Dark Woods

by Steve Voake

  Like all the other strange stuff that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, he was beginning to think that maybe the trick was just to adapt to it and move on. But perhaps the strangest thing of all was that, for the first time in years, the unhappiness that had lain beneath the surface of everything he did was starting to dissolve. For a few brief moments, what had gone before and what lay ahead of him no longer seemed important; all that mattered was that he was here, now, walking in sunlight and listening to the water chatter across the stones.

  ‘Hey, Cal.’

  Eden’s voice broke into his thoughts and he turned to see her standing with her hands on her hips, up to her ankles in the stream.

  ‘Are you OK? You’ve gone pretty quiet.’

  Cal nodded.

  ‘Just thinking, that’s all.’

  ‘About what?’

  Cal shrugged.

  ‘I don’t know. That I quite like it up here. You know. Away from everything.’

  Eden looked at him, shielding her eyes from the sun.

  ‘You like it?’

  ‘Yeah. Kind of.’

  ‘You realise we could be miles from the nearest town? I mean, not just a few miles. Like fifty. A hundred, even.’

  ‘Yeah, but you were in the Girl Scouts, weren’t you? So maybe we can live off the land and hunt wild boar and stuff.’

  Eden frowned.

  ‘Are you kidding me?’

  ‘I don’t know. I just … I’m starting to feel like everything’s going to work out OK.’ He shrugged. ‘Maybe it’s just the after-effects of the stuff Jefferson put in our drinks.’

  ‘Maybe,’ said Eden. ‘But whatever it is, hang on to it. Cos as my grandmother used to say, we ain’t out of the woods yet.’

  The stream meandered through the trees, at one point dropping through a narrow gully so that they were forced to clamber down its steep sides, stepping from stone to stone as they followed it between banks green with moss and ferns. Up ahead, Cal noticed several smaller streams cascading down and merging, increasing the volume of water so that the stream became broader and deeper, until at last it opened out into a clearing where a large woodland pool reflected the green pines surrounding it and the blue sky above.

  They walked around the edge until they came to a place where the ground dropped away through the trees. A waterfall plunged hundreds of feet down the side of the mountain and far below Cal could see the silver glint of the river, winding its way through the valley. Beyond it, the forest covered the slopes of another mountain range, so that the landscape was clothed in a blanket of green.

  ‘It’s like something from a storybook,’ said Cal.

  ‘It’s also a bit of a problem,’ said Eden. ‘There’s no way we can climb down there.’

  Cal looked at the sheer, dizzying drop and knew she was right. Trying to reach the river valley by that route was definitely not an option.

  To the right of them, the mountain rose steeply again, making the descent even more dangerous. To their left it gradually curved towards the lower slopes, but that was far in the distance; in between were several miles of sheer rock face that would make it impossible to climb down with any degree of safety.

  ‘We’re going to have to go back, aren’t we?’ said Cal.

  Eden nodded. ‘It looks that way. Maybe we could cut through the woods a little earlier.’

  ‘Maybe. But I think we should follow the river for some of the way. Help us keep our bearings.’

  ‘Dammit.’ Eden sat cross-legged beside the pool and rested her chin on her hands. ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted. What time do you think it is?’

  Cal looked at the sun, high above the trees.

  ‘One o’clock? Two, maybe?’

  Eden rubbed sweat from her forehead and wiped it on her jeans.

  ‘I don’t suppose you have any food?’

  ‘Let me check.’

  Cal patted his pockets sarcastically.

  ‘No, I don’t think I have. But maybe that’s because we left in a bit of a rush. What with you wanting to get away and everything.’

  ‘Hey.’ Eden looked at him sharply. ‘You were the one who wanted to check on your friend’s little doggy. You remember the guy I’m talking about. The one who drugged us, threw us in a van and stuck electrodes on our heads.’

  Cal stared back at her, angry now.

  ‘And whose idea was it to go into the woods? Not mine, that’s for sure. I just went to do the washing-up. But you were all like, “Ooh, let’s go and have an adventure. It’ll be fun!”’

