The Woods

Every morning, Matthew wakes up his older brother Nathan. Nathan loves to sleep in. They live in a nice little cottage next to the village. They have lived there all their lives. Their mother past away last year, and their father disappeared after going hunting in the woods when Matthew and his brother were just kids. Matthew does not even remember what his father looks like.

Matthew is not much of a sleeper. In fact, he does not sleep at all. He is scared; he is scared of the woods that circle their home. There have been many stories of those woods; all different but they all have a beast, a monster, a creature that lurked in those woods.

It would come out at night and take people from the village. They were never seen again. Matthew remembers hearing those stories as a kid, told by his family and friends. He would be scared, but of course Nathan would just laugh and say it was a joke. Nathan was always the courageous one out of them. The village had grown very fond of Nathan. The boy was very strong and helped the villagers with their hard work, all the things they could not do themselves. Matthew would get jealous of his brother, of all the attention he would get but it happens so often that Matthew got used to it.

It is early in the morning, Matthew is playing outside with his dogs, Hunter and Roxy, and he hears screams. They are coming from the village, he doesn't know what to do so he decides to go in the house and get his older brother. Nathan runs out of the house towards the village. It is a woman; she is crying. It is hard to hear her. By the time that Matthew gets there his brother is already trying to calm her down, so they can make sense of what she is saying. Once calm she says, "My husband! My husband he is missing!"

Nathan tries to console her and says that he could be hunting, but everybody knows that isn't what happened. People stopped hunting in the woods during the night or hunting in the woods at all after Nathan and Matthew's father disappeared. Now they just wait for the food to come to them during the day outside of the woods, which is why there is not a lot of meat in the village or anywhere really.

That night, the village is quiet but all the lights are on. Everyone is terrified that they might be next. Even Nathan isn't sleeping, which surprises Matthew a lot. When you look at Nathan, you can see he is scared. You can see he wants to hide his fear but he can't. For Matthew this is very strange, he has never seen his brother scared. Matthew starts thinking, if Nathan is scared of this then he should be terrified because Nathan has never been scared of anything before.

The next morning there are cries, no screams, just big cries. You can tell they are coming from a man. Once Nathan arrives to see his friend crying on the ground. He asks what is wrong. The man cries and says,

"It's my daughter, she is missing, I can't find her!" By noon there are two search teams looking for the young girl and the husband but nothing is found. That night Nathan calls a meeting in his little cottage, and all the villagers beg Nathan to go in the woods and see if their loved ones are there. And if they are, to bring them back. Nathan replies honestly since there is nothing else he can do, and he says,

"I am scared." He says it loudly to make sure the message is clear, and it is. The room goes from loud to silent in one instant. Nobody knows what to say. They are confused; Nathan is not supposed to be scared. He is the hero, the helper, the great Nathan. People start leaving the house with great fright in their eyes. That night there are mumbles, whispers of what could have happen to them. From Matthew and Nathan's small cottage you can see that all the village lights are on.

That night Matthew does not know why but he feels like he could sleep and everything is going to be alright. So he does sleep and it feels good, it is the first time he has slept in a long time. But it does not last, he is awakened by the sound of his front door - he was meaning to put oil on that. Then suddenly all he sees is black. He awakes somewhere strange even though he does not remember closing one eye. He tries to get up but he cannot; he has been tied to a tree. The fact that Matthew is tied to a tree makes him think: if there is a tree that means he must be in the woods. He then starts to worry.