My husband, brother-in-law, and I are all assigning each other different criteria for short stories that we write, kinda just as an exercise in writing. These were my requirements:
Setting: Midnight in the enchanted forest
Genre: Science Fiction (I know, I kinda stretched this one)
Characters: 6-year-old boy and his lab, elderly twin women, ethereal voice
Plot Device: A crowbar lands in front of a character
PS: If anyone reads this, PLEASE let me know if you get the twins :). There’s something odd about them, and I want to see if anyone gets it. Tyler didn’t.
~Victoria
MIDNIGHT IN THE FOREST
They had lived in the house at the edge of the woods for as long as Gabe could remember. Most of his childhood had been spent on the fringes of those trees, playing fantastical games of make-believe with his friends. All of that changed soon after his fourth birthday; that was the year his sister, Lenore, danced her way past the closest trees, just beyond his line of sight, and he never saw her again. After that, his parents strictly forbid Gabe from ever venturing near those trees again.
Gabe never really understood what all the fuss was about. Lenore had simply gone into the forest. She was perfectly safe, he knew, because he was certain that his friends would never let anything happen to her. His parents just didn’t understand about the forest or his friends. They never did. After Lenore disappeared, he watched quietly from the stairwell as more people passed through the house than he’d ever seen before, even at a party. Most of them seemed to be policemen, but others were distant relations and a few were even reporters for the local paper (Gabe heard these people introduce themselves to his parents as each one came through the door).
The only time Gabe had left his perch halfway down the staircase was when his mother had sought him out so one of the policeman could speak with him. The man had asked strange questions about things that Gabe didn’t know or thought were unimportant. He asked about visitors to the house or strangers in the forest, but Gabe told him that the only people he ever saw in the forest weren’t strangers at all; they were his friends, the people he’d been playing with for as long as he could remember. There weren’t any wild animals hidden in the trees either, just Gabe’s dog, Sammy. Gabriel’s mother corrected him and apologized to the policeman, explaining that he and Lenore didn’t have playmates over to the house, and their dog had died the year before in a tragic accident. All of the adults were puzzled when Gabe tried to explain that Lenore had simply gone too far into the forest and disappeared. They asked if he’d seen anyone take her, seen anything unusual. One again, he explained that she had simply gone too far. They asked why he didn’t follow her. He wasn’t supposed to, he’d said. Not yet.
It was after the talk with the policeman that Gabe’s parents had built the wall. It was a long, thick wall made of bricks, and it was at least twice Gabriel’s height. He was very disappointed when he saw them building the wall - how was he going to play at the edge of the forest now? - but he very quickly discovered an iron gate in the wall not too far from his house. Fortunately, one of the bars was loose, and he was able to slip through the crack it left. Thus, he continued playing on the fringes of the forest for several years, and his parents, unaware of their son’s disobedience, were unable to stop him.
One Saturday morning, about two weeks after his 6th birthday and only a few days after the anniversary of Lenore’s disappearance, Gabe woke up extra early and set out for his normal playground on the edge of the woods, which he had affectionately named the Enchanted Forest. Gabe liked Saturdays; no one forced him to go to school on Saturdays, and his parents slept in, so that gave him free reign of the house and grounds for most of the day. He usually spent this time with his friends by the forest, though he had to be careful that his parents didn’t notice his absence and come searching the grounds for him. The grounds were extensive enough that this normally wasn’t a problem, but still, there had been several close calls in the past where Gabe had to think and lie quickly to keep the truth about his daytime wanderings from being discovered.
This particular morning, he managed to wake himself up before the sun was fully in the sky. He dressed quickly and raced downstairs, eager to watch the sunrise with his friends. As he trotted quickly and quietly down the staircase, Gabriel heard something strange on the bottom floor of the house. He stopped and crouched midway down, the lack of light and his small size giving him adequate cover from whomever - or whatever - might be down there.
Though the house was large enough for six or seven people to live there, Gabe and his parents were its only occupants. Gabe didn’t like the largeness of the house; it made him feel small and exposed. Right now, however, he was incredibly grateful for the house’s size, as it increased his chances of escaping through the front door before the mysterious intruder noticed his presence.
As Gabe crept the rest of the way down the stairs, he was relieved to realize that the intruders sounded like regular people; at least they weren’t monsters. He was also confused as to what they were doing in his family’s house, however, since he knew for a fact that his parents were still sleeping upstairs. He didn’t know why his parents would have people over while they slept, but he shrugged and continued his silent crouch to the front door at the foot of the stairs. He cracked the door open and slipped through, shutting it silently behind him. Relieved that he hadn’t been caught and questioned, Gabe dashed happily toward the back of the house, toward the gate.
