The Woods

“Calla!” I turn my head to my mother who was working restlessly over the hot stove. She jerks her head up which means that I should walk over to her. I always picked up on her body language because she did it so often.

            “Yes mother?” I say as politely as possible. I never liked it when the woman bossed me around. She gives me a light smile before handing me a wooden bucket.

            “Go fetch some water from the stream dear. Hurry too. It is almost sunset.” I nod and when my back is to her, I roll my eyes. If I could, I would be outside all day long because I loved nature, but it was dangerous at night. We had a curfew set for our village to not leave the main grounds after sunset.  

            I grab my favorite purple cloak and head outside. It was beginning to get increasingly cold because fall was here and winter was on its way. I loved how dark it got so early but also despised it because that was less time I could spend outside. I walk down the steps of my front porch and veer onto the main road. Everyone nods to me and I acknowledge them back. I sort of had to be polite in that manner because my father was chief of the village. My two older brothers who were twins would take over when my father stepped down but they had a while before that happened.

            I walk along the dirt path and I wonder why I didn’t think to take the horses out. I would get to the stream a lot quicker. It was an inconvenience to have the village’s only water supply be the stream because it was so far from the village. My father was working on getting a system where the water could be distributed into town. I believe he called it a water well. Other villages around us had the stream running right through there town so they didn’t worry about any of the dangers we had. The woods were a dangerous thing and our villages worst nightmares and folklore lived in them. The stream was right next to those woods.

            “Hey Calla. Wait up!” I turn and spot Gabe running up to me. He had a crooked smile and light blonde hair. He has been my friend since we were just little kids. We went to school together and played together.

            “Where you headed?” He asks me. I point ahead where it is all foggy and where less and less people are coming from. Gabe nodded and I started walking again. Gabe followed.

            “Mind if I join you?” He asked me. I nod. I liked Gabe’s company. He was sweet and really cute. A lot of the girls thought he was great and so did I.  

We walked in silence all the way to the stream and the fog seemed to dissipate a little bit. It was getting darker and soon the church bells would soon be ringing. I bent down by the stream and Gabe plopped down on the ground next to me.

            “You weren’t at school today.” Gabe noted. I scooped the water up and placed on the ground. I sat next to him and looked at him.

            “The chief from the Thornbale village is coming tonight. I had to help my mother clean the house and prepare dinner.” I say with a sigh. It was honestly the most boring thing I had to do so far. The Thornbale chief whose name was Lot, had some business to do with my father. I had no idea what that entailed, but they had to meet every so often to keep their alliance. 

            “Ah the Great Lot and his handsome son Roland.” Gabe says in a teasing manner. Gabe knew that Roland was a little to handsy with me when he came to visit or the other way around. It was always exhausted trying to escape his advances.   “I swear, if that boy touches me tonight, I will stab him.” I say in a serious tone. Gabe laughs at me and he knew I was serious too. Gabe just wanted to see it happen because all the guys here didn’t really like Roland. He was arrogant, but he was a handsome boy.