Ghost Story Challenge: "What Came From the Forest" -- Hazel West

What Came From the Forest

By Hazel B. West

In the forest outside the village there are ponds that are not like normal ponds. These ponds are like mirror worlds, dark, evil ones, and if you fall into them, you will end up in dark, strange places. 

            Sometimes, a hapless traveler will fall into one and never be seen again.

            Sometimes things come out.

~~~

Alice watched the boys building the bonfire in the center of the village, laughing and joking with each other. Normally, this would be one of her favorite nights, the chill in the air of the coming winter, the harvest newly brought in from the fields, and the laughter and dancing, accompanied by the scary stories that went late into the night.

            But not this year. This year she felt nothing but a cold heaviness inside her chest. 

            It had now been one year since her brother, Will, had disappeared into the forest. 

            “Alice, there you are!”

            She turned, startled out of her dark thoughts and pulled her eyes away from the village boys. Will should have been there building the bonfire too, but he wasn’t. She turned to face her sister.

            “Grandmother needs our help in the kitchen!” Her sister, Anne, grabbed her hand and tugged on it instantly. 

            Alice reluctantly allowed Anne to pull her back to the small house they shared with their grandmother since their parents had died of the small pox several years ago. Sometimes Alice wondered how much one person could lose before they lost themselves. She hoped she never found out.

            The small cottage was filled with the smells of cooking apples and cinnamon, and Alice wished it helped her feel more festive, wished that the warm smell could ease some of the ice in her heart. She would try to be in a good mood for Anne. Anne was ten years old this harvest and their grandmother said she could join in the dancing that year—as long as she and Alice stayed together and close to the fire. 

            Anne hadn’t seemed to see anything strange about that, but Alice knew exactly what her grandmother had been thinking.

            “I found her, Grandmother,” Anne crowed triumphantly as she let go of Alice’s hand, having delivered her safely to her duty. Alice couldn’t help but smile just a little. Her sister’s joy was infectious.

            Grandmother looked up. “There you are, Alice. I need you girls to help me with these turnovers or we’ll never get them done before the party.”

            “Sorry, Grandmother, I lost track of time,” Alice said, even though she had gone to feed the chickens an hour ago. 

            Her grandmother didn’t say anything but she gave Alice a sympathetic look. Alice looked away quickly and grabbed her apron and washed her hands before turning to the lump of dough her grandmother had prepared. She began rolling and cutting it for the turnovers as Anne filled them with the warm, spiced apples and crimped them for the oven.

            Once all the tarts were done and filling three big baskets that they would share among the villagers that night, Grandmother smiled at the girls. “Now that we’re done with this, I think it’s time for you young ladies to go and get yourselves ready. It will be dark soon.”

            Anne jumped up and down excitedly and ran off toward the room the girls shared. “Alice, can you help me do my hair?” she called on the way.

            “I’ll be there in a second,” Alice promised.

            She finished tidying up and took off her apron, about ready to go help Anne when her grandmother caught her wrist.

            “You watch your sister tonight, Alice,” Grandmother said firmly. “Do not let her go near the woods.” Her gaze traveled out the window, into some middle distance. “I feel something dark this year, it feels restless.”

            Alice’s breath caught in her throat. There were many old stories in the village about the forest that encroached upon them to the south, but they had to just be old stories. Even though the villagers were superstitious, Alice didn’t think they really believed any of the tales to be true. That there were pools as clear as glass beneath the dark trees, that if you gazed in them too long you would fall into another world—a dark world, mirroring this one. And the other stories which always sent a shiver down her spine, the ones that told of the people who fell into those mirror pools coming back, no longer who they had been but dark doppelgängers looking to drag more unsuspecting victims into their new world with them.

            Alice didn’t want to believe the stories, but after what had happened to Will…after he had never come back from the bonfire party last year…she didn’t know what to believe.

            Grandmother squeezed her hand gently, as if realizing she had scared Alice. “Do not fret, child, just be cautious and wear these.” She reached into her apron and pulled out some small sprigs of rowan. This was a traditional adornment for the harvest festival, but some of the villagers, her grandmother included, had also taken to stringing it up over their doors and windows. 

            Alice took the sprigs and nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ll look after Anne,” she said sincerely. She would not lose her sister. Never.

            Grandmother smiled and patted her hand before releasing her. Alice went back to their room where Anne had already put on her new dress and was attempting to button it up the back.

            Alice instantly went to help her, and Anne smiled gratefully before swirling around. “How do I look?”

            Alice smiled back, unable to help it. “Beautiful. Let’s do your hair.”

            She helped Anne braid her hair into plaits and arrange them around her head, adding dried flowers and some of the rowan berries to make the braids look like a crown. Then Alice pulled her own dress out of the wardrobe and bit back a sigh as she went to put it on. Last year, she had been so excited to make this new dress—Will had even gone to the town ten miles away to get the fabric for it as a surprise for her. She was sure that it would catch Jamie Paige’s eye and it had—she had danced with him several times that night, making all the other village girls jealous. Until she had gone to find Will as the party was dispersing late at night and he was nowhere to be found. 

