Chapter One

She sat perched on a thick long branch in complete darkness.  She felt the moist moss beneath her hand where she gripped the bark.  Her breathing was steady, long deep breaths, keeping her balance.  Her eyes were focused.  It was dark with only the light from the moon illuminating the forest.  She waited silently.  Then she heard the rustle of bushes.  She saw what she had been tracking since sunset.  Hunting at night may not be the safest option, but she had the advantage.  She positioned her bow.  Slowly she pulled the arrow back, keeping herself completely quiet.  She breathed, in and out…in and out.  Focused on her target, still holding the arrow at the ready with her right hand, she released.  She hit her target.  Of course, she rarely missed.

As she descended to retrieve her prize she remembered the many days she spent hunting unsuccessfully, the many nights she spent enduring the pain of hunger.  She remembered eating grasshoppers and worms which were the easiest to get her hands on and learning which berries were safe to eat by watching birds and deer.  She wasn't skilled enough to catch them yet, so she resorted to just watching and thus learning to track them and where they had been.  A mere 12 years old, cast out on her own to survive.  Since then she had become an expert and a woman.  She had learn to hunt in many ways and had learned how to survive on her own.  She had hunted rabbits, squirrels, mice, raccoons, and birds.  Small animals she would be able to finish in one or two sittings without leaving a scent to be followed.

As she retreated to her hideaway, she heard crackling of trees and thumps that shook the ground beneath her.  Thud  Had they heard her?  She was so sure to be quiet.  Thud..Thud  She would have to have her rabbit for breakfast tomorrow.  She couldn’t risk leaving an aroma of freshly cooked meat.  She traveled about five minutes before she reached her hideout.  She hurried through the thick wall of bushes that hid an archway, replacing the branches that covered the entrance.  The thumps continued in the opposite direction, fading in the distance.  She hurried along the path that led to her cottage.  Covered in old vines and dead leaves.  She started to climb up the lattice that stood on the side of the house.  She entered through a small window in the attic.  She shut the wooden cover and latched it with a long piece of wood, preventing anyone from opening it from the outside, at least not without a struggle.

She went to a tiny stove that sat next to a crack in the wall and lit a lantern illuminating the tiny room.  Although she could see at night, it was only with the help of the moonlight, as there was only one window that was boarded, she could not see when it was pitch black. There was a small mattress piled with blankets and fur she had stitched together from the many small animals she’d killed and skinned.  She had an extra pair of boots for when winter came and a trunk full of heavy jackets, socks, long-sleeved shirts, pants and undergarments she had been luckily enough to ransack from neighboring cottages.  She had been fortunate enough to find this secluded and well-hidden cottage for a hideout, but it did not have a single necessity, so she had rummaged any place she could for supplies.  There was a small table against the wall with jars of berries, jams, water she had collected from the well outside, beans, lentils, and rice to last her if she could not find her next meal.  There was a bucket in the corner of the room for when she had to urinate and could not leave the safety of her home, otherwise her business would be taken care of in the woods.  She went to a small mirror on the wall that hung over a tall table on which sat a big bowl.  She poured the tiniest amount of water and dipped a small rag to wipe the marks from her face.  She would have to go to the river in the morning to bathe.  She quickly changed into cleaner clothes.  Pants, a tank and belt.  Socks and shoes on at the ready, never knowing when she would have to be on the run because she was never safe.  She took the rabbit from her bag and placed it in the oven to suffocate the smell.  Exhausted, she turned off the lantern and got into bed where she fell fast asleep.

As she slept, like countless nights before, she was visited by a dream.  It was always the same one and it was always blurry, like a picture taken out of focus.  She was standing in the forest alone as a child, surrounded in thick black fog.  She was scared and weeping.  Suddenly, someone grabs her hand and leads her through the woods, almost dragging her.  They come to a stop near an old tree covered in green moss that lay across the forest floor.  The figure opens a wooden door in the ground.  Grabbing her by her shoulders, her mother kneels down to meet her gaze, and speaks to her.  “Stay here baby, everything will be ok.  Shhh..quiet as a mouse remember?  I love you..”  And just like that, her mother is gone and she stands there once again, alone in the forest.