Mother Knows Best, or does she?

Once upon a time…

 “Kacey, Johnathan! Come back here this instant! How many times do I have to tell you don’t EVER go into those woods!” Mother yelled at us from the other side of the yard. My brother and I turn at the wooded line and look back at her. Once we return to a distance that was far enough from the woods she returned to our big house.

“I don’t know why she refuses to let us go in the woods. What could be so bad?” I ask my brother who is 3 years younger than me.

“Maybe the trees come alive and they would try to eat us?” My 10-year-old brother suggests.

“Don’t be ridiculous! Anyway, I’m going in. She has kept us away for our whole lives, but I want to know.” I say.  

“Kacey, mom freaked out just by being close to the woods; what do you think she would do if we actually went into the woods?”

“That is why we wait until she is asleep tonight. When we were on the swings, I saw her at the table with a glass of wine and odds are she is going to head to bed early tonight. When she is asleep, we take our chance and get some flashlights from the basement and go! Mom, will never even know that we were gone.”

“You want to go into the woods at night!” Johnathan yells.

“Shush, be quiet.” I cover his mouth with my hand.

“Fine.” He pushes my hand away before folding his arms over his chest, pouting.

“Come on, let’s go back inside to play upstairs.”

               The rest of the day was quiet, I spent a lot of time playing tea party and dolls with Johnathan in my room. He wasn’t interested but I wanted to be keep my little brother close. I realized that mom has been acting weird. Almost as if on cue she enters my room with a smile and head tilt.

“What is this?” She asks.

“A tea party.” I say, unfazed.

“I see that you both are already in your PJ’s! That’s great! Johnathan why don’t you go to your room and get in bed? I have to talk to your sister and then I will be over to tuck you in.” She sent him away.

“Yes, mommy?” I ask after Johnathan was out of sight.

“You were near the woods today, and you took Johnathan this time. I never had a problem with him trying to go in the woods before. I don’t want you to be a bad influence on your brother; Do you understand?”

“Yes, mommy.”

“It’s just that I have told you repeatedly not to go near the woods and if I find out that you have been in the woods then…. You will be punished.” Mom says turning around to leave.

“Mommy, tell me about my daddy.” She turns around and slaps me.

“LISTEN HERE YOU LITTLE BRAT! I HAVE ABOUT HAD IT WITH YOUR REBELIOUS ACTS.” She sighs.

“Goodnight, sweetie.” She smiles

               There is something that is definitely not right with her. The detective in me pulls my body out of bed to eavesdrop on her conversation with Johnathon. I look down the hall and once I know the coast is clear I start to head to stand outside of Johnny’s door.

“You yelled at Kacey; why?” My brother asks.

“Because, you are such a good boy Johnathan and I don’t want her bad behavior to ruin my sweet little boy. You always do what you are told.”

“It was Kacey’s idea to go near the woods today, not mine.” He snitches.

“I know, I always know what you two are up to. You are such a good boy! You know your mommy’s favorite right?”

“Really!” He lights up.

“Yes, now go to sleep and be mommy’s good little boy.” She leans down and kisses him gently on the lips.

              That wasn’t motherly at all! Something is not right here, and I need to find out what! I went and hid around the corner and went back to bed. A couple hours later, I checked to make sure that mother was asleep and then I shook Johnathan.

“Wake up!”

“Go back to bed.” He rolls over.

“Ugh.” I walk to the other side of the bed and shine the light in his eyes.

“Listen, mom doesn’t want us going in the woods and I am not going to get punished for going into the woods.”

“She won’t know!” I whisper.

“Mom says that she always knows what we are up to.”

“Johnathan, what do you know about our dad, or dads?” I ask him.

“Nothing, what does that have to do with anything? He is not here.”

“Every time, I ever asked mom about my dad she changes the subject. I don’t really remember a dad; in fact, I don’t even know if we have the same dad. I asked about my dad tonight and she immediately slapped me for no reason.” 

“Probably because you make her feel like a bad mom.”

“She hasn’t been acting right ever since your birthday 10^th birthday.” I tell him.