            This year she had refused Grandmother’s offer to make a new dress. She couldn’t stand the thought of giving this one up. It had been the last gift Will had ever given her.

            She stared at her lifeless expression in the mirror as she plaited her own hair, but the mirror only reminded her of the stories about the forest and she shivered, turning away quickly to grab another pin from Anne. Once she had finished, she allowed her sister to position the flowers and rowan in her hair and then stood up.

            “Are you going to dance with Jamie again tonight?” Anne asked her.

            Alice felt a twist in her stomach. Jamie had stayed with her through the long night last year while the men of the village led a search party for Will, but after that she hadn’t wanted to be around people much. Jamie would still say hi to her with a smile when he saw her in the village, but she couldn’t stand to give him more than a passing glance. It wasn’t his fault he reminded her of that night, and she wouldn’t blame him if he had found another of the village girls to show attention to now even though the thought filled her with a bitter-tasting regret.

            She forced a smile for Anne’s sake and took her hand. “I don’t know. Maybe he’d rather dance with you.”

            Anne giggled and they left the house as the gloaming light began to come over the village. A chill wind blew up just as they stepped out the door and Alice shivered, glancing in the direction from which it had come.

            She found herself staring directly into the distant forest and for just a second thought she saw a dark figure standing between the trees, but the instant she blinked it was gone.

            “Alice, come on!” Anne urged and grabbed her hand, tugging her along.

            Alice allowed herself to be dragged to the center of the village where everyone else was gathering around the large pile of wood in the center for the bonfire.

            Everyone was talking and laughing, but…there also seemed to be a tense atmosphere among everyone. All of the villagers wore rowan berries, and red—the women dresses and the men shirts. Red was, of course, traditional for the harvest celebration, but it was usually only the young, unmarried, girls who wore it yearly. A memory of something Grandmother had told her rose in Alice’s mind when she had seen some of the men planting stakes at the edge of the fields nearest the forest with scraps of red fabric tied to them.

            “Red repels dark things, Alice. That’s why you should always wear red on the nights when the veils are thin.”

            Alice shuddered again and wrapped her arms around herself. Anne had already slipped off to join some of the other girls her age, and Alice was about to go over to her when she felt a presence at her side.

            “Anne looks like she’s having a good time.”

            Alice turned sharply to see Jamie standing there at her elbow, his tousled dark curls waving softly in the cool breeze, his green eyes shining. Alice felt her stomach flutter.

            “Oh, yes,” she managed. “She’s excited that it’s her first year to join the dancing.”

            Jamie grinned but there was something else in his eyes, something searching her own and Alice had to force herself not to look away. “And how are you, Alice?”

            She shrugged. “Well enough,” she lied.

            Jamie smiled softly as if he understood perfectly well. “Well, I was hoping you might honor me with a dance this evening?”

            Alice wanted to say no, but she also wanted something to distract her from everything. And Jamie Paige did prove very distracting so she forced a small smile and nodded. “I would like that very much.”

            He grinned, looking a little relieved and it was then that the village headman, Donald Scott, came forward, carrying a torch. The villagers cheered and whooped, making way for him so he could get to the bonfire.

            “We gather tonight to give thanks for the harvest. May next year be just as plenteous,” he said, and his wife who stood at his arm, held up a small sheaf of wheat, which she carefully laid down on the bonfire before Donald threw the torch into the pile of kindling on top of the wood.

            The bonfire lit with a whoompand a rush of hot air and sparks flew into the night sky as the villagers cheered.

            Music started instantly and they sang harvest songs as everyone began getting into position to dance, scrambling for partners. 

            Jamie turned to Alice instantly and held out his hand. “May I?”

            Alice tentatively took it and Jamie didn’t give her any warning before he spun her around, joining the circle of other dancers as they pounded their feet and spun in the dancing light of the fire, sparks flying around them to light up the night.

            Alice felt something free itself inside her chest, as if she could breathe again for the first time in she didn’t know how long. She looked into Jamie’s eyes and he grinned, nearly making her go weak in the knees. She stumbled slightly and he caught her around the waist before they both laughed. Alice was shocked as the sound burst from her mouth. It had been a long time since she had truly laughed. Perhaps she had been mistaken about the foreboding feeling after all.

            As the reel came to an end, they stopped to catch their breath and Alice found herself smiling.

            “There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Jamie asked her teasingly. “Would the lady perhaps like another dance?”

            Alice was about to reply when she felt eyes on her and the hair on the back of her neck rose as a chill touched her there. She spun around and caught sight of a dark figure standing just outside the ring of light from the fire, concealed in the shadows so that she couldn’t see his face. Her breath caught in her throat and she took a step forward but when she blinked the figure seemed to have melted into the darkness and vanished.

