I wrote this short story for the
2017 Toronto Star Short Story Contest and
while I didn't win, I am still really proud of the way it turned out so I
thought I'd share it on my blog.
I may one day elaborate on the story and turn it into a novella or novel,
but for now, this is Gabrielle and Lydia's story:
The sun was setting behind her as the woman
walked east through the forest. She was distracted thinking about little
Gabrielle waiting for her at home when she first heard the cry. She followed
the muffled sound further into the forest, the trees growing denser as she made
her way towards the area of the forest that seldom received sunlight. She
climbed down the slippery moss covered rocks and saw a boy sitting by himself
in the distance surrounded by breadcrumbs. He smiled at her and reached for her
with his short chubby fingers saying “up” as she got closer. He couldn’t have
been more than two years old. He was alone. His clothes were covered in dirt
and his foul smell told her that he had been alone for some time. She hugged
him close and made her way home towards her waiting husband and Gabrielle. She
smiled. Gabrielle, her little Gabrielle, was now a younger sister. This boy was
her responsibility; she could feel it in her soul. As she crossed the boundary
of the forest a breeze swept through pushing her hair into her face and a voice
whispered “Henry” into her ear. She looked at the little boy and knew this was
Henry. She looked at Henry and she knew that he was hers.
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Gabrielle laughed as she ran away from her
brother Henry. She’d been hiding in his room all afternoon ready to ambush him
with water balloons when he entered. He wasn’t far behind now yelling
profanities at her. At first she hid behind a small bush but it was no use, she
couldn’t stop laughing, he would find her immediately. Suddenly she knew where
to hide. She would climb a tree. It was perfect; he would never think to look
for her in the sky. She smiled to herself as she started climbing. This was her
favourite time of day; she and Henry had completed their chores and school
work, their mother was inside cooking dinner the smell wafting out the window
towards them, and her father would soon be home from work.
She was halfway up the tree when she noticed the
thin stream of smoke coming from the forest. She leaned forward to get a closer
look, almost falling out of the tree. She was confused; no one went into the forest,
not anymore. It wasn’t safe. It had been fifteen years since her mother brought
Henry home and fifteen years since anyone had dared to enter the forest.
Eventually Gabrielle’s curiosity got the better of her; her brother’s threats
were quickly forgotten as she slowly began climbing down the tree to enter the
forest and find the source of the smoke. In the distance she could hear Henry
calling her name but she ignored him as she walked the half mile towards the
trees.
She was surprised by how dense the trees were.
She could feel the dampness as she moved through the path, carefully stepping
over moss covered rocks and decrepit tree stumps. Before too long the noises of
the outside world faded away and silence began to consume her. It was in this stillness
that Gabrielle remembered her mother’s warnings about the forest.
Fifteen years ago when her mother found Henry
abandoned and alone, people travelled through the forest every day; they picked
berries from the bushes, chopped wood for fires on cold nights and hunted the
animals living in the depths. That all changed the week after Henry became her
brother. Henry had been found alone so a search party was sent into the woods
the following day to look for his family, or any other survivors. In the light
of a new day, the forest seemed colder, darker and harsher, the unfriendliness
and danger almost palpable. Eleven men entered the woods that day, only one
returned and he refused to explain what happened or where the other men had
gone. Rumours and superstitions eventually spread and by the time Gabrielle was
six most believed a witch was responsible for the death of the men, as well as
the disappearance of Henry’s family.
Gabrielle had walked for about fifteen minutes
when she saw the first sign of movement. Through the trees she could just
barely make out the shape of a deer, next to the deer was the most beautiful
girl Gabrielle had ever seen. She was carrying a basket full of fruit and
vegetables and it looked like she was talking to the deer. Her movements were
graceful, she floated more than walked and Gabrielle was immediately
mesmerized. She started to walk towards the girl when she stepped on a branch.
