"There you go," Nick said, handing the bag of cotton candy to the young girl. The blue swirling sugar concoction quickly melted in her mouth as she took a bite.
"Thank you," she said, smiling, as she and her mom turned to walk back into the crowd.
Nick was working the small cotton-candy booth for the yearly Darkwood Festival of Lights celebration that was held every October. This was a celebration of the town's founding in 1865 and had food vendors, artisans, and youth plays, culminating with a large bonfire that lasted all the way to midnight.
He looked at his watch, 8:20pm. He couldn't wait to end his shift, but still had forty minutes to go.
"Hi Nick," a young woman said, making him blush. She was walking by with two girlfriends that he recognized from high school. He couldn't believe that they still hung out, even though they went to different colleges now. At least, he thought they did.
"Hi, Ashley," he said, smiling at her. He really liked Ashley. He'd had a crush on her since middle school but they never dated or anything.
"Are you going to the bonfire later?" she asked again, still standing ten feet away with her friends.
"Yeah," he nodded. "I should be there about 9:30 or so. After I clean up here."
"Awesome. See you there," she said and the trio walked away.
Nick was excited now. Ashley was going to be there. Now was his chance to get her alone and maybe ask her out. After breaking up with his girlfriend a couple months ago, he needed a woman in his life again.
"Can I have two please," a middle-aged woman asked, her two kids beside her, waking him from his daydream.
"Oh, yeah... sure," he said, grabbing two and handing them to her and collecting her cash.
The steady stream of customers was beginning to wind down as the time approached 8:30pm, the time of the ritual town play. This was the famous yearly play, held by the sixth and seventh graders, describing the great legend of Darkwood and its founding.
At 8:30, a bell was tolled to announce the beginning of the play.
"Hear ye, hear ye, and I shall tell, a tale of the town of Darkwood," the narrator, his father, began. For as long as he could remember, his father was the town mayor and always played the role of the narrator. He was also the one that was the most forceful, keeping Nick away from the woods as he grew up. He could remember the few spankings he had when he ventured far too close.
"In the days of dark, the war between the states, the town of Darkwood was born. The year was 1865. The forests were foreboding and dark, but in that year, the settlers cut back the woods, clearing the ground, framing and forming the edges of the great town we know today. A town founded in 1869."
Nick had heard the story so many times he could practically recite the lines by heart himself. He remembered when he grew up, playing the various roles, memorizing the lines. He remembered the fear he first had, standing in front of the crowd, repeating them to the best of his ability.
The story was a simple retelling of the founding of the town and then the town's lore of the Fadda Witches which lived in the dark woods surrounding the town. The students in the play told of 1921, when Agnes and Cordelia Fadda were born, a time of great joy and celebration to their parents.
But in 1931, history, or at least the tale, would tell of how the family suffered greatly from the Great Depression. Unable to sell their farm's produce enough to reclaim what they spent, they ended up unable to grow crops. Then, with no income, no money, no food, and the threat of losing the very farm they lived in, the father, Winston Fadda, told his wife that they would have to get rid of the girls... he would have to lead them into the woods to have them fend for themselves. There was only had enough food for two people. God willing, they'd find a way to survive.
His wife opposed the plan, but he repeated it until she finally, reluctantly agreed.
Early one morning, Winston led the girls into the woods, with the deception of looking for food. The two ten-year-old's never hesitated, never questioned their father, even though they didn't appear to be looking or hunting. They just kept walking.
As darkness neared, Winston directed the girls to look for food or animals over the hill, while he looked over another hill. But, finding nothing and returning, the girls didn't find their father waiting... even as night overtook them.
Without light and without a path to follow, the girls were hopelessly lost as Winston returned home.
After three days of wandering, sleeping in the cold, finding little food to eat, the twins found and followed a deer path to a clearing in the woods, and discovered an abandoned cottage, never to be seen again.
Even today, the woods are considered haunted, with the residents warning their children to never go into the woods. Even over the years, people went missing, and the woods were searched. But nothing was ever found... no one living... no bodies... and no cottage.
Nick was wakened from his thoughts as the crowd clapped for their kids in the play, celebrating their accomplishments. And the town bell was rung again, several times, indicating the closing of the festival for another year after the mayor gave a short speech.
At 9:00pm, Nick closed up the booth for the night, putting the leftover cotton-candy in boxes. The owners would be by tomorrow to pack it all up for their next festival. When he finished, he dashed to the bonfire and found Ashley.
*****
"Finally," Nick said, exhaling, as he dropped into the driver's seat and threw his book bag into the passenger seat. It was Friday, October 30th, and he had a date with Ashley. They had planned to go to a haunted house, where... if everything went well... she'd get scared and fall into his protective arms. He really wanted her in his arms again. The bonfire was a fun time and at least opened the door for more.