            “Alice?” Jamie asked, his voice concerned as he touched her arm, startling her. “What’s wrong?”

            Alice spun back toward him, sure that her face was white. All the joy was gone from inside of her now, replaced by the cold feeling that had been there all year. “I—I just forgot that I had to do something for Grandmother,” she said. “Perhaps you can dance with Anne next; I’m sure she would love that.”

            Jamie smiled, but there was some worry in his eyes too. “Sure. But let me know if I can help you with anything. And I willbe claiming another dance later.”

            Alice smiled with a nod and then hurried off to the spot she had seen the figure.

            Slipping into the darkness outside the ring of light from the bonfire sent a chill across her skin. She hadn’t noticed it being quite this cold earlier, but there was a definite chill in the air now, a breeze coming from the direction of the forest.

            The sounds of music and laughter seemed to dull now and instead she could hear the rustling of the trees in the ill wind. 

            Alice.

            Alice spun around, heart stopping in her chest as she thought someone—something—had spoken her name. 

            “Who’s there?” she whispered, mouth dry.

            The breeze stopped but the chill set in further. She breathed and a puff of white came from her mouth as goosebumps broke out on her arms. She ran her hands over them, trying to warm herself. How was it suddenly this cold?

            And then she turned around to the shadows and came face to face with her brother, Will.

            Alice screamed, or she would have if the sound hadn’t frozen in her throat. She staggered back a step toward the light and tripped and fell onto the ground. She scrambled to her feet but her brother was no longer standing there.

            Alice stood there trembling in the dark, hands shaking. She must be seeing things. Her grief must finally be making her go mad. Too many memories from last year.

            “Alice?”

            She nearly screamed again as she heard her name called, but this came from a human throat, not the wind, and she turned to see Jamie’s concerned face.

            “Are you all right?”

            She inhaled deeply. Her breath wasn’t forming clouds anymore and the air around her had warmed back to what the night had been before. Again, she thought she must have hallucinated everything.

            “I—I’m fine,” she said.

            “Come back by the fire, you’re shivering,” Jamie said with concern, tucking his arm around her and pulling her close to his side. She leaned into his warmth despite herself, feeling his flesh and blood body against her, the warmth of his flowing blood beneath his skin seeping into her own chilled flesh. For some reason that proof of life was important to her just then.

            He took her toward the table of refreshments that had been set up and got her a mug of Mrs. Davis’s mulled cider. Alice took it with slightly trembling hands but drank. The apple and spices warmed her from the inside out and she felt less shaky afterward.

            “Better?” Jamie asked her.

            She nodded, eyes watching the crowd. Anne was dancing in a circle with her friends and Alice felt some relief at seeing her safe and well.

            “Now, I do believe dancing is one of the best ways to get warm,” Jamie told her with a small smile as he took her finished mug and set it aside. “What do you think?”

            Alice was about to protest, but she didn’t want to think about what she had—what she thoughtshe had seen. So she allowed Jamie to lead her back into the fray.

            They danced several more times that night and Alice was able to relax a little, though she couldn’t shake the strange, dark feeling that seemed to have attached itself to her this whole week leading up to the harvest festival, culminating into this chill inside that night. She was somewhat glad when the villagers started to disperse and she and Anne could go home.

            The little girl was beaming, flushed red from laughing and dancing and skipped beside Alice even now.

            “Did you have a good time?” Alice asked her, unable to help a smile as she took Anne’s hand and led her back toward their cottage. 

            “Oh yes!” Anne said dreamily. “This was so much fun! Thank you for bringing me, Alice.” She hugged her sister swiftly and Alice rested a hand fondly against the top of her head. “I just wish Will could be here with us. He always loved dancing.”

            Ice settled into Alice’s stomach at the mention of their brother. Anne didn’t talk about him much, knowing it hurt her, but hearing his name now, caused an unknown feeling to creep down her spine as another chill wind blew up from the direction of the woods. A dark shadow filled her periphery and Alice refused to look, afraid of what she might see.

            “Me too,” she managed to say as she took Anne’s hand again and drew her into a brisker pace, wanting to be home. 

            Grandmother was waiting for them, knitting by the fire, when they came in. She smiled as Anne ran to hug her.

            “Well my dears, did you have a good time?”

            “The best!” Anne said, kissing their grandmother’s cheek.

            “Well, I’m glad to hear it. But I think it’s time to be off to bed now.”

            Alice took Anne to their room and helped her take the flowers from her hair, setting them on the dressing table. Anne was already yawning as she got into her nightgown and slipped into bed. Alice glanced out the window at the harvest moon and was glad that this window didn’t open out into the forest. She shuddered and pulled the drapes before she too dressed for bed.

            Anne was already asleep when Alice slipped into bed beside her sister and wrapped her arms around her small, warm figure. 

            She hoped that tomorrow everything would be back to normal again.

