Sweet Sixteen

One of Kaylie’s earliest memories was of her mother, staring at her from across the kitchen table, an intense burn in her bright blue eyes. It was a chilly winter morning and Kaylie and her mom had just built a lopsided but enthusiastic snowman on their front lawn. Now they were sipping from mugs of hot chocolate overflowing with marshmallows.

Kaylie was maybe 4 or 5 years old, and was warming her hands by wrapping them around the steaming mug when she suddenly had a thought.

“Mama?” She had asked. “What is in the woods on the end of Juniper Street?”

Her mother had paused mid sip and shaken her head.

“Don’t you ever go into those woods! A girl like you might never come back!”

That wasn’t good enough for Kaylie.

“But why Mama? Are there monsters?”

Kaylie’s mother had said yes, there were monsters, and the worst kind too. That you could hear them breathing in the trees. That sometimes men went in there with their long guns to hunt deer and got disoriented by the wind and the whispers. They could shoot at anything that moved, “even little girls”.

And then there was the creature who lived in the cabin at the center of the forest, the cabin with the dusty windows and the broken door that creaked on its hinges whenever the wind blew too hard. Kaylie’s mom said he was half man, half monster, like the Beast in the fairy tale.

“They say if you get to close to his house he will run out and snatch you right off the path, make you his slave, or if you are a pretty little girl like you, his monster bride.”

At this point Kaylie’s hot chocolate was all gone so she told her mother of course she would never go anywhere near the cabin in the woods, would never go anywhere past the last house on Juniper Street. Satisfied, her mom went upstairs to run a bath for her and Kaylie never mentioned it again.

Now she was about to turn 16, the last of her friends to reach this milestone. She ran a brush through her long blond hair, applied some mascara and shiny pink lip gloss, and checked her reflection in the mirror one last time. Just as she was slipping on a pair of sandals, she heard the doorbell ring.

“Kaylie! Your friends are here!”

She ran downstairs to find Tasha and Madeleine grinning at her from the living room. “Happy birthday eve!” they shouted in unison. Kaylie gave her friends a hug before slipping on her coat. Her mother waved to her from the sofa.

“Have fun,” she said. “ Be safe. You know, the usual.”

The girls walked through the center of town and down the road to the lake, where many of their classmates were already lounging on blankets by the shore. It was right before sunset and everything was bathed in a hazy orange glow. Tasha had brought a bottle of white wine which she poured into clear plastic cups. The girls toasted to Kaylie’s sweet 16 and “many more years of adventures together.”

The sun set behind the trees, and a bright white moon rose above the lake. Kaylie sat on the wooden dock, sipping her drink and lazily swirling her toes in the water when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Its about time you turned 16.” Justin sat down next to her and ran his fingers through the murky lake, splashing Kaylie’s legs. She responded by kicking her feet, sending a spray of cool water into the air. Justin smiled. “Happy Birthday Kay Kay”, he said. It was a nickname she hadn’t heard since elementary school and it made her giggle. She turned her face towards him, meaning to thank him, or maybe just to comment that no one called her that anymore. Before she could say anything, however, his lips were on hers, warm, soft and tasting slightly of white wine. He pulled away after a few seconds and looked at her inquisitively. “That was ok right?”

Kaylie frowned but her eyes were twinkling. “You are supposed to ask before you do it?” she said, but they both knew she was only kidding. Kaylie had had a crush on Justin since the 4th grade. This was her first kiss, but it was him, she was about to turn 16, and it was absolutely ok.

The night continued. They danced barefoot on the shore of the lake, like a coven of witches, while the moon rose higher in the sky. It grew late and one by one, people trickled away, slightly tipsy, heading for home. Finally only the three best friends were left, sitting on the dock, starting up at the stars.

It was about half an hour before midnight when Madeleine suddenly jumped up , excited. “We totally should go into the woods!”

Kaylie shook her head. “No way,” she replied. “I absolutely do not want to die on my birthday.”

Maddie rolled her eyes. “Oh come on. There is no way any of that stuff is true. Whispers in the trees? A creepy beast-man who tries to kidnap little girls?”

