Mama Theres Monsters In The Forest

Oops

The forest rustled, a sounds that seemed to echo endlessly in the forest of browns and reds. A young girl, nestled under the blanket of leaves, sighs contently, running her hands through her mess of a hair.

The young girl gazed up at the canopy that had done the impossible and swallowed the late sun. Wind chimes weaved a faint melody in the air as the wind wrapped around Raelynn, filling her with a warm, happy feeling that tingled throughout her body. The air was crisp and cold when she sighed, luring her thoughts back to the worn notebook she held gingerly in her hands. Tucking her pencil behind her ear, she shut the book with a satisfied grin. In no hurry the girl slipped her small worn, green backpack off from her shoulders, slipping her well-loved book and her writing materials inside it’s safe confines. In the distance, a wolf began to sing. It’s song dancing through the dense and mysterious forest as the fireflies came out from hiding. From her perch in the trees the girl sat and watched as the browns of the giants around her melted into a soft violet, incidentally her favorite color. In her back pocket, a small ‘ting!’ was heard. Smiling softly, the girl slipped her pack back on and plucked her phone from her back pocket, turning on the small, bright screen. But before she could unlock it, a white blur caught her eyes. Curious, the girl glanced up at the darkening forest. Seeing nothing, she frowned and cocked her head to the side, a cascade of fawn brown hair fell in front of her face. Smirking, the spunky teen blew a puff of hair, freeing one of her eyes from the hairy cage. Snap. The girl looked down, her breath caught in her throat.

Below her perch, a brilliant white wolf stared up at her. It blinked, as if to say hello and swished its tail. The forest became dead. The confused girl gaped at the wolf, wondering how such a creature could exist. It’s eyes were old, and worn. Full of so many emotions, emotions that had no name. Emotions that a wolf should not be able to comprehend. The wolf snorted, and turned around. It looked back one last time, regarding the girl with a odd gracefulness, and dived into the purple, silent woods.

At first, the girl didn’t move. Then, her phone urged her to do so. The small machine sprang to life, singing and dancing in her hands. The girl almost screamed out of shear shook. Quickly she answered the phone, her eyes studying the terrain below.

“Yes?” She whispered, her free hand running through her hair, finding all of the knots and undoing them. A nervous habit of hers, but she couldn’t help it. The forest was oddly quiet...It was never this quiet.

“You’re supposed to be home” A familiar, hushed voice on the other end whispered. “I don’t know how long you intend to be gone but-“

The girl gasped under her breath, grateful the silence of the forest was broken. A single wolf song-a slow, sad melody- crept from the heart of the forest into the girl’s head. The girl blinked, swaying to the music slowly, as if it had possessed her.

She ended the call.

The song was the only sound coming from the dead forest. The leaves moved and talked, but they fell to the girl’s deaf ears. Her eyes started to close, imagining the worlds and secrets that song held within it’s notes. Nostalgia overcame her, sweeping her off her feet and pulling her into her past.

The song conjured up vivid recollections of many experiences, both happy and sad, but the most predominate was of a group of children huddled around a campfire. They weren’t singing songs, but rather, weaving stories with excited hands and wild minds. The stories told then were lost to the girl, splinters of their narratives sparked before her eyes and fizzled out just as quickly as they had been told. The children’s faces were lit from the friendly fire burning in the center of the group, it’s smoke creeping into the darkness of the covered canopy of the forest. The girl saw all their faces clearly, as she had just seen them hours before she came to the forest. Most of them were younger children, ranging from ages 10 to 12, but only the girl and a boy were older, closer to 15. The two older kids were much closer than just their shared age, the girl recalled, her cheeks dusting pink; but the same could not be for the kids. Many of them, especially a small boy with chestnut-colored skin and a young girl with wild, pig tailed hair, shoved each other, fighting for the best spot to roast their marshmallows. Even though the teen had just seen the group at the fire not hours ago, her heart still yearned to join them again at the fire.

The girl gazed into the forest, at first, wrapped in the comfy blanket of memory, then woken by the smell of burning wood. The smell of s’mores filled the air, teasing the girl’s nose and inviting her into the forest’s hug. The girl shifted on her branch. Could the others be in the forest? Could they still be at the clearing, making s’mores? Maybe the boy from her memories had made one for her?

  The girl expertly slid down the tree and slipped into the forest, dancing between the giant's arms and their feet as they reached out to her, begging her not to go. Twigs snapped in her ears and branches tore at her jacket, but the girl kept running, the thought of the warm fire drawing her to it like a moth to a flame.

Soon, the girl stopped. This is not where she wanted to be. The ground had become white and the siren’s song louder, but no fire was to be seen. That was odd, it should been here. The girl frantically looked about her, her ears buzzing and her mind alive with fear. Where was she? She didn’t recognize any of this. The song pierced through the foggy veil, poking at her flustered mind. Maybe she had taken a wrong turn? The song was so pretty...No that didn’t make sense, she had crossed the river...Oh! That melody!  

Soon the girl was powerless, her mind dimmed by the woven fabric of sound. She was caught like a fly in a spider’s web. With each note of the song, the girl lifted from the ground. The girl turned, where is the sound coming from? Blindly she followed the song as it wafted through a maze of rounded stones. She followed obediently, as if she was a child was a mother in hand.

The song was louder now, more voices could be heard from the forest, urging her on, promising things in different languages-but the girl understood them all. The promises, the wants, the fears of the singers. She found that she wanted to help. She reached out, almost to her destination now. Her fingers finding nothing but cold air. An owl hooted from somewhere behind the teen, or was it in front? She didn’t know anymore, but every time she tried to turn away, the notes the serin’s became more power. Dripping with memories and promises long gone.  

Oh how she yearned for those notes to be hers.

Without hesitation, the lanky teen broke into a grove. The song died slowly, leaving her with the tendrils of it wrapping around her neck like a scarf

The teen opened her tired eyes, the white mist that draped the stone statues around her reflected back. As if the mist itself had conjured them, white wolf's shimmered into view, their body's sleek and heads raised. Their eyes were curious, their ears flicking, as if they could communicate without sound. Which was a shame, the girl felt herself frown, she wanted to hear them song one more time, just one note even. Something she could remember forever.

Then the leader wolf, the same one the girl had seen before, she was sure of it, climbed on of the newer looking stones. Carefully carved into it was a life-like depiction of a old man, his beard melting into moss that seemed to have sprung up around other parts of his stone-cold body, observing any other features he may of possessed. The teen reached a finger out to touch it, but the wolf flicked her tail, a wordless warning.

The girl with the hair of a lion locked eyes with the wolf. Her hands oddly steady as she lowered them to her sides. The wolf regarded the teen with that look again, and then glanced to something behind her.  The teen turned slowly, almost tripping over a large fissure located in the center of the stone carvings.

The wolf's ears started to dance again, their eyes never leaving her lithe silhouette as the teen reached down. Her fingers dancing over the edge of the fissure before slipping inside.

The wolves started to sing again, their melody hard to place. Many emotions, joy, hope, sorrow, regret, understanding, hatred, acceptance danced in the melody and twirled in the air, high above the canopy that consumed the moon and dissolved the stars.