The Woods

Chapter 1: The Beginning

             Once long ago in the Victorian era there was a town called Treeston, in this town lived a naïve little girl named Emily. Emily was told to play outside, she happily skipped along until nearing the forest edge, a place she did not realize was cursed before her birth. The little girl intrigued by the sheer size of the trees entered the forest, noticing a rope swing next to what seemed to be a small creek. Emily slowly walked to the swing, and carefully sat down so as to not ruin her dress. She started to play upon the swing, as the sun began to set. She began to hear her father's voice even though she was told he went to a better place. "Could this be the better place they meant?" she thought. "Emily, come here it's time for dinner!" her father's voice echoed through the tall trees. Emily followed the sound of her father's voice beckoning her deeper and deeper she followed into the wilderness until she found herself facing an old log cabin that the winter had not been kind to. She followed the voice into the cabin, only to see an old man wearing a tophat with antlers on it. She had never met this old man before, and she had lost her way home. "Hungry little girl?" the old man asked and she nodded eagerly. "Here is some stew for your little stomach." the old man stated offering Emily a mystery meat stew.

             "Have you seen my father? I heard him calling me for dinner. Is this the better place everybody talks about going to?" Emily asked the old man who was walking his way to a chair. "You must have been hearing things little girl, I have not seen anyone in a long time. You can stay here and eat while I send a pigeon to the village outside of the woods so your family can know you are safe here with me." the old man replied looking quite happy. Emily ate the mysterious stew only to see a boy sitting in front of her, he was her age. "Run." the boy whispered to Emily as the boy started shape shifting into what looked like a corpse. It scared Emily, so she ran but all she could do was hide. She hid only to hear and witness the old man become a monster. He was a wendigo, and Emily was his next meal. "Come on out little girl, no need to hide from me." the old man named Vernon stated. "Where could you be? Enie, meenie, minie.. Ah, there you are!" Vernon yelled now fully looking like a monster. He looked like a tall, terrifying, thin, humanoid, hooved monster, with a deer head and an unhinged jaw. The mouth was covered in blood stains, Vernon's claws were like long sharp finger-like talons, and Vernon looked far from human. Emily screamed as Vernon grabbed her out of her hiding place and Vernon smiled demonically with sharp teeth as he dragged her out to the kitchen. Vernon bit into her flesh and tore as much as he could from her bones making sure to leave something left to eat later. Once Vernon was done, he put her in the creek to clean what was left of his meal as he had buried the bones left over from others in the creek. "Emily! Emily! Where are you?!" Emily's mother yelled searching for her daughter. After Emily's mother came upon the creek, she felt she stepped in something. It was the creek water, but only a path of it was blood red. She looked slightly up the small stream, her heart dropped, and she let out a loud scream as she ran back the way she came.

             She saw the dead body of Emily with chunks missing from it, her eyes were gone, and there wasn't much of her left. All that was left was a thin layer of bloody muscle tissue attached to bone and a blood stained little dress she wore that morning. Emily's mother began to slowly lose her sanity, blaming the other villagers for what happened to Emily, she made sure they would never forget what happened to her daughter. Emily's spirit had seen her mother, and her mother feared that Emily wanted to kill her. "Mommy? Please don't be scared of me, come with me and you won't have to hurt anymore mommy." her daughter's ghost bellowed looking like the corpse she had seen. The town learned about Emily's mother, and she was burned alive whilst her only daughter who had lived was forced to bury her own mother. Vernon casted a curse upon the forest causing the ghosts of those who have died to haunt the living until they lure them to Vernon, drive them insane, kill the living, or drive the living to suicide as vengeance for shooting his daughter. The others of the village knew about the wendigo, never dared to set food into the woods because of it, they would at times send their children to be eaten so their own lives would be spared. Those villagers even at times went as far as to send people into the woods to become Vernon's next meal. Years past by the village became the town of Treeston, a town with a dark past, and full of secrets. Ten years passed and Emily's sister tried to leave the family manor, but Emily decided her sister should join her in death for the rest of eternity. Emily's sister was found dead in the manor, the manor left empty because no one wanted to meet the same fate.