Jo wakes up with a growling stomach. She peeks at the time on the clock, and groans. She gets up with a huff and throws on some clothes. She slumps down the stairs into the kitchen where her mom is making breakfast. Jo's mom Wendy turns to look at her with a smile.
"Hi, honey, are you hungry?" She turns back to the stove to turn it off and walks to the fridge, pulling out some fruit.
"Always." Jo says with a smile and a yawn. She goes to the fridge as Wendy is about to close it and grabs the orange juice jug and a glass, sitting back down at the kitchen table.
"Do you just want some [[fruit]] or [[pancakes and bacon]]?" Wendy asks.Jo pops a few blueberries in her mouth and stands up, wiping her hands on her pants.
"I'm going to go get some strawberries from the garden. Do you want any, mamma?"
"I'm okay honey," Wendy says to her, kissing her on top of her head. Wendy lowers her voice to ask, "But will you grab some for your father?" Her voice quavers a little, and Jo huffs a sigh and rolls her eyes.
"//Step//-father. But for you, anything," Jo stands up and kisses her mom's cheek, grabbing the basket by the back door. As she walks down the dirt indent that serves as a trail, she notices how quiet the forest is right now. She can only hear the windchimes blowing in the breeze behind her rather than the typical forest chatter. She decides to shrug it off, stepping up to the spot along the fence with the strawberries hanging through the gaps in it. As she's picking, she hears what sounds like soft feminine whispers that seem like they are coming from the woods. She peeks uneasily around the corner of the fence but sees nothing at the border of the woods. Goosebumps prickle on her arms and she stands there, debating if she should [[investigate]] or go back [[inside|pancakes and bacon]]?Jo pours herself a glass of orange juice, leaving the jug on the table. As she is taking her first sip, she hears her stepfather thudding down the stairs. Wendy quickly pulls out a plate and throws some food on it, dropping a few blueberries on the floor. Jo shakes her head and sinks lower in her chair as her stepfather Frank walks into the kitchen. He stops and glares over at Jo before lumbering over to Wendy, snatching the plate from her hands. The squish of a blueberry is audible in the quiet that has fallen over the kitchen, and Frank slowly looks down as he moves his boot from the floor.
"What the hell is that?" he barks, making Jo's mom flinch.
"I'm sorry dear, I just dropped a few blue-" Jo's mom is cut short by the crash of the plate on the edge of the counter. Food goes everywhere, and Jo jumps to her feet.
"I told you to have this house clean and my breakfast made as soon as I woke up this morning," he roars, grabbing Jo's mom's arms. Jo lunges for him and starts to tear at his arms, screaming for him to stop. Wendy pushes him off and stands tall, looking him straight in the eye. She says nothing for a while, until Jo decides to speak.
"You really are a piece of work, you know that? She dropped some blueberries making breakfast //for you//, and your breakfast was ready before you threw a tantrum."
"You shut your mouth little girl. The only reason you have a roof over your head is because //I// let you. Now why don't you earn that roof and go get me some strawberries from the garden?" Without another word, he walks out of the kitchen.
"You said that he would be gone by the end of the month." Jo says, looking over at her mom with clenched fists.
"Jo, I-" before her mother can get any more words in, Jo runs outside beginning to cry. She stops short when she makes it to the driveway. Her thoughts are tumultuous, and she begins to angrily pace. She knows that she needs to be in any other place right now, but where? Does she go to the [[woods]] or to the [[bus station]]?Jo feels uneasy as the whispering grows more urgent. It gets so loud in her ears that she's convinced the voices are screaming. She tentatively sets down the basket by the gate, and almost as if possesed to, she begins taking shaky steps towards the other path. She screams back at the voices, but her limbs are no longer her own. She tries to tell her legs to dig her heels in, but they instead drag her into the [[woods]].Jo passes the first towering trees, and as soon as she steps past the last one there is a snap, and she is in control of her body. She leans over, hands on her knees as she gathers herself. She knows she should just turn back and run home, but then the voices start up again, and they sound like their are wailing in pain. She look back at the path back home one more time and starts to trudge deeper into the forest. As she trips over tree roots and jumps at any little noise, the forest just gets darker and darker. Jo eventually comes to a fork in the road. She looks down both trails, and they both look relatively similar. She wonders if she should go [[left]] or [[right]]? After thinking for a while, Jo comes to the realization that her mom is not going to send Frank away, and she will have to spend the rest of her miserable life with that turd. She loves her mom more than anything, but she can't stand one more moment in that house if he is in it too. Though it pains her to think, she knows that her mother will never be able to do it, so Jo decides her only option is to run away.
