One of Us

 

20^th August 2011

Mark checked his watch as he turned off the main road and headed through the forest.  8.30pm.  Plenty of time to make it through the forest before dark.  It wasn’t that he didn’t like the woods in the dark, but the rumors of Watchers Wood from his childhood never left him.  The apparent disappearances.  The hideous monster that lived in the darkness.  The screams late at night. All nonsense, obviously, and a product of over active childhood imagination, but you never knew.  Bella began to tug on her lead, Mark let her run free.  She ran off down the path in search of some sort of doggie holy grail. The further he got into the woodland, the more nervous he began to feel.  The name Watcher’s Wood conjured up the wrong image for a man on his own in the fading daylight.  Was someone watching him?

‘Bella.  Come here girl.’  He called, his voice a little shaky.  Bella came bounding back to him waiting for a treat.  ‘Good girl.’

He was being silly.  How many people walk through this stretch of woods everyday without being mutilated or eaten alive?  Hundreds?  He shook his head, annoyed with himself and carried on down the path, Bella at his heels.  As he was finally starting to relax, a rustle in the trees to his left stopped him in his tracks.  Bella’s ears twitched.  A bird surely.  He peered into the dense woodland.  Nothing.  Bella shot off and dived through a break in the shrubs, straight into the jaws of death.  Or, more likely on the trail of a squirrel.  The rustling came again.  Mark stepped closer to the tree line.  His heart now pounding in his chest.  Her peered into the gloom.  Two eyes peered back.  Dark eyes, barely visible.  Watching him.  Bella barked.  The eyes rushed towards him.  Mark felt his heart stop as the eyes became a face, the face had a body.  A muntjac deer shot out of the bush, pursued by a barking German Shepherd. Mark’s legs almost gave way.  As he caught his breath he started to laugh. 

‘Bella,  BELLA.  Come here.’  Mark took out the bag of treats from his pocket.  Bella instantly appeared.  Funny how you can shout as loud as you like and a dog wont here you, but open a packet of dog treats and they hear you a mile away.  ‘Good girl, Bella.  Come on, lets get out of here, I think I’ve had enough for today.’  He turned and hurried out of the forest.

27^th August 2011

The sun was slowing sinking in the sky as Albert walked down the lane towards the woods.  It had been a glorious sunny day and he had spent most of it dozing in his garden.  But a tweet on his phone had alerted him to something exciting.  A Harris Warbler had been spotted near the village, probably nesting in Watcher’s Wood.  A Harris Warbler hadn’t been spotted for decades.  If Albert could get a picture, he would finally be taken seriously as a bird watcher.  His online group all seemed to have better luck than him.  The best he had seen so far was a Great Spotted Woodpecker, and the odd Goshawk.  But everyone and his wife had seen those.  A Harris Warbler though, now that would be a scoop.  He walked silently down the forest path, his eyes searching the trees and his ears alert to the distinctive sound of the warbler’s song.  All was quiet.  As he reached the bend where the path met the little stream he listened.  Nothing.  Odd that there was no sound at all, but not unusual he supposed.  He scanned the trees up high looking for movement.  Everything was still.  No sound, no movement.  He turned left and walked along the edge of the stream being careful not to tread too heavily.  He stopped.  Was that something in the trees?  He listened.  A rustle in the bush.  He carefully raised his camera to his eyes and peered through the viewfinder.  A blackbird flew out of the trees.  Disappointment crossed his face.  But a second rustle came shortly after.  This time he peered into the darkness.  The sun was sinking rapidly now.  The rustling increased.  Albert’s heart skipped a beat as two glistening balls of light appeared in the dark.  He breathed in slowly.  The balls of light came closer.  Albert was looking at two dark eyes.  Haunted eyes.  As they moved closer, a face appeared.  A young girl, no more than nine or ten stood before him on the other side of the stream.  Her face streaked with mud and grime, dark circles around her eyes. Her long black hair plastered against her face.  She was wearing what looked like a sack, stained, torn and muddy. She opened her mouth but no sound came.  She stood there in a silent scream.  Albert tried to move but his legs wouldn’t listen.  His heart was pounding, he could hardly breathe.  He felt himself take an involuntary step forward, then another.  His boot entered the stream and he felt the cold water rising up his leg.  The girl held out her hand as if to take his, she looked lost, and scared.  He reached forward.  Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his leg.  He looked down and saw a hand gripping his ankle.  Long bony fingers enveloped him, sharp nails like little thorns dug into his flesh.  Terror gripped him.  He looked to the little girl imploring her to help.  He couldn’t speak, his mouth was dry.  The little girl stared at him.

‘You’re one of us now.’  Her voice was weak and crackly Albert tried to scream as a second hand grabbed his other leg.  He stood there frozen for a split second before the hands dragged him down into the stream and he was gone.  As the surface of the stream rippled, the little girl stared at where Albert had once stood.  ‘One of us now.’

