The Man in the Woods

They didn’t leave that night willingly. Katherine had packed enough food to last a week. Her two sons knew of the storm and marked the closest shelters. Her husband was missing once again at a time when they needed him the most.

Charlie, the youngest of the two kids, warned them a week ago. He saw the storm closing in and the entire house got lifted ten feet in the air. His mother believed him but John, her husband, dismissed Charlie’s premonition as a nightmare.

Now the three are stuck on an empty road surrounded by forest on both sides in freezing cold temperatures. Katherine put a blanket over Charlie while Peter, her eldest, was wearing the jacket he stole from his father’s closet.

“I kept telling him that Charlie has a gift. We should listen to him. But no. His one friend in the middle of nowhere said we’ll be fine and he believed it.” Katherine rambles as the trio attempt to push the car a little bit hoping to get it started.

Peter looks at the wind around him and realizes that the storm might be much closer than they anticipated. “Mom, we have to either leave or get inside this car.”

Katherine looks at Charlie who is freezing in the cold and makes a split-second decision. She takes her sons and runs to the east where she knows the tornado would not catch up to them. Charlie clings to the two adults as they run inside the forest. They are bombarded with strong gusts of wind mixed with leaves, branches and random garbage that hits them as they move forward. It’s hard for them to see through their eyes when all of a sudden rain starts to fall making the situation worse.

Katherine prays while simultaneously cursing out John. Peter steadies Charlie and soon his eyes land on a small house in the middle of the woods.

“Mom, a random house in the middle of the woods.” He says pointing the small cottage. “What could go wrong?” He laughs trying to lighten the mood. The three of them move forward to the house which looks quite tiny on the outside. It has a small chimney sticking out and a single window and tiny door. Peter knows this home will be so tiny that he will have a neck strain if he didn’t sit down.

They reach close. There are no lights coming from inside. They use their phone torch to look through the window and notice the dusty furniture. It seems like no one lives there anymore.

Peter pushes everyone away and tries to break the door open by hitting it with his shoulder and then kicking it.

“Stop.” A man says from behind them. The unfortunate family that is now completely drenched in rain huddle together and stare skeptically at the man in front of them. “Relax. I’m not a serial killer. Just a nomad.” He says. He’s wearing a black raincoat and his hands are slightly shaking. Katherine feels bad for judging too soon and apologizes to the man. “Sorry, we didn’t realize that someone still lives here.”

“Why?” He asks moving forward.

“There’s cobwebs everywhere. And there’s dust on your furniture.” Charlie chimes in.

“Charlie…shut up.” Peter quickly says. The man just laughs and ruffles Charlie’s hair. “So you were snooping around my home.” The man jokes. Charlie stays quiet.

The man takes a key out of his pocket and with a shivering hand, manages to open the lock and lets the family in.

The home smelled exactly as one would expect. It smelled of dirt and wet wood. The man informs them that he only comes here once a month to collect some items in the forest.

“You all are lucky that it happened to be just that day. Tomorrow morning I’ll be collecting some essential items.” He tells the family. Charlie stands in a corner not wanting to touch all the dust-covered materials in the room. Katherine looks out the window and notices the tornado moving to the right. “The car must be done for.” She says out loud.

“Well, at least you and your children are alive. That’s what matters the most.” He tells her smiling. Peter plops on a loveseat and immediately dust flies around making him cough. The man apologizes for the condition of the house but the mother quickly stops him. “You’ve been more than helpful. It’s all right.” She says.

In between his coughing fits, Peter notices a pendant dangling on a hook. It has a small skull on it but it looks real.

“How old are your kids?” The man asks Katherine who nudges the kids to answer themselves.

“I’m in college. Just home for the summer.” Peter answers.

Charlie stares outside the window as his mother calls his name twice. “Sorry he’s lost in his own world. He’s twelve but he’s very shy.” Katherine tells the man.

“Oh he’s still a child. I’m sure he’ll be just like his big brother as he gets older.” The man remarks laughing.

Charlie listens to the conversation but despite knowing that his behavior is rude, he can’t help but look at the scene in front of him outside. He notices a small speck of light intentionally moving towards the big oak tree right outside the home.

“What’s your name, sir?” Peter asks the man.

“Greg.” He answers.

“Peter.” Both of them shake hands.

“Greg, can we get the fireplace running? The kids are probably really cold.” Katherine says.

Greg nods his head and excuses himself to get some wood that he stored just a few feet away from the house. But before he heads out the door, he calls for Peter. “There’s an extra raincoat on that hook. Grab it and lend me a hand, boy.” He tells Peter who does as he’s told.

Katherine cautions him to be careful in the rain as both men walk away in the rain that has now calmed down.

Charlie is still staring out of the window.

“Charlie, you’re supposed to greet people properly when you first meet them. How many times do I have to tell you?” She says frustrated.