The crack echoed in the quiet of the forest and Gabrielle quickly ducked before
she was seen. She held her breath, afraid to move. After a few minutes
Gabrielle nervously peaked over the bushes. She could no longer see the girl or
the deer. She quickly turned around and ran home as fast as possible.
It was three days before Gabrielle could escape
back into the woods. She tried to take the same path as last time but, after
walking in circles for what felt like ten minutes, she scolded herself for not
having left some kind of marker to follow. With slumped shoulders she turned to
make her way back home when she heard a faint melody in the distance. Gabrielle
followed the sound to a small creek where she could see the girl singing while
she washed some fruit. The girl suddenly fell silent and, as though she could
feel Gabrielle’s presence, she turned, smiled and offered Gabrielle an apple.
Gabrielle accepted the gift and sat next to the girl who started singing and
washing again. The two girls didn’t speak much that afternoon. Gabrielle told
her about her parents and Henry, leaving out the part where her mother found
him abandoned in these very woods. The girl, whose name was Lydia, explained
that she had lived in the woods alone for just over a year. Her mother had
passed away the year before and she was excited to have company. Gabrielle
couldn’t help but notice the sadness when she told Lydia that she had to go
home, but Lydia’s smile when Gabrielle promised she would come back the next
afternoon made her blush. She didn’t know why she felt so drawn to Lydia, but
knowing she had made her happy filled Gabrielle with pride.
The next afternoon Gabrielle waited until Henry
was distracted to make her escape into the forest. She had stolen a loaf of
freshly baked bread and some honey and she was excited to treat Lydia. She
followed the markers Lydia had mentioned the day before and after twenty
minutes she came across a beautiful hut that had smoke coming out the little
chimney. Gabrielle nervously knocked on the door and smiled when Lydia opened
it and invited her in. Lydia accepted the bread and honey, putting them on the
table before handing Gabrielle a basket. She explained that they were going to
pick berries. Lydia had baked venison and roasted vegetables and was going to
make berry tarts for dessert. The girls headed out the door, Gabrielle following
Lydia towards the bushes. She snuck glances at Lydia between picking berries
and couldn’t help but smile to herself as the butterflies continued to grow.
The lunch that Lydia prepared was delicious and
the girls continued to get to know one another while they ate. Lydia was only
two years older than Gabrielle but, since it had only been her and her mother
growing up, she had learned to cook when she was only eight. Gabrielle told
stories of her and her brother growing up, the games they played, the jokes
they told, the secrets they kept and the tricks they played on one another.
Lydia listened intently, laughing at the right moments while masking her
loneliness. The girls continued to share stories for hours, it wasn’t until the
sun started to set that Gabrielle realized that afternoon had given way to
evening and she’d have to hurry home before her parents started to worry. With
a wave and an impromptu hug, Gabrielle raced through the forest and back home.
A few months after their initial meeting, Lydia
announced that she was taking Gabrielle fishing. She handed Gabrielle an old
pair of boots and a fishing rod and started walking towards the lake in the
east end of the forest. Stunned Gabrielle clutched the rod and boots in her
hands and took off after Lydia. The girls entered the clearing and Lydia began
showing Gabrielle how to bait the hook and cast her line. Lydia brought pieces
of cooked meat as bait. The girls laughed at Gabrielle’s failed first effort;
in her attempt to cast the line, she hooked the grass behind her. Eventually
Gabrielle figured it out and by the end of the afternoon she had caught two
fish and had even learned to bait her own hook, but what she remembered most
was the hug that Lydia had given her when she'd caught that first fish. She’d
closed her eyes and inhaled the wild scent that she had begun to associate with
Lydia. Gabrielle proudly carried the fish back to the hut laughing while
explaining that she was going to cook it but when the girls got back to the
hut, the games and laughs were over and Gabrielle again had to leave to make it
home for dinner with her family.
