shadows, as the young girls' voices behind her coursed over and over again in their shrill voices the Teddy Bear's Picnic song:

If you go into the woods today,

You better not go alone.

It's lovely out in the woods today,

But it's safer to stay at home!

For every bear there ever was

Will gather there for certain, because

Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic!

      Madeline jumped as there was a rustling in the forest promptly followed by a black creature lunging towards Madeline from the nearest bush. Madeline flinched and shut her eyes as tight as they would go.

      After a few seconds, Madeline reopened her eyes, only to find a small, black bird perched upon the nearest branch, staring at her through it's beady, glossy, black eye. Madeline leaned close, examining the bird's eye, fascinated that it was completely black, there was no white surrounding the pupil at all.

      Madeline had never seen a bird up close before, but she had seen pictures. She was always fascinated by their probing, black eyes that seemed all pupil.

      The bird's head cocked towards the singing of the girls' voices in the background, and listened to the chorus echo across the open field over and over again.

Suddenly the bird belted out the song as well:

If you go into the woods today,

You better not go alone.

It's lovely out in the woods today,

But it's safer to stay at home!

      Madeline listened as the girls, who seemed so distant now, sang the last few lines of the song, but the bird grew deadly silent.

      The bird stared at the young girl for a moment as it it were a stone statue, before flitting away into the shadows as quiet as the breeze.

      Madeline stared after the bird who had ghosted away, thinking about how still it had sat, like a stone angel, or a gargoyle guarding the graveyard.

      “Maddie, why didn't you wait for me?” her mother grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her around to see her face.

      “I saw a birdie.” Madeline said softly, feeling some shame for being scolded by her mother, “it sang the Teddy Bear Picnic song, but without the teddy bear part.”

      “You have some imagination.” her mother stated.

      Madeline just looked at her mother.

      “One more thing,” her mother said, crouching down to Madeline's height, “never go into the woods alone. Do you understand?”

      Madeline nodded.

      “What did I say?” her mother asked, gazing intently at her.

      “Never go into the woods alone.” she said quietly, trying to avoid her mother's eye contact.

      “Never forget that.” her mother said, standing up and leading her daughter through the path in the deathly silent forest, as the chorus of the girls behind them rang emptily through trees, growing more and more distant, and finally they could no longer hear them.

      The nightfall came quickly but silently, murdering the sunshine of the day and painting the sky red with it's blood, before burying it deep out of sight, and sheathing itself in a black cloak.

      Madeline sat alone in her bedroom, clutching her black teddy bear with the soft blue, button eyes.

      Her mother had long since retired to her bedroom to sleep, but Madeline found sleep resistant to her desperate clutches. Their small farmhouse sat on the outskirts of the tiny, sheltered town, and right on the treeline of the vast forest.

      Madeline sat by her window watching the shadows of the trees dance and beckon her to come play with them.

      The young girl grasped the window and slid it open to taste the cool night air in her lungs and feel it upon her pale skin.

      The breeze ran it's wispy fingers through the branches of the gnarled, ancient trees, clacking them together, creating a grand symphony of it's own that ran a chill down Madeline's spine.

      The shadows of the trees began to prance like young girls running and dancing through and between the old trees.

      With the gentle breeze, a high-pitched voice accompanied the symphony, weaving it's vocals into the rise and fall of the wind ensemble and percussion:

If you go into the woods tonight,

You better not go alone.

It's lovely out in the woods tonight,

But it's safer to stay at home!

      Madeline leaned precariously out of her window in search of the voice, when a black shadow lurched towards her.

      Startled, Madeline flinched and tumbled out her bedroom window to the thorny rose bushes below. Scared, she covered her eyes and curled up next to the wall of her house. Madeline peeked through her fingers as the shadow flitted into sight once more and alighted upon a thorny branch before her.

      All Madeline could see was a gleaming, black eye that stared at her.

      The shrill voice of the mockingbird repeated the verse once more.

If you go into the woods tonight,

You better not go alone.

It's lovely out in the woods tonight,

But it's safer to stay at home!

      Fascinated by the bird that was as black as her hair, Madeline reached out the touch it.

      Being the only young girl in the village with black hair, Madeline felt an innate connection with the coal black bird that flitted so freely on the wind's fingers.

      The bird flitted a few feet away, becoming an almost invisible shadow on the ground a few feet away. The only way the girl could distinguish the bird from the ground was the shining orb of an eye that held the light of the moon captive in it's unceasing gaze.

      The girl crawled out on hands and knees, pausing only the pull the crown of thorns from her brow, to touch the bird as it sang the verse once more.

      As the girl neared the singing bird, it flitted yet further away.

      Determined, the little girl crawled even closer, and the bird burst even louder into song and hopped away.

      The girl looked up at the towering trees looming above her that waved in a seductive dance. The wind whispered it's symphony louder through the trees' reaching, grabbing, twisted, gnarly arms, that reached to tangle the moon in their thousands of tiny fingers.

