'A Walk In The Woods' by Marie Godley

A yowl of pain echoed around the trees, followed instantly by a long, low moan.


Suraya crouched down behind the bush, her heart beating wildly, the sweat glistening on her forehead.  The trees seemed to be both friend and foe.  True, they were helping to shield her, but they were hiding something that she feared, too.


Suraya had wandered through these woods collecting herbs and plants all her life, until a year ago, when her mother had forbidden her to enter them anymore.  She usually obeyed, but today, because she was late, she had taken a short cut.

Her mother had a tendency to over-react whenever Suraya was late home.  The shrieking got rather loud; you’d think Suraya was seven, not seventeen.


Suraya wanted to run, but she wasn’t sure where the noise was coming from.  I really should have listened to mother, she thought. Then, I didn’t think I would ever find myself thinking that.


Suraya shook herself.  She needed to concentrate.  

She inched forward, listening carefully for any response to her movements.

The wood was eerily, unusually silent.  People thought of the woods as quiet, scary places, but really, they were always full of the sound of birds and insects.  Except for today.  

Suraya moved again - nothing.


She risked getting to her feet as she reached the cover of a tree. She peered round the rough trunk, her hands clasping it tightly. Bravery took over and she moved forward, one foot at a time, leaping if her feet happened to crunch on a leaf, or snap a twig.  Suraya was beginning to think that she had managed to avoid whatever creature had made the distress call, when she heard a muffled noise coming from behind the ferns in front of her. 

She froze to the spot.


But instead of running away, or remaining in cover, Suraya dropped to her hands and knees and started crawling towards the noise.  Her heart, already racing, seemed to get so loud that it cut off any other sounds.


Suraya’s nose wrinkled as it was assaulted by an unrecognisable stench.  She held her hands to her face.  Luckily, they were fragranced by the herbs she had been picking and she breathed the scent in deeply.  Then she took her hands away and parted the ferns.


As soon as she had wriggled through them, she stopped dead.


Lying prostrate before her was a werewolf.  His shaggy fur was matted by mud and sweat and when she looked closer, she saw blood.  For there, sticking out of his arm, was an arrow.


Suraya was about to turn around and crawl away when the fur began to turn hazy.  The creature’s human features, skin and dark hair tried to form, but were instantly lost again as its wolf side re-emerged. 

Suraya sat up shocked as the human features again started to flicker before her.  He was human only for a moment, not long enough for Suraya to discern his identity.  For that, she was thankful, because she knew that if she found out who he was, she would be in danger.


She knew she should leave him there, but she couldn’t do it.  She had never left so much as an injured animal without trying to help it and she wasn’t going to turn her back on what she saw as a human, even if the stories said that werewolves were monsters.


Suraya cautiously moved alongside the body of the werewolf.  He was panting hard and writhing in pain.  She was momentarily taken aback as the earthy brown fur changed to skin, then back again.  

The only wound that Suraya could see was made by the arrow.  It didn’t look that bad and was only in his arm, yet it seemed to have driven him to the brink of death.


Suraya reached towards the arrow, but then hesitated.  Although the stories said that werewolves were able to heal themselves, that hadn’t happened so far, so she decided she would need to clean the wound.  She searched in her bag until she found a flask of water, some herbs and a bandage.  She closed her bag up and rested the things she needed on top of it, within reach. 

Suraya once again reached for the arrow.  She placed her hands on the wooden shaft and pulled.  The arrow came away in her hand and the werewolf let out another long howl.  

She placed the arrow on top her bag, opened the flask and poured water over the wound. Next she applied herbs, before winding a bandage around the werewolf’s arm.


Suraya sat back on her heels.  The werewolf lay still.  His breathing was still fast, but it seemed to be slowing down and he was no longer shifting towards his human form.


Suraya studied the arrow.  The wooden shaft had a metal head, which appeared to be coated in silver.  That would explain how the werewolf had been injured.


It was common knowledge from the elders’ stories that silver killed a werewolf, but it seemed that whoever made this arrow didn’t have enough silver to make a complete arrowhead. so they had coated an ordinary one.  The end result had badly injured the werewolf, causing him to shift constantly between forms and rendering him unable to heal himself, but it hadn’t been powerful enough to kill him.


