THE WHISPERING WOOD
Shirley was waiting for Tina’s little sister Amelia outside her work, she had finished early and they were running late. Shirley was hooting the horn of her ford fiesta and turned down the music.
They were all going on holiday together, OK it was only a cottage in Somerset for a week, but Shirley was looking forward to it, she got time away from work in a stuffy office and the office bully.
They had made the plans ages ago when they all decided they needed a break, well her and Tina did, Amelia was a last minute substitute, Shirley had recently spilt from her boyfriend Nick. She needed the pick me up.
She had been busy lately she had been working a lot for the insurance firm which was good money, not a bad job, although the bully was getting worse and he was younger than her, she had to say something soon, or go for a more rewarding job somewhere else
.She wanted to work in an animal compound, it would have been fun mucking out, maybe she should just do it.
After picking Amelia up she went home to change and grab a few things, the phone rang.
‘Hello’ she said.
‘Hi, we are ready to rock and roll if you are, meet us outside Ian’s flat, and be quick we need to get there before dark’
Said her friend Tina over the phone.
‘I’ll be there in 5 minutes’
Shirley said and put the phone down and got her suitcase that was ready to go.
It took them 3 hours to get to the cottage and by the time they had got there the weather had gotten better, it was gorgeous to see the cottage covered by ivy and blossom in the afternoon sun, the wind was blowing the reeds by the estuary and she could hear birds in the distance.
Inside was beautiful all wood and very country cottage with interesting paintings, and floral print everywhere. There was 2 bedrooms 1 for Tina and her boyfriend Ian, and 1 for Shirley and Tina’s little sister Amelia, it would have been for Shirley and Nick, she looked at the twin beds and sighed a deep sigh of relief, remembering that she dumped him, he was the one afraid of commitment, not her.
After they had dumped all their stuff in the cottage they went for an afternoon walk, they decided to stretch their legs after being cramped in a vw beetle for 3 hours, it was Ian’s, gorgeous car, but just not comfortable for long distances.
They had packed a picnic, and went walking following signs of a footpath down towards a lake.
With Amelia leading the way, they followed the footpath to a lake and set up a picnic on the pebbles, the sun was shining on the still lake and everything seemed quite still.
It was a little lake that was very shallow and had a small waterfall, which was sparkling in the sunshine. Amelia climbed up for a better look, and she dipped her toes in the water, she closed her eyes to enjoy the peace and quiet, then she could hear something coming from behind her it sounded like whispering from behind the trees, she stood up and followed the sounds, she stumbled upon a glade where dear were basking in the sun, they didn’t seem to care she was there. She thought for a moment the trees or even the deer were talking to her, she was thinking she must have gone mad.
The whispering started again and the deer ran off out of the glade and it went dark, the whispering got louder and louder, she was trying to work out what it was saying but to no avail, the ringing in her head got shrill like an angry alarm. By now her eyes were wide open and she saw the trees looking awfully menacing, with crocked branches and the hollows in the trees looking like gaping mouths trying to scream, and there was a distinct movement of the branches even though there was no wind, as soon as that happened Amelia came out of her stared stun and picked up the pace and fled, running through deep thicket and angry looking tree branches, she was tired out by the time she rejoined the others, a little worse for wear, and her favourite top had been snagged on the thorny branches, she sat back down to assess the damage and eat a sandwich to calm her nerves.
Amelia wanted to forget about what happened and didn’t step into the wood again, instead she stayed at the lake pawing at the water and day dreaming.
Shirley was the next to step into the woods, she was curious as to what spoked Amelia, and she needed to she for her self the apparent scary trees., that was all Amelia would admit too.

She found the glen through the thick undergrowth and the thorny branches, she basically followed the downed foliage and came across material attached to a thorny bit, it was a nice top. As she entered the glen she could see it was worth it, spacious, beautiful big trees, lots of butterflies and no sign of any whispering or any dark shadows, branches swayed in the cool breeze and the grass was bright green. Then she noticed movement in the trees, something low down, then high up, and there was more than one, intrigued she went closer. She saw what could only be explained as creatures jumping from branches on to the woodland floor, they were small, brown and looked like the trees they were swinging from, looking so cute and innocent, although she doubted they were. They hadn’t noticed her, they were still playing with sticks, as she watched these amazing creatures she wondered if they had a name or any predators, as an after thought, a sound was coming from behind her and she found her heart pounding, and was nervous to turn around, then a man came crashing through the woodland behind her making her jump, and scream, but only a bit.
