Last Call

Don’t go in the woods. You’ll find what you love in the woods.

That was the bizarre warning that echoed throughout Penelope’s hometown. Every child could recite it word for word. Everyone knew the warning, but no one knew the meaning. Penelope had questioned half of the adults in Fallacyn Town for answers, but none had offered even a variation of the warning. They all shared a collective consciousness when it came to the woods. That strange behavior only increased Penelope’s curiosity. There had to be a reason why they all felt so strongly about a bunch of trees.

When adults failed her, Penelope had turned to her friends. She asked for their thoughts, their opinions, and any rumors they may have heard about the woods. Every one of her friends had given a slight variation of the same answer: a murmur, shrugged shoulders, and an averting of the eyes. Their lack of interest in the subject was bizarre. She understood the adults, but her peers? Didn’t they know anyone who had ventured into the woods and never returned? A cousin, or…a parent?  

Penelope had turned to the Internet next. She found bare-bones articles about her town, but nothing about the elusive woods. Fallacyn Town knew how to keep a secret.

The only one left to ask was her dad. Not that she expected much out of him. He was slumped in his chair when she found him. His head was bowed and he resembled a corpse more than a human. He was clutching her mom’s old antidepressants. Penelope strolled up to him, tugged on his hand, and asked him about the woods. His sunken eyes shot open at her question. The hatred in them was white-hot, but it subsided when he looked down at her. He muttered the same warning that all the others had, but his had a somewhat mocking tone. It wasn’t aimed at her, but at the warning itself. He shut his eyes and went limp again. 

Her curiosity about the woods faded in her final year of high school. Living her entire life without obtaining answers had sapped her will to seek them. She always knew exactly what she needed to know anyway: people who entered the woods never came out. That was the hardest lesson that her mom had ever taught her.

Even though she was a senior in high school, her dad still picked her up. She spent every evening waiting for him to show up in his rickety old truck. He’d bought it when it was white, but the rust had another color in mind. He only kept it around because her mom had loved it. That’s why he could still muster the strength to drive it. 

Penelope waited under a tree outside her school. Five, then ten minutes had passed without any sign of her dad. She expected this from him. It was a miracle whenever he remembered to make breakfast.  

She dialed his phone number, but he didn’t pick up. He could have been asleep, but he usually wasn’t that irresponsible. Her legs started moving before she’d even decided that she was walking home. Maybe it was time to stop relying on her dad. She understood that he was devastated over what happened, but it’s been over a decade. Why was he still so torn up about it? In a way, she was no better. She’d chased the secrets of the woods all her life without telling anyone why. She never revealed the motive that confirmed she was her father’s daughter.

She came to a halt. She had an idea of where he went, even if she didn’t want to believe it. Would he throw his life away that easily? What if he’d been waiting for this moment? Just waiting for Penelope to reach adulthood, a state in which she could take care of herself. Then she wouldn’t need him anymore, and he could do what he’s always wanted to. 

Penelope dialed a new number on her phone. The emergency telephone number. She asked the person who answered to send someone to her address. They had to check and see if anyone was there. If her dad was home and got a visit from the police, he’d finally call her back. Then she’d know that he was okay. Until she received that call, she knew what she had to do. The person on the line asked her questions in an attempt to keep the call going. She cleared her throat and held the phone closer.

“I’m going in the woods to find what I love.”

She ended the call and walked in a new direction. The one that would take her to the forbidden location. Yellow caution tape blocked off the towering trees. An innocent attempt at keeping people safe. If it’d worked, she would still have a mom. She crouched under the tape and marched into darkness. 

Only the tiniest rays of sunlight touched this place. The darkness that shrouded the area wasn’t just caused by shade. It felt mystical. The air was heavy with the weight of sorrow. How many victims had these woods claimed? Why had it done so? A spark reignited her desire to find answers. After all these years of dead ends and non-answers, she was finally going to reach a conclusion by herself. 

Penelope tripped on something, causing her to stumble forward. She bumped into a tree and steadied herself with it. She searched the littered ground and found her assailant in the form of a tree root. It was longer than any root she’d seen before. Both sides extended into darkness. She followed the world’s longest root in the hopes of yelling at its owner. No one tripped her and got away with it.

What she found at the root’s end wasn’t a tree. It was a metal box with a black phone hanging on it. Not a smartphone, but a dumb one. An old-fashioned one that was hardly used anymore. There was a payphone in the middle of the woods. That wasn’t even the strangest part. The payphone was propped up by hundreds of roots that extended in all directions. She looked down and realized that she was standing on some of them. It felt like she’d entered a villain’s lair.

