The Forest

Granny Winnie is a witch. And the forest behind her cottage is cursed. The townsfolk don’t go near it and even animals stay away. Granny always tells us never to go into the forest alone. There are too many trees, all close together. Light barely reaches the forest floor. Once you go in you’ll lose your way and you won’t come back out. My sister Nancy takes the warning seriously. She’s older than me and wiser, I follow in her lead. Our brother Peter doesn’t believe, he thinks it’s just a scary story to keep us from wandering away. “It’s only a few trees,” he says.

Granny tells us never to leave the safety of her back garden. Her beady green eyes watch us from the kitchen window. Even when we can’t see her, we know her gaze is there. As children, she would always know whenever we got too close. Her soft voice suddenly booming across the yard, warning us to come back. She knew the trees whispered to each other, enticing us to enter. Peter never heard the voices, but Nancy and I could.

It was a sunny afternoon in granny’s garden. A gentle breeze moved the branches, the trees were talking again. Nancy pushed me on the swing our late grandfather had made, Peter sat beneath the tree it was suspended from, staring blissfully up at the blue sky. Granny’s gaze was fixated on us. We were too close to the forest for her liking, but that’s where Grandpa put the swing. 

“She’s watching us again,” said Peter, his own gaze caught in the clouds. Occasionally he looked down to watch me swing back and forth. 

“Of course she is,” replied Nancy, “the forest makes her nervous, and we’re too close for comfort.”

Peter scoffed. “Then she should move the swing.” 

I didn’t need to see my sister’s face to know she was rolling her eyes. She pushed me harder on the swing. The only tree in granny’s garden was the one the swing suspended from. It was the only tree not part of the forest. Once a lone sapling, grown on the outskirts of the cursed land. It was a safe tree, or so granny said. 

“Do you want to switch?” I asked her, worrying I had been on for too long. 

“No,” she replied, “unless Peter wants a go?”

Peter made no reply. Nancy stopped pushing, most likely to look at him. I dug my feet into the ground, stopping the swing. Peter was staring at the trees. Nancy and I made eye contact.

“Peter,” she said, raising her voice slightly, “do you want a go on the swing or not?”

“Do you hear that?” he asked.

Nancy and I listened. Nothing. Silence from the forest. 

“I don’t hear anything,” I said.

Birds were tweeting, a breeze unsettled the wind chimes by the back door of the cottage, apart from that the garden was quiet, the trees were quiet. Judging by Nancy’s expression, she couldn’t hear anything either. But Peter was staring deep into the forest, as though he was entranced by it. 

“Listen,” he said.

Nancy gripped the rope suspending the swing tightly in her hands. For once, both she and I couldn’t hear a thing, while our nonbeliever brother heard something. There was something else that didn’t feel right, and yet I couldn’t quite figure out what. 

Peter stood up. “Listen,” he said again, “there, do you hear it?”

I shrugged. Nancy sighed. We both looked at each other, oblivious. The garden fell completely silent, even the birds were gone. The wind had calmed, settling the chimes into silence.

And then, something…

A voice, barely a whisper, coming from within the forest. A small child maybe, I couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl, but it was something. Nancy looked at me. She could hear it too.

“There’s someone in the forest,” said Peter. 

“Who could it be?” I wondered.

“Only one way to find out.” Peter took a daring step forward. 

“No, Peter!” yelled Nancy before he could get any closer. “You know what Granny says, once you go in you won’t come back out.”

“Well someone is in the forest.” He turned around, looked at the cottage and grinned. “And besides, Granny’s not watching.” 

Nancy and I both spun around at the same time. He was right. Granny’s gaze wasn’t on us. It hadn’t been for a while now. It wasn’t like her to not be watching. Her green eyes always found you, wherever you were and you could feel her gaze on you.

“That doesn’t mean we should,” said Nancy. There was a hint of curiosity on her face, I felt it too.

The voice spoke again, this time sounding more excited. “Come on! It’s great in here. We can play hide and seek!” 

“Who is that?” asked Nancy. 

“A ghost,” replied Peter, a sly grin forming, “of a child who entered the forest and couldn’t find their way back out.”

Nancy shoved his shoulder. “That’s not funny, Peter.”

“Come on, Peter,” said the voice, “come and play!” 

Peter checked the cottage for granny’s gaze, then took off running towards the trees. “I’m coming!” he replied playfully. When he reached the outskirts he stopped, casting a glance over his shoulder. “Well, come on.” 

Nancy looked at me. I looked at her. We both looked behind for granny. “We don’t go too far,” my sister said, “we keep walking straight, that way we can’t get lost.”

I vigorously nodded, feeling a wave of excitement at exploring the unknown and forbidden place. “Wait for us!” I yelled at my brother. We both ran to catch up with him.

The three of us stood side by side as close to the forest as we dared. Perhaps we were waiting for granny to call us back, but she didn’t. The voice kept calling out to us. It was too dark to see where the source was coming from. The sound echoed, bouncing from tree to tree. Nancy was the bravest, she took the first step inside. Twigs and dried leaves crunched under her feet. Peter went next, slightly timid and keeping close to our older sister. 

I looked around one last time. No sign of granny or her beady-eyed gaze. She was going to be so cross with us. One step in front of the other, I followed my siblings into the woods. We all exchanged excited glances, before taking off running towards the voice. 

“Where are you?” Peter called out.

