by Power, Max
Thump! Thump! Thump! The sound was still there though fainter now and getting fainter by the moment. He was taking the right path. Woody opened his mouth wide almost like a yawn and wiggled his long purple tongue between his yellow pointed teeth. He licked their tips and growled. Thump! Thump! Thump! It was softer still, that ancient noise. The sound reminded him of his duty, his calling.
He pricked his ears and listened and the sky lightened again, just a little. Lifting his chin, Woody sniffed the air and then tasted it with his vile darting tongue. Daisy May was waiting for him now. She was ready. He was ready. Somewhere deep inside of him, a longing howl was born. But it wasn’t ready to be released upon the world. Not just yet anyway. Although he couldn’t afford to be patient any longer, the howl could wait. It was the howl that came when the job was done and it had a sweet taste, tucked away deep inside. Thump…Thump…Thump! The sound and the horrible feelings that came with it were barely there anymore. Something else had replaced them. Something called Desire. Woody knew he could wait no longer. It was time.
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR - GUILT
Daisy’s small and by now grubby fingers, gently moved across the clay covered lettering. There could be no mistaking the name. Benjamin Blood. How could it be? It made no sense, although in fairness, nothing was making sense anymore for Daisy. Benjamin watched her as the confusion deepened and spoke softly to her as she continued to finger the gravestone with his name on it.
“My father swore never to come back to this place. He swore on a stack of bibles I reckon.”
The sadness was evident in his voice and Benjamin looked at his feet when he spoke. Although it was something he had not been able to do for some time, Benjamin was managing to do something that had been lost to him. He was remembering.
“I reckon nothing else would have persuaded him to come here.”
“Nothing else?”
Daisy asked him gently, still looking at the name on the stone, not able to understand what he meant, still stunned at seeing his name on the stone.
“Nothing ...apart from me.”
Benjamin still didn’t look up and again his voice was so low, it almost disappeared. He sounded a little ashamed and Daisy turned to look at him. She didn’t understand what he was saying really. Daisy didn’t understand any of this. But at least now she felt sure about something. She felt sure about Benjamin. He was trying to look after her. He was hurt and alone and clearly needed someone to help him, just as Daisy did. She felt a little selfish. Daisy had never really considered Benjamin, only herself. She knew now, how sad he was. She knew that he was in pain as he remembered his father, so she stood and took his hand and squeezed it ever so gently.
“What happened?” she asked and Benjamin tried to explain.
“For as long as I can remember, my dad insisted that I stay away from this place. He never actually told me what happened to him, but he told me all of the other stories.”
“The ones in his book?” Daisy cut in.
“Yes” he answered and more besides. “I know now it was his intention to keep me away from Darkly Wood, to keep me safe.”
He looked into Daisy May’s eyes and he could see that he had her complete attention. She should know, he thought, so Benjamin kept going.
“When I was a little kid, the stories scared me; at least that’s what I remember. But as I grew up, they sounded a little silly, stupid even. I told my father that, but when I did he always became quite annoyed and forbid me to come here.”
He laughed a half stifled laugh as he remembered his own naivety.
“The way he acted…it seemed silly… ridiculous almost. It only made me more curious.”
There was a genuine melancholy in Benjamin’s voice. It was clear that he loved his father very much and Daisy could sense the regret in his voice. He had clearly disobeyed his father. Benjamin hadn’t told her yet, but she could see exactly where the story was going. She wasn’t wrong and Benjamin did not disappoint. He was standing right beside her and before he continued Benjamin leaned back, half sitting on his own headstone. Daisy, still holding his hand, stepped in closer and he took her other hand. He held them both together.
“I came up here for the first time on the first day of August. I thought I’d never forget that day, but for some reason I seemed to have done just that.”
Benjamin wore a blank expression on his face that gave nothing away.
“What do you mean?” Daisy asked, not getting his meaning.
“I forgot it all, everything.” Benjamin began to explain.
“How do you forget everything? How much did you forget? Everything? How can you remember now? When did you get your memory back?”
Daisy asked a whole bunch of questions at once, but Benjamin chose not to answer them all. Besides he didn’t have all the answers anyway.
“I mean pretty much everything. When I first met you, I could not remember any of it.”
He corrected himself slightly.
“Well, not exactly. It’s more that I didn’t know any of it. It’s really hard to explain.”
He sounded frustrated.
“I really don’t know Daisy May. It’s like, I was in a daze.”
Benjamin rubbed his forehead and although he didn’t know it, Daisy understood. She too had felt that cloudiness in her thoughts, though perhaps not as severe as Benjamin. He changed the subject and went back to his story.
“Anyway, do you want to hear what happened or not.”
He sounded a little agitated now, but he calmed himself. Daisy did indeed want to hear what happened.
“Sorry,” she offered, “go on.”
Although tempted to follow her usual instinct and ask another question, Daisy chose to let Benjamin explain. She would try not to interrupt anymore.
“It was a beautiful day,” he began again “I remember that much. At least…” Daisy could see that he was struggling to recall some detail, “...at least, it started out that way.”
Benjamin looked skyward searching for the details that were buried in his subconscious.
