The Dark Dark Woods

Life in the Woods: Chapter One

One cannot imagine how Ma felt on those first nights beneath the trees, with nothing to feed her imagination but a steady diet of Pa's warnings.

Yet somehow they managed to survive, and built a small home, a barn, and a garden. Pa brought with them three chickens, an old gelding, and a pregnant cow, and he caught some wild hare to breed and keep. Soon Ma was pregnant too, and gave birth to a daughter, Credence, then once more to a son, Josiah. Together the family slowly learned how to coexist with the strange world around them.

Living in the woods, living anywhere, Pa said, was preferable to living in the horrid towns.

Credence and Josiah could only guess what made Pa hate the towns and want to leave the safety of society. 

At supper prayer, Pa would often rant against the wickedness of other people.

"It never matters how heavy his pockets may already be, man has one thought alone: How to make yours into his."

Something else was in Pa's mind when he thought of the towns. Something happened to make him turn his back forever. The children knew a life no other way than in the woods, and it was only through the stories of their parents that they were able to glimpse into an existence that was entirely exotic: Featherbeds, taverns, bards that sang for their supper, devious rogues who could sneak as quietly as a goblin.

Credence and Josiah never pressed their parents, but often whispered to each other in secret at night, pondering if life in the towns was worse than life in the woods. 

Did people have to work as hard as they did? Were they constantly on guard, looking over their shoulders for witches or ghouls? The children always arrived at the same conclusion: Life in the towns might be easier, but Pa made it sound convincingly worse for cruelty.

Pa's stern warnings about the woods were passed down to his children, and with each of them came a lesson: 

Have a secret word to recognize a shapeshifter from the real person. When you hear a voice calling or singing, always ask a family member if they can hear it too. Keep your heart guarded and trust your instincts to set you right. 

Pa kept his children's curiosity bedded down with gruesome tales of what lived amongst them:

"There are things as small as a fingernail that could kill you if the mood catches them right."

Or:

"Always keep a sharp eye for imps and changelings, for they delight in stealing children above anything else."

Or he'd point a finger towards the mysterious world within the trees:

"Wander too far and you might be taken before you even know you are in danger, and Ma and I will weep for the loss of you—but we will not come after to find you."