You walk in the door of the cottage, putting your rifle in the gun rack. Father is there, waiting for you.


"Ah, Jacob, you're back. I was getting worried," he says. "Did you set up the traps?"


You stare at him. For some reason, you feel you shouldn't tell him about the strange girl. He's always been a very puritanical person, hence the religion. When old Mister Kenneth taught a bird to sing in your last town, father wanted him burnt at the stake for witchcraft.

You lie

"Yes, father, I set up the traps," you lie.


"Good," father nods. "Now, we have more chores to do."


You nod, and prepare yourself for a long day of work.

You later that night...

You hear the soft snoring of Meredith in the bed next to you. Father and mother are in the next room, but they're definitely asleep. You slowly slide out of bed, and creep over to the closet. You slowly open the closet, pulling out a black cotton dress and slinging it over your shoulder. You creep out of the house, walking towards the woods.


Rose waits there. She leans against a tree, giving a little wave as she sees you approaching. When you reach her, you hold out the dress and she takes it from you, pulling it  over her head and putting it on.


"How do I look?" she smiles.


"Pretty," you admit, before mentally chastising yourself for being so lustful. 


Rose smiles, and gently kisses you on the cheek. You blush, stepping back.


"Rose!" you say, embarrassed.


"What? It was on the cheek, we're just friends! Not even my mother could think that was bad!" she asks, confused. 


"You're being lustful! We're not married, we shouldn't be..."


Rose puts a finger to your lips, nodding towards the house as you remember your sleeping parents and nod.


"You're weird," she says, before walking into the woods. "Come on, I'll show you where I have the hares."


You follow Rose into the darkness of the forest, and you walk alongside her. Soon, you find a dozen hares strung up from a tree by their neck. She cuts the rope keeping them up, and catches the string of hares as it falls, holding it out for you.


"Here," she says.


"That's a lot of hares," you say. "Fair trade."


Rose shakes her head.


"No. If you had just laid down your snares, you would've got a few hares. I still owe you something."


"Like what?" you ask. 


"You're new to this place. I'll show you around."


"Uh, OK, " you say.


You follow Rose around as she leads you through the forest.


"So, do you... have a house around here?" you ask.


"Um... no. I sleep a lot of places. I used to sleep in my mother's cottage, but we don't get on. Now, I like to sleep in the trees. Find a nice big branch, hold on tightly. It's nice."


Over the next hour, Rose shows you the things of importance in the area. The good grazing areas, the most populated hare trails, the wild vegetable and fruit patches. Eventually, you reach within sight of an old, burnt out cottage. Rose stops you before you can get close.


"That's my mother's house," she says. 


"Oh. Did... did she die?" you ask.


Rose shakes her head.


"No, no she's alive. It's just she... well, it's a long story."


"That place is all burnt out. No one should live there."


"She should," Rose says, spitting on the ground. 


Rose quiets up as she leads you away from the cottage. After another few minutes, you come across a mountainous area, with a visible cave further up it.


"And that's where my father lives," Rose says. "Well, sort of."


"Does he move around a lot?" you ask.


"He lives in a lot of places. But he's there," Rose says.


"Is he a trapper, or something?" 


"No, he's a..." Rose says, before pausing. "Yeah, trapper's a good definition. He traps things."


You dismiss her comment, and continue walking. Suddenly, Rose perks up.


"What games do you know how to play?" she asks. 


"Games?" 


"Do you like tag?" she asks.


"I don't know."


"I tap you and you become it, and then you have to tap me."


"Oh, OK," you say.


"So, tag," she says, tapping your shoulder. "You're it."


Rose bursts off, quickly running through the trees.

You run after her

You sprint after Rose, laughing as she playfully lets you catch up before evading your lunges at her. She dances at the edge of your reach, and you continue running through the forest.


You spend at least an hour playing but eventually, Rose leads you home. You talk for a bit more, but you arrive back at your cottage.


"Well, goodnight," she says.


"Goodnight, Rose," you reply.


"Can we do this again sometime? It's nice to have someone to be around."


She's right. It is nice. Your short time with Rose has been fun and really helped with your loneliness. 


"Yeah. I'd like that," you say.


"Great," Rose smiles. "See you soon."


"See you soon," you say, as you walk back to the cottage to get to bed.

One Month Later...