“I know I came up across the bridge where we met and I do remember coming up the hill the way we came…pretty much anyway.”
Again he paused. His memory was still unclear. He knew some things for sure, but others particularly the smaller details, were very muddled. Suddenly an image popped into his mind and he actually jumped ever so slightly with the fright. It was a horrific flash and in his mind’s eye, Benjamin saw the beast boy at his worst, all teeth and saliva. It felt as though the creature was snarling right in his face. Daisy noticed the change in him.
“What is it?” she asked, shocked by his startled appearance, concerned for him now, perhaps more than ever.
“I’m not sure,” he told her, “everything is a blur.”
The image of Woody’s vicious face returned, this time a little clearer and Benjamin grimaced, briefly recalling a moment from the time when he too had been attacked. The memory was an old one, but it felt fresh in that clearing and in that moment for some reason.
“I was in the Wood,” Benjamin explained, “and I think Woody attacked me, but I don’t really remember the details.”
He tried hard to recall and Daisy was patient.
“The thing I remember most is my father’s voice. He was calling me. The sound of his voice seemed to bring me around.”
Benjamin’s eyes darted left and right as he frantically searched for the memory.
“Bring you around?” Daisy pushed him along gently.
“Yeah” he started and then slightly excitedly, as he recalled the events he continued,
“I think Woody had me for some time. I know there was a lot of blood and pain,” he hesitated and explained, “but I can’t really remember the pain now. I do recall being terrified and then hearing my father’s voice.”
He looked at Daisy and her heart ached for him as she noticed a tear welling up in the pocket of his right eye, as his excited tone became sorrowful.
“You know the strange thing is, it wasn’t relief that I felt. All I could think about was how disappointed he would be in me for disobeying him.”
Then Benjamin lowered his eyes.
“It was such a selfish thought.”
Daisy May let go of his hands and took his face in hers. She lifted his chin to look at him. He was crying for real now.
“What do you mean selfish.”
Her question was soft, teasing the truth from him. Benjamin cried silently and without the hint of a sniffle. Tears ran freely down his pale cheeks, and she rubbed one away with her thumb.
“There I was, in this horrible place, a victim of its dark hidden secret,” Benjamin allowed a small sigh to escape before continuing, “and my father was coming to rescue me. He must have been so filled with fear.”
He took her hands down from his face as if he didn’t deserve affection.
“Don’t forget, he had seen what was in the Wood. He had come face to face with the beast and had survived. My dad had survived, he had actually escaped. The only one known to have done so and still, he was willing to face it all again…for me.”
Benjamin sobbed. He didn’t want to, but there was no stopping the emotion.
“He was your father Benjamin!”
Daisy tried to console him, but he wouldn’t be consoled.
“I should have listened to him! I should have done what I was told and because I didn’t…”
The tears really began to flow freely and he sobbed heavily as his voice wavered.
“Because I didn’t, he is dead.”
Unable to control her need to comfort him any longer, Daisy pulled her hands from his grip and wrapped her arms around Benjamin. She hugged him tighter than she had ever hugged anyone before. Daisy hugged and hugged, as if her life depended on it and then, she too cried. They held onto each other, Benjamin and Daisy, deep in the darkening dark of Darkly Wood, consoling each other’s fears and terror and it felt as though they would never let go.
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE - REVENGE
For John Blood the day with the title August first, began like any other. There was nothing about the day that could in hindsight, have been taken as an omen or portent of what was to come. By the time John went looking for his son Benjamin, it was nearly lunchtime. He hadn’t seen him for a while so he figured he was probably in his room. John called up the stairs, expecting the usual half muttered response.
“Benjamin?”
But there was no reply. That in itself was not unusual, it was often only on the second or third attempt that Benjamin would raise a response, especially if he was in a deep teenage slumber.
“Benjamin?” he called louder, “I’m making some lunch. What do you fancy?”
Again there was no response, so John shouted louder.
“BENJAMIN!”
Nothing. Sometimes it was frustrating managing a teenage boy who either slept or sulked half of his life away. John trundled up the stairs, muttering complaints and threats as he went, none of them serious. They were just loud enough for Benjamin to hear, in order to give him fair warning that he needed to shift his backside.
When he opened the door and discovered an empty room, his first reaction was surprise. John hadn’t heard him go out and Benjamin usually announced his departure, with at least an incomprehensible shout. In fact he always did. His room was a complete mess, clothes strewn everywhere and the curtains still drawn. It looked as though the room had been burgled, but there was nothing unusual about that. John picked up Benjamin’s pajama bottoms and underwear from the floor, annoyed at the mess and the fact that he had skipped out without telling anyone.
The bedroom was small but comfortable, right at the front of the house. It would have been familiar to Daisy May for the thing of it is, the house where John Blood stood tidying up his son‘s mess, was the same house that Daisy May’s mother had bought. In one of life’s strange coincidences, Benjamin Blood’s bedroom was in fact, Daisy May Coppertop’s room.