~~~~

Alice woke in the middle of the night to a strange sound. At first she wasn’t sure what it was. She sat up in bed, looking around with a frown as she tried to place it. And then she realized it was coming from the window.

            It sounded like a crackling, almost as if a branch was knocking against the glass, but there were no trees there outside their window.

            Alice felt her heart in her throat as she carefully slipped out of the bed, afraid to wake Anne. She crept toward the window and drew back the drape carefully.

            Ice was crackling across the glass, hoarfrost that was even now stretching from one side to the other. Alice’s breath caught in her throat as she watched the bizarre spectacle. 

            Then a dark shape moved beyond the frosty window.

            Alice jerked backwards, barely suppressing a gasp. She staggered a couple steps and then turned swift and headed out into the main part of the house. 

            The kitchen window was also frosting over, but there was still enough room to see out and she did, bracing herself for what she would see.

            Will’s face appeared before her.

            Alice suppressed her urge to scream, sure that this was a dream, but how could it be? She didn’t think she was asleep. This was too real.

            Will stared at her, his eyes blank, skin pale. His lips moved soundlessly, but she knew he was calling her name. The glass frosted even more but just before he was obscured from her view she saw his eyes turn a solid black.

            Alice jerked back and frantically glanced up to see the rowan spring in the window. Whatever that was, it wasn’t Will. Would the rowan truly do anything to stop it?

            Just then a bang sounded on the door. Alice did shriek this time as three deliberate knocks sounded out. She didn’t want to, but she stepped slowly toward the door and reached out a shaking hand toward the small peep hole…

            “Stay back, Alice!”

            Alice was pulled backwards as her grandmother suddenly appeared, thrusting a bunch or rowan through the peep hole. “Get the salt!”

            “Salt?” Alice asked, still in shock.

            “Yes, now!”

            Alice staggered the few feet to the kitchen and pulled the jar of salt from the cupboard. Her grandmother snatched it and to Alice’s surprise, dumped it in a line in front of the door.

            “What are you doing?”

            “Salt repels evil better than rowan,” Grandmother explained and handed it back. “Take this and do the same on all the window sills. Now, Alice!”

            Alice hurried to obey, pouring salt over the kitchen window and then going and doing the same in their bedrooms. Anne was somehow still asleep and Alice wondered if she should wake her, but decided against it. She brought the salt back to the kitchen where Grandmother stood staring out the window, the hoarfrost disappearing again.

            “I think we’ll be safe now,” she said and sighed wearily. Alice watched as she lit several lanterns and put a kettle on the stove for tea.

            “Grandmother…what was that?” Alice finally asked.

