Whispers In the Woods

"Valka! Get back 'ere tis instant!"

The young girl of about twelve turned towards her mother, her bright red hair in twin braids whipping around her shoulders. "Mother, what is really in there?" The girl pointed to the thick forest border that was behind their home. "Never you mind that, get back inside tis instant!" Valkas shoulders slumped as she turned her back to the forest and headed towards the brightly lit doorway.

"You know better than to wander off where you know not." Her mother scolded and waved a finger at her. "Tha woods are very dangerous, filled with wild beasts and other dangers waiting for you as their dessert."

"I'm sorry mother... I saw a white rabbit run in, it was so pretty I wanted to stroke its soft fur."

"That's no excuse." Her mother's hands were on her hips. That was never a good sign. "Go to your room, I will call you for supper."

Valka hung her head as she ascended the heavy oak steps of her home, dragging her feet to her room. She didn't mean to run off, she was just following the rabbit and never realized she was heading to the woods. She got to her bed piled with animal skins and laid down. There was nothing to do in her room, all the books were downstairs and she hardly had any toys for a girl her age. She stared at the ceiling, eyes following the grain to try and find wide-eyed faces where the knots would be in the wood.

After a while, even that was boring. She sat up and looked out her window that was beside her bed. Her home was at the very edge of the village, along the border of the Dark Woods. A forest so dense that even a man with a compass would get lost. She always heard myths and legends about the forest, how there was a four-headed colossal bear that resided in the Black Cave or the dragon that resided in castle ruins that no one knew if they even existed. The forest was a mystery.

Valka so badly wanted to be the person to unlock those mysteries but she knew better. Those woods could get even the most highly thought of adventurer lost. Or even killed.

She gazed out into the trees as the sun set upon the horizon. Her eyes fixed in boredom at the base, looking at the space but not really between two trees. When was dinner? She was so hungry, Lunch was over 8 hours ago!

Something white flashed across the space of land she was staring at. What was that? Her eyes snapped over to where it retreated, but it was behind a trunk of a tree. Now all her attention was focused on it. She kept staring, hoping to see it again to make sure she wasn't just imagining things, but it hopped again! This time right at the border of the littered floor of pine needles and the fresh green grass of her back yard.

It was the white rabbit! It looked around the area, nose wiggling and ears twitching, looking for something.

Or rather someone.

The rabbit looked up into her window and stared as if it was frozen solid. Why was it staring at her? It was creeping her out. It hopped forward once, then twice, then bolted towards the house and disappeared.

Valka swung her window open, looking down at the base of her house and there was no white rabbit. Where could it have gone? This was too strange! She shuddered and closed the window, turning around to be greeted with a white rabbit on her pillow, beady red eyes staring into her soul as it stood on its hind legs.

Valka nearly screamed but fell off her bed, now completely spooked. "Wh-Wh-What? How did you get in here?!" She stood up and reached for the rabbit before it went poof and was nowhere in site again. She stared at her pillow and was wondering if she was going crazy.

She held her head in one hand as she twirled around her room to see where the rabbit went, but it was clear it wasn't in the room anymore. "I'm just dreaming." She assured herself. "I fell asleep without realizing it, that's all."

She sat back down on her bed but jumped out of her skin again, the rabbit was not outside her window on the roof. Valka had had enough of this. She threw open her window and reached for it.

As her fingers tightened around its soft body, it opened it's mouth as if to yawn but she wasn't expecting this.

"You are not dreaming. The blood moon will arrive. You must prepare."

The rabbit spoke to her. SPOKE TO HER. Rabbits aren't supposed to do that! She dropped the rabbit back on the roof where it hopped a few times away, looking back to see if she followed. "Come. You must prepare." It said and went poof, now back on the ground below, going to the edge of the forest and staring up at her.

Valka stared back. She had to stay in her room because her mother said so and she couldn't go into the forest. Maybe it was best she just let the rabbit go. She shouldn't follow it and something in her mind was screaming at her not to follow it.

Then why in Odin's name was she climbing out her window?! The girl climbed down carefully, making sure to avoid windows where she knew her mother would be and snuck off to the forest. The rabbit hopped inward as she came close, hesitating at the border.

"What are you waiting for? Come on."

Valka looked over her shoulder, then ran into the forest. The rabbit bolted off, left and right.

"Hey! Wait up!" Valka called out as she chased down the rabbit, the warning of getting lost faded from her mind as she twisted her way to follow the white rabbit. "Get back 'ere!" She shouted and dashed.

The rabbit was visible, then one turn later and it was gone. "Come out 'ere! Stop playing games I'm not as fast as you!" Her stomach tied in knots, her brain finally realizing the danger. Oh no... She was lost in the Dark Woods. Her legs started to shake, feeling really scared. She needed to find her way out. Now. She ran back the other way but bumped into something, falling onto her rear. Rasping voices filled her head as she looked up to a dark figure, cloaked in black with no visible face. Black horns protruded from the hood on either side of its hood, growing out along his shoulders, then back a few inches, then up again. This was no man, bear, or dragon. This was something.... worse.

His hand reached for her face, flexed out thin needle-like fingers long enough to encase her entire head in his grasp. "Your purpose is with meeee....." It rasped. The last thing she remembered was screaming and everything went black.