Beginnings

A little starter for you...

“Watch it!” yelled Hunter, neatly dodging the dish cloth I just threw into the laundry. He placed the empty bucket on the table and crossed over to Poppy’s room, I heard him wake her gently like he does every morning and tell her we’ll be back in an hour. I’m sure she’s aware of the routine by now but Hunter always makes sure to tell her so that she doesn’t worry, he’s so much better with children than I am. I pull on my sturdy boots and take the empty bucket he passes me. The bucket is as light as a feather when empty and there’s no noticeable difference when it’s full, I guess I’m used to it by now. Hunter heads straight out the door and pass the gates, he has his leather bag hooked over one shoulder and kicks up dust with his boots as he waits for me. Beyond the gates, a little way off to the left, there is a path leading to the stream. As soon as he sees me head out the front door he sets off, I know in a couple of minutes he’ll stop and yell at me for being slow like he usually does. It’s a twenty minute walk down to the stream and half an hour back since we check traps and set fresh ones, its routine.

 This is our home, we call it the woods because that’s exactly what it is, we don’t know how far it stretches on for or what lies beyond it, if anything. We grew up on the belief that it’s just endless woods, there is no end to the lines of trees that give us shelter. In the middle of all the greenery, at least what we believe to be the middle, there stand six buildings. The buildings resemble something called a cottage, I only know this because of pictures in books, they’re made from mostly wood and stone with thatched roofs. We don’t know much about them, like the substance which has held them in one piece for so many decades, we don’t need to know really since they’ve held up so long. The six buildings, they stand in lines of three opposite each other, are surrounded by different types of farm land. There is the fertilised land for growing crops and vegetables behind one row of three, the land stretches out into a field; one of the only we’ve seen in the woods. Behind the others stands an orchid that is made up of apple trees and a handful of plum trees. All of this land, including farm land, is surrounded by a tall, wooden fence. The fence stretches a good seven feet in the air and is virtually un-climbable due to the rough edges and many sharp splinters littering it. The only way in or out of our little village is through the gates on the east side, they are sturdier than the surrounding fence to ensure our safety although we’ve never met anyone from outside the village. The stream, the place we head to now, is our source of fresh water and fish. Our source of meat is whatever Hunter manages to trap, mostly venison and smaller creatures though we get quite a selection in summer. The woods grow even thicker beyond the stream, only Hunter and a couple of others have dared cross over to it, I would never dream of venturing that far. Hunter’s excuse to cross had been that he wanted to ‘experiment’ with trapping other game for us and since he was one of the oldest no one argued against him.

“I’m pretty sure everyone would like to wash and drink today,” he stops and turns to me, smirking. “Could you hurry up?” I sigh and pick up the pace of my walk, when I catch up he smiles and walks alongside me. As his best friend my automatic reaction is to return the smile to him. In our situation Hunter is the only one the same age meaning we really had no choice but to get along, but I think even if things were normal we would still be friends. But things are not normal here and they haven’t been for a long time. One night, in the middle of winter, our parents packed up their things and left us here. We didn’t realise until the morning when we all awoke to find ourselves alone. We don’t know their reason for leaving us all, Hunter has his suspicions but he’s particularly bitter about them. He suggests that they simply grew bored of life here and packed up their things without us, I’m not sure where they would go to and I don’t believe my mother and father would willingly abandon myself and my sister but there’s no other explanation. It took days for Poppy to stop crying after she heard that. Most of us think we know which way they went but are too afraid to go after them, neither of us particularly want to go after them anyway. On the morning we discovered they left we found the tool shed, full of equipment we use to survive, had either been knocked down or torn down by the adults in hope that we would never survive on our own. That’s what Tiger suspects.

“It’s so quiet here now.” I say, glancing to my right I see that path that we heard of in tales my mother used to tell. A path that travellers came and went down both on foot and on horses, a path we are now forbidden to go down ourselves.

