The Forest.

0.1 Prelude

_The Old and the New

~before~

His bright green eyes sparkled as he saw his future wife in all white. It was her dream wedding dress and his dream woman. He knew he loved her since the first time he saw her. She took more persuading but he finally saw her, and her natural dirty blonde waves framing beautiful features, smiling widely which by far outshone any dress she could have worn, at his and her wedding.

She was naturally beautiful and the lack of make up made her stand out from the others. One of the things that actually attracted him towards her was this. And then there was her fiery attitude that seemed a stark difference to her soft features.

They then spent a few months (after meeting in a mutual coffee shop) as close friends and the obvious spark pulled them closer. He wanted to show her in the most eccentric way  what he felt for her but when the time came, asking her to marry him was what he deemed most appropriate. He envisioned himself having a family with this woman and blindly hoping she would feel the same way, he had asked her to marry her. And as he had hoped she had only jumped onto the opportunity, teasing him on why did it take him so long.

The two soon after had an offer to buy a place he had had an eye on since before he met her. She could see how much the cottage in the middle of nowhere meant to him. And without any reason or question she accepted to move all her belongings into the cosy cottage. He admired her for being so understanding and this made him love her even more.

She had no parents to give her away at the altar. She never did have anyone steady in her life apart from him. She had a spring in her step but it was obvious to even the small audience that she was missing the presence of someone. She swore that her future child would never have this lonely fate. He looked at her adoringly many a time, knowing that she had been through so much yet she was still so strong. He promised he would make her the happiest he could until he took his last breath.

~~

There would be fights. There would be slight disturbances in the Rowland family cottage. But that was to be the case in every family household and the little squabbles didn't matter much in the long run. So when she announced she was pregnant in one of her outbursts he held her in his arms until she calmed down and then fretted over her smallest problems for the next few months.
...And then a bit after that... Especially when his precious newborn was prematurely born. He was fulfilling his promise to make his wife happy. She was a happy bubbly mess every single day, of course. He held the baby in his arms gently, as if his son was made of glass. Fragile. He knew it then that he had his family he had always dreamt of. And now he made it his duty to make them the happiest people in the world.

~after~

His wife smiling could only be beat by one thing. His son laughing. His son enjoying the small pleasures in the world was just something else. Seeing everything from fresh eyes was something he could dream of yet his son with the same sparkle reminded him of all the good things in life. His son made him be grateful of what he had.

He had taken his son into the wild forest a couple of times, loving to see the excitement in his eyes. His wife didn't really approve of the forest trips, she was always worried there might be something wild out there to hurt him and their son. He understood why his wife would think that but he also believed that his son belonged out here in the wild.

In the fresh air and the streaming sunlight. Or the mesmerising moonlight.

Yes you had to be careful out here. But when one is experienced,it is only a matter of taking risks, which he was all that too willing to take. It really did worry her but she could see it made her husband happy. So since she wanted to do anything she could to make her family happy she was willing to let them go into the forest. That was then though. The future single mother would have never let him out alone like that again. She saw what it did. But the wife made her mistake and she's still paying for it.

~~

Shouts reverberated of the walls in the lone cottage. She and her husband seemed to be quarreling over yet another trivial matter but he seems to be not his usual self and leaves the house before matters could worsen.

Maybe this is why she blames herself for her husband's behaviour in the coming year. Because she didn't stop him that day from leaving the cottage. Letting her anger cloud all common sense, for something she didn't even remember anymore.

~~

A frantic woman rushes around the small child. Worrying about the littlest whim of the child. She was trying to hide her anxiety it seems.

When her husband didn't come back after that night, she was wondering if she had messed up big time. Or if anything had happened to him and he was hurt. She was making up ridiculous scenarios that could not be anything like the truth but still just as out there. A small cry emerged from the playing child distracting her once again, the toddler just wanted his mother's attention. Away from her thoughts of wanting her husband back and safe.

He appeared that same night. With bloodshot eyes and a stubble that was a stark difference to his usually clean shave. He looked drunk. But his wife knew better to say he was. He never touched alcohol on his entire life. Want a healthy lifestyle was what he once said. But in what she had in her she didn't know what it was that made her husband so...Unrecognizable.

She would never know. She would just call it the brutal life snatcher in the years to come. Not that she would talk much about it anyway. Especially when she finally saw that her own son has been fated a similar end.