“Maybe, it’s because she realizes that her babies are growing up.” He closes his eyes.

“EXACTLY! I don’t know but there is something in those woods she doesn’t want us to find and I am going to find it with or without you. So, are you coming or not?” I extend a flashlight.

“Fine, but I am not afraid to rat you out if we get caught.”

               Just like that, we grabbed our coats and were finally off to see what lies await in the woods we were warned not to go into. The air was chilly, but the shaking was because of nerves and not the cold.  We stand at the tree line where we stood earlier today. This was it, a whole lifetime of wondering and I am finally going to hopefully get some answers.

“Let’s go.” I say, heading in the woods. We stay quiet for a while shinning our flashlights ahead. A loud cracking noise came from our left. I push Johnathan behind me shine a flashlight, only to see a rabbit, on some wooden sticks.

“That was scary, let’s keep walking.

“Hey, I see light.” Johnathan says about 20 minutes later.

“Well duh! We have flashlights.” I tell him.

“No over there! It looks like a light from a window.” He points off to the left.

“It does! Let’s go!” I get excited and pick up pace.

“Kacey, you don’t know who or what is in there. It doesn’t belong to us; it would be trespassing.”

“We came all this way! Let’s get a little closer.” I keep walking, assuming that he will follow; which he does.

“Why can’t you leave anything alone?” Johnathan questions.

“There a lot of things from my early childhood that I can’t remember. I mean I have these fuzzy pieces, but I can’t make sense of them. Moms responses only causes me to have more questions, I just want to know about my childhood, our dad or dads, the woods and our brother.”

“Kacey, no! Mom said that was just your imagination.” Johnathan scolds.

“I thought so too, but it was just too real. I don’t have anything concreate, but he was real. You weren’t born yet, so you wouldn’t know.”

“Then where did he go? How old was he?” He mocks.

“I don’t know where he went. I just remember that the first time that I met you, she had you in her arms and said ‘This is your NEW brother’ emphasis on new. I was only 3, so all I know was that he was bigger than me. I mean mom is 45, she could have had him when she was young, and he grew up and left. If that was the case, then why does she not talk about him and why doesn’t he come around?”

“Okay Kacey, we are close enough.” He puts his hand in front of me.

“It’s a cabin! So cool. I’m going to look in the window. “

“NO! Kacey, I am done. What is something bad is in there.”

“Then we need to find out what it is so that we can get help. What if our dad or one of our dads are in there? Maybe our brother is there too! We have to hurry though so we can get back before mom finds out we are gone.” I say.

“What if she already knows?”

“I am not leaving until I see what is in there. So, we better hurry up and find out so we can head home. I’ll look, you stay here.” I say heading up the window.

               I freeze, looking around, and stumble back onto the ground. I hear my brother calling out to me, but I can’t answer. Johnathan is shaking me, but I am still in shock.

“Kacey, what is it! What’s in there? You’re scaring me! Fine, I’ll look myself.” Oh no, if he sees that he will scream. I scramble to stand up and cover his mouth as he looks in the window. I take another look as we stand at the window.

“We have to help them.” I say starting to look for the cabin door.

“Kacey, you don’t know who they are or why they are tied up. What if they are bad guys?”

“There is like 15 of them all tied up, dirty, and bleeding in there! Who knows how long they have been here.” I tell him.

“Well, think who put them here? What if they find us? Where are they?”

“It’s all starting to make sense!” I start to connect the dots.

“of what?”

“Dad, and our brother. What if, they went into the woods and never came out. Mom tells us to stay out of the woods so that we don’t go missing like them. Our dad and brother are in there and we have to save them!”

“We don’t know that, Kacey!”

“Well, I intend of finding out and saving them. Are you going to help me or not?”

“Only if we get to go home after we untie them.”

“Fine, here’s the door.” I open the door and look at all the men. 

“Johnny, start undoing the bounds on their mouths.” They all look at us with big eyes.

We go one by one and free them to speak before we go around to undo the hand ties.

“You have to stop, get out of here kids.” One of the older men said.

