We run, run until my legs burn so badly I cannot run any further. Inevitably I collapse onto the forest floor, my fall broken only by the thin layer of leaves which coats the ground. Jane falls beside me with a thud and crackle of dead leaves. She has been running with me for what feels like hours now…or perhaps I’ve been dragging her? I cannot tell any longer. It must be night now. I can’t see the sky through the leaves above, but the twilight of the woods is rapidly deepening to a jet black opaque darkness. An owl hoots somewhere in the distance. The only sign of life I’ve noticed since reaching the Blackwood’s shelter.

I roll over and peer through the darkness at Jane. My eyes strain to bring her into focus. Her eyes are closed and she is breathing fast and heavy. I can’t tell if she is asleep, but the rapid and strained rise and fall of her chest tells me we aren’t going any further tonight.

As darkness descends on us, it brings the bite of the cold with it. A shiver runs down my spine and raises goosebumps along my arms and legs. Until now, running kept the cold away, but now, stillness leaves us vulnerable to freezing night air. If I am in danger of freezing, then one can be certain my sister is as well.. Jane is much smaller than I am. The cold will work its way into her bones much quicker than mine. Even as we lay in the darkness, I hear her teeth chatter. A horrible sound of clattering bone that prompts a very different sort of shiver in my body.

Fumbling in the dark, I find the packs we carried into the woods. Before she fell, Jane cast hers on the ground. I find it a few feet away. I pull both blankets out of the bags and wrap Jane as best as I can with them both. I briefly consider starting a fire, but I’m worried if I leave to find wood, I won’t be able to find my way back in the darkness. Instead, I crawl into the blankets with Jane and pull her in close to my body. I hope that between the blankets and our body warmth we will be able to get the night. They will have to be enough. Exhausted, I can do no more; my eyes close as forest and sleep merge.

No sunrise announces morning. In the village, I might have heard birds chirping to greet the dawn. Here, there is only silence. Instead, I awake to find that I can see again…barely. In the twilight, I can see that we have slept the night in a deep hollow in the earth. Thick trees obscure my view, creating a shadowy barrier so I cannot see beyond the lip of the hollow. About twenty feet away is a circle of stones enclosing a fire pit. I must have missed it in the darkness the previous night. Surprisingly, I recall sleeping in this hollow before. I know this place.

Almost a year ago, I spent the night here with Father. We came here hunting deer. This is deep in the forest. The deer here are plentiful and careless, according to Father. According to him, villagers don’t want to come here. They fear the darkness of the woods. In the village, hushed voices tell tales of witches and spirits that roam the woods, snatching the life right out of you, to frighten children. In the village, tales of witches and spirits that roam the woods and snatch the life right out of people are told in hushed voices to frighten children. This is not unique. Father said every place he’d ever lived had stories of evil that lurked nearby. “Always to frighten children into being safe,” he’d say with a laugh, “not a word of truth to any of it, though.” Hence the ease of hunting.

“Fear is good. Fear will keep you safe, Mary." Father told me that in this very hollow as we sat by the fire ring and cooked venison over the flames. “But fear without reason will control you. You shouldn’t be afraid of a thing just because you do not understand it, Mary. Our neighbors fear these woods because they are mysterious. They don’t understand and because of that, they will miss its bounty.” I realize my eyes are watering. Is it because Father won’t be able to tell me these things anymore? He always knew what other people didn’t. Just like he knew where to find the plants that could heal illness, where they grew and how to harvest them. He knew too, where to search for game, where the deer would be, and how to stalk them in the forest’s darkness. Maybe that’s why the village always treated him with fear. They never pushed him out, but they never let him in either. He was like the mangy cats that hunts mice amongst the shacks in the village. Desperately needed, but never wanted.

I shake my head to clear these thoughts away and wipe my tears from the corner of one of the blankets. Tears will not bring Father back to us, nor will they help with the current situation. Jane is still. Sleeping next to me, a few strands of her red hair poking out from amongst the blankets. The hollow is familiar, but we cannot stay here. There’s no water anywhere, and I have brought none of our own. Thirst will parch us before long. Already I can feel a dry tickle at the back of my throat. However, I know this hollow and I know where we are in the woods because of it.