  ‘Yeah, well, you didn’t have to come, did you? But then, let me see, wait a minute, what was it you said? Oh yeah, that’s right, people are always telling you, Do this, Do that. Well, no one’s telling you what to do now, Cal. Least of all me.’

  Eden stood up and threw a stone into the deepest part of the pool. ‘From here on in, you can make you own decisions. And then maybe you’ll start taking some responsibility for them. Because blaming other people, that’s the coward’s way out. I thought you were better than that. But obviously I was wrong.’

  Eden turned and began walking back along the edge of the pool towards the forest. Cal felt bad then, not only because the things she said had hurt him, but because they were true.

  ‘Where are you going?’ he called, running to catch up with her.

  Eden turned to him angrily.

  ‘I don’t know. But I was a Girl Scout, remember? I’m quite capable of doing this on my own.’

  ‘I know you are,’ said Cal, ‘but I don’t want you to. And I’m sorry.’

  ‘For what?’

  ‘For being all those things you said. And for being an idiot.’

  Eden stopped walking then. She looked away from him, at the moss on the rocks and the reflections of the trees in the water. ‘You’re not an idiot, Cal,’ she said quietly. ‘And you don’t need to be sorry. You just need to be … different.’

  For a few moments, there was silence.

  Then Cal untied his sweatshirt from around his waist and slipped his T-shirt over his head.

  ‘OK,’ he said. ‘In that case, maybe I’ll start by making a decision.’

  Eden frowned.

  ‘What kind of decision?’

  ‘One based on the fact that I’m hot, I’m tired and my clothes are sticking to me.’

  He took off his shoes, balanced them on a rock and began unbuttoning his jeans.

  ‘Cal?’ Eden stared at him uncertainly. ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘Like I said,’ replied Cal, stepping out of his jeans to reveal a pair of blue boxer shorts, ‘I’ve made a decision. And the decision is, I want to go swimming.’

  As Eden put a hand up to her mouth to stifle a laugh, Cal stepped into the pool and waded in up to his knees. Then, before he could change his mind, he threw himself forward in a dive that took him down to the bottom of the pool, his fingers brushing the smooth stones before he splashed up to the surface again, the ice-cold water leaving him gasping for breath.

  ‘You’re crazy!’ called Eden from the side of the pool. ‘You know that, don’t you?’

  ‘Nah,’ said Cal, dancing around in an effort to keep warm. ‘It’s called making a decision.’

  He flipped over onto his back and kicked his legs so that spray skittered across the surface like diamonds.

  ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘You know you want to.’

  ‘Actually, I don’t,’ said Eden.

  ‘Course you do,’ said Cal. ‘How often do you get to swim in a pool halfway up a mountain? Just think. Next time you’re trailing around a dusty museum, do you really want to look back and think, I wish I’d done that?’

  ‘All right, all right!’ said Eden, kicking off her shoes and unbuttoning her jeans. ‘But I’m telling you, if it’s freezing, I’m going to come over there and stand on your head.’

  Cal saw that she was laughing and it made him laugh too.

  ‘You’ll have to catch me first,’ he said.
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br />   Eden was still smiling, right up until the moment the water reached her calves and her mouth formed a little O of shock. Then she recovered just enough to point a finger at him.

  ‘OK, mister,’ she said. ‘Now you’re gonna get what’s coming to ya.’

  And with that she threw herself forward and began swimming across the open water towards him.

  Cal watched her long enough to realise what a good swimmer she was – head down, breathing to the side – and then he was off, laughing and spluttering and kicking his legs in an effort to make it to the far side before she caught up with him. He almost made it, but with a couple of metres to go she grabbed his ankle, pulled him backwards and pushed him under the water. Cal opened his eyes and saw blurred stones and weeds waving in the current. Then her fingers dug into his sides and he burst through the surface, coughing and splashing his way to the shallows.

  He sat on the stones for a while, catching his breath and watching her swim over.

  ‘I warned you,’ she said. ‘You don’t want to mess with me.’

