Phil's grandmother had always been the person in his family who loved and cared for him. Even when he was younger when his parents discouraged his learning, she used to sneak him books from her childhood, and he would read every one. He didn't know that her endless supply of books appeared after she sold her wedding ring to get money to buy him all the latest books. He got to read them all from start to finish, and when he gave them back to his grandmother, she would keep them in a special section called "Read by Phil."
When Phil had been banished, she was the last to talk to him, and she hugged him tight and handed him a copy of the first book she had given him, 'Pepper's Amazing Adventures' - a collection of stories about a young girl called Pepper who took her sister's horse and travelled all over the world to places you could only dream of. Phil used to dream of arriving to The Island Of Lost Gnomes and meeting all the magical creatures there who danced together at night and stayed completely still during the day when the fairies visited.
Therefore, when his grandmother first saw him, she was terribly worried about him. She wanted to know if he was eating well and if anybody had tried to hurt him. He felt too shameful to tell his granny that he had hurt people and instead assured her he was okay. Sighing, she asked him if he needed anything, and he smiled, telling her he had met a friend and needed a new bag to carry extra supplies. Smiling, she told him she would allow them to stay overnight, but the authorities had been far too quick to notice changes in patterns to catch people housing 'criminals' these days. Phil smiled and simply asked if she had a bag and a pot as he had lost his pot during an incident including a group of feral cats. She slowly stood up and he helped her to her cupboard, from which she pulled out a grey pot and from behind it a few coins.
"Have these," she said with a from on her face.
"I won't be needing them."
Phil accepted the pot but urged her to keep her money and to buy herself something, but she insisted that since she was old, she had no need for it other than to give it to her loved ones. He eventually took the gold coins and placed them in his pocket while she searched for a bag. She left the kitchen and returned with a black backpack, which she banded to him. Noticing there was some weight on it, he opened it to find two books and a notebook with a pencil in between its pages. The two books were ones he had never read, and she told him she had been collecting books for him to read when she next saw him, and that the notebook was for him to write of his own adventures.
"I'm sure your stories won't be quite as unusual as Pepper's adventures, but I know I would much rather read your writing any day," she told him, making him grim uncontrollably at her kindness. She also told him that if he ever needed her help, she would be there, and she told him that if he ran low on books, there would be a few always stored in the old chicken shed which she never used.
However, Phil knew Dan would be waiting for him and packed his money, his pot and his new reading material into his new bag before kissing his grandmother goodbye and starting on the short trek back to the fire.
YOU ARE READING
Strangers In A Wood | Phan A U
Random"It was like a world of ghosts that had been wrapping themselves around Phil's throat had suddenly evaporated, and he could breathe again" A Fantasy A.U. set in an old-world, magical version of England.