“You made a mistake, mom.” Charlie tells her.

She panics and looks around before grabbing Charlie’s arms. “What mistake?” She asks.

Before Charlie can answer, Katherine feels a hard object hit the back of her head and before she falls unconscious, she notices orbs of light filling up the entire room.

“You fainted, perhaps from exhaustion. Here’s some tea.” It’s the next morning and Katherine slowly opens her eyes to see Greg holding a tea cup standing by the couch. She backs away as Greg smiles and places the cup on the dusty table and walks outside.

Katherine gets up but her head starts to throb. ‘Did I really just faint?’ She thinks to herself holding her head.

“Charlie! Peter!” She calls out to her children.

“We’re outside, Mom!” She hears Charlie’s voice which alerts her immediately.

She walks out of the home to see her sons sitting next to the huge oak tree while Greg gets ready for his trek in search of items in the forest.

“I’ll be back in an hour. You can leave once you feel better.” He tells Katherine who is still puzzled about yesterday’s events.

Greg takes off without another word before Katherine can form a question.

She eyes both her children and notices them basking in the sunlight. As much as the sight is wholesome, she feels the urge to ask her youngest about what transpired the previous day.

She calls out to him again and sits next to her children. Peter smiles at her and goes back to staring at the clouds through the tree cover. Charlie on the other hand has his eyes closed.

“Charlie? Do you remember what happened yesterday?” She asks him.

He opens his eyes and gives her the same smile Peter gave her. “Of course. We escaped here to get away from the storm. Isn’t this place amazing?” He remarks with the biggest grin and then retreats back to his original state with his eyes closed.

‘This is strange.’ Katherine thinks to herself. She searches for her phone in her pocket but she can’t find it. Her two sons stay fixated in their world, one enjoying the sky while the other quietly hums with the chirping of the birds.

“Peter. We have to go back home. Your dad will be worried for us.” She tells him. He looks at her and for a moment she feels his eyes shine a golden hue before they go back to brown. He doesn’t speak but he reaches his hand over to her and then retreats. She notices on his neck hangs a skull pendant.

“Where’d you get that?” She points to the pendant.

“Greg.” He replies back in a monotone voice.

Katherine feels for the first time in her life like her sons truly behaved like John. She wants to say it out loud but bites her tongue and looks away in search for a distraction. But all that lies in front of her is the home that she thought of as an abode that has now become a puzzle.

She looks at Charlie, hoping to get a better response this time. “Charlie, do you remember someone hitting me in the back of my head?”

“No one hit you.” Greg’s voice rings in the air.

Katherine turns her head swiftly, high on alert, not registering what he just said.

So Greg continues, “Do you remember?”

“What?” Katherine cautiously asks him in a low voice.

“You were here before, in a very bad state. Charlie can’t predict the future. He just has really good memory.” Greg tells her.

Suddenly, they’re all hit with strong gusts of wind that send random objects flying in their direction. A small clipping of a newspaper hits Katherine on the face. She removes it, and reads the headline, “Family wiped out in violent storm.”

Katherine closes her eyes and sees herself deciding to sit in the car with her kids. She spots the tornado coming up towards them and hugs both of her children. The car gets thrashed by the tornado which then tosses the car with the family inside into a nearby ditch. Katherine gets toppled out of the car and the back of her head against a heavy piece of metal. The last thing Katherine sees is Greg pulling the kids out of the wreck.

Katherine opens her eyes and finds everyone staring at her.

“I’ve pulled you guys out several times from that car wreck. Healed you using the medicines from the forest. And gave you another chance to choose right. This was the last time I planned to save you. But this is the first time you chose to run into the forest instead of staying in your car. Why?” Greg questions her.

Katherine hyperventilates but tries to catch her breath and tells him, “I don’t know. The car no longer felt safe.”

Greg nods his head and takes a deep breath. He removes the pendant from around Peter’s neck and Charlie’s wrist which Katherine had failed to notice.

“You can go now.” Greg announces. Peter looks around confused and Charlie just stares at Greg.

“Just like that? How can we repay you for giving us so many chances at life?” Katherine questions him as she follows him inside his dusty home.

“You already did.” Greg says, giving her a crooked smile.

Katherine suddenly gets a flash of the storm night when her car crashed for the very first time. Somehow, she knows that it was the first time she died. In between her blood spewed coughs, she looked at a worried looking Greg who pulled out Charlie’s limp body from the car.

Greg went up to her and asked her as she took her dying breath. “If you could sacrifice one thing to get your lives back, what are you willing to give up?”

Katherine answers, “My husband John.”

Suddenly the home vanishes into thin air and so does Greg. Katherine, Peter and Charlie look at each other with dread. Katherine wants to leave the place and go back home, but she knows John won’t be waiting there to welcome them.