Tortured Obsession

4. Prologue

Prologue

100 years ago

Anya

I watch a bird hop from tree to tree at the edge of the forest.

The bird looks so happy.

It’s free.

I dare not pass the old willow tree to join the bird.

My grandmother’s stories send shivers up from the earth into my soul.

“Never go into the forest. Never cross the bridge.”

“Why?”

Grandmother bristles. I'm too young to know the truth, but Grandmother has to warn me. She wants me to stay safe.

Grandmother points away from the fire, through the houses, past the rickety wooden bridge, out to the forest. The wind shrieks around their little house, out from the wood of groaning tree trunks.

“Leshy lives in the forest.” Whispers grandmother.

“Who’s Leshy?” I peek out from the window, just tall enough to see.

“A forest spirit. He’s deathly pale, but made of living vine. His eyes are deep green, like an ocean of grass. But, he can change shape to look like any man. You must never trust him.”

“Why?” My eyes are wide like saucers.

Grandmother pauses, the firelight finding forgotten memories in her weathered skin.

“If Leshy catches you, he’ll take you into the forest, and he’ll turn you into a songbird. He’ll keep you in a cage for the rest of your life. You’ll never leave, you’ll never see your family again.”

As time goes by, little Anya’s mother re-tells grandmother’s stories. Small details change. Leshy finds a wolf who follows him. The vines of his body become withered bark and snapping branches. One thing never changes. Leshy is always watching. He waits for the darkest night, when the moon is too tired to light the shadows. That’s when he stalks to the edge of the forest, moving through the gnarled branches, waiting to find his next songbird.

One day little Anya finds out what grandmother never wanted her to know. So she tells her daughter the story of a man in the forest who turns little girls to songbirds.

The story passes down, and the bridge is never crossed.

Until the day she dies, grandmother’s words stay in her mind.

“Leshy is watching you, Anya. If he takes you, you’ll never come back.”