The Forest

The Camping

   "Get away from me you nasty little sewer rat!" echoed through the mountain valleys. With wild eyes and a pounding heart Irene ran out of her older sister's tent and into the rocky clearing.
   "Alexandria that's enough," Father said coolely. He was out in the clearing struggling to get the fire started.
   "The rat tried to take my phone!" Alex retorted back.
   "Alex if you call your sister a rat one more time your phone will be in the river do you understand?" Mother hissed as she came around the corner with wood in her arms.
   "Whatever," Alex snobbed as she sat back in her tent.
   "Silas get out of the river!" Father yelled. He was now becoming annoyed. Silas turned back towards Father and nodded. When Father wasn't looking Silas stuck out his tongue at him.
   "Alex can you please help with unpacking and setting up tents?" Mother begged as she lugged a bag over to where her and Father's unmade tent still lay on the ground. Alex's tent remained still. "Alexandria if you want a Sweet Sixteen party this year then get out here and help!"
   Alex came out of the tent and the rest of the words went blurry. This had been their fifth fight since they had been on vacation and it was only the beginning.
   Silas finally came trudging out of the river. He was splashing water all over the place. As well as all over Father's finally made fire, putting it out and letting smoke rise up in its place.
   "God dammit Silas!" Father roared now, "Go sit in the fucking tent and don't come back out until I say so!"
   Silas shuffled off to him and I's tent. He turned around and stuck his tongue out again. Also as Father wasn't looking, again.
   "Oh I have a headache," Mother said as she sat down in her chair.
   "You're telling me," Alex mumbled as she walked off into the woods. Mother must have told her to go get something.
   "How long are you going to make him sit in there, Henry?"
   "He's six years old so I'll make him sit for at least six minutes, Martha. That's been the rule for all of our kids hasn't it? Personally I think the little shithead should sit in there for an hour."
   "Henry! Don't call him that."
   Father rolled his eyes as he stood up and angrily kicked the now sopping wood from the fire ring. "I'm gonna go take a piss," he stated as he angrily stomped down the river bank and into the woods. Mother sighed and shuffled her feet into the pebbles of the riverbank. Mother was always bright and optimistic but today she was in a gloom that Irene could not fix. Her face was an all around frown and even her golden colored hair looked darker and depressed.
   "Is there anything that I can do to help, Mother?" Irene asked as she walked over towards Mother. Irene's bright yellow raincoat was reflecting off of Mother's sunglasses. A normal child would ask why their mother was wearing sunglasses on a rainy day. Irene knew it was probably because she had a black eye. Irene knew that Father was probably going to get drunk tonight. Irene knew that when her head hit the uncomfortable sleeping bag pillow that not long after the sounds of Father forcing Mother to have sex with him would be echoing through the mountains instead of Alex's yelling. All of the children knew it. Irene also didn't understand why Mother didn't just divorce Father already and take the children away. So many questions.
   "Oh, um... If you'd like to help darling I'm sure that going out and finding some firewood for your father would be an immense weight lift. Can you do that for me? You have to make sure that the wood is dry."
   "Yes, Mother, I know," Irene replied as she turned and began making her way down the riverbank in the opposite direction of Father. Irene hummed as she walked along. She brushed her hands along branches and steadily made her way through the woods and away from the riverbank. Her humming soon grew to be the only sound in the forest except for the rustling of leaves. Most children would never wander this far from their family's camp. Most children would be petrified of the woods. Most would not be passing the perfectly good firewood without a second thought. Irene wasn't afraid of anything. She wasn't sure yet whether this was a good or a bad trait. Nevertheless, she hummed and continued to walk along.
   Snap was the sound that took Irene out of her trance. To look straight ahead of you and see a fawn standing and nibbling at a tuft of grass was not an everyday sight. Especially not when you come from... well, where Irene came from. A silent smile grew on Irene's face as she stepped closer to the baby deer. 'Fifteen feet now? I must be at ten,' she thought to herself. Each step was like Russian Roulette as it begged for the fawn to turn tail and flee.
   At about ten feet away the fawn raised its head and looked directly at Irene. Irene stopped her movement instantaneously, but the fawn took a quick sniff and ran.
   "Hey! Come back!" Irene called after the fawn. She began to chase after it which was not an easy task as briars ripped at her yellow raincoat, she was slipping on rocks, and tripping on logs. She was panting and her heart was thundering up in even her head as she chased the fawn through the woods. Afterall, she was a track star at her school. "Ach!" she screamed as her foot caught a log. Without warning her face piled into the ground that was about the same color as her eyes. It coated her face in a thin layer of dirt. However Irene looked up just in time to see the fawn hop over the hill just in front of her.
   "I can't lose it!" Irene coughed, meaning to think it instead of say it. She forced her now burning and throbbing body up off of the ground and with a burst she was making her way up the hill. The top was barren and Irene tried to stop herself but it was too late. She was now sliding in the mud down a hillside that bottomed out into nothing. Flailing and screaming Irene reached an arm out anf managed to grab a root hanging out from the hillside.
   Irene hung and let her dizzy vision clear. She gazed up upon the hilltop to see the fawn standing by a tree licking  its flank. Sunlight split its way through the clouds and was shining the fawn's fur red through the white spots. Irene smiled and happily began to pull herself up in the slippery mud. That is, until the branch broke.
   Irene was wrong. The next thing that echoed through the mountain was her own scream as the fawn turned and fled. Irene saw the hilltop leaving her and the cliff falling down with her as the was surrounded by nothing but air. Five seconds felt like five hours but Irene hit the bottom of the cliff and the last thing she saw of Earth was a cloud covered sky.