      The words of Madeline's mother rang in her head: “Never go into the woods alone.”

      Madeline halted, staring into the prancing, beckoning shadows. The bird flitted towards her, singing it's song once again to her in it's sweet, melancholy voice.

      Never go into the woods alone... the words echoed incessantly in Madeline's mind.

      Taking a deep breath, Madeline got off her hands and knees and stood to her full height, staring up at the dancing trees.

      Never go into the woods alone...

      Madeline stared at the forest, watching the shadows prance as if they were an exclusive dancing cult.

      Never go into the woods alone...

      The wind ran it's wispy, frail fingers through the arms of the trees, enticing them to dance more, continuing it's echoing symphony of wind and percussion.

      Never go into the woods alone...

      The bird flitted closer once more, adding it's sweet song to the ringing of the wind's symphony.

If you go into the woods tonight,

You better not go alone.

It's lovely out in the woods tonight,

But it's safer to stay at home!

      Never go into the woods alone...

      Madeline took a deep breath and reluctantly entered the woods, following the mockingbird's elegant, eerie song. She entered the shadows, squinting her eyes to see her surroundings. As when she had been blinded by the bright sun and purple sky, she was suddenly blinded by the darkness, robbed of her sight, and thrown into the dark abyss to fend for herself like a landed fish.

      As Madeline's eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, the bird alighted on the tiny girl's shoulder, ceasing it's song and going deathly silent.

      The girl stood in her white nightgown, the moist dirt squishing beneath her bare feet and between her toes. As Madeline's eyes focused, she watched as the shadows around her moved in graceful, elegant movements. The wind died down and the trees grew still in sorrow that the wind's symphony had come to a bittersweet end.

      Still, the tiny shadows moved eerily silent, like ghosts.

      The bird softly sang it's verse once more, but this time, a second voice joined it, very quietly from the shadows.

      The voice sounded as if it were echoing in a a cave of sheer crystal.

      The verse ended and the bird lead rhythmically into it once more in a shrill but monotone, beautiful voice. This time several voices from the shadows joined in, very similar to the first.

      Madeline searched the darkness as she listened to the voices that sounded like angels. Madeline's ice blue searched the shadows, attempting to decipher where the fallen angels lay.

      A young girl emerged from the shadows, appearing to Madeline more perfect and beautiful than any hand-crafted china doll she had ever seen.

      Madeline stood, her pale skin glowing in the the moonlight, shining down fractured by the bony fingers of the trees. The young girl entered the moonlight, and Madeline looked to meet her eyes, only to find completely black, shining orbs that stared at her unceasingly like those of the mockingbird that perched on her shoulder.

      Several more young girls, similar to the first girl, emerged, on dragging a body.

      The body seemed blank, a mere skeleton with white canvas stretched tensely over the frame. Madeline curiously glanced at the corpse, afraid to express much interest, and saw the face was merely a skin covered orb, with indentations of sunken in skin where the eyes belonged. The jaw of the face was wide open, as if screaming to the point that the jaw was falling off, but the opening was also covered by pale skin. The nose of the corpse was also covered over with the blank canvas of skin.

      The limbs of the corpse were nothing but bone wrapped tensely in the rubbery canvas.

      The verse of the song was repeated again and again before the first girl's angelic voice said, “Come play with us, Madeline.”

      Frightened, Madeline took a step back from the girls, but two girls grabbed her hands gently and tugged her towards the corpse playfully. Madeline stood over the body, feeling like a towering tree herself over the misshapen, empty corpse.

      The china dolls with the big, black eyes came close, encircling Madeline and the corpse. The first girl came forward, taking Madeline's hand and giving her a small smile.

      Madeline watched as the girl hand her hand palm up to the full moon, and pulled a knife out from behind her, maintaining eye contact with her probing, beady black eyes.

      Madeline jumped, trying to pull her hand away from the girl, but others silently appeared around her and restrained her.

      Madeline struggled, her ice blue eyes wide with fear, but the beady-eyed china dolls held her still.

      The first girl dug the knife into Madeline's hand and traced a line. Madeline gasped in shock and then screamed in pain as the girl removed the knife.

      Madeline screamed again as the girl dug in the knife again, and Madeline tried to release her hand as she struggled to pull back. The girls head her steady as Madeline flailed helplessly and frantically to release herself.

      Never go into the woods alone...

      The knife dug in again, and Madeline screamed and struggled as she was blinded by pain. With each stoke, Madeline felt a warm, sticky syrup washing over her fingers and dripping from her hand to the ground below.

      Finally, the girl stopped, and Madeline heard the knife drop with a dull thud to the dirt below. Madeline opened her eyes and stared blankly at her hand, shaking and shuddering as she watched the blood pour from her palm.

      Madeline felt faint and leaned on the girls' restraining hands for support. She stood up straight and they let go of her as she stared at her hand in shock, looking at the sticky, red substance that flowed from her palm, gleaming in the shape of a pentagram.

