Daughter of the Forest 01

“Crap! I’m lost… completely lost,” Travis cursed under his breath. The woods of Norwich was no place for a city boy like him. His legs shook. His hands were cold. What could have possibly possessed him to think this was a good idea. Travis was taking a gap year before going to university. Everyone always says you need to take time to travel and find yourself. Well, he was pretty sure he had already found himself. He liked art and he wanted to pursue an artistic career. Unfortunately, his parents had other plans. His father’s job took them up to rural Norwich, a town surrounded by forest and rocks. His dad was going to be the construction supervisor of a new mine, and that meant that Travis and his sister had to follow along. Now instead of seeing the world and finding new inspirations for his art, he was wasting his time in a nowhere town with nowhere people. It was torture. “Damn superstitious hicks,” Travis said, while he tried in vain to use his phone to call for help. No bars. In fact signal was basically nonexistent in this town. Internet was hard to come by too. Hell he was lucky enough to have any electricity at all. Thankfully his father installed solar panels on their roof so at the very least the lights were kept on. “I’m such an idiot,” he complained, slumping against a tree and sitting down on a rock. “How the heck did I get into this mess…” He thought back to the comedy of errors that brought him here… —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “You should go enjoy the town!” Travis’s mother said. “It’s pretty, relaxing… uh… rustic. Besides, you get to be around nature! You never get to see trees and flowers and grass like this in the city.” “I’m not exactly the green thumb type mom,” Travis whined. “But you ARE a young boy. Maybe go talk to some of the girls around town, I’m sure they would love to hear the stories of a cute city boy like you.” “Mom, I don’t know if you noticed, but this down has like a hundred people in it, and 90 of them already have a foot in the grave.” “That means there’s at least ten young girls to meet,” his other said with a laugh. “Yeah ten young redneck girls, running around, superstitious. Wouldn’t it be great if I met a nice lassie and settled down on the dung farm!” he said in a mocking voice. “It’s like this town is stuck in medieval times. “Travis can you at least try to be more respectful?” his mom pleaded. These are very nice people who have done a lot to welcome us to their community-” “What brightside Mom? That half the time I’m pooping in outhouses? That I’ve been removed from civilization and all my friends? Real shining examples of the wonders of country life right there…” he said getting up with a huff. “But fine. You want me to go make friends… I’ll make friends. Don’t wait up for me,” he said before walking out the front door and slamming it shut. His mother sighed heavily “What am I going to do with that boy…” —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Travis took a walk through the streets of town looking for something, ANYTHING to do. He heard all the locals spouting their superstitions. It made him sick. “My mother saw it!” a young teen said. “The forest creature. It’s like some kind of giant spider!” “Well my mom said the creature is super fast, faster than you can see!” another boy said. “Today I woke up and several eggs from the chicken coop were gone, it had to be the creature!” an even younger girl said. “That’s dumb,” Travis thought. “It was probably a fox or something.” “I saw a shadow last night,” said another girl. “It spooked the dogs in the yard! It mighta been lookin to eat them!” Travis couldn’t help but burst out laughing at that point, which caused all the other kids to turn to him with disdain. “And what are you laughin at city boy?” the first young man said, walking up to him confidently and aggressively. “I, well… nothing really,” Travis said. “It’s just, come on. It’s obviously just some animal or something. These monster tales are too much. Let’s at least TRY to be rational.” “People like you always think you know everything… think you're better than us. But we’ve lived through alot. We know the creature. It’s as real as my jeans are dirty!” “Oooooooh, so convincing,” Travis said rolling his eyes. “You’ll see! When the creature come by tonight it’ll-” “Tell ya what,” Travis interrupted. “You said it’s been terrorizing your farms. What if I catch it for ya? I’ll wait out at night and get real photographic evidence and then maaaaaaybe we can all agree that this is just panic for no reason.” “Deal,” the young man said. “But don’t come cryin to me when you realize it’s all real.” —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The plan was simple. Hang out at the border of the woods, wait for movement, chase it down, and snag a pic on his phone. At least it was supposed to be simple. Travis waited patiently with the young group of kids and nothing was happening. It was nearly midnight by the time they saw movement in a nearby bush. “There there!” a young girl cried. Travis laughed to himself. This was going to be a piece of cake. He ran into the forest looking for the source of movement. Nothing… Guess he had to go deeper in. He pushed forward looking for a small rabbit or a fox. Nothing… That was strange. As he went further and further in the flora became increasingly tense and tangled. After about a half hour of searching he decided to turn back… And after another half hour he realized… he had no idea where he was. The brush was incredibly dense and he couldn’t see the lights from the farms anymore. He packed only a few snacks, some water, and a compass, and the compass was useless. It was spinning wildly and pointing to nothing at all. He tried to get his bearings and keep walking in one direction but no matter how far he went he couldn’t find tell of civilization. Hours had passed before he finally found his rock to slump down on. —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- He slapped his face in encouragement, willing himself to stand up. “I don’t get anywhere just by sitting here,” he said. “The forest isn’t infinite. I have to find the edge at some point.” He kept walking forward, but he was so exhausted. His stomach was growling. His mouth was dry. He needed something, anything, to keep up his energy. That’s when he smelled it. Something sweet… fruity. He followed his nose to the best of his ability to find some strange sticky bright pink substance on the side of a tree. It stuck out like a sore thumb among the drab browns of the forest. “Odd… it looks like some