She walks back up her driveway, creeping through the back door. She peeks into the kitchen to see everything where it was. She can hear her mom and Frank arguing in their room, so she sneaks by their door and opens hers. She hastily packs a bag, only grabbing a few pairs of clothes and some essentials. As an afterthought, she writes her mom a letter, saying that she's sorry that she has to do this, but she can't take it anymore. She hopes she will see her again someday. She folds the note and sneaks back through the house, pausing to look at a picture of her and her mother. Her eyes prickle, and she touches it lightly before turning and dropping the note in her mom's purse on the way out the front door. Once she reaches the end of her driveway, she stops, taking a deep breath and looking back. With one final breath, she turns and starts walking towards the bus station.
Once she gets there, she takes out her wallet to purchase the ticket. She waits for 45 minutes, her leg a jiggly mess the whole time, and finally the bus pulls in. She shoots up out of her seat and hurries to the bus, taking a seat at the very back. She clutches her backpack to her chest and leans her head on the window as they pull out of the station. They drive about two hours before they stop at a gas station and Jo gets out to stretch her legs. The gas station has a wooded area right behind it, and the trees are swaying in the wind. Jo steps closer, hoping to get a little peace and quiet before she has to get on the bus. She walks a few feet into the trees, and soon all she can hear is the breeze. She is tilting her face back with her eyes closed when she hears something. It sounds like whispers, but she shakes it off, thinking it's just the wind in the trees.
She finds a rock and sits down on it, taking out an old granola bar to eat. As she's snacking, she hears the whisper sound again. Spooked, she turns her head to look around her, but sees no one. She's unnerved now, so she stands to walk back to the bus. This time, the whispers sound like they are right in her ear. She whips around to find no one but sees a light through the dense trees. Now she's curious. She doesn't know if she should [[go back to the bus]] or [[follow the sound]].She walks down a new path that narrows so that branches are brushing her arms as she passes them. She walks for about five minutes before the path opens up to a pool of the clearest water that Jo had ever seen. Vines hang from the trees above to gently brush the water. A little bit of sunlight made it through the trees, and it is casting stripes of light across the glistening water. Jo steps towards it, bending down to run her fingers through it. The temperature is mesmerizing, and she finds herself unconsciously taking her socks off to dip her toes in. She jumps back, unnerved by her pull towards the pool. It's very alluring, but something about that allure seems dark. She has to decide if she wants to take the risk and [[get in]] or go back [[home]] and forget about this pool?Jo walks down the path and it begins to open up into a meadow with a large, gnarled dead tree in the center. The dececated branches sway lightly in the breeze with a crackling noise that breaks the tense silence. Jo can tell that the tree is very old, and judging by the state it's in is surprised that it hasn't fallen over yet. She is curious about the tree, but has an uneasy feeling. She doesn't know if it's the quiet of the forest around her or her obvious solitude in this place. She knows she could just go home, but she was also enjoying the quiet. She debates on if she should [[keep her distance]] or [[walk closer]] to the tree.Jo tentatively dips her toes in the pool, the bad feeling she had slowly fading away as the water lapped at her shins. She sighs in content and sits down with her feet in the water. She continues to taking in the scenery, letting the water cool her down. It is quiet in this part of the woods, and she closes her eyes to enjoy it. She jumps when she feels a tap on her foot. She looks in the water but doesn't see any fish or anythign else in the water. She shifts uncomfortably, but ultimately decide it was a part of her imagination. She closes her eyes again and leans back, relishing the few rays of sunlight she can feel.
