Darkly Wood

by Power, Max

  Much to her surprise for she hadn’t recalled it before, Daisy remembered collapsing in a heap from the exhaustion in her moment of panic, adrenalin coursing through her veins. Her breathing was laboured. It was her asthma. Daisy recalled that she had stood up, her throat tightening, her lungs gasping for air. She remembered the fear vividly now. Her inhaler had been in her back pocket but when she reached for it, the inhaler was gone. It was a horrible memory, more frightening and stark because it had been an absent memory until now.

  In her recollection, her panic and pain grew and her head began to swim. Then she remembered the bridge. Daisy scrambled back to the bridge. She knew that the inhaler must have fallen out of her pocket when she was jumping around, trying to escape from the wasp. But it was hard to even walk. Daisy remembered it all now, every frightening moment with absolute clarity. She remembered making it back to the bridge and she recalled that the inhaler wasn’t there. She remembered looking across to her house and feeling like she wouldn’t make it even that short distance without her inhaler. In her recollection, Daisy was sucking, gasping, trying to gulp air but her airway was closed. She fell to her knees and there in the water below, the little plastic cylinder revealed itself to her.

  “Remember!” Woody urged her, a secret smile sneaking across his lips.

  She was remembering. Daisy crawled on her hands and knees, the few feet to the edge of the bridge and then rolled down the short drop along the bank landing sideways, half in, half out of the water. Her inhaler was there, just out of reach, but it might as well have not been. Daisy recalled the moment that her lungs stopped breathing for her and she clearly remembered closing her eyes.

  Woody watched her as she cupped her hands over her face and started to cry. It was a terrible thing to remember, a shocking thing, an unbelievable, unacceptable thing. He waited while she mourned for herself. At least he hoped that was what she was doing. Woody really hoped she now understood. But he didn’t give her long. She sobbed softly for a few minutes as the realisation sunk in and then he spoke to her again.

  “You remember now, don’t you?” The sympathy in his voice was completely false.

  She stopped sobbing and took her hands down from her wet face. She looked defeated. She felt defeated.

  “What else do you remember?” Woody asked.

  “What else?” she asked in answer to his question. What else could there be?

  “Yes. What else? Do you remember Benjamin?” The question seemed stupid to her somehow.

  “Of course I remember Benjamin?” was her answer but Woody clarified his question.

  “Do you remember Benjamin at the bridge Daisyee Mayee?”

  “Yes,” she declared plainly, “he was...” but then she stopped.

  The images flashed through her mind again. She recalled everything now, every last detail, the bridge, the wasp, her asthma attack, right to the last moment, everything. But there was no Benjamin. He had not been there at the bridge. Daisy May looked at Woody with puzzlement in her eyes. Then she stood up very slowly and looked over to where Benjamin had lain. He was gone.

  She looked all around her in case she was somehow mistaken about where he had been, but there was no doubting his absence. It couldn’t be? Had she imagined him? She looked down at the smiling face of Woody. He too stood up and walked towards her. Woody only stopped when he was standing directly in front of her. He was as close to Daisy as Benjamin had been when he had kissed her for the first time. He took her hand and it felt cold.

  “Come” he softly urged her, “It’s time.” Woody gently squeezed her hand.

  In a surreal moment Daisy May let the beast of the forest lead her by the hand across the site of her own grave. He gestured for her to sit, which she did obediently. Nothing was real anymore. She was giving in, giving up. Woody walked around her and stood behind her. She sat silently, lost in mire of confusion.

  Woody, the boy beast, the creature of the Wood, placed his long filthy hands on her shoulders and looked up towards the sky beyond the trees and the vague murmurs from above began to rumble again. A monstrous raging thunder gathered overhead, ready to be unleashed along with the beast inside the boy. Woody stretched his neck to its fullness, each vein and sinew straining and pulsating, pressing against the thin pale skin of his throat. A rough gurgling throaty gargle gathered and grew in his windpipe and Woody’s vile purple lips, peeled back across his moist elongated tongue and his flesh tearing yellow teeth were exposed to the sky.

