Chop…
The last leaf of autumn began to fall on the ground as Christopher McKibben collected firewood. He gathered as much as he could, for winter would soon be upon them, and the Appalachian wilds would be hard and unforgiving to those who were not prepared.
Chop…
Much of Christopher’s time was spent providing for his family: his wife Annie McKibben, his five year old son Elisha McKibben, and the as of yet to be born McKibben who had been in their mother’s belly for several months now. Annie had a strong feeling that it was a girl, and preemptively named her Mary. Christopher bet against Annie, thinking that it would be another boy. He’d name him Bobby.
Chop…
Christopher stepped away to avoid being hit by the tree as it fell, watching as it let out a thunderous crash when it collided with the ground. Soon this year of our Lord, 1815 would end, and another chapter in the untamed American saga would continue. Christopher would take his axe and chop more wood to make the load more manageable. It wasn’t like he was going to bring the entire tree over to the house. The lumber was so large that he would need the largest ox in the territory to get it, and all he had was a skinny nag that was at the last of her days.
He decided to take a short break from wood cutting and sit down on a rock to drink from his water flask and take in the beautiful sounds of nature. Christopher loved it out here. He and his wife were originally from Ireland and would never regret coming to this gorgeous wilderness. The untamed majesty that was the new world. He rubbed the sweat off of his sun kissed skin and ran his fingers through his auburn hair, scratching his thick beard as he relaxed. His green eyes scanned the forest clearing above, taking a peek of the beautiful blue sky.
Break time was over, and he stood to resume his work. As he lifted up his axe however, something caught his attention very suddenly. He looked around and felt strange. He soon realized what was the issue. The sound of the forest wildlife -or lack thereof- filled the air. A grave was not as silent as this place. He looked around, gripping his tool tightly. He lifted it up and waited.
Suddenly his nag began to freak out, pulling at the reigns that were so carefully tied to the tree where the horse was hitched. Christopher would try to calm down the horse.
“Shhhh girl, shhh. It's okay, it's okay.”
He gestured for the horse to listen, yet it seemed so frightened. He’d never seen his horse so afraid. Eventually, the horse calmed down and sound returned to the woods once more. Christopher looked around and took a deep breath. He had the strange feeling that something had intruded into his home, as if someone unannounced just walked through his door. He sighed and resumed his work. He brought back a hefty load of firewood for his family. One thing was for sure; they wouldn’t run out of firewood this year.
Christopher returned home to his meager sized cabin in the woods. It was a picturesque location. The ground was covered in a multitude of leaves painted with dazzling yellows, bright reds and warm browns. The crows cawed loudly to each other high in the canopy above the little cabin. It wasn’t much, but it was well made. Christopher built it with his own two hands, working for a forgotten count of weeks and the felling of an untold number of trees. It was hard and brutal work in those days, but Christopher managed. The house itself mainly consisted of a few rooms. The main room which was everything from the kitchen to living room to Christopher and Annie’s bedroom all rolled up into one. Beyond that was an additional room where the children could have their privacy. Outside at a safe distance from the house so it wouldn’t bombard the family with unholy noxious odors was the outhouse, all handcrafted.
He brought his horse into the small stable that he had built to give the old nag some shelter away from the rain and cold. He began the tedious task of placing the large cut bits of wood in a pile next to the house for him to cut later. It was sheltered so rain and snow wouldn’t seep into the wood and ruin the sole purpose for this long trek into the woods.
He had to make sure that not a single piece of lumber would fall down. The way Christopher had set it up like a slightly sturdier house of cards that would fall over if too much force was used. Carefully, He placed the newer logs on the bottom in front of the old pile, trying not to cause the larger older pile to topple over. Yet as he placed a log on the row, He felt something behind him. The presence of something that slowly creeped up upon him like a mountain lion stalking its prey. He pretended to not hear the sound and continued with his work. A sly smirk came on his face as he sang an old Irish shanty.
“As I was going to Darby, sir, Twas on market day. I met the finest ram, sir that ever was fed upon-”
He whirled around and grinned wickedly, grabbing the small figure and raising it up in the air, finishing the lyric of the song with a loud growling voice, like a father lion meeting its cub.
“-Hay!”
The little boy he picked up giggled and laughed loudly as he was picked up and carried effortlessly. It was Elisha who had tried to sneak up on his father.
“Da! Put me Down, Da!”
“Not a chance ya little bugger!” Christopher laughed heartily as he held his son and carried him around.
“What's the idea of sneaking up on me like that?”
“I wanted to surprise you, Da!”
“Aye, but you’re gonna have to do much better than that.”
He took his knuckles and rubbed Elisha’s head, giving him a gentle noogie. He hoisted the small boy on his shoulder while Annie came out of the house from the middle of cleaning the dishes. Her flowing red locks of hair were like the fires of the sun, and her emerald green eyes shone brighter than any clover. Her skin was a beautiful alabaster white that had been kissed with freckles all over. Annie was the personification of Ireland in both its natural beauty and personality. The type of woman who could go toe to toe with a man. A wild and free spirited woman with an overflowing love for her family.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Oi, There you are. Dinner’s just about ready, Chris. Are you done with the firewood yet?”