With every visit, it became harder and harder to
say goodbye to Lydia. On the walk home she contemplated telling her
family about Lydia, but realized she would then need to admit that she had been
in the forest. She knew they wouldn’t believe her that there was no witch and
the thought of no longer seeing Lydia made her panic. She had once asked Lydia
about leaving the forest but Lydia dismissed the idea; she was wild now, it had
been too long since she’d been around people. The forest was her home, and she
hoped that home could still include Gabrielle.
It was just over a year before Lydia took
Gabrielle hunting for the first time. After asking her for the one hundredth
time if she was sure she wanted to go, Gabrielle picked up the bow and arrow
and headed out the door as her response. Lydia followed and the girls walked deep
into the forest where the trees were dense and the silence was palpable.
Gabrielle’s breath hitched when Lydia reached behind her and showed her how to
hold the bow. She could feel Lydia’s breath on the back of her neck as she
whispered instructions. Gabrielle’s heart was beating so loudly she was sure
Lydia could hear it. Her hands were shaking and it had nothing to do with
hunting. Gabrielle stood frozen, shaking, with her back against Lydia’s chest,
she could feel Lydia’s quick breaths and her beating heart and she knew she
couldn’t stay any longer. She dropped the bow, turned to apologize to Lydia
and, through tears, ran home and locked herself in her bedroom.
Eventually Henry knocked on her door to tell her
that dinner was ready but Gabrielle couldn’t face the world yet. She was
confused and scared by her feelings but mostly she was scared that admitting
them would mean losing Lydia. Lydia was more than a best friend and confidant,
she was Gabrielle’s future. She was everything. Suddenly Gabrielle needed to
see her again and she couldn’t wait until morning. As soon as her parents and
Henry were asleep she snuck out of the house and into the forest. She didn’t
stop running until she had reached the hut and, after taking a deep breath, she
knocked. Lydia slowly opened the door and before she could say anything
Gabrielle grabbed her and kissed her. It was tentative at first, almost asking
for permission, but when Lydia didn’t pull away, the passion that had been
building for months exploded and the kiss deepened. Gabrielle felt Lydia’s
hands running down her back, pulling her closer; she gasped as Lydia started
kissing down her neck, playfully biting at her jaw. The girls finally separated
and looked at one another breathlessly. Gabrielle started to tell Lydia that
she been dreaming about this for a while when she noticed that Lydia was no
longer looking at her, but rather looking past her. “Who’s that” Lydia asked
before Gabrielle heard Henry scream from behind her. She had never seen Henry
so enraged. “What are you doing Gabrielle? Is this where you have been sneaking
off to for the last year? Is this why you’ve been ignoring your family? For a
witch?!” Before Gabrielle could explain, Henry lunged at Lydia and grabbed her
arm. Instinctively Gabrielle shoved Henry and stood in front of Lydia to
protect her. Henry looked betrayed as he started backing away stumbling on a
tree stump behind him. He hit his head on a rock as he fell backwards and
lay motionless in front of the girls. Gabrielle ran towards him but she was too
late, he was gone. Gabrielle cried as she held her brother, the forest that had
given him to her had also taken him away.
Lydia slowly approached Gabrielle and the two
girls hugged and cried for a long time together. Gabrielle wanted closure for
her parents and also wanted to protect Lydia so she did the only thing she
could think of, her and Lydia carried her brother home. Not wanting to wake her
parents, she laid him outside and covered him with flowers. She then turned to
Lydia who asked through her tears if this was goodbye. Gabrielle looked back at
her house, her past, and then turned to Lydia and could still only see her
future. She took Lydia’s hand, kissed it and walked back into the forest with
her love.
Rumours would eventually spread that Gabrielle
and Henry had become the eleventh and twelfth victims of the witch from the
forest. There was no grand search party this time; her parents were the only
ones to go looking for her and even they gave up after a few weeks with no results.
Her parents eventually moved away from the village, the memories of their
children too painful to live with every day. Gabrielle missed her parents but
she never regretted her decision to stay in the forest with Lydia. To some she
was nothing but a witch, but to Gabrielle, she was everything.