Your secret friendship with Rose develops quite a fair bit. You have quite a bit of time to play with her. Due to your success at "hunting", father seems more than happy to leave you in charge of the hunting. Everyday, you head out to do the snares, Rose awaits with a string of hares for you. Then, you have a while to play and have fun, before you need to head home to avoid arising suspicion. You gift Rose with a few luxuries that she can't scavenge from the woods such as preserves, a blanket and a few other man-made goods. Father notices your rise in behavior, but he simply dismisses it as you enjoying the woods and all the time you're spending in it. Like you, Rose assures you that it's best you never meet with her parents. When asking if her parents even know of the friendship or whether they're in the dark like yours, she vaguely implies that her mother does know, and watches you two playing occasionally. You never see her, mother, but you don't mind. For now, all is good.


You run through the undergrowth desperately with all your speed, but like always, Rose is much faster than you. She taps you in the shoulder before speeidng away in the blink of an eye, stopping by a tree to lean against it for you to catch up.


"You're too fast!" you complain.


"You're too slow," Rose says, sticking out her tongue. 


"Let's play another game," you say.


"Hide and seek?" she asks.


Despite Rose's unnatural ability to find you during hide and seek, by what she claims to be "sniffing" despite her being far away, you have much more of a chance of success in hide and seek rather than trying to outpace her. She's faster than a deer, you'll never beat her in that field.


"Yeah, let's do hide and seek," she says. "I'll be on first, if you want."


You nod eagerly, as  she spins around on the balls of her bare feet, clasping her hands over her eyes.


"One, two, three…" she begins to count, as you turn and sprint off into the woods.


You have a few places in mind that would make a good hiding spot. There's a little den underneath one of the trees that you could hide in. It should be easy enough to crawl into, although you've had similar hiding spots before. Still, it's one of the best spots you have, and the closest one.


There's also a more risky choice. The burnt out cottage that here mother supposedly lives in is close by. Rose says she only uses it for sleeping in, so you could hide out in there.


There's also her father's cave. It's slightly father away, but Rose seems to have an aversion to it. You could get to it if you run past enough, and hide away in there. There's been no reports of trappers in the area and Rose hasn't mentioned seeing him in a while, so you should be able to hide out there.

You hide in the den

You quickly make your way to the den, finding it in the exact spot you remembered, just squirreled away under the twisted roots of an ancient Oak. You drop to your knees, lifting yourself down into it and scrunching up. You wait patiently, closing your eyes.

You wait

It's not long before you hear a gleeful "Found you!". You open your eyes and look up at Rose, who stands by the den opening with a smile.


"Ah, rats!" you say, as Rose grabs your hand and helps pulls you out of the den.


"That was fun," she smiles.


"Yeah, I'm only just realizing that hide and seek is mainly one person waiting in a hiding spot," you say, before looking up at the sun as it falls through the sky. "It's late. I need to get home soon."


"Oh come on! I didn't even get to hide yet!" Rose complains, pouting in an exaggerated fashion.


"Sorry. You can hide first time," you say.


"Fine," Rose says. "Come on, let's get you home."

Another month later...

You stand in the goat shed, feeding Nick and Puck. You put the rest of their feed down, walking out to talk to father. Father chops wood by the wide of the house, while mother cooks and Meredith washes clothes by the stream. You walk to father, who seems quite content. Thanks to Rose, you've been eating well, and she even brought you a full deer the other day. You had to shoot it to make it seem like you had hunted it yourself, but other than that it was a cause for celebration.


"Ah, boy! Have you checked the traps today?" 


"Not yet, father," you say.


Father smiles, motioning towards the soup mother's making.


"Go, get some venison soup and head out. I need to head to town tomorrow. Get some salt to help the meat last through winter, and sell some of the excess meat. We're truly blessed with your hunting and trapping skills, Jacob. Thank the Lord for it. So tell me, will you come to town with me tomorrow?"

You agree to head to town with father tomorrow

"Sure, father. I'd love to."


"Great. I'll be seeing if there's any fathers with girls your age in the town, you know. You're getting old, and I'm sure with your strong features, ability to provide for a family and your humility to God, you'll have no trouble finding a wife. Ah, I'm talking too much. Now go, boy, have some soup and check the traps."


You begin walking away and head to mother, who stirs the soup slowly. 