Christopher shook his head.
“No. Just got back, love. Give me a little bit of time, alright?”
He gave her a cheeky smile and a wink before setting Elisha down on the ground.
Annie nodded and finished cleaning the bowl, having used her apron as a towel.
“Well, whenever you come in, Remember to wash your hands. I’ll have no dirty hands at my table, you hear me?”
She wagged her finger at him. Christopher chuckled lightly and felt a tinge of shame, for this was not the first time she had told him something and he didn’t listen. That would set a bad example for Elisha.
“Aye, I know, I know Annie. I’ll wash my hands as soon as I’m done.”
Satisfied, Annie went back into the house. Christopher patted Elisha on the back and brushed his fingers through Elisha’s reddish brown hair.
“You best go in and see if you can’t help your mother, alright?”
Elisha ran inside and left Christopher alone. After a few more minutes of setting the wood up, he washed his hands and face, cleaning the sweat off of his brow and making him more clean. Yet as he dried himself off with a towel, he paused. He looked around and was at full alert. Once again the woods fell silent. No birds or animals. Just the sounds of himself and his family inside. He felt the hair rise at the back of his necks, not knowing what was going on. He tried to search for a sound that could lead to the source of this disturbance, yet he found nothing. He swallowed hard and waited, feeling like something was stalking him. Then, when the deafening silence would become too much, the door swung open creating a loud sound that startled Christopher.
“Did you wash your hands, Chris?” Annie asked, unaware of the difference in sound.
Christopher was startled and looked at Annie. The moment she swung the door open, the sounds returned. He sighed deeply and shook his head.
“I did. I’ll be in just one moment.”
Annie went back inside to finish with dinner. Christopher looked around searching for whatever caused that unnatural disturbance. He finally came to the conclusion that he must have been extremely tired and imagined it. He went back inside to enjoy dinner with his family.
Once the dinner table was set and everyone was seated, Christopher placed his hands together and would lead his family in prayer.
“Our Father who art in heaven, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory. Forever and ever. Amen.”
“Dear Lord: we thank you for this wonderful meal that has been lovingly laid before us. We thank you for your infinite mercy and wisdom. We ask only that you keep your hand upon us and that our time in winter be a merciful and brief one. Let we and the people of New Hope continue to serve you in whatever way we can. Give us the strength to overcome the coming hardship, and bless all who dine here in this room. In Jesus Christ’s name: Amen.”
They began to eat and enjoy the dinner. Christopher felt a nagging sensation in the back of his mind and looked at Annie.
“Annie, darling. Did you happen to see or hear anything…strange?”
Annie blinked and looked puzzled at Christopher.
“Strange? What do you mean?”
“Well…”
Christopher rubbed the back of his neck nervously, feeling slightly silly over the situation.
“It's just that today while I was chopping some wood, the whole forest got real quiet.”
“Well, maybe a deer was killed by a wolf.” Annie said in a matter of fact tone. “When a predator kills an animal in the woods, the forest usually goes very quiet.”
Christopher shook his head.
“No, I mean, There was this…”
He trailed off. Perhaps Annie was right and he was simply overthinking it.
“Nah, you’re probably right. Just a little bit startled is all, I suppose.”
Annie looked at Christopher and reached over to hold his hand. A woman’s intuition was never wrong, and she could feel that Christopher was upset over something.
“Chris, what's wrong?”
He shook his head and gently patted her hand, giving her a forced smile.
“It's nothin, darling. Forget I said anything at all.”
That answer left a sour taste in Annie’s mouth, but she wouldn’t press the issue. Once dinner was done, It would be time for bed. The family had to go to church for Sunday morning and would need to get up early.
That night, Christopher would kneel at his bedside and pray to the Lord the usual prayers, though he would pray a little harder when it came to asking for the protection of his family. He felt that there was something evil in the woods. His heart couldn’t shake the feeling, but felt like this private sanctuary had an intruder.
Out in the woods around midnight, a wolf was limping away as fast as it could. It tripped and wined. Something would step on the wolf, causing it to yelp out in pain. With long bony arms, it used its thin stick like fingers to grab at the wolf's jaw and force it open. The wolf yelped out in pain before its neck was violently snapped, and its jaw was ripped from the body, taking skin with it. The wolf was dead quickly after that. The horror in the woods used its dagger-like claws to rend the wolf's flesh, ripping meat off and shoving it inside its maw frantically with an all consuming hunger.
It ate the flesh greedily with every bite, yet its body somehow remained so thin. Despite being lanky and skinny with an almost skeletal frame, it was able to use one hand to rip the wolf’s head right off of its body. It hoisted the head up and squeezed, blood and gore pouring from the head and into the abomination’s gaping maw. It guzzled the blood as if it were the sweetest of wines. It consumed everything it could from the wolf, going so far as to break bone to consume the marrow. Everything it couldn’t eat yet shoved into its mouth, it threw up in a large pellet like an owl, yet even after consuming almost an entire wolf, it still remained hungry. No matter how many wolves this thing ate, it would never be full. That was its curse. That was the price it paid for its sins. It began to climb a tree in search of its next prey.