THE BEAST

1: The Man Amongst the Trees

Okay, okay, okay. Here's that werewolf story I promised y'all! You voted, I listened. Updates will be slowish but bare with me:) I'm exciteddddddd.

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The sun beat down on the little girls head, bringing out the reds and golds on the strands of her hair as she placed a single red petal on top of her pile of sticks. She hummed a happy tune as she appraised her work.

"That's beautiful," came a voice behind her.

The little girl jumped up and moved a few steps backwards from the forest line. "Who are you?" Her voice squeaked with surprise but she squared her shoulders. When there was no immediate answer, she straightened her spine to make her look taller than the six year old she was. "Who's there?"

"A friend." The voice hid behind the bushes as the little girl's eyes squinted to see any sort of silhouette but she saw none.

"Why won't you come out?" She took a step forward before remembering her mother's words of not getting too close to the forest line and stepped back to where she previously was.

There was a pause in the rustling of the leaves. "Erm, well, you see..." The extremely husky voice cracked with uncertainty. "I don't really have any clothing."

"Perv." She remembered her mother using that word in describing the butcher in town. She thought it worked well in the situation. She backed away further.

"No, no. Don't leave!" The voiced begged. Though the girl didn't understand why, the voice pulled her in, making her feet move closer to the large patch of trees. She wiggled her bare toes at the perimeter.

"If you're a friend, why haven't you come and played with me before? I don't have friends here. Why are you in the forest? My Mum says I am not allowed to go in there because of the monsters. " Despite the obvious, the little girl didn't understand the game.

"What's that song you were humming?" He said, ignoring her questions.

The little girl shrugged and tied her hair back with a red satin bow. "I made it up."

She sat back down and continued to pick flowers from the grass to decorate her stick castle with the petals.

"It's lovely," The deep voice complimented but still made no move on answering her.

Frustrated that the man behind the voice didn't want to play with her, the girl went back to humming and adding onto her makeshift castle. Her naive, innocent mind didn't think twice about the voice coming from the woods. All she knew was the guy claiming to be her friend was not doing very well at being such.

"Are you giving me the silent treatment?" The voice asked, humor evident in the low tenors.

The little girl pursed her lips and continued to play by herself.

"Okay, okay." The leaves rustled in the trees and the movement caught the little girl's attention.

She angled her head towards the leaves when she heard a deep chuckle. She narrowed her eyes when a round green walnut rolled across the grass and tapped her knee. She gave a questioning look at the trees.

"Roll it back," The deep voice suggested and the girl happily obliged, sitting at the line with her legs crossed.

As the deep voice continued to praise her every time she rolled it back into the leaves, the gears in her brain started turning. "Are you a bad guy?" She asked.

Another deep chuckle shook the leaves. "Do you think I'm a bad guy?"

The little girl squeezed the walnut in her hand before angrily scrunching up her nose and chucking it as hard as she could into the green. There was a huff as the walnut connected with something solid. At least she knew he wasn't imagery like a lot of her friends.

"If you're not going to answer my questions then I don't want to be your friend." She angrily hissed at the forest.

"Honey?" Came a voice from the house and the screen door shut with a crack that snapped the little girl's head towards it. "Dear, who are you talking to?"

The little girl turned back towards the forest as the woman made her way across the grass to her. When the little girl heard no voice, she felt her heart sink. "Nobody, Mummy."

"Okay," the woman answered and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Do you want to run to the market with Gran and me? We'll get you a cupcake."

"Oh, one with sprinkles, please!" The little girl cheered.

"Yes," The woman laughed. "We will get you one with sprinkles. But first, clean up your mess, okay?"

The little girl frowned at what her mother called a mess. She swore she heard a low growl come from behind the leaves. The woman's ears pricked and she peered into the forest with her hands on her child's shoulders, hugging her closer.

The little girl coughed as if her tiny voice could cover the sound. She didn't want her new friend to be taken away from her even if he wasn't her friend at all. She was lonely here in the summer when her Gran was working and so was her mother.

"I don't want my fairy castle to be destroyed by the rain, mummy. Can we bring it inside?"

"No, love. Nature stays out in nature. Remember?" The woman started walking back up the small hill in hope that her daughter would follow. "Come on, sweetie, we're in a hurry."

"I'll be there is a sec," she said, the sadness still clear in her voice.

The woman looked once again at the trees before turning back up the hill. "Hurry!" She called behind her.

The little girl frowned and picked up the pile of sticks. But before she could set it down the voice spoke up.

"I'll keep it safe."

The little girl shrugged.

"Really," the voice offered. "Just set it on the forest line. Your fairies will be safe from the rain."

The little girl followed instructions, excited that someone was willing to play along with her game and took a last step back to look at her art work.

"Will you be?" She asked with a worried look. "Safe from the rain?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

Her mother called for her again from the front of the house.

"Before you go," the voice said and it stopped the little girl from running back up the hill. "What is your name?"

The little girl thought deeply about it before she smiled softly and tightened the ribbon in her hair.

"Poppy." And with that, she ran up the hill and through the swinging door.