by Power, Max
The world lit up once more in a revealing flash and this time Daisy saw what it was, that had a hold of Benjamin. It was Woody. But it was not the Woody she remembered. His face was pale, made paler by the lightening but his eyes were the eyes of a beast, wild and hungry, surrounded by deep dark circles. His hair was splayed away from his face, dry and static filled. The skeletal bones of his face protruded pale and angular, giving him a wild vicious look. But worse still, worst of all was his mouth. Worst of all were the sharp pointed, half-rotten savage teeth, the teeth of a creature of the woods. The mouth frightened her most of all, as it snapped and snarled at her through the flicker of lightening.
In that horrible moment Woody the beast, leapt towards her. The creature was greedily snatching at Benjamin, eager to keep his prize. He swiped at Daisy. The long broken rotten nails that grew longer than natural for a normal boy and were caked with the dirt of the wood, slashed out and cut her face, forcing Daisy to release her hold on Benjamin and he slid away from her grip one more time.
She was truly frightened, but now more than anything Daisy was filled with rage. She had no idea where it came from or how it overcame all of her other emotions, but in hindsight Daisy was to be glad of the power of that feeling as it overtook her. It was a rage she had never felt before and she could not contain it. If ever there was a time for rage, this was it and it was only rage that stood between the two lost souls and disaster. Daisy sprang forward, once again completely blind in the dark, guessing at the direction she should aim. She chose perfectly, landing right on top of Benjamin and tumbling forward as she did so. It was not her intention, but in the process she caught Woody right in the face with the top of her head and stunned, he let loose his grip on Benjamin.
Lightening lit up the forest once again, this time a more prolonged flash that seemed to stutter all around them. In that staccato moment of opportunity, Daisy reacted quickest. She grabbed a broken piece of tree branch from the forest floor and in a single swift motion, swung with all her might aiming for Woody’s head. He was on his knees, still stunned from her head butt, directly in front of her.
The blow to his face had stunned him completely. He had been holding his jaw which was aching from the impact of her head and when he looked up, it was just in time to see what was about to hit him. But Woody was quick and he tried to dodge the blow. He was not quick enough. Daisy’s aim was poor in the half-light flicker of the lightening and in truth, had he not tried to avoid the blow, he might not have been hit so perfectly on the side of his head.
Woody let out a screech that was drowned out by the clap of thunder that followed the lightening and as all fell dark and silent again, Daisy was sure she saw and heard him scuttle away into the undergrowth. She scrambled towards where she had last seen Benjamin, feeling for him in the dark. Relieved, she found his arm. Daisy clutched Benjamin close to her and tried to get her bearings. The world had suddenly gone completely mad. She was lost and alone apart from her helpless companion and Daisy knew the creature was still close by. Would it attack again? Could she fend it off a second time? Question after question raced through her mind. She clasped Benjamin close, still and cold and began to cry as Daisy May Coppertop wondered how on earth, she was going to survive the night in Darkly Wood.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN – DEEPER STILL
Perhaps the strangest thing of all about waking up was the fact that in doing so, Daisy realised that she had somehow managed to fall asleep. The realisation was something of a surprise for as she came to, Daisy’s recollection of the night suggested that sleep would have been impossible to find. Somehow it had taken her over completely, and somehow they were both still alive as morning broke in the forest. She was very cold and her clothes felt damp. Daisy began to shiver, but at least she was alive and that was something.
Lying propped against a big old oak tree, Daisy was stiff and cramped. Benjamin was stretched across her lap, his cold white face cradled in her arms. He was fast asleep. Daisy could hear him breathing and his chest rose and fell slowly and steadily. It was good that Benjamin was breathing easy, although he looked terribly pale. She touched his face and it was cold like hers. Daisy moved a tiny bit, trying not to disturb the sleeping Benjamin, but the moment she did so, her senses came alive and everything instantly ached. Her back was dreadfully sore from the position she had been lying in, propped up awkwardly against the tree. Pins and needles swarmed through her feet and legs as the movement allowed her blood to begin circulating freely once more. As gently as possible, Daisy lifted Benjamin’s head and removed herself from under his weight. He didn’t stir and remained fast asleep. Once clear of him, she very slowly stood up.
The forest was very quiet. There was no bird song and the wind had died completely to nothing, so even the branches above her head were still and silent. Absolutely nothing moved. The light was a poor half-light and Daisy didn’t know if she had woken up early in the morning or had slept late into the evening. She had no idea of the time, but the light was low so she felt sure it was early morning. It didn’t seem to make sense that she could have slept right through the day. In truth it made no sense to her that she had slept at all.
Once she had got back to her feet, Daisy hugged herself and stamped her feet, shaking off the shivers. The pins and needles were annoying, but at least they would pass. All around, the Wood appeared quite creepy. It looked different somehow. The trees seemed bigger, thicker and the undergrowth looked denser than she recalled from the previous day. Daisy felt like a very small girl in a giant forest. It was hard to believe that the Wood she had entered the day before could be so different once they went in deeper beyond its fringe.
