BRITTANY'S POV
I remember that I couldn't sleep the night my father told me this horrifying story of how girls get separated from their families and not only that, but she also gets thrown into that spooky forest and no one could ever tell what happened to them when they were gone. One thing we know was that those girls never returned from the forest.
Some will say that they were eaten by those beasts and when I imagined what it was like to be eaten and how terrifying it must be for those girls, it frightened me.
I was told that a century ago, our ancestors were attacked by wild beasts, and we lost half of our population that year to them. They all came from the dark forbidden forest.
No one knew what the king said to those beasts, but I was told by my father that that was when sacrificing girls started. Back then I wondered what the king must have done to cause the beasts to stop and request just females every twenty years.
Would one female satisfy their belly?
As I grew, I couldn't help but think that there was more to the story, but I never thought that one day I'd be chosen to be the one for the sacrifice.
However, I decided to play dumb about the story to my father. Maybe I was wrong, and it wasn't that serious. This was just me giving myself hope, knowing deep down what was really going on.
"The story of the dark forest, Brittany. The beasts and the girls?" My father said, trying to help me regain my memory about the story.
"That story," I replied, looking down at his hands that were holding mine. "Father, is this real?" I had to give myself one more hope. Perhaps it wasn't... then a voice in my head hit me hard with the truth. 'It was... that's what it is, Brittany.'
I could feel my father's hands shaking as he was still holding mine. But I could not look at him because I was also scared. "Am I going to get killed, father?" I failed to hold it in anymore. I burst into tears, and he quickly dragged me into his hands.
In a minute, I saw myself without my family and all alone in the forest. This caused me to wail bitterly. There was pain in my heart, and I couldn't compare it to any physical pain. It was the worst pain one could ever feel.
Hugging my father, I couldn't stop myself. I just went on crying like someone who had just lost everything and there wasn't a lie in it. "Am I going to die, father? I don't want to die. I don't want to lose you all. I don't want to go into that forest," I went on and on, crying and hoping that things would change. Then the image of Miss Grace looking at my friend's parents before picking me flashed in my head.
She was supposed to choose her and not me. Why did she do that?
With that I raced out of the cabin to go find Miss Grace and tell her to change her mind and that I did not want to go.
I knew her house and it was not far, so I walked to her shed and knocked on the door. As if she knew that I was coming, she opened the door instantly. We met each other's gazes, but tears were dropping from my eyes. I cried again.
"Miss Grace," I took a second to cry and continued. "Freya should have been the one chosen, not me. I know that," my voice was hoarse and tired.
"Is there going to be a difference if Freya went?" She asked, her eyes cold and merciless. I never expected this from Miss Grace. She was acting differently and dangerous. And it was at this moment that I started to realize that there was no hope for me.
"I want to be with my family. I don't want to get killed," I explained. I was not crying at this point, but I was hurting inside and was extremely scared.
"Same with Freya," she uttered. "I know how scared you must be, Brittany but this is your fate now and if you really love your family, you will go for them. Once it's full moon tomorrow night and the beasts see nothing, they would invade the whole town, and your family would not be excluded from the disaster. That would be because a little virgin girl refuses to sacrifice herself for the sake of her family. Do you want that?"
I suddenly hated the way she looked, and I knew she was trying to manipulate me by making me feel bad but still there was no wrong in her words.
I walked away from her doorstep without answering her. I was still finding it hard to accept it all, so I went to the road that led to the dark forbidden forest even though it was dark and scary. I needed to see what I was up for.
It was as if it was raining in that forest because it was so cold and the thunder was cracking; I could feel the tension in my chest.
I wanted to check it out first to see what I should expect, so I took a step in and the next thing I felt was a tug. I couldn't tell if it was from inside the dark forest or from outside. The fear gripping made me surrender to whatever grabbed me.
"What are you thinking?!" This was the voice I heard, and I knew instantly that it was my elder brother. I looked at him and burst into tears. "I'm scared, brother."
...
The next moment we were walking side by side back home. We stopped at Freya's house because I was thinking of facing her but when I decided to let it go, I saw Freya coming out of her house with a guy. They were holding hands and then in a moment, he kissed her lips.
I would not have been bothered if it were just a random guy, but he was not random. He was the guy who I had been crushing on for three months and we became official last night. I thought last night was the beginning of my fairytale but... What is going on with my life?