Daughter of the Forest 2 (Patreon)

“Mom, do we have any antibiotics?” Travis asked, rifling through the medicine cabinet.

“No we don’t honey, and even if we did you shouldn’t take them without a prescription. Is something wrong?” His mother asked.

“No, it’s nothing. I’m just worried I… uh.. Could have drunk some contaminated water when I got lost in the forest.”

“That’s very reckless of you Travis. You know you shouldn’t drink still water like that. Are you feeling any pain? Does your stomach hurt?”

“No, I don't feel sick or anything. I’m just trying to think of it as a preventative measure, just in case.”

Travis’s adventure in the forest had left him exhausted. His confrontation with a bear, his strange meeting with the mutant girl, the… exotic foods he sampled so to speak. He was happy it was all over, at the very least.

The following days were the same old boring routine. Travis hung around at home, taking advantage of the glory that is the internet to contact the outside world away from this remote podunk town. Besides, going outside just meant admitting defeat to all the assholes who said he couldn’t survive in the woods. I mean… technically he did, but he had help. Ugh… he would never be able to explain.

“Travis! Tess! Come on, both of you, right now!” His mom called in an angry tone.

“What’s wrong?” Tess said, as she dried her hair.

“Do either of you know anything about this?” she said, pointing to the roadside palisade across from their house. Scrawled in huge messy letters was the word SHITEATER. Travis’s gut jumped into his throat.

“I didn’t think there were vandals in a small town like this,” Tess said. “Sick.”

“It’s… not vandalism. It’s probably the town kids,” Travis lied. “The whole forest thing was a dare, and they are probably making fun of me for having to be rescued.”

“Well, that’s improper of them. I’ll have to call their parents…”

“NO! Mom,” Travis interrupted his mother before he could get caught in his deception. “If you get involved it will just make it worse. I’ll handle it, OK? It won’t happen again.”

“Fine,” his Mom said in a huff. “Well, if they aren’t going to take responsibility for it you are. There is paint in the shed outside. I don’t want to see any profanity left out there by tonight.”

Travis went to the shed to do as his mother told, and there he found an open paint can, clearly of the same color of the scrawled profanity. “She was here,” Travis thought. “She’s probably mad that I broke my promise. It’s OK. I’ll bring her some snacks as an apology tomorrow,” he said trying to reassure himself.

Travis took all afternoon painting the fence, a complete nervous wreck. It was dark by the time he got inside.

“Took you long enough,” his mother said. “Have any problems?”

“I’m just tired, Mom,” Travis said.

“Shake it off, it was good exercise. Now tomorrow make sure to talk to your friends and tell them to knock it off. No more graffiti. Got it?”

“Got it,” Travis said defeated, heavily falling into a chair at the kitchen table to eat his dinner.

Travis’s father wouldn’t be home that night, so “family dinner” was rather short and abrupt. Everyone went to their own rooms afterward, and while they eventually drifted off to sleep, Travis laid away thinking of how to get out of this mess.

“I wonder what she wants. Meat? Juice?” he said to himself.

“Sweets and clothes,” came a voice from the window.

Travis looked up to see the strange mutant jumping onto the headboard of his bed from outside. He was going to scream, but one of the mutant’s arms muffled his mouth.

“You are a liar!” she said angrily. “You didn’t keep your promise!”

Travis protested against her hand in muffled grunts. She let him speak for just a second. “Sorry, I’m sorry, Tomorrow I’ll drop off- MMFFFFF”

She covered his mouth again. “You are only saying that because I wrote ‘shiteater’ to remind you of what you did. I told you I would get revenge.”

Travis grunted some more, and she once again let him speak. “This was your revenge?” She went to cover his mouth again. “WAIT WAIT WAIT! You are right I didn’t keep my promise, but I’ll make it up to you and- Wait is that my sister's dress?”

The girl made an agile jump and landed in the middle of the room. “It was hanging outside from a rope. Finders keepers.”

“You have to stop stealing my sister’s clothes or I’ll get in trouble!” Travis said in a hushed shout.

Suddenly a knock came from the door. “Travis? Honey? Is everything OK?” It was his Mom. Before he could say anything, the girl skittered up the walls like a spider pressing herself as flat to the ceiling as she could.

Travis only slightly opened the door, in the hopes that his Mom wouldn’t see the strange mutant girl on his ceiling.

“Yes, everything is fine, Mom. Why do you ask?”

“I just thought I heard you talking to someone,” his Mom said. “I swore I heard a girl’s voice.”

“Oh, uh, yeah that… was me… I mean it wasn’t me it was… my girlfriend! I was talking to her on speakerphone.” he clumsily lied.

“Girlfriend? You never told me you had a girlfriend,” his mother said, crossing her arms.

“Yes, I met her recently… uh… online. But you know how online relationships go. I didn’t wanna introduce her unless it became something serious.”

“Oh, an online girlfriend huh…” his mother said almost as if trying to convince herself. “Turning into a social butterfly are you? Don’t go breaking anyone’s heart. And get to bed! I can hear you and it’s keeping me up.”

“Y- yeah Mom. Goodnight!” he said, hurrying to close the door.

The girl fell with a thud as soon as the door was closed, landing on her feet. “So what should we do?” she said in a whisper.

“What do you mean?” Travis asked.

“Like as a couple? Should we go out on a date or something? Cuddle?”

“What!? We aren’t a couple!” Travis protested.

“You just told your Mom you were talking to your girlfriend. You wouldn’t lie to your mom,” she said, crossing her arms.

“I couldn’t just tell her that… ugh… look it’s complicated, OK? She can't know that- WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING!”

The girl had quickly begun disrobing. “What do couples do at night? Do they make babies? Do you know how babies are made?”

“We can’t make babies!” he said, throwing his sister’s dress back in the mutant’s face. “We barely know each other.”

“Truie,” the mutant said before sitting down on his bed. “Your bed is comfortable. You can make it up to me by bringing me a bed tomorrow.”

“Do you really think I can carry a full bed into the woods?”

“True, you are very weak,” she said, pinching his arm and then giving him a crushing hug. “Then instead I will come and sleep here every night.” She laid down, arms wrapped around him, forcing him to lay down as the small spoon with her. “I think Mom would have liked you. You’d make a good boyfriend.”

“I don’t even know your name!” Travis protested, but the girl was already falling fast asleep.

“Luna,” she said drowsily.

Travis continued to try and struggle out of her grasp but he was stuck, even as she fell asleep herself.

“I just hope she wakes up before Mom tomorrow,” he said to himself before closing his eyes and falling asleep soon after.