[Den of Demons] Chapter Three

Chapter 3

[.The Neighbor Outside the Bounds.]

I run home hugging my book in my arms.

My shoes are flimsy and old.

I have nearly outgrown them.

I won’t say anything to mom,

She just had these shoes made for me only two months ago.

They were not cheap.

The forest floor is damp.

The trees thin out as I approach town.

I am careful not to be seen coming down into town

From that far into woods.

If word gets out to father

I am scared of what will happen.

Especially, if he knew I had a book.

I somehow must make it through town,

Across the pasture, back up into the

Forest, and

Up the hill to the old scientist

And I must not be seen by a soul.

If he can make it through town in the night

While the coppers are on patrol

Then I can do it at sunset

While everyone is too tired to care.

As I come up to the road that leads

Into town

I change my mind and decide to go

Behind the buildings.

Our town is small and surrounded by a giant forest.

The town is made up mostly of beautiful houses.

Our town is a rich town filled with

Beautiful rich people who hire us,

The poor,

To serve them and make their town decent.

I am the poor.

I hardly walk in town.

The rich girls always make fun of my clothes.

I bat the thoughts away.

Boring thoughts.

The sun is setting fast,

If I get to the edge of the forest before dark

I will be okay.

For some reason,

The darker it gets in our little town

The more eerily silent it gets.

The silence is unnerving.

No one comes out at night.

I think the grownups know something that we kids don’t

About the woods.

My mother always tells me not to go too far into the woods.

When it’s close to dark.

Some kids have never come back.

I, on the other hand, embrace death

If it so chooses me.

I think about the darkness as I approach

The edge of the forest.

I was so lost in my thoughts on the way to the other side

Of town

That I was not aware if anyone saw me.

Damn, my thoughts.

The sun shines its last ray of hope

As I watch it dissipates at my feet.

Then suddenly it is dark and the moon

Now reins the sky.

The lanterns in town begin to come on.

I see children and the last of the town’s workers

Make their way inside.

My mom won’t pay much attention to my absence

As father is not home until dawn.

She will have her hands full with my siblings.

I have three brothers and sisters,

I am the youngest.

The center of all the fun,

The center of all the torture.

They call me freak when I don’t talk.

They make fun of me and call me stupid when

I beg father to buy me a book.

They especially hate the questions I ask about the world.

Our family was always poor.

Father works in the next town over at night mining.

Mother tends the children and animals and keeps

Up the house.

When it’s just mom and I she tells me

How she dreamed of being a dancer and an actress.

How she almost made it until her father

Gave her away to my dad.

Sometimes, mother will sing when she does chores.

I think she does it when she thinks no one is around,

But I always catch her.

I will not say a word, only listen.