‘Don’t get too close, their dangerous’ he said gruffly, in an surprisingly Scottish accent
She was so shocked she wasn’t sure what to react to first, this big gruff country man sporting a pair of dungarees and a very camp looking moustache, or whatever were still playing and jumping about with sticks.
‘I’m sorry, but what are they?’
‘wood faeries, there tricky little buggers, oh aye they look cute but that’s to fool predators’
‘ I hate to ask this but, who or what are their predators?’
‘Me’
‘Sorry I asked’ and then as an after thought ‘ who are you anyway?’
‘ You don’t need to know, I’m taking them anyway’
‘ why, what will you do to them?’
‘None of your business, where did you come from anyway?’
‘ We are staying at the cottage on the estuary, it’s a friends, just fro the weekend’
‘Go back there’
The stranger went towards the faeries, she watched as he loomed over the defenceless creatures, they had now noticed they were being watched and were bearing their teeth at them, Shirley took a few steps back, but he continued to get closer, and got something out of his open rucksack on his back, some kind of fold up cattle prod, and he started to thrust it in their general direction, she could hear screams, and her instincts kicked in, and she rushed at him, jumping on his back and strangling him from behind, the shock made him fall backwards on to her and they landed in a heap on the hard ground.
‘Your a bloody looney you, what did you do that for, their screams were bringing more, I need more’
‘Well your not going to have more’ Shirley was feeling the adrenaline, as well as the bruises, she picked up the cattle prod and waved it in his direction
‘What do you need them for?’
‘their blood, it’s like a resin, some use it for everyday things, polish and cooking, but unfortunately other people use it for nefarious purposes’
‘Such as’ she asked still defiantly holding her prod high
‘getting high, it’s cut into drugs, and it looks pretty too, it’s like amber, and just as expensive, for the right buyer’
‘ So what you hunt these things down for their blood, is it worth it?’
‘Aye, it is’
‘ Your just a big bully though, aren’t you?’
‘maybe, but you don’t know me’
‘ I don’t have too’ with that as her confidence was high and her blood was boiling she thrust his portable prod at him and he recalled, it hit his chest and he feel down forwards onto his belly. After a few minutes of him not moving she was starting to panic, what was she going to do now, she kept telling herself it was self defence, sort of. She went over to his body to see if he was still moving, he jumped up so suddenly she dropped the cattle prod, he picked it up and ran away into the woods, in the other direction. Her relief was immense, she looked up the bright blue sky and took some gulps of air, she could still hear her heart beating in her chest.
After a time she walked back to where the faeries were, they were still their playing, so serene, like innocent children, then she heard the branches all around her creak and crunch, it sounded like the woodland around her was coming alive, the faeires looked up, straight at her, bared their teeth and jumped at her, clawing at her, scratching her all over, the noise in the background was getting louder and from what she could see, it seemed to be getting darker, the faeries jumped off her and scampered in all directions, so much for helping them, next time she wouldn’t bother.
This didn’t last long in her head though as she could hear whispering, almost shouting, the glade was now almost completely dark and she was the only thing in the glade, she couldn’t even hear any birds over the loud almost shrill voices, the only words she picked out were ‘ leave now, we are the trees’, the noise was so thumping that it reverberated within her and she passed out.
She woke up in her bed at the cottage, still fully clothed and the only one in the room. With a headache and a few scratches she was fine, nothing that a shower and food couldn’t cure, but no syrup or sauce for her.
They headed back the next day, so much for a relaxing time, never mind maybe time.
She off work with shock and a note from her doctor for a few days, but she felt better, and when the office bully came round, lets just say she now enjoys her new job helping animals abroad.