The images of Woody in the storm swam through her mind, but now in the cold light of day, Daisy couldn’t be sure if it all might have been just some horrible dream. Had they really been attacked in the night by some crazed version of the boy that they had been following? He had seemed so harmless. His appearance was that of a sad little boy, so melancholy. Now that the night had passed, the memory felt surreal. Perhaps it was just a dream. Worst of all, Benjamin wouldn’t be able to tell her if she had imagined it or not, because he had been unconscious throughout the whole thing. She buried her face in her hands and was shocked to feel the sting of a deep laceration to her cheek. It felt huge and when Daisy looked at her hand, there was blood on her fingers.
“Daisy May?”
Benjamin was awake and trying to sit up. Instantly she forgot her cut and a huge smile filled her face. It was such a relief to hear his voice. She helped him to sit upright.
“How are you feeling?”
She brushed the soft wavy hair from his forehead.
“Not great, but I guess I’m OK.”
He gave Daisy a concerned look.
“What on earth happened to your face?”
Daisy touched her cheek and dismissed him.
“It’s nothing, I will explain later. First things first, we have to get out of this place.”
It was his cue to struggle to his feet with Daisy’s help and although he was a little shaky, at least he managed to stand up. They hadn’t eaten since the previous day and Daisy was starving. Her tummy rumbled and Benjamin pointed at it.
“I think you’re hungry!”
She laughed.
“Starving, but to be honest, I’m really thirsty more than anything else. What about you?”
He scratched his head.
“To be truthful, I just feel a bit sick. I know I should be starving, but my stomach just feels very dodgy. I’m freezing cold though.”
He shivered then he looked around purposefully as though he was looking for something.
Daisy rubbed his arms to warm him up but she noticed his searching glances.
“What is it?” She asked, “I was so worried about you last night. Tell me what happened to you?”
Benjamin took to stamping his feet and rubbing his own arms and Daisy hugged herself against the chill of the morning. He seemed distracted and she g
ot the impression he didn’t want to talk about how he felt any more. Benjamin looked as though a thought of some importance had crossed his mind. He began to study their surroundings, ignoring Daisy’s half question. She had tried to get something from him that he was not prepared to give. He changed the subject.
“If I remember correctly...”
He drifted off mid-sentence as he did remember, before continuing,
“Come on, there is a stream running through this wood somewhere. It comes out at the North end. Maybe if we can find it, we can follow it out to finally get away from this place.”
He lowered his head for a moment before looking at her again and then he continued once again.
“I’m sorry for bringing you here.”
Daisy didn’t like his embarrassment and changed the subject, taking his arm.
“Come on then, let’s find this stream. I could do with a drink, I’m Parched!”
Daisy did not want to talk about the boy-beast from the night before. Her sense of reality was disturbed greatly by recent events and all she wanted to do, was to get home. The daylight and Benjamin’s recovery were things for which she was grateful. She was happy just to get moving, with a hope that they could escape the nightmare.
She led him and they moved slowly as Benjamin was still very weak. They headed in a direction that Daisy chose at random. It didn’t seem to matter much anymore. They were so lost it couldn’t get much worse. At least they might warm up with some exercise. Daisy zipped her top all the way up to her chin. Darkly Wood wasn’t that big. They would be out soon as long as they kept walking. If they found the stream, then they could follow it. If not, well the Wood really couldn’t go on forever. All they had to do was pick a direction and try to keep on a straight line. That was easier said than done.
It was tough going as before and the trees seemed even bigger, if that was possible. They looked enormous and Daisy did not remember them looking quite so big from a distance. Everywhere they stepped, there were gnarled tangles of roots, thorn bushes, ferns, rocks and all manner of obstacles to make the going as tough as possible. At one point they came to a small clearing. The trees above still closed out the sky but the forest floor opened up into an almost perfect little circle. The only problem was that the clearing was populated by huge stinging nettles.
They were waist high and they had to be carefully negotiated. But Daisy quickly solved the problem. She picked up a small fallen branch from the forest floor and hacked a path through the nettle field. Even so, they both managed to get a fair number of stings to their hands in the crossing. But that seemed the least of their problems. Daisy remembered the story Benjamin had started to tell her the day before and she asked him to tell her the whole story. It seemed like a good idea.
Daisy’s recollection of the previous night’s events now seemed vague. She certainly didn’t want to think about it or talk about it. Besides, Benjamin had passed out and was unlikely to have any recollection. She half felt as though it might even have been a dream. Her memories became more muddled and very weird, the further they travelled. Anyway, Daisy needed distraction from the hunger, thirst and the irritation of the nettle stings. They both needed distracting. So, with Daisy’s encouragement, Benjamin returned to his story just where he had left off.