Just as he reached the side of the house nearest his parents’ bedroom, however, he heard a blood-curdling scream that stopped him in his tracks. The scream was cut off suddenly, as if the screamer had been forcefully silenced somehow. Terrified, Gabriel looked toward his parents’ balcony, above and in front of him, where the scream had come from. He didn’t see anything strange, but he pressed himself against the side of the house just in case anyone stepped onto the balcony and looked around. He was worried they’d noticed he was gone and panicked; his parents were still jumpy sometimes, especially around the time of year when Lenore had disappeared.
After several minutes of nothing happening, Gabe’s heart rate slowed enough that he begin walking again. He sent nervous glances up to the balcony as he passed it, which was fortunate; as he passed right underneath the railing, he looked up just in time to see an object flying directly toward him. He instinctively leapt backwards, the object barely missing smashing into his skull. He ducked back under the balcony, afraid that he would be visible to whoever threw the object. When he didn’t see or hear anything, he approached the object on the ground, curious.
It was a metal bar, slightly curved in the middle; he thought he’d heard it called a crowbar before, but he wasn’t sure. Glancing nervously at the balcony above him, he leaned down to take a closer look and saw that the crowbar was covered in a sticky red substance that Gabe quickly realized was blood. Fear overtook him again forcefully, and he suddenly felt an irresistible compulsion to run as fast as he could to the gate in the wall.
Gabe ran with the irrepressible feeling of being pursued, though every time he looked behind him, he couldn’t see anyone there. He reached the gate and easily slipped his way through the loose bar. He normally stayed close to the gate while he played, in case he needed to get home quickly, but this time, he walked along the wall for about ten minutes before stopping to face the forest.
"Sammy!" he called out, but he was suddenly afraid that he’d yelled too loudly, that someone on the other side of the wall might hear him. "Sammy?" he called again, quieter this time.
A large, black Labrador came bounding through the trees, a stick in his mouth. Gabe, despite his remaining fear, smiled at the dog and took the stick.
"Hey there, buddy!" he said to the dog gleefully. "How are you? I’m sorry it’s been so long since I could play." The dog flopped onto the ground in front of Gabe, then rolled over to expose his belly, which Gabe rubbed vigorously. The dog’s tongue lolled out, and he closed his eyes happily, his back leg kicking.
"That’s right, boy. Here, Sammy - fetch!" Gabe threw the stick deep into the trees, and Sammy immediately took off after it, disappearing into the forest. A minute later, the dog returned without the stick, and Gabe disciplined the dog playfully. A voice spoke from within the trees.
"It is not the dog’s fault, little one. We have the stick here," the voice said. Gabe looked up, smiling.
"Hello Dora," he said cheerfully. "How are you and Donna today?"
"Very well, my boy, very well. You’re rather early, are you not? The sun is not yet risen, and the sky remains dark," Dora said, stepping forward with her sister from between the trees. The two sisters, which Gabe referred affectionately as "the Twins," were indistinguishable, though Gabe, through years of familiarity, could easily tell the two apart by their voices.
"I wanted to be here early so we could have more time together," Gabe replied. He had decided that watching the sunrise might be a bad idea; they would have to look over the wall for that, and there was no telling who might see them from the other side.
"Well that’s lovely, isn’t it Dora?" Donna said cheerfully. "We’re glad you’re early, Gabriel."
The Twins approached Gabe and handed him the stick he’d thrown for Sammy. The dog leapt around playfully until Gabe threw the stick, which Sammy immediately went racing after.
"Where’s Jared?" Gabe asked, glancing at the Twins.
"He is running a bit late today," Dora said. "He had some things to arrange. You will see him soon, I am sure."
Gabe tried to hide his disappointment. He liked the Twins well enough, but there weren’t many games he could play with them. They were much, much older, even older than his grandmother was when she died a few months ago, though certainly not as frail. They didn’t much have patience for anything but mind games, which were fun for a while, he supposed. Being a 6-year-old boy, however, Gabe had quite a lot of energy to expend, and mind games just didn’t do the trick.
Sammy came running back through the trees then and bounded straight into Gabe, who, being a bit smaller than the dog, toppled over. Gabe laughed and struggled as Sammy licked his face, then finally managed to pull himself free. The Twins offered him a bony, veined hand, though their expression changed to one of disgust when he put his slobbery hand in theirs. They pulled him to his feet, and he thanked them politely, as his mother had taught him.
