The Forest of Evil Souls

        The night air held not a breath of wind yet the trees still swayed. They moved as though the very ground below them where their enemy, struggling to free themselves from its icy clutch. Their gnarled limbs groaned and creaked as if moaning. Even the moon that hung directly above them gave no relief to their suffering, for the dark clung here. It watched from the safety of the trees, for it dare not wander into the light washed town.
       
        A small boy about nine years old sat watching the trees from his room. His tousled brown hair hung limply over his shoulder. His dark eyes surveyed the forest with a hidden grief. Those very woods had swallowed up his little sister, Annabelle, never to let her go.
       
        Of course she wasn't really all that younger then him. Only by minutes. They where twins, closer than any one could even imagine. The only thing that could have torn them apart was a tragedy. Just that had happened.
       
        She had been a strawberry blond haired, rosy cheeked girl. She had always worn a bright smile on her happy face. She was slim and quiet, but always held a certain delight. He had loved her so much, even more then his own mother. Not that he didn't love his mother, he did, just not as much.
       
          Every time he watched these woods, which now was every time he could, he felt eyes watching. The woods enticed him, drew him nearer every day. His sister might still be in there, though the police had declared her dead when no remains where found. It had been some time but hope still remained for him. Mainly because he was still in disbelief, but even so, he yearned to search the woods. His mother had strictly forbidden it though. He was not one to ignore rules, though he nearly died from grief.
       
          When his sister had disappeared a little part of him gone. His sister had been almost apart of him. She just went playing there one day and never came back. Ever since then strange things had occurred. People and animals had disappeared, and the woods seemed to keep growing larger, and larger. People had gone into the forest, but they don't return. The woods where now a place of fear for most. 
       
        "Dinner!" his mother called up.
       
        He walked slowly from his room to the kitchen, eyes straight ahead, silent as always. His mother watched him with concerned eyes. Ever since his sister had disappeared he refused to talk and grew steadily thinner and paler. She sighed at his sickly face. His eyes had a bruise-like color beneath them showing how much insomnia he had.
         
          "Here" she said pushing a plate heaping with food towards him though she knew he would only eat the bare minimum. "Eat." she commanded.
         
          He shoveled in a couple bites before trying to excuse himself. His mother's eyes filled with tears. "Bailey, please eat! If you keep this up you'll be dead by the end of the week! Is that what you want? To leave your mother all alone? Huh?"
       
        He kept his eyes from her, avoiding her tear stained face. Maybe he did want to die, then he might be with his sister again. He sighed and left the room, hearing his mother crying as he left. The mother knew who he loved most, and this saddened her most that he would die for his sister but would not stay alive for his mother. More than sad, she was oddly frustrated and resentful of her lost daughter.
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        That week went by quickly. Bailey continued to grow thinner and his mother continued to cry. He stared daily at the forest as though entranced. Occasionally he would see a glint of white in the trees, like something was running threw them. He imagined it to be his sister. The thought seemed to grow until he was nearly insane with his wild belief.

        He suddenly became suspicious of every one around him, wondering if one of them had stolen her away. He was oddly resentful of his mother, though he did not know why himself. He loved his mother but her actions surprised him. Instead of being grief-stricken for her lost daughter, she only cried for his poor health.
       
        Night after night he continued to stare. His grades slipped from his steady A's to C-'s. Sometimes he would sit before the forest, though never going into it, and stare for hours. His mother always found him with a glazed look in his eyes. He had to be dragged away, watching the trees intimately as if there was something or someone calling him there. After the first time this had happened it was if he had left something there. Now he felt thin and fragile, yet he continued to come to the woods. This continued for some time, until one especially dark night.
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        His mother had come home from grocery shopping and had found his room empty once again. Worn out and frustrated she crept back into the car. It started with a large chug of the engine. She stifled a sob and rode towards the forest where he would surely be.
       
        She rode up just in time to see him slipping between the trunks. He disappeared from view then. She ran from the car screaming in her rush. "No, Bailey! Come out of those woods! What did I tell you?"
        She ran blindly into the forest but could not see her son anywhere. The night darkened around her, as a wind rushed threw the trees sounding like the screams of forgotten souls. She whipped her head around searching in vain. Stumbling threw the thick underbrush she steadily grew farther and farther away from the town. There was no way out, for she had lost her way some time ago. Half dead from weariness and insane with worry she continued on.  "BAILEY!" she screamed in a tired voice, her tears pouring down.
       