            The old woman sighed, pouring two cups of tea and setting them on the table before sitting down heavily in the chair. “It came from the forest.”

            Alice shook her head, reeling. She had known something strange was happening, she thought she had always known, and yet now, faced with the truth, it sounded so insane. And yet, what else was she supposed to believe? Something wearing her brother’s face had just shown up at their house, trying to get in.

            “I don’t understand,” she whispered, finally joining her grandmother at the table and wrapping her hands around the cup of tea. “Those are just stories…”

            “No,” Grandmother said, shaking her head. “They’re not. Though it’s been a while since we’ve had to worry about anything coming out…the last time that happened was when I was a child, about Anne’s age.”

            Alice shuddered. “But what…what are they? Ghosts?”

            Grandmother shook her head. “No one truly knows. It’s possible they could be ghosts, corrupted by whatever evil resides in those woods, or something else. A creature from that black place that takes on the face of those it steals away.”

            Alice felt horror wash over her. The thought of Will being taken by something in the forest, and the other people who had disappeared from their village out of the blue over the years…it was almost too much to think about.

            “How do we…get rid of it?” she whispered.

            Grandmother sighed. “I don’t know. We can only keep ourselves safe from it. That is all.”

            That didn’t make Alice feel much better. She spent the rest of the night sitting up with Grandmother, watching the lines of salt, and making sure whatever that had been didn’t come back.

~~~~

Alice dozed in the chair eventually that night but woke early and stoked the fire back to life. She wasn’t sure she would ever be warm again after last night. It was almost as if hoarfrost was forming inside of her as well. She wished it had all been just a dream, but the salt around the door and windows told her it wasn’t.

            Grandmother came into the kitchen and started to make breakfast. Neither of them said anything, but there was a tension in the air. Alice wondered how long they would have to deal with that thing wearing her brother’s face. Would it eventually go back to the forest, or would they have to send it back?

            She eventually went back to her room to dress and wake Anne for breakfast. But when she got there, she found her little sister already up and staring out the window. Alice caught her breath suddenly worried about what would be out there in the pale dawn light, but Anne turned around when she came in.

            “Who put salt on the window?” she asked, confused.

            Alice shook her head, not wanting her sister to know the truth. “Don’t worry about it. It’s just a harvest tradition.”

            “I don’t remember doing it before,” Anne said.

            Alice turned around and pulled her dress from the back of a chair. “Get dressed. Grandmother is making breakfast and then you need to go collect the eggs and feed the chickens.”

            Anne dutifully did as she was told, but spoke up as Alice moved to plait her hair into a conventional braid. “I had a weird dream last night,” the little girl said. “I thought Will had come home. He was standing at the window.”

            Alice felt her heart freeze in her chest. Her hands fumbled with the strands of Anne’s hair and she tried to recover the plait before it completely fell apart.

            “I think he was sad,” Anne said softly. “Like he wanted to see us again. He wanted me to come with him.”

            The strands of hair fell apart and Alice’s breath caught in her throat. Anne turned around, a frown on her face. 

            “Alice, what is it?”

            Alice shook her head and quickly gathered Anne’s braid back together. “Nothing. I just…I didn’t sleep well last night.”

            She stayed silent for the rest of their morning routine and then slipped her dress on before joining Anne and Grandmother for breakfast. She hardly had an appetite though. Could it simply be coincidence that Anne had dreamed of Will last night? Alice had been thinking of him more in the past few days too, remembering his disappearance, but Anne dreaming of him at the window, wanting her to go with him? She was scared that it hadn’t been a dream after all.

            Anne left the house to go care for the chickens and Alice nervously did chores around the house before heading out into the garden, wanting to be closer to Anne.

            But as she went out there, she couldn’t see her sister anywhere. She checked the chicken coop and saw that the basket Anne usually collected the eggs in was sitting in the middle of the coop, full of eggs. The feed was in the trough, but there was no Anne.

            “Anne?” Alice called, wondering if she had gotten distracted and wandered off. Anne did that on occasion, she always had her head up in the clouds. She ran around to the garden and then to Anne’s favorite patch of wildflowers that were fading fast with the year, but her sister was nowhere to be seen.

            “Anne!” she cried, fear overtaking her as she ran back toward the house.

