“He’s taking photos of you!” Cath cried. “How wonderful! He must think you’re beautiful.”
Nori grinned. She fumbled to get out of the blanket and then ran to stand beneath the skylight, posing and smiling and spinning as “God” took “photos” of her.
I grinned at Cath, embracing the warmth in my chest and wondering if this was what love felt like.
“Time for a story,” Cath said later, when we were all snuggled close and sleepy. I had retreated to the armchair closest to the fire, my legs dangling over the arm.
“I want to tell you a story about those woods out there. A true story.”
I glanced up from my sleepy haze.
“You must never, never go into Python Wood,” she whispered, making sure she had Nori’s full attention. “Python Wood is a bad, bad place. Long ago, something bad came out of it. A man, of sorts.”
I frowned. This wasn’t exactly my idea of a soothing bedtime fable.
“He was more of a… monster.”
“Auntie Cath—I don’t think—”
“Ssh!” Her head snapped in my direction. “Let me finish. You need to hear this as well, Silla. A monster of sorts. He did terrible things. And then he returned to the woods. He’s still in there, waiting for young girls to go wandering so he can capture them. So he can tear them up and eat their flesh from their—”
“Cath!”
She looked at me with dagger eyes. And then she relaxed and smiled, turning back to Nori. “Well”—she tapped Nori’s nose gently—“the Creeper Man won’t get you if you just stay away from the woods.”
Nori was staring up at Cath’s chin. Then she looked at me. But we came through the woods.
Cath sensed the movement. “No need to be afraid.”
“We came in through the woods,” I said, winking at Nori.
“Oh yes,” Cath said, smiling. “Of course you did. Well, he wanted you here, didn’t he? But now… now that you are…”
“He won’t let us leave?” I offered, remembering her words.
Cath stared at me. “Exactly.”
I was relieved. Boogeymen I could handle. My father coming after us, I couldn’t.
Beneath Cath, Nori’s eyes had filled with tears and she was sniffling quietly.
“Oh, bug, come here. It’s all right.” I held out my arms for her and she crawled over to the foot of my chair, where I lifted her into my lap and wrapped my own blanket tightly around her. “It’s only a story,” I said. “Isn’t it, Cath?”
Cath smiled, a little too long. “Oh. Oh, yes. It’s just a story, Eleanor, nothing to be scared of.”
“See?” I said, and kissed her head.
“So long as you stay away from the woods,” Cath added quietly.
I kept kissing Nori’s head and staring into the fire.
Just a story.
Just a freaking weird story.
I like it here.
Sometimes I see Silla looking out the window feeling bad.
But she shouldn’t feel bad because I like it here.
It’s nice.
Auntie Catherine is nice.
I like the food.
Silla shouldn’t feel bad.
She really, really shouldn’t.
I miss them, too, but I like not being scared and I’m not sore anymore.
And the bad man is locked in the woods.
So that’s why Silla shouldn’t feel bad.
3
birthday cake
Things can stay safe for long
they can pretend to fit
but then you hear Discord’s song
and things crack bit by bit.
“Nori!”
By the time Cath screamed, Nori was almost at the boundary to the woods. I startled and looked back at my aunt. She was standing in the kitchen doorway, staring out at Nori with wide eyes, her mouth twisted into an almost-cavern, flashing with teeth and tongue.
She screamed again. “NORI!”
“What is it?” I yelled, my heart thudding like it hadn’t in months.
“Get her away from the woods! Get her away! Get her, Silla, get her!”
But she was already running. I followed on her heels, wincing every time Cath screamed Nori’s name. Nori was already standing in front of the trees.
I overtook Cath and when I reached Nori, I yanked her behind me and turned to face Cath.
Cath was there a moment later. “Did she cross? Is she okay?”
“Calm down—”
“DID SHE CROSS?”
“What do you—”
“The woods!” Cath screamed, and bent down to grab Nori by her small arms. “Did you go into the woods?” she yelled, the force of her shake bringing Nori to tears.
I shoved Cath away, and she fell onto her back, sliding a little down the hill. “Don’t touch her!” I yelled, old rage and old memories rising like a tsunami. “Don’t you touch her!”
Nori clung to my dress, looking up at me for guidance. “It’s okay,” I said, the anger draining from my body like sickness out of my veins.
I couldn’t bring myself to turn around, to look at Aunt Cath lying in the grass, her dress ridden up to her hips, to hear her soft sobbing.
“We… we should go back,” I said meekly, and glanced behind me.
Cath’s shoulders shook, and I noticed how thin her legs were, covered with varicose veins. I turned away, a horror at myself—and at her—rising within me.