“I know,” Hunter sighs, “We haven’t seen anyone else since…” he trails off, leaving the words neither of us want to speak hanging in the air between us. Since they left. I hear birds singing and look up towards the highest branches of the trees, many of the trees on this path are covered in green moss and it’s hard to tell exactly where you are when you’re down here. At this time of year the branches are covered in fresh, green leaves that shelter us from the now gentle rain that begins to fall. There are bushes that line either side of the path, they are dotted with the first sign of berries that no doubt I’ll be back to collect when they are ripe. Usually I bring Poppy and a couple of other kids down to pick them and then we make a berry pie when we’re home. Hunter stops to check a trap just a little way off to the right, after a couple of minutes he returns from the bush grinning, his bag looking full. “Rabbit.” He announces proudly, tapping his bag. I laugh excitedly, the first real catch of the spring, it will be considered a treat for everyone when we have it later today. We continue down the path, discussing ways in which the rabbit should be cooked, until we hear the steady rush of water. I see it up ahead, the pebbly shore of the steady stream that flows down over boulders to create a small waterfall. The rain slows and the sun comes out from behind beautiful white clouds casting a bright, warm light over us. I walk down over the pebbly shore until I decide on the best place to fill up the bucket. Finally I stop and fill it where the flow is strongest. Hunter pulls out an old flask which he fills, the flask is large and will hold enough water that will be used for cooking. It was Hunters idea since the bucket water is separated in to washing and drinking. Later in the day we will return again to fill up the buckets for the evening. The cool water feels refreshing as it flows over my hands that I splash it up my arms and on my face, next to me I see Hunter do the same. When I’m finished I go and sit by him, balancing the bucket carefully on the pebbles so it doesn’t spill. He lies back, looking up at the now cloudless sky.

“Do you think they’ll ever come back?” he whispers so low I almost miss it.

“No,” I clear my throat before my voice catches, “if they were going to come back they’d be here by now, it’s been over a year. We’re fine on our own anyway, better than fine, we’re perfect an-”

“Apart from the fact we have six kids back at home to look after,” he cuts me off, “and if one of them gets sick we have little medicine and we won’t know what to do or who to take them to. Apart from the fact we’ve had no contact from anyone over the past twelve months, if there even is anyone, and one day we’ll run out of supplies for clothing and shoes and if things start to break we’ll run out of material to fix them with. Yes, apart from that we’re fine.” I stare at him in shock. Never before has Hunter expressed much worry towards our situation, things like this have passed my mind but I never really bothered to worry about it since I’ve always been optimistic that we can find our way around them. “Forget it,” he stands up quickly and hooks his bag back over his shoulder, “if we don’t get back soon people will start wondering where we are.”

The walk back is quiet but not peaceful. Neither of us has spoken since Hunter’s outburst at the stream and I can almost taste the anger rolling off him. When we get back I’ll take the water to Tiger and receive my instructions for the day. Tiger is eighteen, he spends every day during summer out in the sun yet he’s still as pale as a bed sheet. His blonde hair constantly falls over his brown eyes and he is constantly talking, handing out roles to us each day, keeping us all alive. The oldest of us is Ace. He’s tall and muscular with tanned skin and dark eyes, he’s just turned nineteen and he doesn’t do much. Ace doesn’t try to take on the role of leader, he doesn’t teach us and the only time we see him is at meal times, no one bothers to find out what he does in between.

After Tiger the second in command is Hunter, both Hunter and I are sixteen but I’m three months younger than him, despite the age difference Hunter is just as tall as Tiger. To me Hunter has always been the friendliest out of the three older boys. Unlike his younger brother and sister, Hunter has short, light brown hair with eyes the colour of the summer sky. He shows more care towards the younger ones than Tiger and Ace and I suspect that’s why they always go to him first. Along with the older boys there is also; Alice -Ace’s eleven year old sister, Maisy and Nettles -Tiger’s twelve year old twin sisters who share the same pale skin as him, Curly �"Hunter’s thirteen year old brother and their nine year old sister Little Joanne. That leaves my nine year old sister Poppy and I. My name is Ivy. That makes ten of us all together; ten very lost, very alone, children. Of course now we’re getting older none of us like to be considered a child since we’re surviving on our own. However we still have our younger brothers and sisters who are just children. Hunter believes that although they have siblings Tiger and Ace must be bored living this same life here for so long, having to be somewhat in charge of things but where else would they go? We are now all one big family, not blood related, but forced into a situation impossible to ignore.