  He could feel it now. His whole body was alive. It pulsated from top to toe. The eyes of the creature widened and his sockets appeared more hollow than usual. His cold flesh tingled as he looked down upon his prize. No more waiting. The time was finally here. Woody pulled Daisy May’s hair to one side, revealing her soft, tender, pale neck flesh. He drooled slightly and grabbed her head with one hand and her shoulder with the other, prising open a clear view of the side of her throat.

  His sudden roughness shook Daisy May from her stupor and she struggled to free herself from his grip but it was impossible. Woody had conjured up the full strength of the beast and he screeched a demonic wild screech the shook the trees.

  “WASSHHHHEEEEEEEECH!”

  Daisy May began to cry. He was hurting her and she was helpless in his grasp. The sky that had threatened to wreak havoc for so long finally erupted above the forest.

  BOOM - BOOM - BOOM! Three successive retorts and this time the ground actually shook beneath them.

  “WASSHHHHEEEEEEEECH!” the creature screeched again and Woody opened his beastly mouth wide, saliva drizzling from its sides. He was ready now. He would feast at last. There could be no more waiting. Woody sucked in a final wild gulp of air through his teeth and he dived down to sink his filthy fangs into Daisy May’s neck.

  CHAPTER FORTY ONE – RUN!

  The beauty of the strike came in its execution. From out of the wind Benjamin seemed to blow in from nowhere, swinging a bat-like branch over his shoulder. It was a delicate swerving swing, delivered with great force and it came down hard across the top of Woody’s head. The sound it made was a very satisfying hollow clunk and it was accompanied by a very loud crack.

  Woody simply stopped. Everything about him instantly ceased to function. One moment he was a fierce wild creature of the forest, alive and in control, the next he was something else entirely. He went limp, his jaw slid closed as did his eyelids and he slumped to his side in a motionless heap upon the forest floor. As he fell, his grip loosened on Daisy and she instinctively pulled away and dived forward to escape. When she turned to see Benjamin standing behind her, it was a shock beyond all that had happened up to that moment. But she didn’t care. Daisy felt huge relief and leapt straight to her feet. She grabbed him and he instantly dropped his weapon so that he could grab onto Daisy and hold her tight.

  The two of them held their embrace for such a long time and tears fell silently down Daisy’s cheeks. When she finally looked up at him, he was smiling back at her. He brushed a tear from Daisy’s cheek.

  “I thought you were dead,” she began. “I thought we both were.”

  She sniffed and sobbed as she spoke, her words fighting through a crazy maelstrom of emotions.

  Benjamin looked her in the eyes, holding her gaze before he leaned forward slowly. His lips pressed warm and soft against hers and she closed her eyes. They held the kiss and their embrace for what seemed like a very long time. It felt good and safe and lovely and warm. Daisy had thought that she was dead, but in that moment as Benjamin kissed her, she never felt more alive. When finally they separated, Benjamin whispered to her softly,

  “Dying is such an intimate thing, don’t you think!”

  It was Daisy’s turn to smile. Sometimes, he said the strangest of things. Daisy was about to answer but Benjamin released his hold on her and pulled away, just a little.

  “You’re not dead yet!”

  Benjamin suddenly declared, sounding a little excited and he looked around at the openings in the c
learing.

  “Come on!”

  There was no time to explain, no time to waste.

  He grabbed Daisy’s hand and started to run with her towards the nearest opening. But as soon as they got close to the way out, it began to close. It was just like before when Daisy had tried to escape on her own, only not quite. This time it was different. The trees were slow and straining and couldn’t quite seem to get going in their efforts to trap Daisy and Benjamin.

  As they reached the gap in the trees, Daisy feared the worst but much to her surprise, Benjamin hauled her through the narrowing space. In an instant they were through the gap of clawing tearing hawthorn. On the other side there was a rough track and Benjamin pulled Daisy along by the hand. He was like a boy possessed, determined to get them free of the wood.

