Into the Woods

Nocturna had been basking in solitude for five years, tending her garden and conversing with the birds and insects when she hears something crying. Occasionally, hikers or kids on a dare wandered into her part of the woods. But they couldn't see her cabin, and they couldn't get past her protection spells so Nocturna didn't worry. She tries to ignore the crying. Eventually it will stop. Or something in the forest will make it stop. It sounds like a child.

After an hour or two the crying seems to be getting louder and closer. Nocturna decides to take a peek. Maybe she can scare the child off, back to civilization. She follows the creek and finds the child, wandering in a haphazard direction.

The child is youngish, and skinny to the point of malnourishment. It's calling out for someone. But not for it's mother or father. For Heather. It's screaming the name over and over, it's voice almost dried out from the effort, scaring the birds away with it's noise.

Nocturna considers what spells could help the child. She knows of one that can bring someone back to you. She could bring Heather to the child. Heather must be the guardian. But she will need to approach the child, and she will need something that belongs to Heather. The effort seems exhausting to Nocturna. She tries to think of what else she can do. She can use a banishment spell to get the child farther away from her cabin, out of earshot at least. There's a dirt road another mile away from where they are currently standing. Nocturna decides she will lead the child there.

She approaches the child slowly. "Hello, young one" She says. She hasn't used her voice much in the past five years. It comes out cracked and froggy.

The child screams in response and then wails some more. But it doesn't run. Nocturna cannot stand the racket. She does a quick silencing spell, which only dampens the sound. She hasn't had to do any silencing spells since living in the holler. Nothing has disturbed her peace like this since she came here.

"Child, please stop the noise. I can lead you back to the road." she says, after clearing her throat.

The child stops it's wailing and wipes its dirty tear and snot stained face. It blinks its large owl-like eyes and regards her with some measure of curiosity. Nocturna holds out a hand for the child. The child nods and walks up to her. It takes her hand.

A warmth spreads up Nocturna's arm from the child's touch. She pulls her hand away. The child starts wailing again.

"Hells bells, stop that." Nocturna says. She chants the silencing spell again. This time it is slightly more effective. She reaches out her hand once more, this time bracing for the heavy warmth of the child's touch. They start walking in silence. The child's wailing dies down to a hiccupping sniffle, and then eventually dies out.

The journey to the dirt road begins. Once the child has stopped sputtering, hiccupping and sniffling it begins to speak, which is less painful to listen to than the wailing, but not by much. Nocturna asks who Heather is and learns that Heather is the child's sister. The child is looking for Heather.

Nocturna asks which way Heather went and the child says it doesn't know. It says Heather has been gone for weeks now.

It says it misses Heather and it wants Heather to come back because Mama is sick and acting scary and it doesn't know what to do. Nocturna wishes she hadn't asked. Its been months and months since hikers or anyone else came near her cabin. She doesn't know if nay of them could have been Heather, but she is fairly certain the child is either looking in the wrong place, or doesn't really know where it is.

When they get to the dirt road Nocturna asks which way home is. The child points north, up the road. Nocturna asks the child if it walked all the way here. It does look bedraggled and dirty, but isn't that mostly how children look? This one's hair is greasy and limp and it's bangs are hanging in it's dirty face, shielding the big owl eyes.

The child says it ran away. It reiterates that Mama is acting scary, and that it needs to find Heather.

Nocturna sighs. She's enjoyed five years of peace and solitude in her cabin in the woods, living off the land, watching the rain fall, listening to the sounds of the forest at night, healing from all the hurts that happened before. The world only brings hurts. Even this child knows that.

The child starts whimpering. It says it misses Heather, and says Heather would know what to do if she were here. Nocturna takes the child's hand again, gritting her teeth against the warmth. She says, "Let's walk this way." There are no houses for at least six miles down the road. Did the child come that far?

Then the child asks her, "Why are you here?" but it sounds almost rhetorical.

"I heard you hollering in my woods and you wouldn't stop. It made my ears hurt and I came to shut you up and send you back where you came from." Nocturna waits to see how the child will respond to this. Hopefully it will not cry more. She should've softened her voice some.

The child just drops its shoulders and looks at the ground. It says that Heather used to say there are bogeymen in the woods but it's not scared of bogeymen anymore, just Mama. "Are you a bogeyman?" the child asks Nocturna.

Nocturna laughs. "Yes, I suppose I am."

The child tells Nocturna that she's not that scary. Nocturna laughs again. She hasn't laughed in awhile. It feels good to laugh.

There's a rusty banana seat bike a little ways up, laying on the shoulder of the road. The child stops and regards the bike with some regret and says mournfully, "Here lies Horsey. Her tire went flat. But I had to keep looking for Heather."