As he began, they were completely unaware that up ahead, straddling a long thick branch of a mighty oak, high in the forest Canopy, a very peculiar creature of the forest was waiting. Woody sat on his perch and watched them approach. He had heard them coming from way off in the distance and had carefully chosen his concealed vantage point to observe them. Woody was excited. His face hurt where Daisy had hit him and he touched it gingerly, wincing slightly. But almost immediately he dismissed the pain and he rubbed his thighs as he often did when he was excited. Woody craned his thin neck, sniffed the morning air and smiled a greedy smile in anticipation of their arrival.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN – WAITING
Woody sat and watched and waited. He fidgeted and was all twitchy. Moments like these, didn’t come along very often. It was hard for him to stay still and relax. Woody knew that all he had to do was to be patient, but patience did not come naturally to him on that particular day. His, was a very peculiar existence. Usually patience was not a problem. When there is nothing to look forward to, then there is nothing to get excited about. It was only at times like these, when he knew that the arrival of another was imminent, that he became energized. For the rest of the time, Woody felt as though his was an existence of semi-hibernation. Day after endless day, Woody rarely felt anything. But now, oh yes indeed he could feel. Every sinew and nerve end in his body was tingling with anticipation. Woody had cause to be excited. He was ready.
Darkly Wood was all that he knew or rather, all that he had experienced. That did not mean that Woody was unworldly. He knew many things. Woody knew things that belied his limited experience in his very small world, but know things he did. He did not know why. Woody knew things like, when good passed by. He knew good and he knew good people. Woody could not have existed without them. For such a dark creature, he relied heavily on the good that existed in the world. It may have been strange but his understanding of all that was good, came from his complete knowledge of all that was evil.
Woody was not unique. There were others like him, but not inside the forest. Darkly Wood belonged to Woody and the world outside stayed outside. Most visitors were not allowed to come in. Those who came to visit were kept at bay unless invited and once invited, they never returned. Woody made sure of that. He was never quite sure why, or if he made the invitation or if that came from somewhere else. It certainly felt to Woody as though the choice was his, but he was never fully sure.
Woody sniffed the air and he knew that Daisy May was near. She smelt vile to him. But vile was good. Closing his eyes, Woody tilted his head back ever so slightly and his jaw protruded as his chin rose and his nostrils flared. He sniffed deep and he rolled his long thin fingers with excitement. Woody even tittered to himself.
When he opened his eyes, Woody instinctively knew that they were close and would soon be coming into view. Like an acrobat, he sprung from his sitting position on the great branch to a squat and he rubbed his knees, anxious for their arrival. Benjamin was of no interest to Woody and he despised everything about him. He hated the way the boy looked and walked and talked, and he absolutely could not stand his weakness. Having a girl defend you…Ha! How pathetic, he thought.
That thought, momentarily reminded him of the blows that Daisy May rained down on him the night before and he touched his head. It hurt. He felt the huge lump and wiggled, shaking himself angrily on the branch. The memory only made him more eager and he leaned forward again, jittery, waiting, wishing that she would hurry up. That boy was slowing her down. Bah! He had been too impatient in the night, Woody knew that now. They were getting close, and this time he would not let his excitement get the better of him.
He stood up and looked to his right in the direction that the path was leading Daisy May. Not far now. The way was clear and they would have no choice but to follow the track. The trap was set. The time was close. Woody would have his prize.
He heard a noise and squatted down again, cocking his head and listening. No, not yet he thought, but soon though. Woody bounced up and down on his hunkers excitedly, imagining how Daisy May would feel when it was too late to do anything about her predicament. So thick was the branch he was perched on, that not even one leaf rustled. As he bounced, he chuckled quietly and bounced on his hunkers again. Where could they be? Oh where could they be? What on earth was keeping them? It was so annoying.
He clambered across the limb of the tree and scuttled up the branch to go higher and get a better look. Woody moved so fast and was so agile, it was quite a sight. He was like a squirrel as he spun his way up to a higher, lighter branch.
It was better up high. From his new vantage point, Woody could see the tops of the trees that marked the centre of the wood. Not
just the centre, but the heart of the forest, the dead centre of the Wood. It was where he needed Daisy May to go. It was where Darkly Wood was leading her.
In truth, he couldn’t see the forest floor at the centre of the wood, but from up this high he could see the gap in the trees, the clearing and the blackened tops of the trees that surrounded the clearing. That was the centre of Darkly Wood. The gap he could see wasn’t an actual opening in the canopy, more a dip in the canopy really. Below that spot where the tree tops curled in to see the ground, Woody had a surprise in store for the brave girl that he was stalking in the Wood.
There was a noise below in the forest and he crouched down and stayed very still. For a moment or two there was nothing to be seen. Woody had keen eyesight and he scanned the forest below. Picking movement out through the camouflage of the trees could be difficult, but Woody was an expert. It was then that she appeared. It was Daisy May. She was walking along ever so slowly, supporting the stupid sickly boy Benjamin.
“Weakling!” he wanted to shout down at him, but he didn’t. They were moving in the right direction. It was slow progress that was for sure, but progress it was and that was all that really mattered. As long as they kept moving in the right direction he would not complain. Soon enough Woody would have exactly what he wanted. Soon enough another soul would be lost to Darkly Wood.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN – JOHN
Oblivious to the shenanigans above her head, Daisy listened intently as Benjamin told the story, which had been rudely interrupted the night before. Benjamin began with a quick recap. He reminded her of the arrival of the stranger to Cranby and of his happy life with his small family and then he continued on with the rest of the tale.