We stop again to check the second trap Hunter set on the opposite side of the path to before. I put the bucket down and flex out my fingers, though the bucket isn’t impossibly heavy the iron handle tends to make my fingers cramp. Hunter returns with a faint smile playing on his lips, I raise my eyebrows at him.

“Another rabbit.” He breaks into a grin as he steps towards me, taking my sore hand in his. “You know I’m not angry at you.” He says gently.

“I know, I know.” I let out a sigh, “I’m just waiting for you to get it all out of your system before we get back.” He drops my hand and unhooks his bag from his shoulder.

“Want to swap?” he offers the bag out to me. I take it, grateful that I won’t have to keep carrying the bucket. He picks it up with ease, stronger than I am, and we continue walking back. When we reach the fence I spot Poppy and Little Joanne playing by a tall apple tree, they spot us and wave as we pass. We reach the gates, which are shut and locked at night for our safety, I notice Curly sawing wood that Maisy and Nettles bring to him back and forth from the nearest trees outside our village. Tiger is insisting that we make the fence higher as he believes it’s safer if it reaches above the roofs of the buildings. Hunter and I have been pitching in now and again to attach wood to each fence and so far we’ve managed to make it taller by Tigers building. It’s a long and tiring job but Tiger reminds us that if we all put work in we should be done by summer which relieves everyone as no one wants to work in the blistering heat.

“Morning.” Tiger greets us as he steps out of his building, “What did you catch today Hunter?” he looks straight past me to Hunter. Tiger wears the usual white shirt and brown cotton trousers just as the other boys do, there’s not much variation in their outfits since we’ve never seen or heard from anyone else to trade with. What they wear now is a mixture of what they already owned and what small amount their fathers left behind.

“Rabbit.” Hunter nods to the bag slung over my shoulder, “two of ‘em.” He smiles as Tiger gives a nod of approval, clearly impressed.

“Well Ivy better go and get started on them for tonight, I’m sure it’ll cheer the kids up.” Tiger uses that as my cue to leave. Whenever anything needs cooking or cleaning I’m usually the one given the job, sometimes Maisy and Nettle’s take over the cleaning as Little Joanne and Poppy are too young to really do any hard work. Alice helps me with the cooking and I’m teaching her what little I know so that one day we are able to share the responsibility.

“I’ll go and get started them.” I give the politest smile I can manage and turn away towards building six which is closest to all food produce. Each building was numbered and transformed as soon as the adults left. Building one, closest to the gate, houses Ace and Alice. The buildings are numbered chronologically in the lines of three. Next to building one is two which is home to Tiger and the twins, three is then next door and is used as a general bathroom. The usual bedrooms and kitchen was ripped out and replaced with two baths and two toilet cubicle. The baths came from a different shed that used to be used as a communal bathroom for the village, I’m relieved that it was moved as I never enjoyed bathing in a shed. The open area, used as living rooms in other buildings, was left alone with an open fire so that we are able to let our hair dry out properly in the winter. Opposite building three is six which under took a similar project. The kitchen from three was added into six to create a large cooking area, both bedrooms are now used for storing separate cooking supplies and food produce as the main living area now holds two dining tables that were pushed together to create room for us all. Both Hunter and I agreed when this happened it was important we all ate together and spent time with each other. Building four is home to Hunter and his siblings as five belongs to myself and Poppy. Thanks to moving furniture around everyone now has a bed to sleep in and plenty of blankets during the winter. The shed was rebuilt next to six since it stores the majority of our tools we need for survival. This is where Alice waits for me, standing with her hands behind her back patiently. She is tanned like her brother and has long dark hair which is tied in its usual ponytail.

“Hey,” I greet her as we go inside, the one thing I admire about Alice is that she is a girl of few words, much like her brother. “Hunter managed to trap a couple of rabbits today.” I slide the leather bag off my shoulder and drop it on the kitchen table. I unpack the two rabbits, the flask of water and a handful of mushrooms we found on the way home that Hunter assured me were fine to eat. Before our parents left we were taught basic survival skills on plants and fungi, Hunter acquired a more advanced knowledge than the rest of us and I sometimes wonder if his parents were preparing him for this. Alice heads into the storage room for fruit and vegetables, there is the sound of small footsteps over the cool, stone floor and then she reappears holding a potato and carrot in her outstretched hands. I take them and then she is gone again, heading out the front door. I know when this happens that Alice will return with another ingredient she believes will add flavour, I don’t doubt her. I start putting wood in the stove, so that it’s ready to light when we start boiling the water, when something Hunter said this morning dawns on me. 