          Suddenly a flash of white appeared far ahead. The trees seemed to groan and swell in size. The sound of a little girls laughter filled the still air. Visions of her little girl, Annabelle, filled her head. Her eyes grew round and frightened. No it couldn't be. She was dead. Another flash appeared slightly closer this time.
       
          The trees bark seemed to swirl into agonized expressions. They leaned towards her. A branch snaked around her wrist. She twisted it back with a yelp. Roots lifted up to trip her as she ran. The trees loomed around her as she ran, grasping at her, always just out of reach. She screamed wildly as she continued her path.
   
        She collapsed on the ground, shivering as she took deep racking breaths. Dirt lined her worry lined face and tears continued to fall from the tip of her nose. She felt the trees struggling and groaning around her, too exhausted to even care. She sat up steadily though fear filled her entire being.
       
          Laughing sounded again, ringing threw the forest. The laughing was coming closer, but it was joined with another. Together they sounded like the tinkling of bells. Like how Bailey and Annabelle laughing sounded together. The trees stilled as the two walked into the clearing, forms glowing, holding hands. They stared coldly at their mother. She stepped backwards in shock, eyes wide. Annabelle's face was whitened and sad for once.
       
        "Hello mother." Annabelle whispered in a faint voice. "You remember when you killed me?"
       
        Her mother gasped looking at Bailey. She said in a desperate voice "How did you...Don't believe her Bailey dear, she lies!"
       
        He shook his head at her desperate pleas. "No mother you lie."
       
        His mother's face tightened. An intense feeling of anger and jealousy rippled in her heart. He had chosen Annabelle over her again! "She had to go. You loved this... this brat, more than me. I have always been so dedicated to you. Bailey don't leave me. She HAD to go! I would do it again with no regrets. We can live together, forever, just me and you! I love you so much!" She whispered frantically. She had lost her mind awhile back, when her very own husband had left her for another woman. She saw this situation much as the same, the two seemed to mend together in her mind until they where one with each other. Annabelle was no longer her daughter, she had turned into that woman.
       
        Bailey's face crumpled as he said. "I'm sorry mother, but I don't love you anymore." It killed him to say it, and it wasn't exactly true, for no matter how evil she was he would always love her. This was best for her and him. He could not forgive her for what she had done though.
       
          She shrieked and took out a knife. She lunged at her Annabelle, a snarl ripping from her. She would kill her now, since she had failed before. The girls eyes widened but it was too late to step back. The knife went right threw her daughter‘s form. Annabelle's eyes shone with unshed tears.
         
          Annabelle sighed. "I'm already dead mother, as is Bailey. He actually died awhile back, though he did not realize it, but he died soon after I did. You killed us both. Maybe not on purpose but you killed Bailey by grief. I turned his body into a tree as I did with mine. That is why he grew so frail. He did not even realize when he left his body by the woods, the first time he sat before them. Now we are reunited. Soon you will be another one of my collection. You see, I had loved you once too, but I was never good enough. You always held me with disdain. Bailey and I will live together always. You and all the other evil people I catch here will remain as my collection. Farewell mother. Know that Bailey will always love me more." Her teeth glinted as she smiled broadly at her mother.
       
        A choked look came over their mother's face. She looked down to see she had no longer any feet. They had turned to roots. Bark steadily layered her legs. She reached her arms out towards her son and there she remains forever, her agonized face plastered on to a tree that has one long branch bent irregularly towards something. She will always lay there her soul trapped forever. The two spirits walked away without even a glance back.
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        People still can hear their laughing sometimes. Some even claim to see the kids wandering around, always hand in hand. The forest grew larger, and several people went missing each year, none of them actually missed by anyone that much. The small town remained unchanged for many years to come. The bodies of the family that had gone missing was never truly found. A small ceremony had taken place, the mother honored for her love and care for her kids. No one knew why the mother never appeared with the children when their ghostly figures wandered into sight.
         
          A statue was made of the two as more sights of them continued. A girl and boy happily holding hands, sightless eyes crinkled as their golden mouths turned into a smile. A plaque was on the side of the statue stated.
         
        "In loving memory of Bailey and Annabelle who where so inseparable that even death could not hold them apart."

        They remain honored, and you should have nothing to fear, unless of course you are an evil person. In that case I have no sympathy if this fate befalls you. Even if the two never get to you, a sad fate will surely befall you. So, I warn you, for your sake, and other's that if this is you, change. It is never to late to redeem yourself. Don't find yourself in a pit of despair but lift yourself from it, as these two have. They forever watch, their forest ever growing, as it will for all eternity.