kind of yogurt or puree? Could it be sap?” he said as he approached. It smelled harmless enough. He stuck his finger in it and put it to his lips. “Mmmmm… tastes like strawberries. I wonder if I-” “EWWWWW GROSS!” Travis felt a shiver run down his spine. He has no idea that someone else was around. But then again, if there was another person here they could lead him to town. “Hello? Is anybody out there!” “Disgusting,” the voice replied. It was the voice of a young girl but it sounded far off. He looked around trying to catch a glimpse of her but could find no sign of anyone else. Then suddenly, a giant rock fell a few inches away! If it hit his head he would have been dead! “Hey watch it!” he cried out in fear. “You are so disgusting!” the voice said. Travis followed it to look up to the trees where he found the source of the taunting jeers. A young woman, a monster, no, a mutant. She had fuschia skin and short black hair with two petite horns on her forehead. She had six arms… wait… no five arms. One seemed to be amputated. She also had a long and prehensile tail and nearly glowing eyes. Her body certainly did evoke thoughts of spiders. Was this the creature everyone was talking about? “Hey what’s so disgusting about me?” he asked, the sight of another person easing away his fear. “You are eating my poop!” she screamed. “Huwha?” Travis said, his face going pale. “You’re a disgusting poop eater! Freak! Pervert!” “Woah woah woah I’m sure this is just a misunderstanding,” Travis said. “That… that pink dough couldn’t be…” “I was gonna smash your head in with a rock but… ugh…. I feel like I’m going to vomit!” “You were gonna kill me!?” “I was gonna knock you out! Maybe throw you out of the forest. But now I’ll just leave you to get eaten by the bears,” she said dry heaving. “B-bears!?” Travis said, the fear gripping his heart once more. “Yeah duh!” she said. “Why do you think I smeared my poop on that tree! I don’t know why the bears like it! But it lures them out of hiding and then I hunt it! Their meat tastes good!” Just then, they heard a rustling in the leaves a few feet away. “There’s one now.” With a great roar a black bear pushed it’s way through the brush toward Travis. “Holy shit!” Travis said backing up and drawing his scout’s pen-knife uselessly. “Not like this, I don’t wanna get eaten by a bear!” “And your final meal was poop… yuck. At least I’ll be eating better than you tonight!” the young girl taunted. The bear continued to walk toward Travis who was practically paralyzed in fear. It let loose another roar and Travis immediately bolted, heading toward the tree the young girl was in. He tried to climb it but it was slick with moisture and moss. The bear kept getting closer, close enough that it’s snout was touching travis, pinning him to a tree. That’s when he heard. “Yoink!” And felt several arms grab him and pull him up into the tree’s branches. “I… I’m alive? You saved me!” Travis said, grateful he could still feel his racing heart. “Yeah, I don’t wanna see another person’s guts today. You already disgusted me enough with the whole poop eating thing. You owe me one!” “Th-thank you! Thank you so much! But now we are trapped in this tree…” “Correction, YOU are trapped in this tree. I can jump from tree to tree pretty easily. Besides, the bear is busy,” she said pointing down to the bear which had already taken her “bait.” “This is normally when I smash its head open with a rock but I dropped it earlier… so I guess I’m going hungry tonight.” Once the bear finished the “bait” it turned around and left satisfied. Travis signed in relief, the fear of the bear slowly subsiding. His focus turned to the strange girl in front of him, with an oddly friendly but feral face, six boobs covered in six different bikini tops. He realized one of them belonged to his sister, who had recently complained about it going missing from her clothesline. “So… do you usually steal other people’s clothes?” Travis asked. “I didn’t steal any of these,” the girl shouted defiantly. “People leave them out, I find them, I take them, so they are mind now.” Travis thought better of insisting. This conversation was pointless. “Well… what now?” Travis asked. “Now I can’t let you go because you are definitely the kind of person who will blab to everyone that you saw me. That’d be pretty inconvenient for me. I can drop you head first! Maybe the impact will make you lose your memory.” “Or I’d just die!” Travis protested. “Look, I won’t tell anyone just please can you get me out of this forest?” The girl seemed lost in thought. “Mmmmmm OK! But only if you help me out!” “Help you out how?” “You are gonna be my personal errand boyI'll need lots of things from town. Food. Sweets. Clothes. Oh yeah definitely new clothes!” A giant toothy grin was plastered over the girl's face. “Yes, yes, anything you want now just get me WOAH!!!” Within minutes Travis was scooped up in the girls arms and was swinging from tree to tree. She was incredibly strong, much stronger than she looked. Within mere minutes they were back at the edge of the forest, with the lights of the town shining in the distance. There were people heading toward the forest with flashlights in hand. They must be looking for him. “Well you are out now poo-eater,” the girl said dropping him unceremoniously out of a tree. “People are coming so I’m leaving. Maybe there’s still enough time to hunt a rabbit or squirrel or something… but don’t forget your promise! Or I will find you and I will have my REVENGE!” she cackled to herself before swinging off the branches in the trees deep into the forest night. “That… that was unexpected…” Travis said as he stood up and brushed the dirt off his clothes. “Ugh… should I go to the doctor? I hope I don’t get typhus.” Travis ran toward the search party. “Travis… is that you?” he heard his mother’s voice call. “It was so dark, we couldn’t find you, where were you!? Everyone in town said you were going into the forest? Why?” “N-nothing mom it… it was just a stupid bet.” “Didya find it?” a voice from the crowd called. Travis recognized it as the boy who originally challenged him. “Didya find the creature?” “No… not really…” Travis said nervously. “Couldn’t find anything. Like I said before it’s probably just a rabbit or fox or something…” he said, lying as best he could. Travis headed back to town with the search crew, which was not shy about making fun of the city boy who got lost in the forest. But Travis had other things to worry about. Now he had to keep a promise with a strange forest girl or he might die… or at the very least have his underwear stolen!