Tasha frowned. “I don’t know,” she said. “My brother and his buddies dared each other to go in those woods a few years ago, remember? After homecoming? He told me that they ran out screaming like little babies. The starting line of the high school football team.”

“Whatever,” Maddie said. “We are braver than them.”

Kaylie wasn’t sure if she was braver than a whole football team, but she had to admit that she had always been curious about the forest . What better time for an adventure than now, at almost midnight, the night of her first kiss, the night before she turned sixteen years old?

The girls put their shoes back on and walked through the town once more, giggling and then shushing each other as they passed houses with darkened windows. This time they turned left at Juniper Street and walked all the way to the end. As they tiptoed past the last house, they grew quiet, paused, and then Tasha whispered “Here goes nothing.”

The three girls silently entered the woods and headed up the winding path, through the shadows. Now and then, the moon would peek out, casting an eerie glow like a flickering flashlight across the treetops. Kaylie listened hard for voices, for whispers, for footprints other than their own. She heard nothing but the wind hissing through the leaves.

The girls stopped when they reached the cabin at the center of the forest, and grabbed each other’s hands, their eyes fixed on the house that they had heard so much about.

The windows were darkened with dust and mildew, and the door hung slightly crooked on its hinges, creaking in the breeze. Maddie crept up to one of the windows and tried to peer inside but she couldn’t see through the grime. Tasha took a deep breath, summoning up her courage, and knocked softly on the wooden door. No one appeared and they could hear no sounds coming from inside.

Finally the girls pushed the door open. The cabin was just as small inside, with empty cabinets and drawers, and layer of dust covering all of the furniture . There was no beast, no kidnapped girls. There was no sign that anyone had lived here for years, possibly ever.

Kaylie and her friends looked at each other. Eventually it was Kaylie who spoke.

“Did he leave?” she asked. “Or was he never there?” She remembered her mother’s wide eyes, her insistence that Kaylie never, ever, go into the woods. “Has everyone just been lying to us our whole lives?”

No one had an answer for that.

Kaylie and her friends walked quietly down the path and back out onto Juniper Street. It was after midnight and Kaylie had to be home before 1. After a few more minutes of silence, Tasha finally said, “ Well I don’t see any reason for us to tell the truth either.”

Kaylie immediately nodded in agreement. “Absolutely,” she replied. Then she grinned. “I don’t know about you guys but what I remember most is the awful creatures in the trees. That wet, slobbery breathing.”

Maddie nodded. “Disgusting,” she agreed. “But not as bad as the creepy man with the sword. We are lucky we got away!”

The next morning Kaylie’s mom made her a birthday breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and crispy bacon. She asked how Kaylie’s night with her friends was, if there was drinking, if Jackson was there. Kaylie smiled and told her about the kiss by the lake.

Afterwards, while they were washing the breakfast dishes, Kaylie mentioned their trip into the woods.

Her mother froze, letting the warm water flow over the plate in her hand. Her eyes were wide. “What did you see?” she asked

Kaylie smiled ever so slightly before replying.

“It was terrible,” she said. “Just like everyone says. Eyes staring at us from the shadows, screams floating on the wind.”

Kaylie told her mom about escaping from the beast in the cabin, of his long beard and dirty knuckles. She said that yes, he threatened to chain her up and make her his bride. She said that they had been lucky to get away and promised to never ever go into the woods again.

Her mother nodded, satisfied, and the two of them finished washing the dishes. When they were done, her mom dried her hands and looked at her daughter with a bright grin.

“So how does it feel to be 16?” she asked.

*****************************************

The sun rose slowly over Juniper Street and the forest beyond. Birds hopped from tree to tree, chirping their morning song, while squirrels dashed across the path as if they were immersed in a playful game of tag.

The door to the cabin still hung loose on its hinges, swaying gently in the morning breeze.

Far across town, Kaylie and her mom were putting away the last of the breakfast dishes, talking about birthday things.

No one was watching the cabin, not the families waking up on Juniper Street, the birds high in the trees, or the squirrels chasing each other along the forest floor. No one was watching when the door suddenly swung all the way shut and a light came on in the window.