Darkness in the Forest, Chapter 1

Deep in the mountains and in the forest, there is a village that the sun barely touches. The trees and the clouds hide it from view and few people even know of its existence. No one remembers how it came to be there and no one ever leaves. It is surrounded by a high wall built from saplings, but this cannot keep the darkness out. There is no town hall in this village, only a small, decrepit pub that serves as the town center. There isn't a church; the only religion is fear, and the village is cursed.

Chapter 1

Adelaide stood at the worn kitchen table in her family's small home, kneading dough for bread while her mother prattled and nagged at her. She kept glancing out the window, hoping it wouldn't get to dark, waiting and waiting. At last her mother took over the kneading bustling Adelaide out of the way.
"If you aren't going to help," she sighed in exasperation, "then at least go draw up some fresh water from the well."
"Yes ma'am," Adelaide said quietly, hiding her smile as she retrieved a bucket and fastened a cloak over her shoulder. She forced herself to leave the house slowly and calmly, but as soon as she was out of sight she started running, her feet and the hem of her old, patched dress kicking up snow as she did. The cold air bit at her cheeks, making them read as her warm breath burst out in puffs of air. She took the back way, staying behind the houses, close to the fence, hiding her excitement from the disapproving world. Finally she arrived, Depositing her bucket by the fence, she pressed on one of the saplings with all her weight, as little as it was. With a small creak it came loose, leaving just enough space for her to slip through. She glanced back up at the overcast sky. Not long till nightfall. She would have to make it fast. She squeezed through the gap, and after sprinting the short distance between the wall and the trees, disappeared into the forest.
The forest. It thrummed with things forbidden like cutting through an untouched meadow, venturing inside an abandoned house, eating the forbidden fruit... the forest was Adelaide's forbidden fruit. Ever since she was little, the adult had forbidden anyone from going into the forest without permission, and ever since she was little Adelaide had secretly defied them. Not that their fear was unfounded. There was always a chance that someone could encounter the Beast.
The Beast... Adelaide shivered, goosebumps going down her arms. The Beast was a creature that had tormented the village for as long as anyone could remember. No one knew when it would come... sometimes it was gone for months, sometimes it would attack every night for weeks. It rampaged through the village, destroying everything in sight until it took a life. That's how it always was. It seemed that the monster was mad and uncontrollable until it killed something. Usually it was a pig or a goat, sometimes a horse. But every once in a while it would get a villager... a child that had wondered out at night, or a drunk staggering home after too many beers. The Beast was the only sort of religion the village knew. Fear the Beast. Respect the Beast. Don't go into the forest, for fear you will upset the Beast. People still went in the forest of course, with permission, to trap and hunter and gather. A few of the richer families even had small farms in the meadows nestled against the mountainside, though rocky mountain soil didn't produce much.
Adelaide had never seen the Beast herself, not in the forest or in the village. She had heard its terrible snarls and howls, had heard the cries of the animals, and sometimes the people, it killed. But she was always inside, sitting at the table, watching out the window while her family cowered in the cellar below. They had given up on dragging her down there by now. She would kick and scream, and once they got her locked down there she would hiss insults at them in the dark, disgusted by their cowardice. But she never ventured outside when the Beast came. And they always knew when it would come. The forest would be quiet all day, no birds singing. The hunters and trackers would come back with empty hands, no wildlife to be found. A heavy silence would fall over the village. No one spoke, no one left their house unless they had to.
And even when the Beast left, no one talked about it, even if a villager had been killed. Adelaide had been asking since she was a child what the Beast was, and each time she would get shushed or smacked. Only once had she gotten any other kind of answer, when her ancient grandmother, senile with age, had heard her question.
"The Beast," her grandmother had said in a cracked voice, smiling a broken smile, "The Beast is our curse. The Beast is our sins." Then she had cackled loudly, earning her a stern glare and harsh words from Adelaide's father. The day after had been one such quiet day, and that evening Adelaide's father sent her grandmother out for a loaf of bread. Adelaide had been too young to understand, but her grandmother just smiled and laughed at her father, kissed Adelaide and her sister's on the head and left. The family was dragged down to the cellar, Adelaide kicking and screaming. The doors were locked, night fell, and the Beast came. Adelaide's grandmother had been buried the next day, her body covered to hide the Beast's mangling work. The grandmother she had been named after. Adelaide never asked about the Beast after that day, rarely speaking at all. Instead she escaped to the forest, unable to look her family or the villagers in the eyes.
In the forest she daydreamed about the rest of the world. She didn't know much about it, only the stories that the few traders that visited brought with them. They told of huge, bustling cities, cities that didn't have Beasts and didn't need walls. Adelaide couldn't imagine a world without a Beast or a walls, but she wanted to see it more than anything. Each year she planned to leave with the traders, packing away her things in secret. But whenever they left she always felt overwhelmed with fear and anxiety, and then the traders were gone and she would have to wait for their return, rebuilding her courage. This year the traders were late. They usually came in the fall and left at the first snowfall. But winter had come early, shrouding the village and forest in white before they had even arrived. It was agonizing for Adelaide, who was now 17, old enough for her family to marry her off to anyone who would take her. Her sisters were all already married and living away from home. And there was nothing she would be able to do about it, except to be as distant and undesirable as possible. She talked to no one unless she had to, shot glares at those who tried to talk to her, flinched from the slightest touch. This was the village that lived in fear, the village that killed her grandmother, the village that gave in to the Beast. She didn't want to be one of them.
The loud hoot and rush of wings overhead made Adelaide jump as an owl swooped overhead. Her heart skipped a beat before racing in her chest; she was late, and had wandered deep into the forest. She turned towards home and sprinted back to the safety of the wall, fear rising within her as imaginary creatures chased her in the deepening shadows. She bolted through the wall, forcing the panel back into place. Leaning against it she clutched a stitch in her side, gasping for air as she tried to control her breathing and racing heart. Flushed, she scooped up the bucket, rushing to the well and filling it clumsily with icy water. When she returned home her mother was just taking the loaf of bread out of the oven, her father skinning a rabbit he had caught to put into stew.
"Took you long enough," her mother, Grace, sneered at her, taking the water.
"Adelaide, cut the potatoes for the stew," her father said before her mother could continue. He was a no nonsense man, and there was no room for arguing in his house. It just made it easier for Adelaide to continue her self evoked vow of silence. She silently cut the potatoes and put them in the stew, then helped her mother prepare the rest of the ingredients. When dinner was ready, they sat down to eat in silence. Only one thing was said throughout the meal, something that made Adelaide's heart beat so loud she hoped her father wouldn't hear it.
"Part of the wall's broken. Have to be fixed tomorrow."