The Woods

His mother pulled him from the bed, lifting him to her chest. Her heart was pounding so hard Jacob could almost feel every heart beat against his body. It was dark in the room. The hallway light was turned off. She never turned it off. He’d never find his way to the bathroom without it. She never turned off the light. They were never in so much darkness before.

The new house made noises Jacob had never heard before. There were groans coming from downstairs. In the walls scratching made him think someone was trying to break through the plaster to get him. He screamed until his mamma came in and hugged him. He yelled until his throat went dry and his voice was missing. He cried even when she took him into her bed and said she wouldn’t let anyone get him. He cried for his father. His daddy would protect him. She kissed his head and said; “Don’t worry. Mamma will keep you safe. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

She pulled him into the dark hallway. He could see the light of the moon coming through the window. The trees from the woods behind the house cast terrifying shadows across the carpet. They could have been the shadows of people or rabid dogs. He clutched his mother’s hand with both of his and followed her toward the stairs. It became so quiet that he realized for the first time, his mother was cry.

Her sobs made their way up to his bedroom where she told him to stay. Grandma’s voice tried to calm her. Grandma whispered. Jacob couldn’t hear a single word. But his mother’s voice was perfectly clear. She swore between her tears and heavy breaths. She slammed her hands on the table and said, “They said seven years. I can’t leave. I don’t have a penny. Where would Jacob and I go? They said seven years.” Jacob took a few steps down the stairs and stared around the wall so he could see their backs at the kitchen. He watched grandma rubbing mamma’s back and whispering to her. The only words he heard grandma say was, “Anywhere. Just go anywhere.”

When they reached the bottom of the steps there was a scratching noise at the front door. Jacob saw it before his mother did. The door handle began to move. She sucked in a mouthful of air. Dropping to her knees she looked into Jacob’s eyes. Her face was almost completely silhouetted, but he saw her finger move to her lips. He nodded and followed her toward the back door. The tile of the kitchen floor was cold against his bare feet. He saw her reached for the handle of the backdoor. He didn’t have any shoes on. It was cold outside. He was about to run to the front door to get his shoes when he heard a voice call out his name. He and his mother both stopped, staring at the front door. Before she could get her hand fully around his mouth, Jacob called out, “Daddy!”

She told him she was grounded. She picked up all his toys from the carpet and tossed them into the wooden toy box. She wasn’t falling for his tears this time. She wouldn’t give in. He really did it this time, she told him. She had told him so many times that he couldn’t play in the front yard. So many times she told him he couldn’t play in the backyard. There were dangers in the woods. There were dangers near the street. She had fallen sleep in front of the television. The moment she woke her voice carried through the walls of the house and reached him as he ran through the forest. As fast as they could his legs carried him back to the house. She kept screaming his name over and over. She ran into the back yard just to see him emerge from between the trees. She collapsed onto the back step. She cried and cried and cried. Jacob sat beside her, waiting for her to stop. But now he was grounded. Now he wasn’t allowed to play at all and mamma wouldn’t stop yelling. He just wanted to play with his toys. He told her daddy would let him play in the yard. She stopped. For a long time she watched him in silence. It felt like a lifetime for Jacob. He was almost glad when she pulled over the toy box causing all the toys to spill across the carpet. She kicked his dump truck and told him in a low voice, “It was your father who did this.” She picked up one of his cars and threw it at the wall before marching out of the room. Jacob didn’t know why, but he couldn’t stop himself from throwing his toys too.

“Jacob. It’s daddy!” But mamma covered his mouth with her hand. She pulled open the back door and dragged him down the steps. Jacob pulled away from her. He twisted and pushed her, trying to get out of her hold. He pinched her arm and tried to bite her hand. She stopped for only a second to pick him up. Her hand slipped away from his mouth and he yelled “daddy” at the top of his lungs. His daddy had finally come to get him. His daddy was finally going to take him away. They would be happy without mamma. But she was fast. She ran across the lawn toward the trees. Twigs and sticks cracked and broke beneath her bare feet. Jacob kept screaming. He could see his daddy coming around the side of the house. But they were in the darkness of the trees. Jacob yelled out so he could find him in the darkness.