John pulled back the curtains and opened the window to let some of the stink of teenage feet out and some fresh air in. He was annoyed alright as he stood there surveying the street below. Benjamin was probably around at his friend Andy’s house. Andy lived just a few doors down and the boys were permanently in and out of each other’s houses. John sighed and was about to turn and head downstairs when something from the corner of his eye caught his attention.
John froze and turned to face the view through Benjamin’s window. It was the same delightful panorama that greeted Daisy each day. It was a view of the top field that led up to Darkly Wood. But it wasn’t the landscape that caught John’s attention. It was the sight of a distant figure, walking along the edge of Darkly Wood. The person was a long way away, but instinctively John Blood recognised the shape and distinctive gait of his only son Benjamin. Startled and horrified, he flattened the palms of his hands against the glass of the window, as though he might catch and stop his son with the gesture.
“Benjamin!” he softly and despairingly cried out.
There was no point in shouting. He was too far away. For a few moments, he just stood there, watching his beloved son walk ever closer to the Wood’s edge. He watched him walk slowly, casually with not a care in the world along the edge of Darkly Wood and then in an instant, as if by magic, he was gone.
John Blood had sworn he would never go near that place again as long as he lived, but his promise melted in that moment and he turned on his heels. There was no time to waste and he scuttled out through the bedroom door as fast as his damaged leg would carry him. He had a severe limp at the best of times; a result of the attack by the very beast that he now feared might take his son. Despite the physical difficulty and tremendous pain, John cleared the stairs in three bounds and burst through the front door leaving it swinging wide open behind him. His head emptied of all thoughts but one. Benjamin.
He limped across the small road and along its edge, clearing a low hedge in order to cut across at a sharper angle towards the little bridge that forded the stream. He fell hard on the other side, but got back up immediately. Every second counted, every corner had to be cut. John was across the bridge almost as soon as he reached it. Nothing distracted him and he kept his focus on the place where he believed he last saw Benjamin enter the Wood. John ran as fast as his damaged leg would carry him. There was no thought of what he would do when he got there. No plan of action, nothing but a deep, deep sense of dread and foreboding. John Blood’s heart raced and sank all at the same time. The meadow seemed endless and the hill much steeper than he had remembered. His legs were heavy and his chest was on fire, lungs burning from the effort. It had been many years since he had last made his way up across the meadow. John was a lot older and less fit than he had been back then.
Now, he was even further handicapped by the chunk that Woody had taken from his leg when last they met. He had been fortunate enough to have been treated by an excellent surgeon who repaired some of the damage, but there was only so much that could be done. John’s leg would never be the same.
When he finally reached the edge of the forest, he came to a shuddering stop. John couldn’t be sure if he had reached the place where his son had disappeared or not and as he held onto a tree for support, he panted heavily, struggling to catch his breath and searching the trees for sight of his boy. From afar he had pinpointed the spot where Benjamin had disappeared from view. He had felt sure that this was the place from a distance, but once he stopped, doubt began to creep in. There was no sign of his son anywhere.
“Benjamin!” he half called, half panted. Then he took a few deeper breaths. He was so breathless John could barely shout. He needed to get enough air into his lungs to call out properly.
“BENJAMIN!” He bellowed “BENJAMIN!”
It was the voice of panic, the sound of fear and although he heard his father shout, Benjamin could not answer him. He was in no position to call back and once time had passed, he could barely recall hearing the
shouting voice that called his name.
“BENJAMIN!”
The cry was loud and despairing and John Blood could literally sense the danger that his son was in. It was the worst thing he could have ever felt. Worse even, than the fear he had felt when the beast had chased him through the Wood all those years before. John would gladly face the beast again, if only he could have his son back. But it seemed hopeless.
Then, as if he had willed it, John saw the boy creature. He was bigger than John had remembered and he seemed to be dragging something behind him as he disappeared between two enormous trees. John knew what it was, that the boy hauled in his wake. Though terror stalked his thought process, John was driven by a higher instinct, a deeper need.
“BENJAMIN!” he roared, desperately tired.
He felt exhausted as his aching body tried to recover from his initial run up to the Wood. The problem was, John had no choice. Benjamin was in mortal danger. Somehow, he mustered up some strength to engage in the chase. But something was not right. His legs felt really heavy and his head hurt. There was a blinding light that filled his field of vision and a stabbing pain in his temples. It didn’t stop him. Still he ran or tried to run, a stumbling awkward old man run.
Nothing felt right. John could feel his limbs move, but it seemed like he had no direct control of them. His vision was blurry and wild light spirals distorted everything in his path. He felt dizzy and then suddenly quite nauseous. There was a screaming whirring noise filling his head, but above all, the thing that completely took over and dwarfed every other sensation was the pain.
John Blood had never experienced such a pain. It was all consuming. He wasn’t even aware that by this time, he was already laying prostrate on the forest floor, his head twisted awkwardly against an old tree stump, one arm wrenched awkwardly behind his back, the other lying helplessly by his side. John felt as though his whole body was twitching violently and in his head he was screaming at the top of his voice. In truth, outwardly, John lay motionless and silent and the elusive boy creature that held his son captive, calmly walked up to him. The creature made his way right to the spot where John had fallen, before bending over to get a close look at his face.