  He was a new, invigorated Benjamin and there was no hesitation in his choice of route. He ran fast and hard and Daisy May was carried along with him. Neither of them spoke. There wasn’t time or breath enough to waste. The path was rough and occasionally the forest closed in around them again, but never completely. Before long, the sky appeared above them through the tree tops for the first time in what seemed an age. Daisy looked up to see specs of blue through the leafy canopy. A breeze caught her hair and it felt cold. It felt good.

  On and on they ran, dodging left and right, never slowing, never hesitating. The canopy opened up more and all around the forest lightened. There was even birdsong and space and light and Daisy began to feel as though they might finally be free of this terrible place.

  But then, just as hope appeared, terror followed in its footsteps. The first sign was an ear piercing screech that silenced the birds and sent them scattering into the air. It was an all too familiar sound.

  “Waassshhhhheeeeeeeeeeeech!”

  The hairs rose up along Daisy May’s arms and on the back of her neck.

  “Don’t look back!” Benjamin shouted, but it was impossible for Daisy not to glance over her shoulder.

  There he was, a boy again but still a beast, if anything a more frightening creature. He was crouched atop of a small grassy hillock, all claws and teeth even from a distance. He was a chilling sight. As soon as she caught sight of him, the creature was off. He was coming for them and he meant them real harm. There would be no conversations now. This Woody was all about revenge and blood. He ran on all fours like a true creature of the forest and he gained ground on them at an alarming rate.

  “He’s going to catch us!” Daisy screamed and Benjamin cast a quick glance behind him.

  They rounded a small patch of ash trees and up ahead they could see the Wood’s edge. What a sight that was. They were nearly there. Unfortunately, they both knew that it might be too late. Hot on their heels and with no hint of slowing, Woody would catch them long before they made it out to safety. Benjamin came to an abrupt halt. He let go of Daisy May’s hand and turned to face the on rushing beast. From nowhere, from somewhere that Daisy didn’t know existed, a terrifying roar was unleashed from deep within Benjamin. He stood to his full height and faced Woody head on. The sound was so loud, so shocking, so ultimately surprising that even Daisy jumped. The creature that was Woody, came skidding to a halt not twenty yards from them kicking up a cloud dirt and dust all around him as he did so. His face was a torment of evil and twisted hatred.

  Benjamin was making a final stand. He turned to Daisy May and took her hand once more. She knew what was coming.

  “Go!” he insisted simply.

  There was no hint of it being a suggestion. Benjamin was issuing an order. But it felt like an impossible one to follow.

  “No!”

  Daisy May gripped his hand tightly as the beast caught its breath and considered his options.

  “I won’t leave you Benjamin.” Daisy demanded quite fiercely.

  But they were wasting time. Benjamin hadn’t stopped the creature. He had only slowed his advance. The boy beast began to creep forward, zooming in on Daisy May. His breathing was laboured and his head hissed with a static madness that filled every second, screeching a demand that he take his prize. He had her now. Even if she tried to run he would be on her in two bounds. He hissed a low frightening hiss and Benjamin looked from Daisy May to Woody and back to her again. Then he asked her the most important question that anyone had ever asked her.

  “Do you love me?”

  Despite their circumstances, despite the imminent threat from the beast, Benjamin managed to deliver the question in a calm soft voice. In that moment, he only wanted to hear one thing. He only needed to hear one thing. Daisy May did not have to think about it. She knew how she felt about Benjamin. Somehow, she always knew.

  “Of course I love you.” she answered him. “Do you love me?” she asked the follow on question, sure of the answer, but needing to hear it anyway.

  She didn’t get the answer that she wanted or expected.

  “Run,” he told her in reply.

  He spoke in a low voice, but his words had an urgency that said nothing else mattered.

  “Run now! Run fast and don’t look back.”

  He let her hand go and Woody snarled and snapped at the air. She made a tentative move to go but Daisy could not do it. The beast could see the movement and he skipped a little closer, sensing his moment.

