Random stories

The rain had started not long after the girl had started her journey, leaving the small village she had been born into not sixteen years before. The trees offered some protection, but after several hours she was still soaked, hair sticking to her face even under the hood of her cloak. Grateful for the leathers she had snuck from her father’s closet, she carefully picked her way through mud and roots, hoping her destination was close.

She had grown up on stories of the convent deeper in the woods, and knew that some of the sisters would at times visit them for seeds and other provisions if it was thought to be a rough winter. The path through the trees was narrow but well defined, worn in by countless travellers that made the same journey she did now.

While she didn’t particularly cherish the idea of living a life of God, anything before her had to be better than what she was leaving behind.

Just a month before, her father had approached the girl, interrupting the chores she shared with her sisters. Pulling her aside, he had promptly announced that he had found her a husband. The local preacher’s son had just come of age, and somehow managed to have accomplished next to nothing in two decades of life.

Still, he was the son of an honourable man, and was expected to take over for his father when the time came. Now he simply experienced whatever it is a future man of God needed to have in order to lead the ever growing population of their small town. His future was bright, for all that his mind seemed rather dim.

Her father had looked at her expectantly, no doubt hoping for her to exclaim with joy at his ability to chain her to such a fine specimen. A rather forced smile was the best she had to offer, which he gladly accepted. The wedding was to occur in two months time, as part of the spring festival to celebrate the harvest. The girl had nodded, and returned to her chores as calmly as she could.

The start of a plan already forming in her mind.

That night she had started hiding away any and all provision she could, knowing the path through the woods would be long and treacherous. Any food that wouldn’t be missed was secreted away, and slowly but surely she built up the supplies she would need to escape.

She allowed herself a month, knowing that as the date drew nearer she would have less free time, but not wanting to risk being unprepared for the mystery of the woods. Then, on the night where the moon vanished from the sky, she carefully stepped out of the only home she’d ever known.

Sticking to the shadows, she avoided the patrolling watchmen, and soon found her way under the safe embrace of the woods. She had smiled then, certain that things could only improve from there.

Of course, that was when the rain began.

Now she found herself walking in a torrent, the wind wailing around her as it danced among the treetops. She had already fallen three times, knees muddy and sore, but she knew the only way out was forward and so she pressed on. The hope that burned in her heart flared with each hour that passed, dimming ever so slightly with each turn that revealed only trees.

It was hard to see in the dark and the rain, so when a fork came in the path she didn’t even notice, striding ever forward without seeing that a choice was made. Perhaps if she had known, she’d have chosen differently. She would not know the answer for many years.

Rounding the corner, she nearly gasped in relief to see a small building emerge from the dark, torches burning merrily despite the rain that continued to pour down. A slightly less exhausted mind would have noticed that this residence was unlike any holy place she had seen before, with shadows that seemed darker than could be normal, and a slight green haze to the air, but in her current condition any building at all was considered a gift from God himself.

The building itself was built of rough wood, looking almost as though to have been built by the forest itself, two stories tall with smoke cheerfully spewing from the chimney. The windows seemed to watch as she approached, candles twinkling inside bringing them to life.

She stumbled as she stepped up to the door, a trembling hand knocking with all the energy she had left. Several seconds passed, and she went to knock again, fearing that she may be stuck outside until morning. While her journey so far had been safe enough, if immensely unpleasant, she hardly wanted to stretch her luck in avoiding any other residences of the forest by staying out longer than she had to.

Just as her hand moved to strike, the door swung open, and she quickly pulled back to avoid striking her saviour in the face. She looked up, then down, to where a woman stood smiling up at her.

Having expected a nun, she is surprised when she is instead greeted with what is quite possibly the strangest woman she had ever seen.

The woman’s smile is friendly enough, though it is sharp and edged with a power that sends a shiver down her back. She is old and hunched, fingers curled around a walking stick topped with a stone that almost seems to glow under the light of the torches.

Her night dress was a deep grey, embroidered with symbols that she had never before seen in the village books, the thread a bright crimson that she can only compare to blood. The step back is involuntary, but she quickly steadied herself, not wanting to insult the first nun she’d ever met just because she was out of the ordinary.

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Submitted by Tuftsie on Fri, Dec 16, 2022 to /r/WritingPrompts/

The prompt

"Join a convent? No, dear child, that's down the road. We are a coven. But since you're here ... would you like to come in?"