When she returned from the grocery store she’d hidden something in her purse so he couldn’t see. He had asked, but she said it wasn’t for him and to mind his own business. When he climbed onto the chair, reaching for the purse she snatched it away. Putting it over her arm she scolded him and headed to her bedroom. He ran to the stairs and listened to her closing it inside the drawer. He had spent days thinking about the secret she bought. So when she was distracted in the kitchen he ran up the stairs to the drawer beside her bed. It was empty except for a big book. He knew that she kept candies hidden in her bottom dresser drawer so he pulled it open. There was her purse. He pulled a large velvet satchel with something heavy inside from the bag. After setting it on the ground he loosened the strings and pulled out something metal. He touched the trigger. He put his finger in the barrel. Before he could hide it away again mamma grabbed it out of his hands. She didn’t scold him again. She just grabbed the satchel and slipped it inside. He asked why she had it. A present, she told him. For who? He wanted to know. His mother put it on the top shelf of her closet and said, “It’s a gift for your daddy.”

As he struggled to get away from her, his elbow hit something hard and knocked it from mamma’s hands. Mamma cried out and slowed, as if she were going to stop. But Jacob screamed for his daddy. He was so close that Jacob could almost see his face. Mamma was shouting frantically for help. Her grip tightened around Jacob who squirmed and fought against her. As they ran the moonlight coming through the trees caught the thing he’d bumped from mamma’s hand. It was the gun. Daddy didn’t see it. Jacob wanted to yell out to him, tell him it was right there, but mamma covered his mouth and winding through the trees they continued to run. Jacob reached over Mamma’s shoulder, hoping his daddy would take his hand. He was close enough to touch. His daddy’s hand reached out to him too. He didn’t realize that mamma had fallen until his head hit the hard ground.

“I need you to come get us,” his mother said into the phone. Her hands were shaking. Her breath smelt of coffee. Jacob didn’t like the smell, but it was all that mamma was drinking. Cups and cups of it. She told him it helped her stay awake because she couldn’t keep him safe if she was sleeping. So she poured herself another cup and whispered into the phone, “He’s coming. I know it. I can feel it. I need to keep Jacob safe from him. Come get us tomorrow. First thing in the morning. Mom, I’m scared. He’d do anything to keep me away from our son.”

Daddy ignored Jacob’s out stretched hand. Reaching over his son, he grabbed mamma by the shoulder and rolled her over onto her back. Her face had dirt clinging to the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. She kicked at daddy and screamed, “Leave us alone. Why can’t you just leave us alone?” Daddy didn’t answer her. Instead he smacked her in the mouth. Jacob backed away from them, watching mamma slap at daddy’s face and kick at his knees. Jacob screamed for her to stop, for her to leave him alone. Daddy closed his fist and hit her in the cheek. Jacob stopped screaming. He clung to the tree and stared.

Mamma tucked him in that night. She pushed the hair out of his eyes and kissed his forehead. She was smiling at him. Her hands weren’t shaking anymore. Jacob smiled up at her too. Pulling the covers under his chin she told him, “Tomorrow things are going to be better. Tomorrow we’re going to be free. We’re going to be happy.”

Jacob called to his daddy, but there was no response. For a long moment it went silent there in the woods. Daddy stood over mamma. His breathing was so heavy Jacob could hear it. Mamma lay there, staring at Jacob. She wasn’t crying anymore. She wasn’t fighting anymore. Jacob backed away from his daddy so quietly. He barely made a sound as he ran over the twigs and leaves. He grabbed the gun from beside a huge oak. Its weight reminded him of all the things his mother had said.

“Tomorrow things are going to be better. Tomorrow we’re going to be free. We’re going to be happy.”


Inspiration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-S6OPy9o0k