"Do you want some, Jacob?" she asks, not looking up. 


"Yes, please," you say, as she dumps some of the soup into a wooden bowl and hands it to you.


You say your thanks to her before praying to say the same to the Lord, and then quickly devour the soup. It's fairly delicious and both easily warms and fills you up easily. Now, you're ready to head out.

You head out to the woods

You turn, walking off into the woods. It's only a few minutes of strolling before Rose appears behind you, smiling and happily fiddling with her wooden ring.


"Hiya," she says.


"Hello, Rose," you say.


"So, Jacob, what do you wanna do?"


"I don't know," you say. "Did you get me any prey to bring home?"


Rose nods.


"Yeah, I got you five hares. Is that enough?"


"Perfect," you nod.


"Come on, then," Rose smiles, bounding away. "Let's go find something to do."


You look at her, thinking. Father said you were to find a girl relatively soon. A wife to raise a family with. From what you've seen of the outside world, the girls are all the same as Meredith and mother. They do what they're told, they pray, they're humble. But you don't want a wife like mother or Meredith.


You wonder if Rose would be a suitable partner. She doesn't know how to sew, or clean, or cook, or wash clothes, or really do any wife stuff. But you'd prefer a second out here with her rather than with Meredith or mother. She's the one who hunts. Maybe you could learn to do the wife things for her if you got married. You...


An acorn hits you in the head and you step back, startled. Rose throws another acorn at you, which you duck under.


"Hello! Anybody there?" Rose says, gently tapping her knuckles against your head.


"I'm fine, I'm fine," you reply, as you begin walking alongside her.


You walk down towards the stream, where Rose's catch awaits. Five hares hang from the branches alongside three squirrels. Rose hops across the river, water splashing the edge of her dress. You follow her, jumping from rock to rock to cross the stream. Rose sits down on a rock basking in the sun that  sits at the edge of the stream, water rushing past. You sit down next to her, staring at her. With long blond hair, shockingly blue eyes and a pretty, if a bit animal-like face, she's definitely pretty. Her eyes lock into yours, as you both stare into each other.

You kiss her

You lean in, kissing Rose on the lips, closing your eyes. Her lips are warm, and you feel yourself meld into the kiss. 


You feel her pull away and open your eyes just as she slaps you hard across the face. You stumble backwards, as she stares at you, nervous and panicked. 


"No, no, no!" Rose says, looking scared. "We're not allowed to kiss!"


"What? What's wrong?" you ask.


Rose looks off into the woods, panicked and scared, as she stares fiddling with her ring again.


"I promised, Jacob! I promised her I wouldn't kiss you or fall in love or anything! I promised!"


"Rose, calm down, OK! It's fine, we're fine!" you say, trying to calm her down.


"No, no, no! I told you my mother watches us playing sometimes. I told you! Now she saw you do that, and she's going to be so angry at us, and... and..." Rose says, looking absolutely terrified.


"I'm sorry, OK! I can explain this to her!" you say.


"No! I need to... I..." Rose goes even paler than her natural pallor. "You need to go."


"Rose, I'm not going! I...!"


"Take your stupid prey and go! Just go!" Rose shouts at you. "I need to deal with this."


"Rose, pl...!"


"Go home, Jacob! I'll deal with it!" she screams, bounding up from the rock and sprinting off into the trees.


You stand to sprint after her, but she's long gone into the woods. You sigh, walking over to your prey and grabbing the string of squirrels and rabbits. With that, you turn, walking home.

You hours Later...

You sit at the table with your family. Mother puts the meal down on the table, strips of cooked venison and corn. You grab one of the strips and shovel it into your mouth, feeling bitter.


"Jacob!" your father shouts, aghast. "Where are your manners? How dare you take the bounty of the Lord without thanks!?"


"Sorry, father," you say, bowing your head. "I didn't think."


"No, you didn't!"


"I'll include this in my prayers for redemption tonight," you say.


You hold out your hands, grabbing your Meredith's and your mother's.


"Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty," you all say in unison. "Through Christ, our Lord. Amen."


You release your hold on Meredith and mother's hands, making the sign of the cross. Then, you start to eat, devouring your venison and chewing down on the corn.  Eventually you finish, and hold out your hands to pray, though your heart isn't in it, let alone your soul.  