Suddenly, what feels like a hand wraps around her ankle and tugs it down further into the water. Jo lets out a scream, twisting to graps for anything to hold on to as the thing keeps pulling her. She grabs onto a rock, fingers desparately trying to keep her grip. She looks back at her half submerged leg and sees a decomposed arm reaching out to grab her knee. She screams again as she is yanked fully under water and is dragged down impossibly deep. She slowly [[looses consciousness|woods]].Jo approaches the tree slowly, and as she gets closer, she starts to hear creaking. She stops in her tracks and looks up to the branches but sees nothing, not even wind bending the trees. She chalks the creaking up to animals in the trees or something. She looks back down and jumps back when she sees that there is a woman standing next to the tree now.
"Hello, dear," the woman says, gracefully crouching down to sit, tucking her legs underneath her. Jo takes another step back and peeks behind her shoulder the way she came. It doesn't appear there are any other people with the woman, so Jo turns back to the woman. She is still sitting on the ground, a serene smile on her face.
"Who are you?" Jo asks.
"My name is Miko. What is your name?"
"Uh, Jo," she says as she takes one more step back. The woman's eyes flick down to clock the movement.
"Do not be afraid. I just enjoy the peace of these woods as it seems you do. Why don't you come sit with me, and we can enjoy this silence together?" Miko holds out her hand, inviting Jo. Jo finds her hand moving up as if to take Miko's hand. She jerks it back down to her side, warily looking at the woman. She seems harmless, yet Jo can't get rid of this uneasy feeling. She can't decide weather to [[sit with her]] or [[stay standing]]?Jo walks around the tree, staying a good distance from it. She hears a loud creaking, but when she looks up into the branches of the tree, she sees nothing. She continues on to the backside of the tree. On this side, there are large gouges in the tree. Jo goes up to them to touch them, only to be startled by a voice.
"Hello, dear." Jo whips around to find a woman peeking around the other side of the tree where she had been moments earlier. Jo looks around the clearing, wondering where the woman came from.
"Uh, hello? Who are you?" Jo asks, taking a step back from the woman.
"My name is Miko," the woman smiles as she says this, showing small very sharp teeth. Jo doesn't like this situation. Miko is making her very nervous, and the solitude that she was so enjoying is now perhaps what will be her downfall. Plus, Miko kept stepping closer, observing her with a cocked head and twitchy eyes. The tree is now groaning, and Jo knows there has to be something in it now. A large bird? Maybe a mountain lion? Yet she knows there is a direct threat right in front of her.
Miko is circling Jo, cornering her towards the tree as she hisses and chitters happily.
"Such a nice addition this will be" she chuckles to herself.
"What was that?" Jo asks, trying to make her voice as forceful as possible.
"No matter to you dear, you just worry about getting comfortable!" Miko throws her hands wide, and that's when Jo takes her chance to peek up at what is in the tree. She immediately wish she hadn't.
Hanging above her, swaying in the breeze, are dozens of decaying corpses. She can't make out most of them and who they are, but she recognizes some of the kids that had gone missing last summer. Jo screams and starts to run back towards the path. Her feet are tearing through the dirt, sending it flying behind her, but she can hear a cackle and padding feet thorugh sand as Miko begins to chase her. She chances a glance back, and sees that Miko isn't very fast. Yet she has the most sinfully gleeful smile on her face, and that only pushes Jo to run faster. She is crashing through bushes and can see the fork in the road ahead.
"Mom!" Jo screams. "Momma!" She can hear that Miko is still in pursuit, but she does't dare to look back now. She just pushes herself to go faster. Finally, her house comes into view as she screams for her mom. Wendy bursts out of the house with a wild look on her face, Frank close on her heals. Frank has a shotgun in his arms, swinging it around as he tries to fight the threat.
Jo sprints up the path, finally taking a chance to glance back breifly. Miko is much closer than Jo thought, right on her heels, and she now had blood pouring from her eyes and ears as she cackled with glee. Jo looks back at her parents, and she sees Frank and her mother running towards her, wide-eyed and yelling. Frank starts to wave the gun to get Jo's attention, and when she looks over at him, he is motioning for her to get down. She has never seen him look so determined, and she has never been more scared, so she does what she's told and hits the deck.
She hears a loud shot ring out, and then a few seconds later her mom and Frank have scooped her up and they are all desparately holding on to each other. Jo turns her head to look for the lady, but she is gone from the spot. Jo looks towards the woods, but all is quiet, and she sighs as exhaustion takes over her body. She is safe, and she is never going back to those woods.
