Maria’s chest hurt again. She sat on her bed breathing deeply, the phone clutched in her hand. She considered calling Ellie and telling her to wait for another day, but the thought of Ellie’s big eyes made Maria change her mind. Ellie had the kind of eyes you couldn’t say no to. They had the look of pure childhood innocence and curiosity. Maria loved those eyes.
Ellie had been asking to go into the woods for months. Usually Maria said no, the woods are too dangerous for little girls like you. But Ellie was 6 now, and Maria had been playing in those woods since she was about 4 years old.
All of Maria’s finest childhood memories took place in those woods behind her old farmhouse. She’d had countless adventures there with her sisters, Maude and Maggie. Maggie was dead now, she’d had a bad heart. As for Maude, she didn’t know who she was anymore. They had put her in the home in Greensville almost two years ago.
Bernie, Maria’s faithful cat was watching her from his favourite perch on the rocking chair across the room. “Don’t you look at me like that, Bernie.” Maria was sure he was scolding her for considering a hiking trip when she was in so much pain.
“I won’t take her far. Just up to the entrance of the caves. That should give her a good story to tell at school.”
The old caves. There were an endless number of ghosts that were rumoured to make their homes in the caves. Escaped murders, tragic lovers, lost children. The stories had been told for generations. Maria didn’t believe a single one of them. There was no such thing as ghosts. She would show Ellie the caves and talk about how they were a natural wonder. She wouldn’t say one thing about anything supernatural.
Ellie and her big eyes arrived just after noon. Maria had taken her medication and was feeling much better. “I’ll be back to get her around 5, Mom.” Lisa, Maria’s daughter, was a strong believer of the ghost stories of the caves.
“Well Ellie, we better get a move on then, so we can make some cookies before your Ma comes to get you. And I made us some trail mix to snack on.”
Ellie grinned and clapped her hands. She was dressed for the day in a plaid shirt, some old jeans and hiking boots. She looked adorable.
“Let’s double check we have all the supplies we need.” Maria said. “Bug spray?”
“In the backpack.” Ellie responded.
“Whistle?”
“In the backpack.”
They continued until they had confirmed that all of the important wilderness supplies were in the backpack. In her head, Maria double checked that she had all her medications and some aspirin, just in case.
It was a beautiful day in the woods. The birds were singing and the cricket orchestra was out to accompany them. Ellie was collecting plant specimens for her collection.
“This is called Queen Anne’s Lace, Ellie. It’s the great-great grandmother of a carrot, see?” Maria pulled the plant out of the ground to reveal the carrot-like root. “You can eat this if you ever get hungry in the woods. It tastes just like carrots.”
“Yuck, carrots.” Ellie stuck her tongue out, but grabbed the plant and added it to her collection.
Maria continued leading them along the winding path towards the caves. She was feeling a bit weak, but she guessed that was just from all the fresh air that she was getting.
As they approached to the hill that led up to the caves, Ellie pulled on her grandmother’s hand.
“Yes, Ellie?” Maria had been looking at the ground, struggling to catch her breath, and wondering how she was going to make it up the hill to the caves.
“There’s something in the way, Grandma. Look.”
There was something in the way. A large pile of brush and dirt had fallen from the ledge above, completely blocking the path up to the caves.
“Oh dear.” Maria was secretly thankful. She was sure she would not have made it up that hill.
“Oh dear,” Ellie repeated. “Does this mean we can’t see the caves?”
Maria looked down into Ellie’s face, right into those big, innocent eyes, and she couldn’t say no. The back way to the caves was about 45 minutes longer, and it had only taken an hour to walk to where they were. They would still be back just in time to meet her mother.
“Well there’s a back way we can take. But first let’s sit here and have a break.”
So they sat. They ate their trail mix and drank from their bottles of water and rested. Maria’s chest was hurting again, but she didn’t want to scare Ellie.
Their break lasted close to an hour. Maria managed to keep Ellie’s attention by telling stories of her childhood in the forest. Soon her chest was feeling better, and she was sure that she was ready to move on.
