The Forest

The candle flickers in the window, tended by Sara who still believes after nearly a years that Simon will return. She keeps it alight and carefully trimmed each night, believing that it will guide him home out of the forest. She says that she can hear him, feel his life force. Simon's life force is powerful she says and he fills the world with his presence. Simon was one of five men who set out in the early hours of the evening to investigate the terrible noises that terrified the children each night. They went out armed with staves and axes, lamps and ropes, courage and desperation. The noises stopped but the men did not return that night, or the following night or in the desperate despairing weeks that followed. One by one the villagers came to the reluctant conclusion that the men were lost and that they would never be seen again.

It was early autumn, the harvest was nearly finished when Peter one of the men returned staggering out of the forest on the path he had left on three months ago. He was greeted with joy and hope, which soon turned to horror. How he had found his way back was anyone’s guess, he was thin, clothes tattered, torn and matted with blood and other substances that were not identifiable but worst of all, he was blind, deaf and unable to speak a sensible word. His voice was a dreadful animal keening and he cringed away from the welcoming crowd. He would have fled back into the forest except that he could not see the path he had arrived on and was soon tangled in the undergrowth. The villagers carried him, kicking and screaming to the village hall and cleaned him up and fed him. He slowly calmed when he realised that he was among friendly people but showed no sign of recovering his ability to communicate. A week after he arrived he started to run a high fever and within days he was dead. He was buried in the graveyard and the village mourned his passing.

His arrival spurred the hope of the wives who waited for the return the remaining men. Weeks passed with no further appearances until two of the men's bodies were found just inside the forest boundary. They were better clothed, less dirty but appeared to have met and fought to the death using hands and teeth and any implement that the forest provided. They too were buried in the church graveyard despite some misgivings of the priest, who quite rightly pointed out that they were both murderers. This opinion did not sit well with the villages and the priest withdrew his objection to the burials.

Spring was nearly finished when the fourth man arrived. He was clean, could talk, see, hear but had no recollection of the last nine months. He was welcomed back by the villagers, treated by all with great kindness and gentleness but despite all this, he was fearful of people and at night suffered from horrendous nightmares which would hurl him into wakefulness screaming with such ferocity that the entire village was woken by the sounds. This went on for two months with no sign of improvement. Early one Sunday morning when the priest went into the church to prepare for Mass, he found the man hanging from the rafters at the back of the church. Horrified the priest called the villagers to view the sacrilege and again tried to deny the man a plot in the graveyard. Again he was overruled.

It was summer, just over a year since the men had set out when Simon knocked at the door of his home, attracted by the candle flickering in the window. Sara welcomed him with many prayers of thanks giving, kisses and hugs. Simon was almost as he had been when he left, but could not recall the missing year. In fact at first he did not believe that he had been gone for a year. The villagers having seen four men die horribly were cautious around him and when the priest banned him from entering the church they agreed. He would stand outside the door of the church and receive the Holy Sacrament there. He meekly accepted this judgement and slowly returned to his previous life with Sara.

Within six months Sara was pregnant, glowing with health and joy. Not everyone was joyful with her and the widows of the men who had travelled with Simon on that fatal expedition whispered about the Devils doings behind her back. Even the priest kept Simon and by association Sara at arms length so that when a strong young son was born to Sara and Simon, he was baptised outside the church and banned from entry into the church. The child grew fast and by a year was sturdy on his feet but would not or could not utter a sensible sound. He also had a terrible temper and was quite prepared to fight anyone who displeased him. The village children avoided him and the whispers of Devils doing which had started to die away as time went on began to be heard again. Eventually the problem was so bad that the priest was approached by the villagers to do an exorcism on the child. He was reluctant to do such a ritual, having little faith in his capabilities or the efficacy of such rituals. The villagers insisted that if he was not prepared to do the ritual, the bishop had to be approached. The priest duly wrote to the bishop who sent and emissary to investigate. The emissary was told the entire story and found the child to be "definitely possessed", recommending the bishop find a qualified exorcist.

The exorcist duly arrived and he started setting up the church, ready for the ritual. As he was praying in the church a terrible roaring was heard in the forest. The child heard the sound, responded in the same fashion and, before anyone could stop him had run off and into the forest. Simon seeing his son run off followed him into the forest. After a while the terrible roaring ceased. Simon and his son did not return.

Sara still keeps a candle in the window despite the antagonism of her neighbours. She swears that Simon and her son are strong, good, powerful souls and will return one day

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