After we camped here, Father and I trekked about three more miles deeper into the woods and up the mountain. There’s a cave there in the mountainside with a spring flowing out of it. The cave itself extends deep, deeper than Father and I were willing to explore, but the entrance offers ample space for a fire and remains well concealed in the Blackwood’s thick forest. “Good shelter Mary, but some things should stay in the dark”. Between the village’s fear of the woods and the hidden cave, we shouldn’t have to worry about being found there. Plus, there’s water…and we both need water. I cough dryly and my throat scratches painfully. We need to go soon.

“Jane, wake up.” I shake her gently, and she stirs beneath the blankets. “Jane, wake up, we need to go”.

“HMMMPH” Jane groans under the blankets. “Where are we goinggg?” Jane’s head emerges from beneath the blankets. Her eyes are bleary as she blinks the sleep away. At least one of us seems to have rested well.

“Somewhere safer…further into the woods,” I reply. Jane groans again but extracts herself slowly from the roll of blankets.

“But where?” Jane insists. She is looking at me funny. It’s a mix of fear, confusion, and a little of anger that I don’t understand. “Where are we going?” She asks again.

“I know a safe spot up by the mountain,” I reply as I hurry to finish repacking the bags. “There’s water for us to drink there.” I stuff the blankets back into the packs. “And a place for us to find shelter.”

“So we’re just…going to hide in the woods…forever”. Jane is standing now…that funny look is still there.

“No, not forever, just for a while”. This is true as far as I know right now. I haven’t thought beyond our immediate problems.

“Well, where else are we going to go? It’s not like we can go home!” Jane’s voice is rising. “The Reverend will lock us away forever! Where else are we going to go? And wherever we go…” Her voice cracks and breaks, “wherever we go, we left Thomas behind…”.

“I don’t know!” I shout, and it echoes through the hollow. “I don’t know! I can’t see the future! I can’t help what’s happening! I’m just trying to keep us safe! If we go back, the Reverend will take you away and he’ll force me to marry! Is that what you want, Jane?”

Jane steps away suddenly and drops her chin to her chest. There are tears in her eyes. She doesn’t speak, but she begins to put on her pack. “Jane, I’m sorry-” I start, but she interrupts.

“It’s fine…let’s just go…wherever you are taking us…”

I know my sister…this conversation is done. She has shut down and won’t speak again until she is ready. No force on earth can change this. I curse silently to myself as I sling my pack on too and trudge out of the hollow. Jane follows. Turning left at the edge of the hollow, I follow the rim. There is a game trial that runs from here toward the spring cave. The sun isn’t visible through the forest leaves, so the game trial is the only actual way to find the cave. About halfway around the hollow, we find the game trail. It is distinct and there are fresh droppings on it. That’s good. Eventually our food will run out. If we’re still in the woods when that happens, we’ll need to hunt to feed ourselves. I grip Father’s rifle tighter in my hand. I am very glad I remembered to grab it.

We follow the game trail. The woods are silent and dark around us. No wind stirs the leaves and branches, and the air is silent and still, almost heavy. Jane is quiet too. She will be this way for a while until she is ready to talk. Until then, there’s no actual point in trying to get anything out of her. I do feel bad for yelling at her. Unfortunately, she is right, though. I don’t know where we are going after this. Father’s friend, I don’t remember his name, is still far away on the banks of the river Animas. It’s a long trek. What’s worse is that the village lies between us and the road to the river. Right now we’re going to. The. Wrong way and to get to the river, we’ll either have to go through the village or circle around far enough that we don’t get caught. Even then I don’t know that Father’s friend will help us.

This is too much for me right now. My throat is getting drier by the minute and the path is sloping steeply upward toward. We must be climbing the mountain. Right now, I need to focus on getting us to the cave. We need water, and we need to find a safe place to stop and regroup. That’s all that matters right now. First, we get to the cave, then I worry about everything else.

Jane is furious with me, though. As we trudge on further without speaking, I realize how angry she must be. I don’t think she is angry that we had to run. She knows well enough why we had to. She’s scared and confused, though. I was ready for this…I had time to get ready for this as best I could. I had the luxury of mental preparation Jane did not. She will miss Thomas as well. They were thick as thieves in the village, never apart and always up to some mischief. I hope eventually she will understand that nature has decided that Thomas is better off in the village and likewise has decided that we are not.

