#twisted fables

Prologue

“Where are you headed so early in the morning?”

“To visit my grandmother, she is ill and mother baked her a treat,” she answered innocently backing a few paces away from the strange man who smiled ominously at her with startling large, pearly white teeth that seemed far larger than his jaw could truly accommodate.

“What’s the matter little one? Are you afraid?” his sinister smile grew as he leaned against the large tree trunk just off the path where she didn’t dare to tread, her mother had warned her of the treacherous nature of the forest and many of the creatures who inhabited it. This man was the first stranger she had ever seen in the forest, she only trekked to her grandmother’s cottage a few miles from the village in the meadow.

“Mother says it’s not safe to wander or take precious time in the forest, it is a place of evil and trickery,” she told him defensively and backed away again.

“How wise of her... Well I do not mean to keep you from your duties. Don’t be so afraid sweet girl, not everything is as evil as it might seem,” he bowed his head, the smile never fading from his face, but she was frightened by it, everything he said made her feel a deep panic in her chest; so she ran.

Her grandmother suggested it was a better idea she stay the night in the cottage rather than risk the travel home where the stranger could be waiting for her. Even sick, her grandmother worried about her safety and the pair spent the day together. After dinner and a story it was time for bed, she climbed the stairs toward the attic where a quaint little loft had been set up for her. The small circle window let in the moon and the stars so it was never truly dark in her little room.

It was the night of the harvest moon which hung full and round in the sky, which seemed a deeper black against the blood shaded globe and the stars twinkled brighter. She had fallen asleep staring up at those stars, dreaming about what her life might one day become as a wolf howled distantly in the forest.

There was a terrible smell and a slippery surface touching every inch of her. She couldn’t escape the horrible stench. The rancid odor of spoiled meats accompanied with a putrid liquid that washed over her legs. There was no light anywhere and opening her eyes stung like thousands of tiny needles. She couldn’t escape, she was helplessly trapped in a decaying darkness she could have never imagined. The slippery walls seemed to close in on her more and more, time passing was consciousness lost until she was certain she would sleep, never to wake again.

However, when she did wake, she found herself on the floor of the cottage staring at the hearth. The fire was long gone, only embers which meant it was very late, without a single light on, she wasn’t sure what happened much less how she got downstairs. She felt her skin peeling off the floor and became very alarmed, she was sticky and wet with an inky liquid. There was a metallic taste to the air, howling came from the village and she was on her feet. There shouldn’t be wolves near the village, that was dangerous for everyone, but screams followed the howls.

She ran with all her strength, not looking back toward the cottage, she didn’t have time. Every tiny pebble protruding from the earth scraped a new wound open on the soles of her feet, branches licked fire across her limbs as they tore through her soft flesh, tears stung her eyes and blurred her vision as she ran. Skin slick and oily black in the moonlight, panic spread through her entire being making her veins pump lava and her lungs burn with the icy evening air. The light dusting of snow was stained with inky liquid in her wake, leaving a long trail from the cottage in the forest toward the burning, screaming town within the meadow.

She ran until a root tripped her at the edge of the forest, tumbling down on her knees, she looked up in horror at the sight of her home burning. Her heart broke with a fear that she was alone, but strong arms scooped her off the ground. She instantly fought off who had her without a care that she was significantly smaller and weaker.