Madeline watched the blood that seemed almost black in the darkness drip onto the white corpse beneath her.

      Madeline forced her eyes to refocus as she looked at the corpse covered in her black blood.

      As her eyes focused on the corpse, she watched the arm of the corpse twitch.

      Madeline looked closer at the corpse to see the twisted limbs of the body began to move and grab at the dirt beneath it, clutching the dirt in it's hands. Madeline grasped her sliced hand in the other, and took a few steps back.

      She watched as the body's jaw unhinged and the skin tore open as a ear-splitting, unnatural scream shattered the calm air.

      The blank bone structure of the face twisted and grew to form a nose, cheek bones, and a chin. Lips flourished and bloomed like wild flowers over the white teeth beneath that formed as the thing let out another bone-chilling screech. Black hair sprouted from it's pale skull and grew at an excessive rate as the thin, bony hands found it to tear at it in pain as it screamed.

      The creature was silent, and it sat up. The indentations of skin where the eyes belonged had torn open, and Madeline found herself staring into the black abyss of her eye sockets that seemed to look solely at her.

      Madeline shivered under the moonlight as she realized that the creature was identical to her now, minus the glaring, empty eye sockets.

      A few of the girls approached Madeline, who stood frozen in utter shock, mouth hanging open, staring blankly at the thing in front of her.

      The first girl approached her and smiled in a gleeful grimace, giving her words of reassurance, “Just a few more things to do, Maddie.”

      The girls pulled her white nightgown over Madeline's head, leaving her to stand naked and vulnerable in the dark woods. They pulled the garment over the head and shoulders of the blind creature that seem to stare at Madeline.

      Madeline stood frozen, unable to move, and let out her own echoing, ear-piercing screeches of terror as the girls dug the bloody knife into her eye sockets, popping them out like poping buttons off a sweater.

      Madeline stood blind, feeling the warm, sticky substance rush down her cheeks and drip onto her body.

      Madeline was blind only a moment, hugging her arms around her naked, pale, blood-covered body, before the girls gave her new eyes with which to view the dark, ashen world.

      Madeline looked around herself with her new eyes. Before her stood the thing that had, only moments before, lay on the on the damp forest floor. Her cheeks felt warm with the sticky syrup-like substance.

      The girl that now stood before her, no longer having empty eye sockets, seemed to Madeline as if she were staring into a pristine mirror. Her hair matched perfectly, and Madeline looked at her, staring in disbelief and confusion at the thing wearing her nightgown and eyes.

      Madeline moved closer, looking at the pale jawline that was no longer unhinged, but sat in the same straight line that was identical to her own. Madeline reached up to touch the creature's cheek, the flawless, white skin that stretched over the high cheek bones and straight jawline, running down to cover her thin neck.

      Horrified, she looked from the thing's cheek and into it's- her- ice blue eyes that met her silently terrified, questioning gaze.

      She gazed at the replica of herself, gazing into her stolen eyes. In the mirrored surface of the crystal blue irises, she saw a third one of her; her reflection in her own own eyes, thieved from her own sockets. But in the reflection, she was no longer gazing at the blue irises in her head, but big, black, shining orbs sitting in her sockets, gazing wildly, struck with fear.

      Madeline turned to look at the girls who had stolen her image and found the first young girl standing, smiling sweetly.

      Upon the black-eyed, china doll sat the ebony mocking bird. The girl grinned a white-toothed smile at Madeline.

      “Welcome.” the girl said. “We are the changelings.”

      Finally, the girls pried the coal black teddy bear from Madeline's desperate, grasping arms, and placed it in the arms of the monster.

      Madeline felt tasted her thick, sticky blood upon her lips, and felt the salty tears run quickly and tirelessly down her cheeks, joining the syrup-like blood.

      Madeline parted her bloody, salty lips to fill her lungs with air, and the blood and tears welled up, creating a bubble that popped silently as she sucked in the cool night air.

      The mockingbird-eyed china doll held out a crystal vial of clear liquid.

      Madeline was silent.

      The doll smiled a sweet, yet menacing smile and placed the vile in Madeline's small hand, and chided in a soft encouraging voice “Drink it; you'll feel better.”

      Unaware of what else these girls could possibly do to her, Madeline downed the liquid and stared blankly back at the girl.

      In an instant, Madeline felt her bones contract, her dense bones grow tight and small, as light as the air itself. Her coal black hair cover her body, growing coarse and stiff, and she stretched out her arms wide, feeling her stiff hair spread wide.

      Taking off on the fingers of the whispering wind, her beady, black eyes seeing and analyzing all, and her ears hearing all, she perched on a nearby twig.

      Madeline watched the creature exit the dark shadows, and approach the house she once lived. It climbed the drainpipe, and entered her bedroom, shutting the window behind it.

      And in an instant, Madeline noticed the hundreds of mockingbirds that inhabited the trees, and knew she was cursed to join the ranks of the mere mimickers for the rest of eternity.