            She ran into someone as she turned the corner and nearly screamed when hands grabbed her arms, keeping her upright.

            “Alice, what’s wrong?”

            She looked up, relieved to see Jamie’s face instead of some monster wearing her brother’s.

            “I—I can’t find Anne,” she said.

            Jamie frowned. “You know she runs off sometimes. I’m sure she’s fine…”

            “No, you don’t understand,” Alice tried to explain, and clutched at her skirt in agitation. She didn’t know how much she wanted to say because it seemed crazy. “Jamie, the forest—” 

            “Anne wouldn’t go in there,” Jamie told her reassuringly. “No one goes in there.”

            “No, but things come out of it,” Alice whispered.

            Jamie frowned. “What are you talking about, those are all stories…” He trailed off and looked past Alice’s shoulder.

            Alice got a chill on the back of her neck like the night before and spun around toward the woods. There were two figures walking across the fields, hand in hand, one small and the other tall and blond with a familiar swing to his shoulders. It was Anne and…Will. Or whatever it was that had taken the form of him.

            “What the devil is that?” Jamie demanded. “It looks like…”

            “We have to go now! Anne is in danger!” Alice cried and rushed forward but Jamie grabbed her wrist, pulling her back.

            “Alice, wait, we can’t just run off. I’ll gather the men…”

            “There’s no time!” Alice cried. “We can’t let it take her into the woods!”

            She shook him free and burst into their cottage. Grandmother was already out, and Alice panicked for a minute before she remembered what the older woman had taught her. Rowan berries, red, salt. She grabbed sprigs of rowan, and the jar of salt before rushing to her room and grabbing a red cloak she had. She raced back out to Jamie who had followed her inside and threw the salt and rowan into his arms before she slung the cloak over her shoulders.

            “Come on!”

            “Alice what is this?”

            “I don’t have time to explain, but that’s not really Will. It’s something from the forest that stole his face and it has Anne!”

            Jamie didn’t try to protest but simply ran with her out into the fields. Alice looked around frantically and saw a flash of Anne’s dress just inside the tree line.

            “Anne!” she shouted, racing faster across the fields. “Anne come back! Don’t go in there with that thing!”

            But there was no reply. Just the sound of her and Jamie’s breaths bursting in panic as they raced across the field.

            “We do we do?” he asked her as they got to the forest and hesitated at the tree line. “Anyone who goes in there…they don’t come back out.”

            “I have to save my sister,” Alice said firmly and took a deep breath as she stepped inside.

            There was an instant difference inside the forest. It was dark, a perpetual twilight, and there were no sounds. No birds or small animals or insects that were usually always making noise inside a forest. And it was cold. Alice shivered, pulling the cloak around her more tightly. 

            Jamie stood at her shoulder, his eyes wide as he looked around. “This is…”

            Alice shivered, but ripped a piece of her cloak off and tied it around a branch. For some reason she felt that if she didn’t mark their way they would never find their way back out.

            “Come on,” she said, then called. “Anne? Anne where are you?”

            “Anne!” Jamie called as they slowly stepped further into the trees, Alice putting markers up every few feet.

            “Anne answer me!” she cried.

            “Alice!” a scream came before it was muffled. 

            Alice spun around, trying to find the source. “Anne!”

            “Over here, it came from this direction,” Jamie told her quickly and took the lead. 

            Alice looked around frantically for her sister and heard another muffled scream. She spun toward the sound and finally caught sight of her sister and that thing dragging her through the trees. “Jamie, there!” she cried, pointing.

            They dashed through the forest and the thing wearing Will’s face spun toward them, its eyes coal black and a cruel smile twisting its face. It held Anne tightly, shaking her when she struggled.

            “Let her go!” Alice demanded.

            “You’ve all been foolish enough to come in here,” the thing said. It was Will’s voice, but with a sibilant hiss underneath of it. Something dark and slimy. “You belong to the forest now.”

            Jamie growled and lunged forward, but Alice, seeing where he was about to step, suddenly snagged the back of his shirt, hauling him back. “Jamie, wait!”

            He stalled, nearly tipping over into the pond that was hidden in the loam on the ground. Alice hauled him back and they both collapsed onto the forest floor.

            The thing wearing Will’s face smiled at them, reaching to stroke Anne’s hair gently.

            “Come with me. We can live as a family again. I know that’s what you really want.”

            “You’re not my brother,” Alice snarled.

            “But I could be,” it said and picked Anne up off the ground even as she struggled, dangling her over top of the pool, ready to drop her into whatever was inside. 