Suraya stiffened as the werewolf opened his eyes.  He caught sight of her and opened his jaws, a low growl rumbling out of him.  She held her hands up and then wished she hadn’t been so stupid; they were streaked with his blood.


He sniffed at her hands, baring his teeth, then his eyes focused on the bag with the arrow and flask of water sitting on top of it.  He flexed his arm, his eyes first focusing on the bandage, then returning to her face.


Suraya was holding her breath.  The werewolf got to his feet and moved behind her.  His paws hit her in the back and she found herself held face down in the ferns.   He growled menacingly. Suraya was shaking, the fright threatening to send her into blissful darkness as the dizziness that preceded a faint began to overtake her.


She was brought back from the edge by a popping sound close behind her and the release of pressure from her back.


“Get up,” a hoarse voice instructed her.


Suraya rose unsteadily to her feet.


“Thank you for saving me.”


The unexpected words shocked Suraya and without thinking she looked at him.  The werewolf was covered in a cloak, its hood concealing his face.  Suraya told herself she should be grateful that she still didn't know his identity.


“Keep quiet. You’re coming with me.”


The werewolf led the way, suddenly taking her hand to pull her along faster.  Suraya found that instead of feeling frightened, the feel of his fingers curled around hers made her feel safe.  She didn’t know where he was taking her, but she realised that wherever it was, she no longer felt scared.


Maybe she should have been.

*****

Marie Godley lives in Christchurch, Dorset with her family.  When not writing, she can usually be found walking along the beach, or in the New Forest. 

Her book Time Slide, published in 2010, is a time-travelling adventure for 6+.  Her next book, for 12+, is due out in 2011.

www.marie-mariegodleybooks.blogspot.com / www.mariegodley.moonfruit.com

'Disconnected' by Danielle Rose

Jade stirred, her deep sleep broken by the sound of music echoing through the wall.  It was nearly midday.

She sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes.  The music was angry and fast, the sharp lyrics spitting from the speakers like shards of glass.

“Morning, Kat,” she whispered.

A peculiar mixture of excitement and sickness danced in her stomach. A night out with her new flatmates, her best friends - it was just what she wanted, but she couldn’t help feeling nervous. The smell of burnt toast wafted in under her door, making her feel sick.

She splashed her face with cold water from the sink, then pulled on a pair of jeans and a hooded sweatshirt.  She wiggled her feet into a pair of pumps, grabbed her keys and shoved two pound coins in her pocket.

Outside, the air was cold and smelled of pollution.  She pulled the sleeves of her top over her hands and began running.  Jade loved running and she was good at it, too. She ran nearly every day and she liked to do it alone.  She liked to run so fast it hurt.  She liked to feel her muscles tremble as she concentrated hard on not tripping over her own flailing feet.

She ran along the main road, away from the university campus and the halls of residence.  It didn’t matter where she was going, as long as she was moving quickly.

After fifteen minutes, she entered through the big iron gates of a memorial park.  It seemed far removed from the busy streets that surrounded it.  Jade ran around the park eight times before sitting down on a bench.  She let out a gasp of pain as she bent over to ease the stitch in her side.

With her heart still beating hard against her ribs and the muscles in her legs twitching, she walked the long way back to her flat, stopping on the way to buy a burger from a van on the side of the road.

Back at the flat, everyone had woken up and music blared from all three occupied rooms.

Jade went into her room.  She thought about putting some music on too, but she couldn’t decide what to play and anyway, she liked listening to everyone else’s music, like a mixtape.

Jade got in the shower, letting the warm water relax her muscles. She let her mind wander and found herself remembering the look that Kat had given her in the kitchen, sharp, like the music she listened to.  Jade knew that Kat didn’t believe her and it made her feel funny.  Nobody else doubted her, but something in Kat’s eyes made Jade feel exposed.

She thought about Chloe and her plain face with its blank expression and Mark, looking bemused and dopey, but most of all she thought about Kat and the pretty pictures that adorned her arms.  Naked and wet, Jade stood in her room, shivering slightly despite the warmth of the heater.

Bang.

She jumped and swallowed sharply at a knock on the bedroom door.

“It’s me, let me in,” Kat bellowed from the hall.  “I’m going to the shops. Do you want some drinks for tonight?”

“I’m naked,” Jade said.