KERPLUNK! A loud splash breaks through the silence of the forest and a wet, freezing chill runs up my right leg. For the briefest of moments, I startle in alarm. Then my heart leaps. Distracted by my thoughts, I have put my foot directly into a stream. Better still, it is THE Stream. The stream that flows out of the cave on the mountainside. The stream that flows out of our safe place.

“Thank you, God!” Jane cries hoarsely. She rushes forward and falls to her knees by the stream, eagerly lapping up water from her cupped hands. I fall down next to her and eagerly start drinking. The water is cold and fresh, better than any drink I think I’ve ever had. We drink until our stomachs feel they might burst, and when we finish, we both collapse on our sides by the stream. My gut tells me we need to keep moving, but my head tells me we are far enough into the woods that we can afford to rest. Besides, I don’t want Jane to hate me even more.

Maybe we sleep. I think Jane does for a while, at least. We both rise at the same time, however. “We can follow this stream right to the cave…it isn’t far,” I say excitedly. Jane nods. She is not ready to talk, but I can tell that finding water has lifted her spirits, too. “Maybe a mile more!” I do my best to keep. She encouraged. Jane nods again. I grab Father’s rifle and Jane slings her pack back over her shoulder. I never took mine off…I didn’t notice till now.

We set off, following the stream uphill. It’s much harder going than on the game trail, but the stream is a pleasant companion. The water chattering over rocks sounds like the forest is speaking to us in a murmur. This is much better than the silence of the woods, which is broken only by the far-off cries of birds and the occasional rustle of the underbrush as small animals pass through it. As we push on further, I even start to see dots of sunlight on the ground. The trees must be thinning as we go higher, enough that the sun can work its way through the blanket of leaves above us.

Gradually the ground begins to flatten out and the leaves above us thin. Before I know it, we are in a small clearing. The sun is shining down on us and I can feel its warmth working through my clothes and warming my body. In the sky before us, a mountain rises to a snow-capped rocky peak, which is cloaked in clouds. In the sky before us, the mountain rises to a snow capped rocky peak cloaked in clouds. Below this, on the other side of the clearing, is a stone wall. I remember from my last visit the wall is about twice the height of Father. In this wall is a wide mouth opening into darkness. The stream flows out of this, pools in the clearing, then races down into the woods. This is the cave, Father’s cave... our cave.

“Is that…” Jane speaks for the first time since the morning.

“Yes…” I reply softly. For reasons I can only guess at, I feel compelled to whisper. I came here with Father only once. We killed a deer nearby and butchered it on a large stone in the clearing. The stone is still here but rain has long since washed the dark maroon blood that stained it away.

“This is a good place to get away”. Father told me this when we first came here. “Never forget you can find everything you need here…" His voice had trailed off and his eyes glazed over when he said this. It was like suddenly he was far away…lost in his mind…or maybe in time. I don’t understand. I only came here once with Father, but even now I can almost imagine him here. It’s like any moment he will come walking up out of the woods, a pair of rabbits over his shoulder and a smile on his face. I jump when I feel someone come up beside me. I imagine for a moment I will turn and see Father standing beside me, gazing down at me with his dark brown eyes. Instead, I find only Jane as she joins me at the.. Edge of the clearing. I shake my head vigorously, as though this will help clear it. Father is gone…he is dead. I will mourn and remember when I can, but now is not the time. We cross the clearing, circling around the pool, and head toward the cave. As we near its mouth and gaze into the darkness, Mary, I feel the frigid breath of the cave wash over us. The belly of the cavern pushes out a deep cool air that pushes out into the open air. From the belly of the cavern, a deep cool air rises and pushes out into the open air. The earth below us rumbles and sighs as we step carefully into the opening. Or perhaps this is just my imagination. The light of the sun illuminates the first few feet of the cave. After this it is twilight which fades away into impenetrable blackness. Near the entrance, the spring flows from beneath a large standing stone, about three feet across and four feet high. Numerous dark lines crisscross the flat face of it. Did Father paint them there? I don’t remember seeing them before. Slightly beyond this is a small fire ring with a rusted metal cooking stand. Father must have left this when we were last here, or perhaps he came here alone on one of his hunting trips. Perhaps that is when he painted the stone.

