Total is at 3944 now, but eh. :( 600 isn't that bad to leave to catch up for tomorrow.
NOW IN MY STORY A THING HAPPENS. A little faster than I meant for it to (it was supposed to eat up those last 600 words too!) but whatever. Probably my fault. Conversation and transition into THE THING THAT HAPPENS seemed pretty rushed. Now you probably know what kind of story this is. Probably.
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After a fair bit of walking, she reached the center of the forest. The trees here were more widely spaced out, and on the opposite side of the center from where she had come, hugged close by two trees, was her shed. It was not in the greatest condition, having not been properly maintained in what could very well have been an eternity, but the colors cast upon it from the light that burned from above gave it a slightly antiquated look, she thought; or perhaps the word she was looking for was "quaint."
She shoved aside the rock that held the shed's door closed with her foot, and stepped inside, letting the light fill the small enclosure. High up on a small shelf were a few apples of a faded red colour. She took one and bit into it, savoring the sweet taste. She no longer had any need to consume food or drink in this way to survive -- her only enemy now was time. She still grew old like any other living creature, and one day that could kill her.
She glanced at the tall mirror leaning against the wall, being held in place by a small metal folding chair. The light was imperfect, but what could be gleaned from it under these conditions was all she had. Recently, she had begun to wonder if, with the lack of sufficient prey lately, it would be in her best interests to take the mirror outside so she could see exactly how bad things were. But it was so tall, so thick, and it would surely be heavy. Perhaps it would be more trouble than it was worth. Perhaps she was better off not knowing.
She looked at her face in the mirror, settling, at least for now, for the sub-optimal lighting. Looking closely, she frowned at her reflection. Though she had that wild dog not long ago, her lips and eyes were still framed by a few wrinkles. It was certainly better than it had been before, but just one dog would not be enough. With growing dread, she hoped that the coming winter would bring more of the dogs into her domain. She tried to forget the fact that they had been rare even during the outside world's previous winters.
She left the shed with a sense of urgency, closing the door and again using a foot to return the rock to its usual place, and hurried off in a random direction. Eventually she calmed herself, and sat with her back against a tree. She still held the apple in her hand. The part she had bit from before had changed to a brown colour, so she turned it and took a bite from a different part of it. She had no need to eat these apples, but she enjoyed the taste, and it felt nice to chew once in a while. When she had finished eating the parts of the apple that still looked appetizing, she tossed it into the trees behind her. A gift for the small animals that still lived here, for not abandoning her.
She became alert to the sound of leaves crunching. Silently, she stood and listened more intently, hoping that another wild dog might have wandered in. But as she listened, she realized that whatever it was, it walked on only two legs. She wondered if that irritating old hag of a witch had at last decided to pay her another visit. Looking around to find her, the woman soon realized from the close sound of the steps that she must have been behind her. With hostile eyes, the woman turned around the tree she had been standing against. What had been walking towards her was not the witch as she had expected -- and it let out a cry of surprise when she had come out from behind the tree.
It was a young boy. The hostility fled from her in an instant. She had no idea who this boy was. He glanced around nervously as she pondered if he was perhaps from the nearby village, as she was. His clothes were mostly different from the style that had been common for young boys back when she lived there, but how many years had passed since then? She had no idea what had happened in the outside world; not an inkling of how popular styles and trends might have changed since then.
"Uh," the boy started, breaking her from her thoughts, "would you happen to know what this place is?"
The woman blinked at him for a moment, unsure of how she should take this encounter from here. He was at first looking her in the eye, though clearly rather afraid of her, but after a few more seconds of this, he averted his eyes.
"Are you lost?" The woman asked. The boy looked around as if to see if he could find any landmarks he recognized, then turned back to the woman and nodded, eyes low with embarrassment. "Well then," she continued, "where did you come from?"
"I'm from a village not too far from here. Do you know where it is?"
"A village, you say?" The woman took a moment to think. But it wasn't the location of the village she was thinking about. She thought that this boy could perhaps be a nice diversion from her boredom for a while, and she was wondering how she might get him to stay a little longer.
"Well? Do you have any ideas?"
"Ah, yes, perhaps. There was, I believe, a village at the edge of this forest."
The boy's eyes brightened. "So you do know about it! Can you tell me which direction it is from here?"
"Ah, yes, yes, but first, why don't we go to my home to rest for a little bit?"
The boy's excitement faded with that suggestion. "But I've been away from home for a while now, and I really want to go back..."
"Yes, of course. You must be tired, though, and hungry as well. The village is quite a long walk away from here, too." The boy did not seem to be convinced by her words, though his hesitation was perhaps caused by the tinge of fear the woman could still sense in his movements. She wondered if he could somehow sense that she was not a human like he was.
The silence was broken not by words, but by the growling of the boy's stomach. He looked at the woman, embarrassed, and she smiled at him. "Well, that settles that. There are apples at my house; let us go there, and rest, and you can fill your belly," she said. The boy still seemed hesitant, and so she gently took his hand into hers. "And I find the apples quite delicious, if my opinion amounts to anything. Now come, let's go."
With his body's betrayal of his needs and her hand holding his, the boy seemed to have lost his will to resist her invitation.
She led him to her small shed, and, smiling, looked down to gauge the boy's reaction. He looked cautious, now, like he might run. "What's wrong?" she asked him.
"This is your house?"