  Cal smiled.

  ‘Yeah, you’re a dangerous one. I’m just glad you ditched the shotgun.’

  Eden sat next to him and waved her foot amongst the weeds.

  ‘Cal?’

  ‘Uh-huh?’

  ‘Do you think we’ll make it out of here?’

  ‘Yeah. Don’t you?’

  ‘I’m worried about Jefferson. He ain’t gonna be too happy when he wakes up and finds we’ve gone.’

  Cal felt a pang of guilt then, and although he knew it was crazy to feel sorry for a man who had got them into all this trouble, he couldn’t help it.

  ‘We got his dog back for him, didn’t we? That was what he wanted.’

  ‘Yeah but like you said, we got an angry version of it. I made Jefferson angry, he went to bed angry, and so he dreamed up an angry dog.’

  ‘That might not be the reason.’

  ‘It might not. But if the things that happen in the world can affect the way you feel inside, then the feelings you have inside can also affect what happens out in the world. I guess it’s a two-way street.’

  ‘How do you mean?’ asked Cal.

  ‘I mean, for instance, if something bad happens to you, it can make you feel horrible inside and that can affect the way you behave towards other people. And the way you behave towards other people can affect the way they behave towards you, which affects the way you are with them and so it goes, on and on. And then if you’re not careful you can get stuck in one way of being for the rest of your life. That’s probably why Jefferson’s the way he is.’

  ‘So we’re stuck with what the world gives us, then,’ said Cal. ‘The world makes us who we are.’

  ‘It can do,’ said Eden, plucking a stone from the stream bed and throwing it into deeper water. ‘But it doesn’t have to.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because we can choose how we react to things. We can make our own decisions, remember?’

  ‘OK,’ said Cal. ‘Then let’s decide we’re going to get out of here. Let’s decide we’re going to go home.’

  Eden scooped up some water and cupped it in the palm of her hand.

  ‘I’ll drink to that,’ she said.

  Twenty-Six

  It wasn’t until the sun slipped behind the trees that Cal realised they were going to have to spend another night in the forest. His mood, which earlier on had been buoyant and hopeful, now faded with the dying sun. The insects quietened, the birds returned to their nests and the shadows lengthened beneath the pines.

  ‘You know where we are, don’t you?’ asked Eden as the trees thickened around them.

  ‘In a forest,’ said Cal wearily. He was tired and hungry. They had shared a handful of red thimbleberries that Eden had found growing in a forest clearing, but that was all they had eaten since the previous day. They had been walking since first light and suddenly the effort of speaking seemed almost too much.

  ‘Yeah, in a forest,’ said Eden. ‘In exactly the same place we started out.’

  And as Cal followed her beneath a low branch he saw the shelter she had built the night before.

  Eden picked up a stick and threw it as hard as she could through the trees. Cal listened to it clatter through the branches and heard the alarm call of a startled jay.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ he said. ‘How did we end up back here?’

  ‘Let me give you a clue,’ said Eden, smacking her hand against the trunk of a tree. ‘They all. Look. The frickin’. Same.’

  ‘Maybe we should just get some rest and wait until morning,’ said Cal. Although he wasn’t exactly keen on spending another night in the forest, his fear was tempered by exhaustion. The thought of lying down and sleeping for a few hours suddenly seemed very appealing.

  ‘And then what, Cal? Do exactly the same thing tomorrow? Cos the way things are going, we’re going to spend the rest of our lives running round in circles. That’s if we don’t get attacked by bears or something first.’

  ‘Hey,’ said Cal, putting a hand on her shoulder. ‘I thought you were a Girl Scout.’

  ‘Not any more.’ Eden leaned back against a tree, folded her arms and slid down to the ground. ‘I quit.’

  ‘We’ll be all right,’ said Cal. ‘Everything will be better tomorrow.’

  Eden raised an eyebrow.

  ‘You’ve changed your tune.’

  Cal shrugged.

  ‘It was just something someone said to me a couple of hours ago about choices and decisions. Can’t remember who it was, though. Some girl or other.’