“I’m here,” the voice replied.

“Where?” asked Nancy, “we can’t see you.”

“I’m here.”

“Where?!” I yelled.

We stopped to catch our breaths, panting heavily. It was darker beneath the trees. I couldn’t see anyone else except us. Whoever it was, was very good at hiding.

“I don’t like this,” said Nancy, “let’s head back, I’ve seen enough.”

“Granny will be angry,” I added. 

Peter looked disappointed. He called out to the voice again, only this time he didn’t receive a reply. All was quiet in the forest. He kicked a stone near his foot.

“If we walk back in a straight line we should reach the garden,” said Nancy.

“Lead the way,” replied Peter.

We marched back in a line, carefully trudging over fallen branches and bushes. It wasn’t so bad out here, except for the lack of sunlight and the strange voices. 

“Maybe they got bored,” I suggested. 

“Or playing a joke,” added Nancy.

“Or maybe it really was a ghost, luring us into the forest and now we’re lost.” 

From the front of the line, my sister shivered. Her pace quickened, no doubt she was wanting to get back to the safety of granny’s garden, under her watchful gaze. I watched the back of her head, her dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail, swinging from side to side with every step she took. Peter was a head shorter than Nancy, so I could see her from back here.

“How much further?” I asked. It felt like we were walking for ages. 

“I’m pretty sure it’s just through these trees,” replied Nancy. 

We kept walking, and walking, and walking. Eventually, Nancy stopped. She looked all around, her eyebrows knitting together in concentration. “This doesn’t make any sense, it just keeps going.” 

“Like an endless time loop,” said Peter, “we’re trapped forever.”

“Why would you say that?” 

“Once you go in, you won’t come back out,” I mumbled quietly. Nancy heard me. 

“Don’t be silly. Granny only said that to scare us. It’s not true.”

Peter bent down to pick up a small twig, he pointed it at Nancy, like a wizard with a wand. “There’s something I never thought I’d hear you say. Aren’t you the one who believes the forest is cursed and that granny is a witch?” 

Nancy rolled her eyes. For once, her childish imagination faded away and she became the responsible one of the group. “If we stick together and keep moving forward, we’ll find the garden.”

Our march continued in a straight line. None of us spoke, except to complain about how long it was taking. We ignored the looming darkness as time went on and the sun began to set. The wind picked up, thankfully we were sheltered amongst the trees. 

Nancy suddenly stopped. “Do you hear that?” she asked.

Peter and I stayed silent. We listened. A distinct sound could be heard in the distance. 

“The wind chimes,” I said. 

“Come on, we’re so close!” Nancy started running. She was faster than us, we struggled to keep up. We kept running, and running, and running. The sound got louder, then quieter, then louder again, and then… silence.

Nancy stopped. “Did we go the wrong way?” 

“How could we?” asked Peter, “we haven’t stopped walking straight.”

I watched my sister kick a familiar stone, before sitting herself down on the forest floor. She rested against a tree, staring up at the treetops concealing the sky. “I give up,” she announced, “Granny was right. Once you go in…”

“Maybe we took a wrong turn at some point without realising,” said Peter, sitting down beside her. “It wouldn’t be hard to, there’s no path and so many trees, they all look the same.”

I slumped down beside my sister and held her hand tightly. They were ice cold. “We’ll find a way out,” I whispered, “it’s only a few trees.”

Peter laughed at that.

We stayed huddled together underneath the tree, each of us shivering from the spine chilling wind and damp mist setting in. The trees had long since stopped talking and the voice was completely gone. If it had even existed in the first place. An illusion created by the forest as a way of luring us in here. Granny always said that trees could be tricky.

It felt like hours had passed when suddenly we heard a voice again. 

“Peter?”

At first, none of us reacted, as though we didn’t want to believe in it. But then…

“Nancy? Emily?”

It sounded familiar. 

Soon enough, there she was, standing over us and smiling. Granny Winnie and her green eyes gazing down at us. “What are you all still doing out here?” she asked, “it’s getting late and dinner is almost ready.”

The three of us sat up quickly, like three deer caught in bright headlights. Terrified but also afraid to move. “Granny, how did you find us?” Nancy asked.

“Find you? It wasn’t exactly hard, dear,” she replied, her face softened as she chuckled. “Come inside now and get yourselves warm, you’ll catch your death out here.” She disappeared behind the tree. We obediently followed, afraid of getting lost again.

When we reached the other side of it, Nancy gripped my hand tightly. Peter’s mouth hung open. I gasped, finding myself frozen to the spot. There was granny’s cottage, smoke rising from the chimney. I looked back at the tree, at the swing now suspended from it. 

“Impossible,” said Nancy. 

“How?” said Peter.

We turned back to look at the forest, now yards away from us. How could it be that we had made it out, back into the safety of granny’s garden and rested against her tree without realising it? 

“There’s no way,” said Nancy, her expression puzzled. “Unless?” 

She turned back to face the cottage, Peter and I followed suit. “Unless?” he repeated.

I smiled. I couldn’t help it. It was mind-boggling and amazing at the same time. “The forest is cursed and Granny Winnie is a witch who knows how to break it.” 

Nancy laughed at that, then Peter laughed. In the end, we were all laughing at the strange ordeal. A silent promise was made that day, never to go into the woods again. From now on, whenever a voice spoke to us from the darkness, we would simply ignore it.