Silas Remembers

 Silas’s mother always told him that the forest was enchanted and a refuge to special creatures that resided there. He never believed her. For all he knew, she was just telling stories to keep him entertained. Silas and his mother lived a two-day walk from any other humans. When he was a child, seeing the shadow kill his father felt like a nightmare. He forced himself to keep it hidden because his mother would cry every time he mentioned him. Silas always believed he was a regular human like his mother and the books his father left were just made up stories for kids. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that the next morning his whole life would change. 

His mother would often tell him the story of his birth. “It was the middle of the hot season but a storm blew up throughout the day and the moon was full that night.” She couldn’t tell him what year or day it was but he just know it was his birthday soon. This year though, something feels different like he was changing, turning into something else. Maybe the tale his mother told him was true? “My father was special and he was what ‘they’ called ‘A Blood Drinker’” his mother often said. Who ‘they’ were he couldn’t tell you. She never went into detail any time she thought of his father she cried, he knew her heart was broken. When he was young he had to save the books his father left as his mother broke down and almost threw them into the fire. Then he started reading the books to her at night to help her sleep. In this book, His father had written that he would get a rush feeling through his body and he would feel the need to run. His hearing would become superb and to keep his strength up he would need to hunt and drink the blood of animals while eating the fruit and vegetables from the forest to keep his human side strong. That was on the last page, his mother had ripped pages from the back the same day he saved the book from the fire.

 

It rained every year on his birthday in the endless forest or that would be the day his mother said they are to celebrate. Excitement builds as the wind rattled the shutters above the bed. It was still dark out as he slowly tried to move to the end of the bed “Silas, where are you going?” his mother asks, grabbing his skinny wrist in her hand. She had a knack for knowing if he was planning on leaving the house. “I am going to get some berries for breakfast, mother goes back to sleep,” Silas replied, giving her an upbeat smile. “Only in the cabin gardens please don’t leave the circle,” she said, pushing his dark hair from my eyes then she kissed the scar on his left eye before turning over and closing her eyes once more. How was he supposed to know that was going to be the last thing his mother said to him? He disobeyed her words that day and left the circle. 

 

The rush came to him that morning and his eyesight changed even though the scared lid he could see for miles.

That morning was the first time Silas heard the sweet melody. 

“Mother nature, I thank you for all that you provide.” The female sang.

The voice was sweet and pleasant. Silas stopped by a few fallen trees searching the branches looking for the person behind the voice but all he could see was forest so he sat and listened close to the words of the song.

“I am Mother Nature to some, Nature to others,

I have no need for people, but people need me,

I am responsible for your future, everything I do,

My soil, my streams, my forests can all take you or leave you, 

How you chose to live each day whether you regard or disregard me.

One way or the other your actions will determine your fate not mine,

I am nature, I will go on. Oh, mother nature, I thank you.” 

The sweet voice sang through the rhythm of the pounding of the rain.

 

Desperate to find where the voice was coming from and, although he knew he shouldn’t, Silas began to shout. “Hello,” he cried and listened closely but no reply came. Stepping a few paces to the left he shouted again. “Hello.” Still no reply, the forest was quiet apart from the rain splashing into puddles and over the foliage of the forest. Looking down Silas saw some berries growing and his mind returned to thoughts of his mother alone in the cabin. Deciding it was time to go, he had been gone for half of the day now and was soaked to the bone, but he promised himself he would come back tomorrow. 

 

On the return journey to the cabin, a wash of dread came over him and he sped home quicker than ever. His mother was in the cabin garden laying on the moist ground. Her face seemed peaceful her eyes wide but dull and the red juice of berries had stained her lips and her fingers. As he approaches the aroma of bittersweet forbidden berries swells his nostrils, the ones his mother had always warned to avoid. 

Her body was still, clutched in her unstained hand was a sheet of paper. With a grunt, he tries to open her hand it was stiff and took some effort. The paper was from one of the books. Carefully he opened it and in his mother’s hand she wrote, “plant my body, my son, return me to mother nature.” He collected the spade from inside the cabin as the tears entwined with the soft flow of rain that trailed down his face. He proceeded to dig a hole large enough to receive his mothers remains.