"We give Thee thanks, Almighty God, for all Thy benefits, and for the poor souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, may they rest in peace. Amen," you all say, before making the sign of the cross a final time.


You stand for the table, pushing in your chair. Your father looks at you with a worried look in his eyes.


"Look, it's dark. Say your nightly prayers and head to bed."


"I..." you start to say, before pausing. "Yes, father."


You sigh, before walking to bed.

You sleep...

You're awoken by the noise. A horrible, long, incredibly loud, screeching howl that penetrates your very core. The noise floods into your mind, as horrifying and scary as when you first heard it. Only now, you can hear it outside your house. You hurry to clamber out of bed, clambering out of bed as you hear the door smash open. The creature lets out a chattering, screeching howl. You freeze, feeling cold, as shivers run down your spine. You need to act, fast.

You get your parents

You charge into the next room, and finally glance the creature. It looks vaguely human, a fact even more terrifying. It stands at seven or eight feet, it's skin as white as bone. It has long black hair, matted with blood and gore. It's hands have transformed into horrible, mangled claws, with long, bloodstained claws. It's face is mangled and misshapen, but its eyes are filled with malice and hate.


It stares at you. Then, with supernatural speed, it bursts forward. It hits mother first, its claws rending through her in seconds, tearing her apart. Father's barely out of bed before it turns to him. The superstitious man has reached for his crucifix rather than his rifle, but gets neither as the monster slashes his throat open, staining his mustache red as he collapses to his knees.


Meredith appears in the doorway, terrified and confused. The monster bursts towards her, impaling her fragile body on one of its claws. It raises her up, growling in her face, before tossing her aside. Finally, it turns to you, it's horrible, mangled mouth seeming to turn into a grin.


It steps forward slowly. You know there's no use running. You stare at the monster as it brings its claws just next to your face, still grinning with satisfaction. It motions as if to slash open your throat, but stops suddenly. It motions to do so again, but pauses once more, this time hissing in pain. It stops, before howling up towards the sky. Then, it brings its face up to yours.


"Leave this place," it snarls. 


Its breath reaches your nostrils, warm and toxic. You feel your head going black, before collapsing onto the ground.

The Next Morning...

You awaken in the house, surrounded by the bodies of your loved ones and covered in blood. You stand, staring around your destroyed house. It seemed the creature took time to destroy the place. It's dead silent despite the sun having risen, so the roosters must be dead. You sit there, surrounded by bloodshed and death. You cry for a bit, sobbing into your hand, but eventually you stop. You know you need to be strong. You have to think about yourself. You have to think about Rose. You have to think about the future.


You stand, staring out at the woods. You wonder what you should. You could flee. The nearest town isn't too far. You could most likely walk to it in a few hours. 


Or, you could venture out into the woods. Find Rose, attempt to find what's going on. It's a more dangerous approach, but at least it'll get you answers.

You find Rose

You walk out of your ruined house, not looking back, and begin heading towards the woods. It takes an hour of searching, but you find her. She sits by the same rock as yesterday, staring into the water.


"Rose!" you say. 


Rose looks at you. She looks... strange. She's the palest you've ever seen. She's missing her wooden ring, as well. Her eyes are different, however. They're dark, the blue of her eyes now almost being black. Tears stream down her face as she stares at you. 


"Jacob!" she says, crying. "I'm so so sorry, Jacob. I tried to stop her. I tried my best. But my father's greedy, and he'd only..."


Rose bursts into tears as you quickly cross the river. You wrap your arms around her, hugging her tightly.


"It's OK. It'll be alright. We're fine, OK? We're fine. We need to get out of here."


"It's my fault," Rose cries. "I know what my mother's like. I should've never talked to you."


"It's OK. It's OK," you say. "We just need to go, OK?"


"No, Jacob, I can't. I can't," she says.


"It's OK. Just take a deep breath, and tell me what's going on," you say.


"My... my mother... she saw us kiss. It took a lot for me to convince her to let us be friends, and I promised her we'd never kiss or marry or anything. I knew she was going to try kill you, so I had to make a deal."


"That... the monster is your mother?" you ask, stepping back.


Fay nods slowly.


"She wasn't always like that. When she met my father, he made her like that. She wanted to be like that, to have power. She gave him so much... she gave him everything... eventually, her gave her something in return. A child."


"Who... who is your father, Rose?" you ask.