''The End''Jo figures that the woman is probably harmless, and her nerves are just from the startle of seeing someone all the way out here. She takes a step towards Miko, and the woman smiles even wider. Jo walks closer and takes Miko's hand to sit down. Miko's hand is cold, but it is a bit chilly out, Jo thinks.
"So, Jo, what brings you out here?" Miko asks, setting a hand on Jo's knee. Jo looks down at her hands in her lap.
"Just some family stuff, I guess. I always come to the woods when I need some quiet."
"I know the feeling. It is nice out here, no? Just you and your thoughts. I hope you don't mind me interrupting," Miko says, taking her hand of Jo's knee and leaning back.
"It's kind of nice actually," Jo says with a smile. She could use the company.
"I could just stay here forever, couldn't you?" Miko asks.
"Well, maybe not forever," Jo says with a chuckle. "Family is hard, but I love my mom more than anything, I couldn't leave her."
"Ah yes, a mother is an irreplacable thing. Yet so is the peace that is found out here," Miko gestures up to the trees and surrounding meadow. She sighs, putting her hand back down.
"I suppose," Jo says, a little warily.
"Stay with me Jo," Miko lays her hand back on Jo's knee. "You could have both. I mean, you walked here yourself, didn't you? Your mom could come visit, away from your step-dad." Jo freezes at her words, her whole body tensing.
"I never said I had a step-dad," Jo says. Miko's grip tightens on her knee.
"No, you did not dear," Miko says. Jo feels something wrap around her throat. Her hands fly to her throat to feel something scratchy and thick. It tugs her skyward, tightening even more. Jo begins to choke and gag, and her eyes shoot down to Miko. Miko is looking up at her with her hands on her heart, a gleeful look on her face.
"You can be a part of a new family Jo! This family," Miko spreads her arms wide, and Jo's eyes swing to the other branches. Her horror and fear intensify at what she sees. Swinging all around her are dozens of bodies, all with stiff vines wrapped around their necks. They sway in the slight breeze, and Jo recognizes some of the faces as the kids who went missing last summer. Her vision is starting to blur, and darkness is creeping around the edges of it.
"I will protect you, Jo. You are safe here," Miko says, walking towards the middle of the meadow. Jo kicks frantically, trying to find air. She slowly passes out, the last thing she sees being Miko melting into the ground.
''The End''Jo pulls her shoulders back, standing up straighter. She decides she must listen to her gut feeling that something isn't right about this.
"I think I'm okay right here," she says. Miko lowers her hand, her smile falling slightly before she plasters it back on.
"That's alright dear, we can still talk like this," Miko says. She tilts her head back, closing her eyes.
"Why are you out here?" Jo asks.
"I could ask you the same thing," Miko says, looking back down at Jo with a sly smile. "I just enjoy talking to my friends." Jo looks at her quizzically.
"What friends?" she asks. She hears the creaking and groaning again, and flicks her eyes up to the branches. But her eyes stay glued to the tree. Because now, she sees dozens of bodies hanging from the branches of the tree. Horrified, she takes a step back, her mouth falling open. The bodies were swinging in the wind, and some of them turned so she could see there faces. Most of them she didn't recognize, but some of them looked like the kids that had gone missing last summer. Jo screams and starts to run the way that she came. She tears through the woods, briefly looking back to see if she is being followed. She can faintly hear footsteps crashing through the brush behind her, so she pushes her legs faster. She finally sees the roof of her house above the garden.
"Mom!" Jo screams frantically. "Momma!" Jo is almost to the garden when she is tackled to the ground. She screams, but is being dragged back to the woods. She kicks back as hard as she can, and her foot connects with something solid. Miko grunts and falls back, releasing Jo. Jo scrambles up, looking around her. She finds a rock and grabs it, turning back to Miko. Miko is still on the ground, holding her stomach and cursing under her breath. Jo runs to her, a scream tearing out of her mouth. She brings the rock down again and again on Miko's head, hearing it crunch. After a few hits, Jo is breathing heavily and Miko is lying still. Jo drops the rock shakily and looks up to the woods again. She turns and starts walking back to her house, not looking back at the body.
