In The Woods ➳ H.S.

☙ t w o

I fetched my bow and arrow from beneath the tree, and felt the heat of the sunlight as is burnt through the back of my dress.

Hunting in this attire may not have been practical in any way at all, but I couldn't find any other substitute. I couldn't possibly wear Christian's clothing, as it would be extremely loose on my frame which would prove hazardous in this terrain. And if a living person saw me wearing the clothes of a man, I would be stoned to death within a blink of an eye.

It's true as well that beneath a tree wasn't the most effective place to hide my weapon, but there was no tree hallow enough to hide them in. However, the gaps between the large tree roots were enough to conceal them, which left that as my only choice.

I tied my shawl around my head, hopeful that it would lessen the amount of heat that poured down on me. I grabbed the bow in my left hand next, and swung the quiver of arrows around my shoulders; the leather strap already falling apart.

I nocked one arrow to the bow, and kept it ready, before I headed deeper into the woods.

It had always been a challenge hunting. There were barely any animals around now a days - with all the smoke, noise, and trash in our humble town, they tend to be dwell further away from us.

Of course, that wasn't the only reason why hunting was difficult. When I did spot any sort of game it easily heard my approach, and dashed off quicker than light. It's not my boots on my feet nor the leaves under them, but rather, the noise of my skirts as they brushed across my ankles and the ground, along with very loud swish it made whenever I moved.

I hated it. But, again, what was I to do?

And after all, after a few years of doing this continuously, I was quite used to it.

I've been hunting since the day my mom was paralyzed. I was around the age of eight back then. Of course, I never went deeper than a few rows of trees, and I settled for anything that came to me - not the other way around like it was at present. Birds, rabbits, the occasional small foxes, that was pretty much all I would dare to get before.

Now, eleven years later, I've memorized quite a bit of the woods. I've made it my tradition to go deeper and deeper every two fortnights. I made subtle marks on the trees so I wouldn't get lost. They weren't anything grand - they had to look completely ordinary in case anyone ever came here. My marks were just three diagonal lines scratched into the wood by the end of my arrows. The lines were big enough for me to see, but small enough to not draw attention to themselves if one was not intentionally looking for them.

I wouldn't say that I memorized or mapped out the entire forest - that would be miraculous. These woods stretch all throughout the base of the mountain, and then miles around the mountain itself.

Mapping it out would be suicidal.

I doubted I've even made it down the whole mountain yet, seeing as the ground still slopped downwards.

But truth be told, had I been asked to map this whole forest out for the sake of my family, I would have done so in a heartbeat. There was no actual limit to how far I would go to keep my family alive.

I saw another one of my marks on the trees. Thirty three. I knew I've made thirty four in total, the latest being one that I made just a couple of days ago - so I knew I did not need to go beyond the thirty fourth mark today.

I hiked down a little bit more, the ends of my faded blue dress brushed against the skin on my ankles, and the sleeves of it caused my wrists to itch. Mosquitos had bitten me several times, and I'm quite sure something was crawling on my back a few moments ago.