"It's..." Rose says, before bursting into tears. "I'm so sorry, I wanted to tell you, but I thought you wouldn't want to be my friend if I told you."


"Rose..."


"It's... my father is Lucifer, Jacob. I knew mother was going to try kill you, so I had to do something. I couldn't stop her, but my father could. I tried to convince him, but he wanted something in return. I had to..."


"Rose..." you repeat again.


"I had to sell him my soul, Jacob."


You stare at her in shock as she nods slowly.


"I'm sorry," she says softly. 


"We... we can fix this," you say.


"Jacob, you need to go. You can't stay here with me. Please, just go."


"No, no! We can fix this! I can fix this! If you turn to Jesus Christ, he can save your soul! No matter what kind of deal you've made, if you've accepted Jesus Christ into your heart, you'll be saved!"


"I'm too corrupt for that," she says softly.


"Then we can purify you! We can purify you! Or I can go talk to your mother! If I can convince her to let us be, she can... talk to your father, or something. I mean, that's got to work!"


Rose stares at you blankly, her eyes still dark and lifeless.


"She'd kill you on sight if my father's protection has warn off. If it hasn't, she won't care."


"Then I can go talk to your father! I'm sure I can convince him, or trade something with him, to give you your soul back."


Rose slaps you hard across the face.


"You don't go up there, do you understand?! You stay away from him! I'll tell you what the plan is. You leave. You get out of here. Go to town. Find a pretty girl, get married, settle down. Be happy, understand?"


"I can't do that to you," you say, exasperated.


You could try to purify her. Then, with Jesus Christ, you could get her soul saved. You could also try to talk to one one of her parents. Or... you could just leave. You could abandon everything, and try to find a happy life.

You try to purify and save Rose

"Come on!" you say, grabbing her hand. 


"No, Jacob, leave me alone," she says.


"Please, Rose, trust me! If this doesn't work, I'll leave, and I'll never bother you again! We can purify you! The lord will accept you! I promise!" 


Rose stands up, nodding slowly.


"Fine. You promise you'll leave if this doesn't work?"


"I promise," you say.


You lead Rose back towards the house. It takes you some time to gather up what you need, but you do. Your father's crucifix as well as your own, the family Bible and a small flask of holy water that your father brought from the last town's chapel. Rose looks at it nervously.


"I'm not sure about this, Jacob."


"Trust me," you say.

You begin the ritual

"Kneel," you say, as Rose kneels.


You stand over Rose, opening your bible and beginning to read.


"In the Name of Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, strengthened by the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of Blessed Michael the Archangel, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and all the Saints," you begin to read, as Rose begins to wince in pain. "And powerful in the holy authority of our lives, we confidently undertake to repulse the attacks and deceits of the devil. God arises; His enemies are scattered and those who hate Him flee before Him."


You begin pouring the holy water over Rose, who begins to scream. You grit your teeth, and continue the ritual.


"As smoke is driven away, so are they driven; as wax melts before the fire, 

so the wicked perish at the presence of God," you say.


Suddenly, Rose screams as she sets alight. She howls desperately in pain as the fire quickly burns through her dress, the very dress you stole for her. She screams horribly as she writhes in pain, and before you can act, her flesh and bone have burnt to ash. You drop to your knees over the ash, staring at it in shock. 


God has failed. He has failed to save your love. He took her from you. You stare at the ash, your hands shifting through it. Rose is gone. Your tears fall into the ash as you cry.


After an hour of crying, you final stand. Your bible and crucifix lie next to you. You stare at them, wondering if God is truly with you.

You accept him

No. God is with you. He always is. You turn away from the scene, picking up your bible and crucifix. With a prayer on your lips and tears in your eyes, you walk away from the horrors of the woods and all around it.

You continue

God's Child


After a few hours of walking, you find a town. You find yourself the nearest church, and pray in it. Soon, God provides. You find a job with the pastor, and are eventually ordained a full minister. You eventually end up as the town pastor, and accept your former life as sinful. Rose burnt because she rejected God in her heart. Your love for her fades, and you soon find a new wife who you marry.


You wonder if this is what joy is. You don't feel happy like you did with Rose, but that was the pleasures of Sin. You have a strong connection with God, a nice house and a loving wife who is with child. That's certainly more than enough, isn't it?