''The End''Jo decides she doesn't need to know what cult-y thing is happening further in the woods, and so she turns back. She boards the bus, taking her seat and closing her eyes. She hopes when she opens them, she will be in a new [[life|home]].Jo decides her curiosity was worth quenching, so she follows the sound deeper into the woods. She pushes through a few brambles and walks into a large meadow with a giant dead tree in the middle. She pauses, an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Not only is there no one here to be making the sound, but she swears she knows this meadow. But that's impossible. She's two hours away, there's no way there is a meadow that looks exactly the same. Officially creeped out, she turns to run back, but then hears a voice.
"Hello, dear," a woman says, stepping from behind the tree. Jo takes a step back, trying to get back the way she came.
"Uh, hello?" she says, raising her voice a little so the woman can hear her. "Who are you?"
"My name is Miko. What's yours?" The woman sits by the tree trunk, beckoning Jo over. Jo looks behind her again and figures anyone would be able to hear her scream if she was in real danger. "Oh, come sit, I don't bite," Miko says, waving for Jo to come over.
"My name is Lilah," Jo says, not wanting the woman to be able to track her down once she's gone. Miko just smiles, like she knows Jo is lying.
"Well, //Lilah//, what brings you out here?" Jo sits a few feet from her, keeping her distance.
"Just taking a rest stop with my bus. We have to head back out soon, but I just needed to stretch my legs."
"Where are you heading to?" Miko asks, leaning back on her hands.
"Oh, nowhere in particular. Just on an adventure, I guess you could say," Jo says, fidgeting with her hands.
"I see. Family troubles?" Jo gives the woman a nervous glance, but she is still relaxed back on her hands.
"Uhm, yeah. Listen, I should get back-"
"Oh, the bus will be there, don't you fret darling. Stay with me a while. Seems like you could use a motherly shoulder to cry on," Miko says, placing a hand on her heart. "Wendy would want me to take care of her girl."
"I-" Jo freezes, turning to Miko warily. "I never told you my mom's name."
"Ah, you see though, I have heard her name called through the trees. It is how I know your name, //Jo//." Jo leaps up, turning to run from the lady. As she takes off, she feels a thick vine wrap around her throat. It yanks her into the air, and she kicks and struggles for breath. She glances around the meadow again, looking for someone to help. Except where the bus station should be, she sees the roof of her own house. That can't be. It's impossible.
"I see you found your house. Neat trick, isn't it?" I have finally learned how to make my power reach. No matter, you are here now. Welcome to the family, Jo," Miko says with a smile. She spreads her hands, causing Jo to flick her eyes around. She gags in horror at what she sees. Swaying gently in the breeze, dozens of bodies swing in the wind. Some of the faces look like those kids that went missing last summer. Jo scrambles around, trying to find purchase on anything so that she can get away. Miko is starting to walk away to the middle of the meadow, leaving Jo to die.
In a panic, Jo digs through her pockets, desperately looking for the lighter she put in her pocket from her house. She has no clue what is happening or how she got here, but she will not die without taking out a chunk of Miko too. She lights the branch next to her, watching in fascinated horror as the flames climbed towards the trunk. Miko spins around, a screech flying out of her mouth as she sprints back to the tree. The fire hasn't reached her yet, but she can feel it's heat sear through her clothes, making them stick and melt to her skin. The smoke is already almost unbearable, and she has felt her consciousness slipping since she got yanked up here. Jo closes her eyes and lets her tears fall as Miko screams from below her. Jo looks down one last time to see Miko engulfed in flames. The last thing she hears before she loses consciousness is her mom yelling her name from far away, getting closer and closer.
''The End''
↶↷Jo wakes up with a growling stomach. She peeks at the time on the clock, and groans. She gets up with a huff and throws on some clothes. She slumps down the stairs into the kitchen where her mom is making breakfast. Jo's mom Wendy turns to look at her with a smile.
"Hi, honey, are you hungry?" She turns back to the stove to turn it off and walks to the fridge, pulling out some fruit.
"Always." Jo says with a smile and a yawn. She goes to the fridge as Wendy is about to close it and grabs the orange juice jug and a glass, sitting back down at the kitchen table.
"Do you just want some fruit or pancakes and bacon?" Wendy asks.