On Sacred Ground

“I’m just saying, this was supposed to be a women-free trip,” Tony ran his fingers through his black hair as he spoke to Jake inside the truck, the women in question were in another car, “Three men, the outdoors, hunting and drinking and cheering each other on. Why are they here?”

“I told you five times already,” Jake’s eyes focused on the dirt road ahead, the woods were getting deeper and the path harder to navigate. Their truck was in front just in case they needed to tow Robby’s Prius, “Annie wanted to take part and you know how Lizzy just hates it when I leave her at home alone. Our house is huge, no one wants to be in a large house alone.”

“I wouldn’t mind it,” Tony grumbled as he looked out into the deep wood. True camping, that was what this was supposed to be. Now they had to make sure things were comfortable, that there were places to squat to piss, that no snakes would sneak into the campsite because Lizzy is a nervous wreck over just about everything, and making sure everything was gluten free because Annie was about. Not to mention he was the fifth wheel on this trip. He was always the fifth wheel on everything. Including on those trips that were supposed to be for him, to help him move on. Guess not.

They finally found the end to the side road, pulling their cars up and getting out to unload the cars. Tony started grabbing his things as the girls looked around, like lost children whose breadcrumbs just got eaten by the crows.

“Come on Ann,” Robby looked at his girl with a grin, “We gotta get moving if we are gonna set up before dark.”

“Wait, we aren’t stopping here?” Lizzy gave Jake a fearful glance, “Jakey, where are we going?”

“Where we feel like,” Tony lifted his backpack on, “What do you say guys, about a mile in?”

“Half mile,” Jake looked at Tony who tried to keep his temper in check, “That is sufficient according to the rules.”

“That seems a bit more reasonable but, how are we going to find a spot in all the trees?” Lizzy looked through the dense wood as Jake walked up to her and put his large meat paws he called hands on her seemingly tiny shoulders.

“That’s the challenge,” He smiled down at his girl, “We keep going till we find a clearing that has either only a few trees or a fire pit already created.”

“Which we probably won’t find in a half mile,” Tony shook his head, “Come on, grab a pack and let’s go.”

“Tony!”

He didn’t bother to respond, he just wanted to start moving. Just get away from the happy couples who were now deciding who was grabbing what. Tony had his pack and some of the food in case he had to wait for those idiots for a while. He just couldn’t believe it, this was supposed to be a manly trip to help him deal with...Angie. Tony’s mind went to her in a second as did the old familiar need. His wrist itched, like an old scab that needed to be removed. He had been so good at resisting but the thinking, the focus of those four being less on him than on their lovers, well, it was coming back with a vengeance. A strong need that would not wait.

He started to look for an out of the way spot, somewhere in the forest he could sit and take the pain away. It wasn’t long until he found an old stump surrounded by large trees. Perfect, they wouldn’t find him here to try and stop him. No one would. Setting his pack down, he looked up at the falling yellow leaves with a sad smile. He wished he could stop, but Angie was too painful, too heartbreaking to deal with right now. It had been a year, but a year did not kill the pain nor would five or ten or a thousand years. Time heals all wounds, what bullshit he thought to himself as he pulled out the knife, time doesn’t heal losing your bride to a monster.

“Hello,” He whipped his head around to see a young blonde woman staring at him, “What are you doing?”

“None of your business, where the hell did you come from?”

She giggled, shaking her head as she walked in front of him and looked at his knife.

“Are you cutting rope?” she said with a soft air-like voice as he got a better look at her. She was thin, and she looked like she was dressed in a collection of leaves, twigs, bark and whatever else she could get from the forest. Except her feet, her feet were bare and covered in dirt. How it all stayed up, he didn’t have a clue but she was tall, easily past six feet tall, maybe six and a half. She had this look about her though, with her wild blonde mane and her emerald eyes, that said he shouldn’t be here. That he should run, run quickly.

“No, I…” He looked away, still rather confused as a drop of blood came off his knife and hit the forest floor. She stared at the blood, gasping as she took a step back.

“Oh dear…” Her eyes went wide, “You really shouldn’t do that.”

“I know, I just cut for stress-”

“No, the trees...they don’t like the taste of human blood,” She looked up at the massive maples that towered above that started to shake, “Please, he is a stranger, he didn’t know!”

“Didn’t know…?”

“WHO DARES SHED THE BLOOD OF MAN!” A legion of voices were around them, “WE HAD AN ARRANGEMENT! TWO HUNDRED YEARS SINCE THE LAST ONE DARE SHED BLOOD HERE! WHERE IS IT?!”

“What the fuck?!” Tony stood up in a hurry as the tree branches above him reached slowly and the roots around him started to slither. He started to run at that point, no idea which direction, he just bolted. The trees chased him, their cries alerting the others where he was headed.

“YOU CANNOT RUN HUMAN,” The trees echoed fiercely, “I AM THE FOREST. YOU CANNOT RUN FROM THE WILL OF THE FOREST!”

“Stop!” the woman appeared again, taking Tony’s hand, “I can save you from this, but-”

“Then do it!”

“Alright,” Her green eyes glowed as he looked into them, feeling rather still all of a sudden, like he had no will to move anymore, “It is done, punishment is served.”

She smiled as she looked at the tree before her. The young maple had Tony’s clothes wrapped around it.

“There, now you can’t hurt yourself or anyone else,” She whispered softly as she kissed the bark, “So many others I have saved here, they get angry when they taste blood. Not really sure why, maybe they are just jealous.”

The sound of humans caused the woman to easily shrink her form, hiding behind a leaf on the lonely maple.

“Huh, guess Tony was here,” Robby said as he touched the clothes on the tree, “But why did he leave his clothes here?”

“I-I found something!” squeaked Lizzy as the others gathered to where his things were, the knife with blood soaked on it.

“No...he...he didn’t, did he?” Annie looked at Robby for a hint that he was wrong but, he sighed.

“Seems like, but...the body should be out here somewhere,” Robby looked around, “It’s like he vanished.”

“I remember seeing a cliff on the GPS,” Jake held onto Lizzy who was sobbing, “And well...it is the anniversary of Angie’s murder. He was taking it pretty hard. Come on.”

The wind caused the trees to shake, whistling through and making a rustling that sounded like a thousand voices softly sighing. The four went away, probably to get someone to find their friend, but their friend would not be found. He was the forest now.