His Friday classes were a little rough, with a test in Calculus today, but everything was finally done for the weekend and he could let loose.
He turned the key and tried to start the engine of his grey, 2009, Toyota Camry. It wasn't the newest car around, but at least it was still running and got him from point A to point B. The engine chugged a moment, not starting. He let out a pleading sigh and tried again. Luckily on the third try, it started, sputtering. He knew he had to get it into the shop soon... he just needed the money to do it.
He pulled out of the parking lot and slid into traffic for the twenty mile drive home. It was just after 4:00pm and the sun was closing on the horizon, especially in the mountains and woods surrounding him.
As he neared the half-way point of his drive, the engine started to sound funny again. About a mile back, he'd turned off the main highway, and was on a state route... one that wasn't well traveled. Within a mile after hearing the sound, his engine finally gave out, as he slapped the steering wheel and cussed.
"No! Fucking car!" he yelled to no one. "Now is not the time for this!" He was getting extremely frustrated, especially since he was supposed to pick up Ashley at 7:00pm. He pulled to the side of the road just as the car completely died. He grabbed his book bag and fished through the pockets looking for his cell phone. Not finding it, he started panicking, pulling items out and throwing them aside.
"Fuck!" he yelled, wondering where in the hell he lost his phone. He threw up his hands when he realized he must have left it in his Calculus room. He opened the car door and stood, looking up and down the road, looking for help.
Unfortunately, the few cars he did see, didn't stop or even slow down.
He thought about his options for a moment. It was ten miles back to the school... or ten miles to home. Then he looked at the woods beside him. If he went through the woods, it was only five miles home. He looked at his watch and calculated how dark it might get if he went through the woods. With the sun setting around 6:30pm, he had about two hours of any light left. And he figured he could walk the five miles in just over an hour.
He started walking towards the woods, even as he remembered the tale told just last weekend. Yeah, people avoided the woods... they were dark and scary, he understood that. But people went into dark and scary woods all the time. There was nothing to be afraid of.
As he got to the edge of the woods, he looked back to his car, then up and down the street again, to see if there were any other options. "Well, here goes nothing," he sighed as he turned and slipped between the trees.
There wasn't much undergrowth once he actually entered the woods, luckily, but there wasn't a clear-cut path either. He had to go around trees, step over fallen trees, and avoid large, fallen branches. But his pace wasn't too bad. He looked at his watch again and realized that he'd been in the woods for about thirty minutes now... easily covering two miles or so. Suddenly he heard movement behind him.
He couldn't see anything except trees as he scanned the ground around him. Then he heard another sound, like something moving in the fallen leaves and dried branches. It might have even been closer.
He laughed to himself, thinking that hearing that damn story year after year was the cause of his fear. It was irrational. There was no reason to be afraid.
He kept walking, his eyes scanning the areas around him, looking for any potential threat. He stopped cold in his tracks when he heard a distinct growl.
"Fuck," he whispered, looking around. Another growl followed, just off to his right. "Ok, ok... nice doggy. I'm just walking through." Still seeing nothing, he moved forward again, a little faster now.
The growling and movement continued behind him, scaring him a little. When he stopped and looked back, he finally saw it... a large black wolf was standing nearby, looking at him and growling.
"Good doggy," he said, his body starting to shake.
Movement off to his left caught his eye and he saw another wolf. He couldn't believe that no one had ever said anything about wolves in the woods. Had he known that danger, maybe he would've gone the long way around instead... or waited longer for a ride.
He grabbed a large stick off the ground and broke off some stray branches. At least he'd have a club... something to defend himself with if necessary. He turned away from the wolves and started walking... slowly increasing his speed as he heard them getting closer and closer... and then broke into a jog.
He soon found a small deer trail, one that offered him a little more ability to run, since it was clearer. He didn't know where he was... he didn't even know if he was going in the right direction, but that didn't matter. He had to get away from the wolves.
The next time he glanced back, there were four of them, all coming closer and closer, all growling. This was not going to end well. He broke into a run. He had to get out of the woods!
Suddenly the deer path opened into a clearing... a small patch that was about fifty yards in diameter. And in the center was a small, white house, with a low picket fence around it. Carefully cut grass and flowers surrounded it and a little smoke was rising from the chimney.
He had no idea who was living in the woods, but at this point, he didn't care. The wolves were too close. He broke into a run across the clearing and jumped the low fence as he ran to the front door and pounded on it in fear.
BAM BAM BAM!
The wolves had jumped over the low fence and were slowly moving towards him, growling, baring their teeth. He knew he'd be ripped to shreds. He pounded again, then turned towards them, holding his thick branch high as his only defense.
Suddenly the door opened and an older woman, perhaps in her sixties, stood there.