            Alice surged to her feet, racing around the pool as Jamie shouted at her. She tackled the thing and they crashed to the ground, Anne finally getting free of its grasp. She scrambled away, screaming as Jamie rushed over and took the little girl into his arms, shouting for Alice.

            Alice rolled over in the loam, and grabbed a handful of rowan from her pocket, shoving it into the creature’s face.

            It hissed, reeling back and getting off of her. Alice staggered to her feet and yanked her cloak off.

            “You’re never coming back to our village again,” she said and threw the cloak at the thing. 

            It hissed as the red fabric covered it and Alice surged forward, grabbing the tails of the cloak and wrapping it tightly around the thing so that its head and shoulders were covered in the red cloth. She then simply shoved it backwards into the waiting pool.

            Time seemed to slow. The creature with Will’s face fell backwards into the waiting darkness of the puddle. There wasn’t a splash, only a sucking, as if the pool was pulling it in, and then it was gone with a final inhuman scream. Alice collapsed next to the pool that was completely still again, not even a ripple to disturb its surface. She leaned forward, seeing her reflection warping in the dark mirrorlike pool. It was almost mesmerizing and she vaguely wondered what it would be like to reach out and touch it…

            “Alice!”

            She was pulled away from those dangerous musings by the cry and the small arms wrapping around her neck.

            Alice sat back on her heels on the damp ground, holding Anne tightly to her, feeling the little girl’s tears on her shoulder.

            “Anne, I’m so glad you’re okay.”

            “I’m sorry!” Anne cried. “I’m sorry I left, I just…I thought…”

            “I know,” Alice whispered, rubbing her back soothingly. And she did. What she wouldn’t give to see Will again. But this…this wasn’t him and it never would be. “I know.”

            Anne sniffed and wiped her eyes. “Can we go home now?”

            Alice pulled back and nodded. “Yes.”

            She looked up at Jamie who gave her a fond smile. “Thank you,” she whispered to him.

            He nodded and helped them both to their feet.

            Before they left the forest, they poured a ring of salt around the pool. Alice wasn’t sure it would work, but it had kept that thing out of their house the night before, so it was possible that it would keep it locked in its mirror world. Then all three of them trudged back to the village, following the trail of red rags Alice had left. Jamie carried Anne on his back and Alice pressed close to his side, needing to feel his human warmth. 

            The entire village was in an uproar by the time they got back and Alice saw their Grandmother standing with several of the other women, wringing her hands in her apron until she spotted them.

            “Alice! Anne!” she cried and Anne got off of Jamie’s back and ran to their grandmother, Alice close behind her. They both threw their arms around her.

            “Grandmother!” Anne started crying again and Grandmother pulled them both to her, ushering them toward the house. 

            “Come inside for some tea, dears. You too Jamie.”

            They trooped inside, leaving the rest of the villagers to murmur amongst themselves about what had happened. 

            They told their grandmother everything and she sat and listened silently. Then when they had finished, she got up to stoke the fire again and when she came back, she squeezed Alice’s shoulder. 

            “You are a very brave woman, Alice,” she said proudly.

            Alice felt tears prick her eyes, and as she looked aside, she saw Jamie watching her, a kind smile on his face, and she felt a spark of warmth in her chest for the first time since she had lost Will. 

            In the week to come, there was a lot of speculation going around the village but only in hushed voices and Alice and the others never really told anyone what had happened. But the men of the village made a new and more fortified barrier around the woods, and everyone in town now put salt in front of their doors and windows and went around wearing rowan berries. 

            Alice oddly felt safer than before though. She almost felt that the trouble was over at least for a while. And, oddly, sending that thing wearing Will’s face back to wherever it had come from had almost helped her put Will’s memory to rest. She would forever miss him, forever regret his being lost in the woods that night, but she felt could move on now, and learn to cherish what she did have.

            Jamie came courting her every other day now, and that day when he arrived, she gave him a genuine smile, dried flowers from that summer in her hair which Anne had insisted she wear, and she took his hand happily, feeling lighter than she had for a long time. 

            Even though a person lost something, that didn’t mean they couldn’t gain something else. Perhaps that was what kept one from breaking entirely in the long run. And Alice was certainly glad she had found Jamie Paige.

The End

Copyright 2019 by Hazel B. West