“The fact we have six mouths to feed…”

Of course I know he is referring to the younger ones when he said that, the rest of us can handle ourselves if anything were to go wrong. Now I worry that I don’t feed them enough, we have breakfast and dinner every day without fail and on rare occasions we have lunch too. In the winter, when meat is scarce, we survive on vegetable soup which is really just boiled water and what few vegetables we have left. But what If that is not enough? To make sure everyone gets their share tonight I grab an extra potato from storage.

“If one of them gets sick…”

Both Poppy and Nettles suffered bad colds last winter but they got through it and recovered well. I doubt anyone will get seriously ill during winter; we all wear plenty of thick layers during the cold months so there is no worry about wrapping up. But Hunter is right, one day things will start going wrong.

Alice stands in front of me, hands outstretched, one holding a small cabbage and in the other a plum. No doubt these are the first of each for the year since they don’t look fully developed yet. “For some flavour.” She chimes and sets them down on the table. Then we get started, I skin and slice the rabbit and start the stove, pouring the majority of the water from the flask into a large cooking pot. Alice peels and slices the vegetables, dropping them into a small bowl which we’ll keep in storage until later. I put the fur from the rabbit aside, both were reasonably healthy rabbits so the fur can be put to good use somewhere. Then I watch Alice with the plum, she slices it into quarters, taking three and slicing them into even smaller segments. She drops them into the pot of now boiling water and uses the last to rub over the rabbit meat, marinating it. I watch her curiously whilst she then throws that segment in with the others, wondering where she learned about marinating.

“We should wait at least half an hour for the plum to soften.” She says gently, I nod and wrap the meat in some cloth for keeping in storage. Alice pours the little remains of water in the vegetable bowl to stop them from browning then takes them to the separate storage. When we clean up Alice sweeps the floor whilst I dispose of the vegetable peel, I decided that the rabbit fur would not make much use at this time of year and threw it away as well. I then wipe down the table with a cloth as she checks the plum water which is now a little pink. I unwrap the rabbit and place it in, telling Alice to add the vegetables in about an hour. It’s mid-afternoon when I finally step out of six, the sun is high and unusually warm for spring. I head back to my building to change, since this morning my navy blue shirt is covered in sweat and my brown cotton pants stick to my legs. Unlike the boys we have a variety of clothes to wear, most of which are our own and some which have been passed down between then younger girls once they grew out of them. Once I grow out of my clothes I will pass them down and use some of my mother’s clothes that she left behind. We all have similar shoes, both girls and boys have a sturdy pair of boots each and in the heat of the summer we swap them for lighter shoes. When I get inside I immediately strip off my shirt and trousers and wipe myself down with a cloth I leave by my bed. My room isn’t the biggest but then no one has a big room here, there’s enough space for two single beds though mine only contains one and a small wardrobe, there is a full length mirror angles against one of the walls. 

I search through my wardrobe and pull out a white dress that is suitable for both summer and spring weather, I find it still fits me and sits just above my knees making me already feel cooler. I brush my hair, untangling various knots until its smooth, then I check myself in the mirror. I’m still very pale, but spring has only just begun, my dark hair frames my face and sits just past my shoulders. If I spend more time out in the sun then my hair will lighten to a softer, warmer brown and my natural chestnut highlights will show through. Unfortunately they only come out during summer but I would love to have them all year. I look closely into the mirror, my eyes are framed with thick lashes and I have full rounded lips. Hunter can worry all he wants about us getting sick, but we’re all very strong and healthy. I decide that, since I don’t have anything to do for a while, I might as well take a walk and see if any fruit is ready to be picked yet. I switch my leather boots for some sandals and head towards the apple tree where Maisy and Nettles sit, sheltered by the shade.

