Clare looked from the still dripping axe on her night stand to the closed – sadly, unlocked - bedroom door. Trying not to be distracted by the pretty fan of blood spray on the ceiling, she fought to keep the excitement out of her voice. At least her mother still knocked. Let her suspect masturbation rather than … this. “Sweetie, can I come in?” “Er… not right now, mum. Kinda busy.” Which was a variation of the truth. “May I ask what with? This is a little urgent.” “My biology project…?” she ventured. Again, a version of the truth. Biology homework had been to study the human anatomy. Her dissection, George, the school bully, lay in beautifully disjointed pieces on her duvet. She grabbed the axe, intending to throw it under the bed, lurching around in startled horror. “Dammit!” she exclaimed as the axe, swinging under her momentum, connected soundly into her mother’s torso. Mummy dearest seemed too shocked by the mess on the bed to scream or react. She droppe
Flora plunged her fingers into the warm earth, rooting around with patient dedication. She turned up nothing. Rising to her feet, head slowly turning back and forth, she heard the scream again. They were always so difficult to locate, the earth muffling their cries. She spent another hour snaking her way back and forth through the forest. All the usual spots turned up nothing but worms and mulch. Head swivelling like a satellite dish, ears constantly pricked, she worked her way deeper under the canopy, back where the elders grew, Ancient oaks, once the hiding place of kings, great pines, the ancestral homes of dryads, and none sheltering the screamer amongst their sprawling roots. Pausing to drink deeply from the clear waters of a stream which flowed in tumbling delight from the mountains, she caught the scream once more. So close she felt she could reach out and touch it. Ah, of course, the willows. Long had they deserved their reputation as often playful, occasionally sp