She took a second look at it, at first not understanding what the problem was. But then she remembered -- humans didn't live in old sheds. Humans lived in houses. She smiled at him weakly, now. "Well, this is all I have."
"Can't you get someone to build a real house for you?" the boy suggested.
"I know no one who could do such a thing, nor do I have any money with which to pay them for their work."
The boy's fear was gone now, replaced with pity. "I guess not everyone is as fortunate as we are in the village."
"No, they aren't. Now come inside," the woman said as she pushed the rock aside to open the door. He followed her in cautiously, and she, of course, left the door open for the extra light. The boy looked around at the shed, possibly wondering how someone could live there. The woman remembered how humans slept on beds, and had washrooms and other such utilities. She, of course, had none.
"You can sit on that chair over there," she told the boy, motioning towards the folding chair in front of the mirror.
He hesitated. "Where will you sit, then?"
"I can stand. You are the one who must rest, after all." That answer seemed to have satisfied the boy, for he took his seat where she told him to. She reached up to her shelf and took two apples down, and handed him one. He took it, but did not begin eating it. He seemed to be inspecting it, to make sure it really was an apple. "They're just normal apples," she said, "it's not as if they're poisonous."
She saw the boy's eyes widen slightly, and he ceased to examine the apple. "So who are you, anyway?" he asked.
"Me?" The boy nodded his affirmation, and the woman was at a loss for words. She was unsure how to answer this question. She could not even think of a name to give him -- she had simply thought of herself as herself for so long that she no longer remembered her real name.
"Like, what's your name? How did you end up living here all alone in this weird forest?"
The woman blinked at him, still trying to think up something to tell him. She searched her memory for names, trying to remember her own, or any old name that she could use. After a moment, she finally answered: "My name is Melanie. I have always lived in this forest. And what about you? I know that you are from the village, but little else."
"I'm Cody."
There was a moment, then, of awkward silence. The woman began to eat her apple, wondering if Cody had any intent to do the same. "It really isn't poisoned, you know," she said.
"I'm not really all that hungry anymore, though. I don't like apples, anyway."
She looked at him curiously, wondering why he was so incredibly cautious about her. She had certainly startled him when they first met, but after that she had been nothing but kind to him. And yet his fear and caution had continued. "Why are you so afraid of me?" she asked outright.
Her straightforwardness caught him off guard for a moment, and he looked back at the apple she had given him. "Well, I've heard stories that a witch lives in this forest."
She laughed at this. "You think I am a witch?" She looked above him, at her reflection in the mirror. Her messy black hair; her old, wrinkled skin; her rather disheveled clothing. A strange old lady living alone in the forest. Perhaps it was not such a far-fetched judgement. She looked back at the boy, who semeed embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I should not have laughed. I do see why you would think that. But I assure you, Cody, that if I were a witch with magical powers, I would live in a far more glamorous home than an old abandoned shed, and I would use my powers to make myself so much more beautiful."
Cody thought about that for a moment, and then looked at the apple again, and slowly took a small, cautious bite of it. She smiled at him. "It's delicious, isn't it?" He nodded, and before long he was devouring the apple ravenously.
When he had finished, she asked him to tell her more about the story he was told -- about this witch that lives in the forest. "They say she lures kids to her house and fattens them up with food. Then she ties them up and throws them in a pot of boiling water to cook them, so she can eat them."
The woman laughed again. "You believe a story like that?" Cody looked away, clearly embarrassed yet again. "And I imagine your parents tell you this story so you'll stay away from this forest, yes?"
"Well, yeah."
Something in his story had made her realize something. What if the value of the animals she took as her prey was not their size or complexity, but rather their possible lifespan? A human... would surely live for many many more years than any dog could ever hope to. Her smile faded. "And yet you still came?"
"Well, it was a dare from a friend. Everyone would call me a coward if I didn't try it."
"Ah, one of those types of things." In truth, the woman did not understand his motivation at all.
"Yeah."
The woman nodded, and took another bite of her apple before setting it aside and taking a step forward. The boy looked at her, confused. "Stand. It's time to go back to your village." He complied, and she suddenly grabbed his wrist and swung him against the wall.
For a moment he was dazed by both the impact to the back of his head and the sheer strength the woman possessed, that she could move his entire body so swiftly as if it were no heavier than a feather. She placed her other hand flat on his chest, and saw the panic and confusion in his eyes as he tried to figure out what had happened, what was happening, and what was going to happen.
"What are you doing?" he stammered. But then he looked to be in great pain, though he managed to stop himself from crying out. He attempted to struggle, but his strength left him almost immediately. The woman watched as his features first became more defined, and then slowly fell apart as he aged. It didn't stop with leaving him as an old man -- eventually his skin withered away; all his organs and muscles and the like with it, and at last his bones turned to dust. When it was over, there was no trace that there had ever been a boy.
The woman took a slow, deep breath, in a state of euphoria. It quickly passed, and when she remembered what she had just done, she hurried to look into the mirror. The wrinkles had completely disappeared. She brushed a hand over her cheek. The surface of her skin was incredibly smooth, incredibly soft. She looked how she remembered looking on her last day as a human; the day she came to this forest. She smiled with elation.
LCN WRITING WEEK, i had not a better name, sorry world.
Mar 25 2013, 03:00 AM
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Shiokazu LCN WRITING WEEK Mar 25 2013, 03:00 AM