Now Nocturna understands how the child got so far. "She's not dead yet, " Nocturna says, surveying the bike. "Perhaps we can revive her." The bike appears to have a flat tire. Nocturna recalls riding a bike as a child, with her own sister, who is now, unlike Horsey, completely dead.

Nocturna picks up the bike and examines it. She knows no spells that would revive a flat tire. "I will put a protection spell around Horsey. You can come back with a..." Nocturna searches for words, "a tire pump." The child nods with all seriousness. Nocturna uses some of the precious salt in her pockets to create a protection spell around the bike.

They continue walking down the dirt road. It is nearing dusk. The warmth from the child's hand has spread up Nocturna's arm and feels like an infected insect sting. Nocturna tries to ignore the pain. She is determined to bring the child back to it's Mama, whether she is a fit mother or not. Something about the child's shy little smile reminds her of life before the cabin in the woods. She reminds herself to drink some tea to help her forget everything, once this is over.

"I'm hungry," the child says. Nocturna ignores the plea. She has no food, and they are far outside of her neck of the woods by now. She thinks of her vegetable and herb garden. Her canned goods.

Nocturna admits she is also hungry, but continues to walk, putting one moccasined foot in front of the other. The child stops and crosses it's arms in a defiant gesture. "I know your taking me back to Mama and I don't want to go."

Nocturna is tired. She feels drained from touching the child and listening to it's voice and remembering the world outside of her protection spells. She used to feel this drained all the time before she came to the woods. She doesn't want to feel this way for too much longer. The child is annoying, and demanding, and needy.

"Where will you go, then?" Nocturna asks the child.

The child says it will go find Heather. Nocturna asks how. The child says she knows Heather left and went this way and so she has to be around somewhere. Nocturna knows that wherever Heather went, she is not coming back. Maybe she is thinking of the child, but she's not coming back. Nocturna doesn't blame Heather for leaving, but she feels something for the child now, who doesn't have what it needs anymore. Nocturna remembers what it feels like to be deprived, to be without, to be yearning for something to save you.

"You cannot do this," Nocturna tells the child. "You are too young. How old is Heather?"

"Bigger than me," the child says, "She can reach the top shelf."

"You can go find her when you can also reach the top shelf." Nocturna says, hoping this will placate the child so that they can keep walking back to it's home and it's Mama, who is probably better equipped to care for it, despite what the child says.

The sun is making its final descent. This is usually Nocturna's favorite time of day, but she's too tired to enjoy it. Up ahead there is a fallen tree where the forest meets the shoulder of the dirt road. Nocturna walks swiftly to it, pulling the child along.

The tree fell sometime ago, and it offers a mossy seat. Nocturna can feel the insects inside the tree. She thanks them for allowing her to sit for a moment. She pats the seat next to her and and the child plops down.

"Now," she says," I would like to go home. So I can enjoy the darkness falling. But.."

The child is not paying attention. It is distracted by a lighting bug, which has landed on it's arm.

"Look!" it says, showing Nocturna. Nocturna has no choice but to smile again. She reaches out her hand and the lightning bug crawls into it.

The lightning bug whispers something to her about the child's energy. Nocturna agrees, she knew when she touched the child. That's why her arm still stings from it's touch. The lightning bug wishes her luck and flies away.

"That was neat," the child says, smiling at her. Nocturna agrees. "But," she says, "back to your situation. As I said before.."

The child interrupts her. "Can I stay with you?'

Nocturna shakes her head no. "You cannot."

The child crosses it's arms again and huffs, as if it has made up it's mind.

"You cannot stay with me. I like to be alone. I have no means to care for you. You should return to your mother. If she is ill, I can counsel you on some methods..."

"No!" the child yells, and covers its ears.

Nocturna gets up off the fallen tree. She starts walking. The child does not follow. She considers going back to her cabin now. It's only two or three more miles more to where there are houses, some civilization where the child must have come from. It got out here all by itself, it will go back on it's own accord.

Nocturna turns and starts walking. She can feel the child's big green eyes on her back. She wishes she could have told the child a few things that would keep it safe. There isn't much salt left in her pockets but she could've given it to the child for protection, from Mama, and from everything else that the world will throw at it. Nocturna remembers when she learned her first protection spell. It was her sister who taught her. Nocturna feels pity for the child, who has no sister to protect it.

Nocturna turns back around, cursing herself for doing so. She asks the one question she hadn't bothered to ask yet, knowing the power it holds. "What is your name, child?"

The child fixes it green owl eyes on her, "Lark."

"Come now, Lark," Nocuturna says, holding out her hand. "I have some preserves at my cabin you will surely enjoy."