“We have to save you.” I tell them.

“NO! She always comes at night, she might catch you, Kacey.” A man about mid 20’s says.

“Who comes, how do you know my name.”

“Kacey it’s me Dylan. I’m your older brother. Mom has kept us here for years.”

“You are real!” I run over to untie him.

“We don’t know which one of the rest of these guys is your dad. Once you were born, I started asking questions about her going into the woods and if your dad was here. She followed me in here about 2 years after you were born, and she got the better of me. Are you okay, has she hurt you?”

“No, Johnathan and I are fine.”

“Johnathan, hey buddy. I’m your father.” Dylan bends down.

“But if all 3 of us have the same mother, and you are Johnny’s father then….”

“Yes, mom is not a good person and you need to get out of here. She won’t hurt you as long as you don’t know her secret; and Kacey, our dads are here somewhere too. We just don’t know who.”

“Oh no, she’s coming.” Dylan looks out the window. Before we can react, she enters the door and grabs Johnathan.

“JOHNATHAN!” I yell.

“Oh Kacey, look at the problems you caused me. I should have gotten rid of you the second I found out you were a girl. I figured that I could turn you into a prodigy but that’s not going to work out. I guess I will just have to kill you.”

“Let Johnathan go!” I demand.

“But he is my favorite! Oh Johnny, why did you have to follow your sister? I was just thinking about how much I can’t wait until you are all grown up. Well, I was going to wait until 15 like your brother Dylan here, or your father; whatever you want to call him. He was curious just like you Kacey and when I found him in my cabin, it was time to tie him up with the rest. Then, just a few months later I was pregnant. He was such a good boy giving me another boy. I lost one son, so he gave me another. Now what am I going to do? I’ll be all alone in my big house. Johnathan will be here, and Kacey will be gone. I will have to spend more time up here in the woods.”

“You will never get away with this!” I yell, as she pulls Johnny closer.

“But I have been for the past 26 years. You see when I turned 18, I robbed a bank and bought a secret house on the black market and well I started my cabin of men.”

She looked over to the corner where there was a hammer, duck-tape and rope. She was getting ready to tie us up.  

“Kacey, Run!” Dylan yelled. He didn’t need to tell me twice. I ran out the door as I assume my mother and Dylan scramble for the hammer.

“Keep going.” I hear him running behind me.

“I thought you were going to the hammer?”

“No, there would have been the chance could have overpowered me. I figured there was no way that she would risk letting go of Johnathan to chase us and loose all of us and I know she can’t hold him and chase us. She is probably tying him up and then going to look for us. We have to get to the authorities.”

“Is she going to hurt Johnathan in the meantime?” He shook his head.

               It was a long night and by the time we got to the police and had to lead them to the cabin, it was the next morning. We were walking in the woods with the police and their dogs. I walked with Dylan as we lead the way.

“I see smoke, fire!!” At that point we start running towards the smoke which was in the same direction as the cabin.

“JOHNATHAN!!” I yell.

We arrive and the cabin is going up in flames. I start running for the door and Dylan grabs me.

“Put me down!! My brother is in there!!”

“How do you think I feel, that’s my son. It is too dangerous for us to go in. We don’t have the equipment.”

“Call it in!” The main cops yell.

“It’s going to be awhile before the fire department get here. By that time, I think it will be burnt to the ground. It was probably started right after you left. We can search, the area around here for survivors but I think that we won’t find any. I’m sorry.” I start to cry.

“My brother is gone, my mom was evil all along, I don’t even know which of those strangers was my father and now they are all gone. This is all my fault. I was the one that wanted to go into the woods!”

“At least we have each other. After all mom said that we are a lot alike. We can start over and get away from here. Would you like that?” Dylan asks me.

“Sure, we can figure it out together.”

“Hey, guys how is story telling going?” Dylan asks as he checks up on the campfire that I am having with my new friends. He was inside and likes to check on me. He is a good big brother.

“They wanted to play in the woods, so I told them a story of why they shouldn’t play in the woods.” I turn to my brother and smile.