  “If you love me you will run and I promise you,” and then he said the words she needed to hear, “I promise you Daisy May, as our hearts go to our graves, I will love you forever. NOW GO!” He barked the last words and pushed her away.

  As he shouted, Woody sprang forward and Daisy May did as she was told. It was instinct that drove her. She ran and didn’t look back. She ran as she had never run in all her young life. She heard the screams, the shouts and the horror of the fierce struggle that went on behind her. Daisy May screamed herself. She roared and cried and screeched as her heart was torn apart.

  The forest opened out before her and she ran into the open air. Daisy stumbled on the more even ground and almost went flying on her face. Somehow she regained her balance and scrambled down the hill across the meadow. Never once looking back, Daisy ran for all she was worth, panting, sobbing, crying without limitation, half falling as she closed in on Cranby as it rose now, at a pace up the hill towards her.

  The nearer to the bridge Daisy got, the heavier her legs became and then the familiar tightening in her chest returned. She was panting, wheezing, gasping for breath but Daisy May knew that she had to get to the village. She had to get help. In one last monumental effort, Daisy hurled herself towards the bridge but her legs gave out and she stumbled by its side, falling rolling, tumbling down by its side, landing half in, and half out of the shallow waters of the stream. The world turned upside down and she felt the darkness creep in. Daisy May couldn’t breathe. Her airways closed, her vision blurred and she closed her eyes.

  CHAPTER FORTY TWO – THE WHISPERER

  “Daisy May…Daisy May.”

  The voice was back. She could hear it quite clearly now. It was the same familiar voice and at first it was a faraway whisper, just as it had been in Darkly Wood. But before long, the voice became louder, clearer, a determined voice. It was the voice that had never quite let go and now at last, she recognised its owner.

  “Daisy May!” The voice called softly and the voice belonged to her father.

  Slowly, blinkingly, Daisy May opened her eyes and let the blinding light in. It was a strange moment. Her heart pounded in her chest and everything hurt. All she could think about was Benjamin. Daisy blinked through sticky eyes and the guilt of abandoning him overwhelmed her. Then she heard the voice again and it changed everything.

  “Daisy May!”

  This time there was a new tone in her dad’s voice. He sounded happy. She still blinked, unaccustomed to the brightness and realising her difficulty; Archie instantly jumped up and drew the curtains, to block out the brightest of the light. He immediately returned straight to her side and took her hand.

  “Welcome back Darling.”

/>   Archie smiled the biggest smile as his face came into focus and Daisy May did her best to return the smile. His eyes smiled brightest of all, though he struggled to fight back the tears. She tried to speak, but all that came out was a dry cackle. Daisy’s throat was so dry. Her dad again realised what his daughter needed without the need of a prompt and plucked a beaker from the locker beside her bed. He helped her to sit up a little and held the cup to her lips.

  The liquid was cool and refreshing but Daisy could only sip a tiny sip. When Archie took the beaker back Daisy tried to speak again.

  “Where am I?”

  This time she squeezed the words out, though it felt sore.

  “You’re in hospital sweetie.” He answered simply. “Been here quite a while darling. You gave us all a scare.” As he finished talking, a pretty young nurse entered the room.

  “I was just about to call you.” Archie told the nurse with a smile.

  The nurse, whose badge identified her as Karen, gave Archie a big smile and then walked straight up to Daisy with an even broader grin on her face.

  “You’re back with us Darling” she declared sounding happy, then “See Mr. Coppertop, I told you she’d come around.”

  She fluffed around Daisy a little before declaring,

  “I will go get a doctor to nip in and give you a quick check sweet heart, won’t be long” and with a little pat on Archie’s shoulder on her way out, Karen was gone.

  Archie sat on the edge of Daisy’s bed and he wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder before brushing her hair with his free hand and kissing her cheek. He adored his daughter and the relief at realising she was back with them, was written all over his face. Daisy May had an overwhelming sense of relief as she looked about the room.

  “What happened to me?” she asked and her father explained succinctly.