  Eden managed a faint smile.

  ‘She sounds like a right pain in the ass.’

  ‘Totally.’

  Cal stretched out a hand and helped her up.

  ‘Promise me we’ll get out of here tomorrow,’ she said, resting her head on his shoulder.

  ‘I promise,’ said Cal.

  For a moment, the world seemed to stand still.

  And, just for a moment, Cal wished it would stay that way.

  Twenty-Seven

  At first Cal thought it was Eden’s breathing he could hear, the sound as faint as waves whispering to the shore. But when he opened his eyes and saw her sleeping silhouette he realised that the sound came from outside the shelter.

  It was closer now, the soft, almost imperceptible sound of air flowing into lungs and out again.

  ‘Eden,’ he whispered. ‘Eden. Wake up.’

  The sound stopped, to be replaced by a faint scratching, like a small creature searching for seeds amongst the branches.

  Cal watched the pine needles tremble and he moved closer, hardly daring to breathe. A tiny grey speck appeared in the side of the shelter, a full stop in a jumble of green. Then the full stop grew, sliding towards him like a tiny mountain, and just as Cal realised that he was staring at the tip of a metal blade it twisted and retracted, leaving a small round hole. And as Cal watched, something moved in the centre of the hole and Cal saw that it was an eye, and it was staring directly into his own.

  ‘Hello, Cal,’ whispered a voice, thin as wood smoke. ‘Shall we begin?’

  Then the blades of the shears plunged through the weave of branches, their sharp edges ripping through Cal’s sleeve and drawing a dark line of blood along his upper arm.

  As Cal cried out and clamped his hand over the wound, Eden kicked at the other side of the shelter and pulled him through just as the blades thumped into the earth where he had been lying only seconds before.

  Stars glittered overhead. Rolling onto his side, Cal saw the man standing beside the ruined shelter, opening and closing the shears as he stared at Cal through the gloom.

  ‘Is that him?’ whispered Eden.

  ‘It’s me he’s come for,’ said Cal as the man took a step towards them. ‘Not you.’

  Eden stared at him, not understanding. ‘How do you know?’

  Cal thought of the drawings and the nightmares that had haunted him for so long.

  �
��I just do,’ he said.

  He looked at the man then, at the old-fashioned clothes, the top hat and the frock coat. And as the man smiled and took another step towards them, Cal did the bravest thing he had ever done in his life.

  ‘Go,’ he whispered, pushing Eden with the flat of his hand. ‘Run.’

  If he was surprised at how fast she moved, how quickly she fled into the woods, then it was only momentary, soon to be replaced by the realisation that nothing now stood between him and the man who had pursued him through his nightmares.

  ‘Please,’ he said, clasping his hands together as if this might somehow make a difference. ‘What do you want? What are you going to do to me?’

  The man put his head on one side, like an adult addressing a small child.

  ‘Oh dear,’ he said. ‘Are you afraid?’ He opened the shears and closed them again, once, twice, as if to encourage an answer.

  Cal felt the stars whirl above him; imagined he heard the whisper of dead things beneath his feet.

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Of course I’m afraid.’

  The man smiled, as if this information pleased him.

  ‘People who are afraid will often fight to stay alive,’ he said, ‘even if they know there is no chance of survival.’

  He took the shears and rested the tips of the blades against his own chin, studying Cal with an amused expression.

  ‘So tell me. Do you think you will fight?’

  Cal shook his head, although not in answer to the question.

  ‘You don’t have to do this,’ he said.

  ‘Oh, but I do,’ said the man. ‘Answer the question.’

  ‘Please,’ said Cal.

  ‘Answer the question,’ repeated the man in a sing-song voice. ‘Answer. The. Question.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Cal.

  ‘Well, then,’ said the man, lowering the shears until they pointed straight at Cal’s head. ‘Let’s find out, shall we?’

  Twenty-Eight

  Cal felt his legs weaken and for a moment he was tempted to just give in, to fall to his knees, because the waiting was almost worse than what was coming.