“Mary, look!” Jane grabs my hand and points into the twilight. I follow her finger and see that toward the wall of the cave, half hidden behind a large stone, is a wooden crate covered in a cloth. We run to it as best we can in the gloom and carefully remove the cloth. Inside, we find three metal canteens, each wrapped in cloth, to stop the sun from reflecting off the metal. There are also two more heavy blankets and two small pillows. I remember the pillows. Father and I made them out of cloth and feathers from birds we hunted in the woods. The final three items make my heart leap. There is a large hunting knife, a bundle of rope, and a small bag containing a large piece of black stone. I recognize it immediately as a flint stone. Jane thanks God for her breath. In my mind, I thank our father.

I almost cry. Father definitely left this here. As though he was looking out for us…like he knew we would come here. No, he couldn’t have known, but I am grateful‌. I have Jane set up the blankets in the cave and fill the canteens while I go scour the edge of the clearing for wood and kindling. Jane still isn’t ready to talk to me yet. I hope that sometime alone will help her cool off. When I return, wood and kindling in hand, Jane has the blankets set up. To my surprise, it appears we are sleeping together again. I imagined she would not be ready for physical closeness for some time yet. Then. Jane has laid out the. Blankets. Together, we lay out two blankets below to cushion the rough cave floor and two on top to cover us, and we set out the pillows together. We start a fire in the fire ring using the matches. I am too tired to use the flint today…tomorrow I’ll do that, just the way Father taught me.. Finally, as the sun is setting, we sit down by the fire and pull hunks off a loaf of bread for our dinner. Tomorrow I will hunt for fresh food. There are rabbits everywhere in these woods, and I will plan our next move.

As the sun sinks below the trees outside, the fire sends our shadows dancing across the back walls of the cave. Even by the firelight we cannot see where it ends. The cave, it seems, goes on forever into empty blackness. Somewhere deep within, the breeze still blows up, over us, and out of the cave. “You came here with Father…right?” Jane speaks for the first time since we found the crate Father left.

“Yes…last year…before he got sick. We came here hunting…we killed a deer,” I explain.

“Was that the deer you smoked and ate all last winter?” Jane inquires. Her eyes are moist but she is speaking again…this is good.

“Yep, that’s the one,” I laugh. “I hope you enjoyed it. That deer was a monster to drag out of here…even after we cut it up.”

Jane smiles. "It was the best meat I had ever eaten, Mary... except for Mother’s rabbit... that was better."

Now it is my turn to smile. “Well, nobody could out cook Momma, not even Father.”

Jane smiles, takes a bite out of her bread, and falls silent for a while. “I’m sorry I shouted at you, Mary.”

I am taken completely off guard…I was not ready for Jane to apologize and realize that I think it is me that needs to. “I’m sorry too Jane…I’m sorry I shouted at you…and I’m sorry I never stopped to explain myself to you.”

“It’s okay,” Jane says, staring into the fire blankly. “I know you’re doing your best for us…you always do.”

“I still shouldn’t have shouted…you didn’t deserve that,” I reply.

Jane is silent again for a while. “I miss Father…and Mother…and Thomas”.

“Me too Jane…I miss them all.”

“Was there any way we could have taken Thomas with us?” Jane asks.

“I don’t know,” I answer truthfully, “maybe there was…he’s better off staying, though.” I look over at her and she’s still gazing deep into the fire. “They’ll treat him well and he’ll fit in…it’s better for him there.”

“I hope so,” Jane says. “Mary I’m scared.”

I look at her. She is sitting by the fire, her arms wrapped around her legs with her head on her knees. I can tell from the way the firelight sparkles in her green eyes that she is fighting back tears. “Me too Jane…me too”. It’s all I can say. We don’t talked for a while after this. As the fire dies down, we crawl silently between the blankets and bed down for the night. “I’m glad you’re here, Mary,” Jane speaks from deep within the blanket pile.

“I’m glad you’re here with me too, Jane,” I say as I settle in. I smile involuntarily as Jane curls up next to me. Soon I hear Jane’s deep rhythmic breathing as she slips off to sleep. The cool breath of the cave brushes past me. Even if she is angry at me, I am happy to know Jane still wants me here.

“Love you Mary, don’t you ever forget” Father’s words echo through my mind, or perhaps they are born up by the breeze from the depths of the cave. I roll over on my side. The thought of Father drives the smile from my face. In its place, I feel a deep heaviness in my chest. It’s as though a piece of my heart has left me and in its place has given me a heavy emptiness. For the first time since Father fell ill, I cry. The tears flow and I cannot stop them…they flow until my eyes close and sleep takes me.

Next Chapter: Chapter 3