“Put something on then.”

Jade grabbed her duvet, wrapped it around herself like a toga and shuffled to the door.  Opening it a little, she peered out.

Kat was standing in the hall, wearing the same clothes as yesterday.  Her hair was tied up to reveal silver piercings running along the top of each ear.  A silver stud protruded from each of her cheeks.

“Drink?”  Kat said, holding out her hand.

“Yes please.”

“What do you want?”

“What are you getting?”  Jade asked.

“Whiskey.  Why?”

“I’ll have that too.”  Jade said

“Really?”  Kat laughed.  “We might as well share, then.  I don’t want you chucking up on me, do I?  Give me some money - a fiver will do.”

Jade smiled and waddled awkwardly to her bedside cabinet.

“I don’t have it,” she called out.  “I’ll have to go to a cash machine.”

“Just leave it, I’ll pay.  Buy me a drink later or something, yeah?”

“Thanks,” said Jade.  “I owe you.”

“It’s all right, just get dressed.  You can tell you’re cold,” Kat smirked, nodding at Jade’s arms, which were covered in goose pimples.  “Do you want anything else?”

“Can you get me some crisps? I’ve been out running and I’ve only had a burger all day.”

“Sure.”

For a moment they stood in silence.  Then Chloe’s sickly sweet singing voice began to filter into the hall.  Kat grinned at Jade.

“Right, I’m off.   I’ll see you later,” said Kat.

Jade was left alone in her room.  Her best friend was out buying drink and she had to get ready quickly.  She already knew what she was going to wear.

She put on her underwear and some tight black jeans.  Next she found an old grey vest top that she’d bought to go running in.  It was baggy and her bra was visible at the front and back.  She wouldn’t have normally worn this kind of thing out, but she liked the way Kat dressed and wanted to replicate it as closely as possible.

She slammed the plug of her hair dryer into the socket and began tackling her mane of hair.

By the time Jade had dried her hair, Kat had returned from the shops.  Jade heard her stomp through the door, bottles clanking together as she made her way to her room.

Jade knocked on Kat’s door.

“Come in,” Kat shouted.

“Did you buy me some crisps?”

Jade walked in, inhaling the thick aroma of incense and smoke that filled the room.  She was mesmerised at its transformation.  From skirting board to ceiling, Kat had turned her room into a colourful mass of posters and not an inch of magnolia was left to be seen.

“Wow, your room is amazing.  Aren’t you worried they will make you take it all down when we have a room inspection?”

Kat shrugged. “Here.”  She threw a packet of crisps in Jade’s direction.

“Who are they?”  Jade asked looking at the posters.

“Models, mainly, and bands.  You see that girl there?”  Kat pointed out a picture of a tall, busty, tattooed woman with long dreadlocked hair, wearing a sailor costume.   “She’s Lola Eternal. She’s a model.  Thirty-four piercings and nearly a full bodysuit of tattoos.”

Jade saw that there were pictures of Lola all over Kat’s room.

“Poisoned Heart are my favourite band,” Kat said pointing to a poster of three morbid looking men.  “I’ve seen them twelve times and I’ve met them.  Look.”  Kat pulled up her top to reveal a leopard print bra and a tattoo on her ribs.

“What’s that?”

“Jason Bruno’s autograph.  I got it the night I met him.  My friend inked it the day after.”  Kat grinned and covered herself back up.

“You must really like him?”

“It’s the whole band.  I love them, their songs, their music.  You must relate?  You must love music - I mean, being in a band, you must?”  Kat laughed.

“Y-yeah, I do love music," Jade stuttered.  I mean, I was more in love with music when I was in the band.”

She could feel Kat’s eyes burning into her, making her blush.   She turned and walked to the door.

“Anyway, I’d better go put some make-up on.   I’ll see you in a bit. Chloe has cards for drinking games.”

“Don’t lie,” said Kat.

“I’m not. She does have cards.”

“About the band.  Don’t lie.”

Jade clung on to the door.  “I’m not.”

Kat just shook her head and smiled.

Jade scurried to her room and flung herself onto her bed.  Her insides flipped and her head burned red hot.  She opened the crisps and ate them quickly, hoping they would settle her stomach.

“I’m not,” she whispered to the adjoining wall. 

“How do you know I’m lying?”