“Dad?” Penelope called out, fighting back the fear that infested her gut. “It’s Penelope. Say something if you’re here.”

The payphone rang, sending her heart rate skyrocketing. How could it ring without electricity? Did it get power from the roots? She tiptoed toward the payphone. Answering a ghost phone was a terrible idea, but there was the possibility that her dad was calling. It made no sense, but then again, she was expecting a call from him. 

Penelope picked up the black phone. It was warm. She pressed its black showerhead to her ear. There was dead silence on the other side. 

“Hello?” Penelope said into the receiver that was two feet longer than it should have been. She hated how awkward it felt to hold this fossil. It added to her unease. “Dad?”

“Guess again!” said a voice on the other side. A familiar one. A voice seeped in honey and lathered in lavender. “Hello, darling. How’s my lucky Penny doing?”

Penelope’s knees shook. It couldn’t be. This voice only belonged to one woman. One incredible lady who had gone missing over a decade ago. Despite that, she sounded exactly as she did the day before she left.

“Mom,” Penelope said. It was more of a statement than a question. “How? What is this? Mom, where are you? How is this happening?!”

“You can’t answer my question with a question. Especially if it’s off-topic. That’s a bit rude, don’t you think, Penny?”

“Stop calling me that.” Penelope wiped her eyes. Her mind went blank. Any determination or goal she had in mind fled her brain. She couldn’t think straight. Where was she? Why was she talking to her mom? Wait, she was talking to her mom?! “I’m almost eighteen, Mom. You can’t keep calling me that. It’s embarrassing.”

“I can’t help it, dear. Old habits. Why don’t you take a seat so we can talk about your day?”

Something tugged at Penelope’s left leg. It snagged her right one as well. She leaned back but imagined that she was falling onto a couch. Something nice and comfortable. A piece of furniture that she could relax on. She barely even felt whatever was snaking up her legs, around her stomach, and around her torso. Her arms were pressed into her chest. She couldn’t move, but the phone was still pressed against her ear.

“I love you, Mom,” Penelope said, even though she didn’t understand why. “Sorry, I just felt the need to say that. I don’t know why, but I feel like something happened to—wait. What?”

Penelope’s feet were pressed against something that squished under her weight. What was that? Penelope looked over the…roots? Why was she covered in roots?! Her whole body was encased in them. She felt like a caterpillar forced into a suffocating cocoon. 

“What’s wrong, Penny?” asked her Mom. “Whatever’s happening, you should just ignore it. It’s not important. Tell me about your day.”

“No.” Penny dropped the phone, letting it fall into her cocoon. “No! You’re not my mom.”

Penelope struggled against the roots. They went slack at her touch. She fell to the ground and watched as the rest of her prison unraveled. There was a second cocoon at her feet. She leaned over and grabbed at the roots. They went slack as well. She ripped them off of whatever they had imprisoned. She gasped as she spotted a familiar beard peeking out from underneath them. She ripped those aside and peered down at her father’s face.

She reached under his armpits and pulled him out of the cocoon. The roots collapsed as if they were limp noodles. She expected to see the payphone on the ground, but it was placed back on the payphone. It’s as if it’d never been picked up at all. 

“Dad, Dad.” Penelope shook her dad’s shoulder. His brown hair was slick with sweat. It clung to his face like tape. He looked like he’d just got out of a sauna. “Wake up. We have to go.”

Her dad groaned as his head bobbed from side to side. He looked like someone who refused to wake up despite their alarm clock blaring. Finally, his eyes cracked open.

“What? Penny? Where am I? Oh no.” His eyes widened as he looked around. “Oh no. Did I really do it? I thought that was a dream. Penny, I’m—”

“It’s okay.” Penelope helped him to his feet and let him lean on her. There’s no way he could walk on his own after what he went through. Who knew how long he’d been in there? “Everyone’s been weak before. Just promise that you’ll get stronger. I still need you.”

Penelope marched back the way she came. She couldn’t wait to get back to town. They’d be the first two people to come back from the woods. They were going to make history. She took one last look at the payphone and its roots. There were so many of them. So many people had been lost to the woods, and now she finally knew why. She understood the impossible truth of the roots and the payphone. She understood why adults gave that cryptic warning, and what it really meant.

“I just wanted to find what I loved again.” Her dad’s voice broke. It was such an innocent desire, but it almost got him killed. Almost got both of them killed. It was a desire that they’d have to overcome together.

Penelope sighed. “I know, Dad.”