Maria hadn’t taken the back way to the caves for a very long time, but she was sure that she remembered the way. The trail wound around and around, and Maria continued to point out interesting plants to Ellie, who was now so loaded down with specimens that she had to stop collecting. They were standing in front of a large birch tree, which had grown at a strange angle. “Birch tree bark is the best for starting fires.” Maria was saying, when her chest began hurting again. The pain was immense, and it was all she could do to keep herself from falling against the tree. But it passed quickly, and Ellie hadn’t noticed a thing.
It occurred to Maria then that perhaps they should turn around. Maybe she should tell Ellie that she couldn’t remember the other path to the caves, that she would go home and call her old friend Teresa, and ask her the directions, that they would come back another time. But she couldn’t take the disappointment in those eyes. So she decided to carry on.
“Grandma, when will we get there?” Ellie asked casually, picking a dandelion and plucking its petals off one by one.
“Oh, soon my dear.”
“Okay.”
It might have been the pain in her chest, or the exhaustion that she was feeling, but it wasn’t long before Maria began doubting that she was going the right way. She had travelled it so many times, but it was possible that in her distress she had turned the wrong way. It was getting late, probably near five. Maria was sweating and her heart felt heavy. She took a deep, shuddering, breath. It was then that she tripped. She wasn’t sure what she tripped on. Maybe it was an exposed root or a rock, an animal hole or maybe even her own feet.
She landed with a thud; the wind was knocked out of her and her chest screamed in pain. Everything went blurry for just a second but then, miraculously; she was back on her feet. She turned to Ellie, who was examining a piece of birch bark, and hadn’t even noticed the fall.
“Grandma, when will we get there?” She asked, again casually.
“I’m sure it’s not much farther.”
“Okay.”
Maria had begun to get worried. She had taken her granddaughter deep into the woods, wasn’t quite sure where they were and was barely in any condition to lead her on a wild adventure through the wilderness.
Maria began to lead back in the direction that she knew her house was. They walked for a while, when Maria noticed the strange birch tree that they had walked by before. This was good. This meant that they were going in the right direction.
“Grandma, when will we get there?”
Maria was beginning to find it strange that Ellie was so calm.
“Soon I think.”
“Okay.”
They continued on in silence. Even the birds seemed to be taking the situation seriously, as none of them were singing.
Real panic struck Maria when they walked past the birch tree another time. How could that be? They hadn’t turned around. They had been walking on a straight path.
“Grandma, when will we get there?”
This question terrified Maria. Why was Ellie so calm? Why wasn’t she getting worried? Maria guessed it should be getting dark soon. What time was it? She quickly reached in her bag for her pocket watch. It said 3:48. But that couldn’t be right. They had been walking for hours. It must have been past 5 o’clock.
She finally managed to get out an answer for her granddaughter. “Soon enough, Ellie.”
“Okay.”
They kept on, again in silence, the entire time Maria was dreading the coming darkness. What if the stories were true? What if there were ghosts in the woods? Oh don’t be silly. She told herself. You’ve been in these woods at night a thousand times and you’ve never seen a damn ghost.
Maria had just managed to calm herself down when she saw it. The birch tree, it’s trunk jutting out at an obtuse angle, it’s bark peeling back, its leaves perfectly still. There was no breeze to move them.
Maria screamed. She wanted to rip out her hair and claw at her face. What was happening?
“Grandma.”
Maria stopped and looked at her granddaughter. She was playing with a piece of grass, trying to whistle with it.
“When will we get there?”
The terror that shot through Maria then was something that no ghost could have caused. There she was, lost in the woods and screaming at the top of her lungs, and Ellie hadn’t noticed. Ellie hadn’t noticed at all.
Maria wondered then if this was a dream. Maybe she had fallen asleep after telling Ellie all of her wild adventures in the woods. Or maybe she hadn’t gone into the woods at all. Maybe she was at home, sleeping, in bed. Yes, this was a dream, Maria knew it was. She pinched herself. But she remained where she was. Ellie was there, still playing with the blade of grass, unable to make it whistle. Maria pinched herself harder, so hard that if this were real she should have bled, she should have felt pain. But she felt nothing.
She gave up. There was nothing to do except to wait. She would wait until morning came and Bernie hopped on her bed, telling her it was time to get up. She waited, but the time didn’t come. It felt like an eternity, and she waited.
My grandmother told me a story about the old birch tree. She said it was haunted by an old woman, a woman who didn’t know she was dead. Everyday the woman waits to wake up, but she never will.
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