Drabble Wednesday: Lost in the Woods

Today on Drabble Wednesday we venture far into the deep, dark woods, among the horrors and the primal fears…

Welcome, Dearie

Welcome dearie, to my humble cottage in the woods. It’s not much, I’m sure you consider it very meager. But I’m a poor old woman, with no coffers of gold. I have to make do with odd jobs.

Like the one your wife gave me.

You shouldn’t have cheated on her, you know.

But don’t you worry, I’ll try to make the killing painless. Take comfort in the fact your meat and bones will fill my larder and belly for some time. I won’t waste a thing.

So what will it be, oh Prince?

The carving knife or the cleaver?

~*~

Cursed

It is dark in Onyx Woods.

The sun never creeps within its shadows, and it never knows light. The wind blows cold, and whispers horrors to gloom. The trees sway and moan, and sometimes scream in pain. The damp, loamy earth smells of perpetual blood.

It is dark in Onyx Woods.

Not a living creature skitters through that forest, though shapes move like grey mist. No birds sing, no mice scurry, but things move within its depths. Things shift and shriek and shudder.

Stay away from Onyx Woods

The ghosts of the dead linger there.

The ghosts of the damned.

~*~

Princess

Such a damsel I distress am I.

Lost in the woods.

I’m so frightened.

Oh, someone come and save me!

I can’t believe that lame prince bought my act. All I had to do was bat my eyes, tell a sob story, and pretend to faint. The gullible fool whisked me to his castle, and after some weeks of feigned simpering asked me to marry him.

Of course, I said yes.

Once we’re wed I’ll poison his wine to ensure I get my hands on his riches.

And it sure beats being hunted through those woods for murdering my step-mother.

© A. F. Stewart 2016 All Rights Reserved