“Ivy!” calls Nettles, I smile in return and give a small wave. Maisy pats the grass beside her, inviting me to sit. The twins are exactly alike; they have the same corn silk hair that hangs down to their waists, the same beautiful blue eyes and shockingly pale skin. I sit crossed legged, careful to spread out my dress to avoid grass stains.

“Has Tiger given you a break?” I ask them, usually they are given plenty of breaks throughout the day from whatever work they’re doing. They are both his favourites after all and we don’t complain as we would all do the same for our siblings.

“Actually he gave everyone the afternoon off; he said it’s too hot for anyone to work.” Nettles fans herself dramatically with her hand.

I laugh, “So where is everyone then?” I glance around seeing we’re the only ones that seem to be outside.

“Poppy and Joanne are inside playing with their baby dolls,” Maisy rolls her eyes, “Alice is back inside with Ace, Tiger’s asleep at home and Hunter was looking for you.” She giggled, “He said he was hungry.” This time I rolled my eyes, of course if Hunter was looking for me he would be hungry, he’s always hungry.

“Well do you know which way he went?” I ask to humour them, I’m sure if I stepped out from the shelter of the shade I would find him, it’s difficult to loose anyone here.

“That way!” They say in unison, both pointing in different directions, we all laugh at each other. The twins are always sending us on a wild goose chase, I suppose it’s some of the only entertainment they have. Maisy turns away from me and Nettles turns away from her, we begin to braid each other’s hair, another routine we’ve gotten into whenever we’re together.

“I’ll just have to wait for him here then.” I smile as they sigh dramatically. I braid Maisy’s hair carefully, letting my own hair sit over my shoulders and dance in the cool breeze that comes by now and again. We all sit quietly, wrapped up in our own private thoughts. Two hands gently pull my hair onto my back and I know immediately who it is.

“Let me show you how to braid hair Ivy.” He mocks, we all know Hunter’s useless with hair, even his own. Little Joanne has to put it right every morning after he brushes it and even then he messes it up during the day. “I’m just not very good at sitting crossed legged.” He laughs as he puts his legs either side of me, Maisy and Nettles join in his laughter.

“Maybe you should stop trying to be such a girl Hunter.” I laugh as he pokes me in the ribs. I finish Maisy’s braid and tie it at the bottom with a rubber band then I turn to face him, immediately he lets go of my hair, he hasn’t done anything to it except run his fingers through it for the past half hour. I would never tell anyone, especially Hunter, but I love having my hair played with. It reminds me of when my mother used to brush it, I have hair that is identical to hers and she’d always be braiding it which resulted in it being soft and wavy. I haven’t done anything like that to my hair since she left and it’s starting to bother me that I look so plain.

“I believe you were looking for me?” I ask him, he leans back against the trunk of a tree and grins.

“I was wondering how long until dinner, I’m starving.” Physically Hunter is a lot bigger than me, he’s taller and much stronger meaning like Tiger and Ace he needs feeding regularly, if Hunter isn’t fed he gets into a foul mood. However, as old as he looks, Hunter can still be immature sometimes.

“We can go and check but I’d say it’s probably going to be another couple of hours.” I say, standing up and offering him my hand.

He takes it and whines, “Can I taste some? Or have some? I’m so hungry.” I sigh and mutter to myself how he’s more like a wild dog than a human being.

Later on, when I’ve collected another bucket of water and Alice has served up the rabbit, we all sit and relax. It’s a reasonably warm evening and so we gather under the apple trees and talk about everything and nothing. The gates have been locked and Poppy and Little Joanne have gone to bed, despite protests from both of them. I sit with Hunter and rest my head on his shoulder, my stomach feels full and I’m starting to feel tired. Curly and the twins are in a circle opposite us and Alice is curled up next to me. Even Ace has stayed out tonight and is engrossed in a conversation with Tiger; I’m so tired I don’t even attempt to understand the topic they discuss. I look up at Hunter and see him gazing up into the night sky, admiring the stars that have appeared above our heads. This morning I was right. We are all perfect. 

Author's Note

I'm aware it may be difficult to read because it doesn't separate like it does on Microsoft Word, I will change this for the next chapter!