They say something evil lurks,
Deep in the woods.
Something with no soul or face.
Something I never understood.
So I left the town,
With its quiet little streets.
On the way to something
I still regret to meet.
“That forest contains something evil,”
My father had once said.
“It eats up your soul until
It’s full and you’re dead.”
The trees as tall as buildings.
Plants and flowers used by florists.
The broken branches of trees scattered.
That’s what I came across in the forest.
Deeper and deeper I went;
The sun fading and fading,
Until I came across something,
Underneath that tree’s shading.
Corpses rotting and decaying,
Nature had taken its places,
But as I looked carefully,
The bugs were only on their faces
I screamed and ran.
I cried and panicked.
I turned back to look
But the corpses had vanished.
I ran until my lungs,
They felt as if they would burst.
I carried on anyway,
For this trip had been a curse
In the distance, something big,
I could see,
Something that was out of place.
Something that didn’t welcome me.
A big house,
In the middle of the woods.
It was still something
I never understood.
The windows were boarded up,
Making crooked lines.
A small gate ran around the house,
Covered in vines.
It looks deserted,
I had thought.
Oh, I was so wrong,
For the house was not.
I walked up the porch
As the boards squawked and squeaked.
I had already felt the blisters
On my feet.
Knock once, knock twice,
My mother had told me.
And I did, terrified,
of what I would see.
A woman stepped out;
Her face covered in a mask.
A white one with no eye holes;
It had made me want to ask.
She welcomed me in
And told me to sit.
In this strange house,
I felt my stomach turn to a pit.
She sat down
With a tray of tea.
She said, “One for you
And one for me.”
Growing curious, I asked,
“Why do you wear that mask?”
She coughed – or choked.
(And if they don’t answer)
As I looked,
She didn’t even drink the tea
Or –
(Then take a look and see)
She coughed at the
Question I had asked.
Then she laughed
And took off the mask.
She had no face,
It was blank as can be.
No eyes, no mouth,
That’s what I could see.
My lungs stopped working.
My brain had cracked.
What was I seeing?
What was that?
As she – or it – stood up,
That’s when it hit me.
The windows had been boarded,
SInce there was nothing it could see.
The corpses, rotting,
Lying in the woods,
Had been a warning.
Now I understood.
There were more of them
With no mouths or eyes.
It was like a big family
As I let out cries.
I pulled open the door
To let myself be free.
A glint of sunlight
Hid behind an autumn tree.
I ran as fast as I could,
Without looking back.
The sun was setting and
Soon the sky would be black,
Both literally and figuratively,
I was out of the woods
On the edge, exactly,
Is where I stood.
I ran back to the town,
With its quiet little streets.
On the way from something,
I regretted to meet.
My father had been correct
Yet he was still wrong.
It hadn’t eaten up you soul –
But it was your face all along.