"What sort of games should we play today?" he asked them, reaching for Sammy’s stick that he’d dropped on the ground.
"We won’t be playing any games today, silly," said Donna smiling. "Today you’re going into the forest! Isn’t that exciting?"
Gabe straightened, unable to do anything more than stare at Donna for a moment.
"I’m…I’m going into the forest?" he asked, his voice a bit higher than usual. The Twins nodded, and Gabe felt a rush of mixed emotion wash over him. He wasn’t sure if he was more excited or scared.
"That’s why Jared isn’t here. He’s getting ready for your arrival," Donna explained. She couldn’t seem to wipe the gleeful expression from her face.
"We’ve been appointed to lead you inside, though of course, we can’t stay with you past the edge," Dora said sternly, clearly disdainful of her sister’s uncontained delight. "You know the rules, Gabriel."
Gabe nodded slightly, nervous butterflies erupting in his stomach. ”I can have Sammy with me though, right?”
Dora considered for a moment, then nodded briskly. ”I think that will be allowed.”
The Twins motioned for him to come forward. He slowly moved to stand next to them, then looked up into their face. He could read nothing in their lined, ancient face, but he did detect a hint of kindness that made him feel slightly better. They wouldn’t let anything bad happen to him, he was sure.
"What about my parents?" he asked, suddenly concerned. "Won’t they be worried about me?"
"Don’t worry about them, dear. They won’t even know you’re gone," Dora reassured him. "Now come, it’s time for you to enter." She pushed him forward slightly, and he began to walk.
"Wait," he said, suddenly stopping again. "What about Lenore?"
"What about her, dear?" Donna asked, smiling.
"Will I…will I get to see her again?" he asked quietly.
"You’ll see," they replied together with a smile, and for the first time in several years, Gabe couldn’t tell them apart.
The Twins placed a hand on his back and propelled him forward. He almost wished they didn’t, because he thought holding their hand might make him feel better.
Even though this was what he wanted more than anything, Gabriel still couldn’t help feeling scared. He didn’t know what to expect in the Enchanted Forest, and his confidence that nothing there would ever harm him was fading with every step he took.
He felt his feet slowing automatically, when suddenly he heard Jared’s voice coming through the trees.
"It’s alright, Gabriel. There’s nothing to fear. Everything will be alright." Gabe searched the trees for his friend, but the light, airy voice sounded like it was coming from the whole forest instead of one person. Still, the voice alone calmed him enough that he was able to keep his feet moving.
"You’re almost there, Gabriel," the voice - Jared’s voice - said again, softer this time, sounding like it was coming from farther away. They were moving past the first couple of trees in the forest. Gabe glanced down at his feet to make sure they were still moving. "It’s almost over."
Glancing up again, Gabe saw Lenore standing several yards in front of him, a beaming smile on her face. She looked just as she did when he’d last seen her, even down to the grass stain on her dress she’d gotten from a fall the morning she’d disappeared. His footsteps sped up slightly, and he felt a smile spread across his own face at the sight of her.
"Lenny!" he said, moving closer, almost running now. The Twins were no longer pushing him forward; he wasn’t even sure they were there anymore, but he didn’t care enough to check. All that mattered was that Lenny was waiting for him. Sammy jogged at his side, barking happily, and Lenore held out a hand toward Gabe as he ran to her. He reached out, a burst of fierce joy running through him, and took her waiting hand.
——————————————————————————————————————
The beeping slowed to a steady hum, and Dr. Jared Landry tore his gaze from the now-blank thoughts-monitor to glance at his watch, then turned to the nurse standing next to him.
"Time of death, midnight," he said wearily, and she made a small note on her clipboard. She reached over and turned off the monitor next to the bed that had just moments before shown the thoughts of a joyous boy reuniting with his sister.
"At least he died happily," she said reassuringly to the doctor. "He chose it, Jared, there was nothing you could do. You saw." She gestured to the monitor. Jared shrugged slightly, but refused to take his eyes off of the bruised, beaten face of Gabriel Martin.
"I’ll go let the detective know," she said, laying a hand lightly on his arm. She turned and left the room, heels clicking on the tile floor as she went. Jared reached down and laid a hand on Gabriel’s forehead, pushing the boy’s hair out of his face. The nurse was right. At least he died in peace, with his dog and his sister to welcome him to the afterlife. Jared had seen it himself, on the thoughts-monitor. At least Gabriel didn’t die alone, not really.
Jared pulled his hand back reluctantly, staring down at the young face. Suddenly unable to bear the sight of it anymore, he pulled the white sheet over the corpse of the child, then turned and left the room without glancing back.