27^th August 2021

Ben Sommers stood outside his cottage, stretching out his calf muscles.  The heat of the day had finally subsided and he still had a 10k run to fit in if he was going to top the leaderboard for the third month running.  Ten kilometres would take him through the village, into the forest, across the stream and back past the Llama farm before coming into the village from the opposite direction.  He adjusted his earbuds and selected his running playlist before setting off through the village.  The sun was just sitting on the horizon as he ran through the forest, should be back before it gets too dark, he thought.  As he reached the little stream and took a left turn, the music in his ears stopped suddenly.  He slowed down and took his phone from his armband.  It was dead.  Odd, he thought, it was fully charged when he left.  He tried to turn it back on but nothing happened.  Definitely a flat battery.  He cursed silently and slipped it back in its pouch.  A rustling came from the trees off to his right.

‘Hello, who’s there?’  Nothing.  Must be a fox he thought.  Or a bird, or something, who knew what was in these woods.  Could be the monster of Watcher’s Wood.  The rumor amused him.  It’s odd what people will believe, despite the lack of evidence.  The rustling came again.  Ben stood and watched, wondering what he might see emerging from the undergrowth.  Two eyes glowed in the dark.  He stared at them silently.  He took a step back and stood on a twig.  The crack as it broke seemed to echo all around him.  The eyes leapt forward and a muntjac deer ran out of the bush and tore off down the path.  Ben’s heart skipped a beat.

‘You scared me to death, you little bugger.’ He called after the animal.  As he turned back towards the woods another rustling sound caught his ears.  Probably another muntjac, he thought.  He scanned the undergrowth until he saw the second set of eyes.  Staring blankly towards him.  ‘Come on little fella, follow your friend.’ He said.  The eyes moved closer.  Blank, cold, eyes.  A face emerged.  A young girl, around ten.  Her long black hair wet and muddy against her face.  Dark circles around her eyes, her face stained with blood.  The short dress he wore was torn and muddy.  As she emerged, she stretched out her hand towards Ben.  He took a step towards her and instantly felt something grip his ankle.  He looked down and saw a bony hand, around his leg, gripping tight.  The fingernails digging into his leg drawing blood.

‘Hey, what’s going on?’  He shouted.

‘You’re one of us now.’ The girl said quietly.

A second hand grabbed his other leg, locking him tight, he couldn’t move.  His heart was in his throat, he couldn’t speak.  His mouth was dry.  A look of horror crossed his face.  As he stared down at the hands, he saw eyes looking back up at him from beneath the surface of the stream.  He tried to break free, but his legs wouldn’t move.  He looked at the little girl standing in front of him.  The last words he heard before he was dragged below the surface forever.

‘One of us now.’

27^th August 1821

‘Clara, come back, you mustn’t go into the woods.  That’s Squire Priggard’s land.  You know he doesn’t allow anyone in there.’

‘But I saw the little bunny run in Daddy.’  Clara said as she ran off down the path.  Thomas ran after her.  The squire did not allow anyone in Peregrine Wood without his consent, and he was not about to give it to the likes of them.  He caught up with her and scooped her up in the air making her giggle. 

‘Come on, lets be having you, we need to get home for tea.’

Clara’s ran along beside him, her long black hair trailing behind in the gentle breeze.  The path wound its way through Peregrine Wood past the tall pine trees.  Thomas breathed in the scent, it reminded him of his childhood. 

‘Well, what do we have here?’  A voice boomed from behind them.  Thomas spun around and saw two men sat on a huge chestnut horses.  ‘You do know this is my land don’t you, peasant.’

Thomas took off his cap and bowed gently. ‘Yes sir, I’m sorry my lord.  My little girl was chasing a rabbit.  We were just leaving.’  Thomas felt his heart skip a beat.

‘My rabbit no doubt.’  The squire turned to his companion.  ‘We should punish them Giles, what do you think?’

‘Horrible oiks, Henry.  Chase them off, they aren’t one of us.’  Giles sneered.

‘You better run old man.’ Henry shouted as his horse reared up and clattered towards them.

‘Run, Clara, run home, my girl.’  Thomas shouted.  Clara ran for her life.  The squire’s horse was too fast for her. As he caught up with her, the horse gave a mighty kick and knocked her to the ground.

‘Leave her alone, she’s just a child, my Lord, please.’  Thomas pleaded.

The squire spun his horse around and trampled the poor girl into the dirt as he set back towards Thomas.  Thomas looked up with tears in his eyes.

‘What have you done to her, you bastard?’ He screamed, his earlier respect giving way to anger.

The squire brought his horse to a halt and slipped from the saddle. ‘What did you call me, old man?’

‘She’s just a little girl, she’s all I have.’  Thomas lunged towards the squire but before he could move, he felt an arm around his throat.  Giles had slipped up behind him and held him firmly.  Henry Priggard stepped closer and punched Thomas hard in the stomach.  He doubled over in pain.  When he looked up, the tears in his eyes blurred his vision, he was winded and could hardly speak.

‘A curse on you, and all your lands’ Thomas spluttered.  The squire looked enraged and hit him square across the face.

‘You need to learn some respect old man.’  Henry unsheathed a dagger and plunged it into Thomas’s stomach, once, twice.  Thomas collapsed to the floor, blood gushing from the open wound.  Giles wedged his boot under Thomas’s body and rolled him into the stream.

‘I’ll be watching you, Henry Priggard.’  Thomas gasped before he slipped beneath the surface of the stream and was gone.