Into the Woods | Ticci Toby

.1.

Maura wasn't exactly in the best of places at the moment. It was entirely possible she would feel that she could just suck it up and ignore everything for just one more year, for the day of her birthday. 18 was a big number for her, being as it was her liberation day. But Maura couldn't last that long.

Maura picked up several silver cans of beer and wine glasses, some of it spilling on her well-worn clothes. Thankfully, her mother was at work and her dad was fast asleep on the couch in front of her. She tried desperately to not drop anything onto the hardwood floors, so not to wake him. She could imagined the beating she would get from waking him from his "beauty sleep."

Maura tiptoed in her socks, pulling back her curly brown hair to rinse off the dishes. She had to turn the faucet ever-so-slightly so she wouldn't awaken the beast in the next room. She set them in the dishwasher and turned it on. Finally, all of her cleaning was done. She let out a sigh of relief. Maura glanced at the time on the oven: 5:34 p.m. Her eyes widened, and she tried to run into the next room.

Unfortunately, she was four minutes late. Maura's mother slammed open the door, Maura flinching.

"Maura!" The sharp tone was almost unnatural, as if it were some kind of knife that cut through the soul. She surveyed the kitchen and living room with that knifelike gaze of hers, and looked back at Maura.

She slapped her straight across the face, knocking Maura back a step. "Go get some food for supper!" She shrieked, chasing Maura into the living room. Maura's dad sat there waiting, a 50 dollar bill in his hand. "For all this trouble, young lady, you owe us something. Well, rather me something."

Maura nodded shakily, slipping on her shoes. As she walked through the front door, her mind was filled with disgust. Why did she deal with this crap? She didn't know why. All she did was follow what they told her to do. Just like how she was going to the store, picking up their groceries, cooking food only they got to eat. It was not fair in the slightest.

She thought on, reaching far into her mind on why she even took a single step more. Yet she did, and with that, she went and bought the groceries.

On her way back, it started to get dark. It was dusk, to be precise. She watched the tree line, and the lucrative darkness enveloping it. She could run as far as she could and never come back. But why couldn't she?

Someone bumped Maura's shoulder, the groceries in her left hand spilling all over the pavement. She turned to apologize to the person, but when she turned around, she saw exactly that. A person. Even worse, it was a guy. Shaggy blond hair and emerald green eyes, he was the antithesis of who her parents allowed her to speak to. She quickly looked to the sidewalk and mumbled an apology. She turned on her heels and tried to exit the situation as smoothly as possible.

"Hey, wait!" Maura flinched. A conversation was not exactly what she needed for her well being. She slowly faced him. "Miss, are you alright? You have a pretty nasty bruise forming there." He pointed to his cheek.

"I'm fine. No need to worry." Maura said.

He narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure? I'm sure there is something I can do to help."

The hair on the back of Maura's neck began to stand on its end. Why exactly was this perfect stranger speaking to her so excessively? It made no sense to her.

"I don't need your help. I'm perfectly capable-" A hand closed around Maura's wrist and yanked her back, cutting off her sentence. She was knocked off balanced, only being held up by the right fist currently cutting off blood to her hand.

"Let go!" Maura screamed, terrified of the man above her. Rick, her father, shook her violently. The boy tried prying off Rick from her, but it was to no avail. Finally, a loud smack could be heard, and Maura watched as Rick recoiled from a punch sent straight into his jaw. He finally dropped Maura's arm.

Maura scooted away in a hurry, away from the danger zone. As she watched the boy frantically switch into defense mode, she realized something: there was no way she could go home. She fixed her eyes on the horizon, over to the swathes of darkness that encompassed the base of the forest. If she could only get far enough into the trees, she could finally do what she always wanted to.

Disappear.

The revelation hit Maura like a truck, adrenaline pulsing through her veins. She started to run, as fast as her legs would take her. She made it to the edge before something hit Maura in the back of the head. She fell face first into the dirt, dazed. She looked to the source, only to see the beast she called her father barreling towards her. The boy who helped her was a crumpled heap on the ground, unmoving.

"Oh crap, oh crap..." Maura scrambled up, ducking into the forest. She ignored the severe pain in her head and focused on not tripping. The rustling and roaring grew fainter as Maura made her way through the deeper part of the forest. Eventually, all she could hear was the quiet rustling of trees and the nighttime sounds of the forest. The pain pounded against her skull, demanding release. Maura sat down by a tree, the exhaustion setting in. Her eyes fluttered closed. It was difficult, not letting the sleep take over, but a weird prickling sensation came over Maura. The sense of being watched. Almost as if on cue, two bickering voices reached Maura's ears.

"Well, I don't know where the hell they went! You were supposed to finish them off!"

"Oh, fuck off, you hypocrite. I thought it was 'against your morals' or whatever the hell!"

The voices grew louder and louder, until they hushed all at once.

"Isn't that her?"

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"You know, the one Slender is looking for?"

"Oh. I suppose it is." Maura's head swam, but she could have sworn she heard a loud slap. A string of curses followed, confirming her suspicions. Leaves rustled as someone picked her up and roughly threw her over their shoulder. She couldn't move anymore, and everything swirled into an oblivion as she passed out.