A/N: My apologies for being unclear. This is a reposting of the original story Into the Woods that I wrote in 2014-ish.. I added to it and removed other stuff but it's pretty close to what it was before. I've also reposted Ren Faire and Sirens.

I will be posting a new story based on an idea I got from this story so if you are interested in reading that add me on alert. Other news, I'll be at the TFMU in Austin 2020 if you are going, I'd love to meet you.

Into the Woods

By: Everleigh Allen

Chapter 3

Monsters are real. Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes they win. ~Stephen King

~O~

Bella and Charlie sat in the local diner that Sunday morning in silence. Bella studiously cut her French toast into bite sized pieces while Charlie sat watching her. His eyes darted from her face to the bruises that peeked out from under her long sleeves and back to her face. It was then he decided that she would need some self-defense lessons, too.

"You are going to give me a complex, old man."

"Sorry," Charlie grunted, looking away for a moment.

He wiped his hand over his face. He was feeling older every time he looked at the girl before him. "So, what was in the letter?"

Bella pointed her finger in mock reproach. "No being nosey, Charlie."

"Can't help it. Comes with the job." He smirked.

He had her there. "Touché."

"So?"

With a huff Bella looked around the diner for listening ears before she bent forward and waited for Charlie to follow. Then she whispered, "It's a secret."

Charlie's eyebrows synched together but his mustache twitched in amusement at his lively daughter.

"Okay, keep your secrets. But be safe. I got you something."

"Oh, you shouldn't have."

"Yes, I should have… I did." Charlie reached over into his leather bag he brought with him when he was going into work and pulled out a plain brown bag.

Bella opened it with a frown.

"Pepper spray? Awesome."

"Is it what you always wanted?" Charlie snickered.

"Oh, yes. I could have used it the other day on Jake." Bella said sweetly.

Charlie laughed out loud. "I'm sure he'll give you another chance to want to use it on him. That boy has no sense."

"Uh, yeah, that's totally his problem. No sense. But seriously, I'm surprised that you didn't catch the obvious steroid use with that one. His behavior was erratic at best and violent at worst. Maybe you should have him drug tested."

"Bella, you have it wrong. The boy isn't taking steroids."

"He's not?"

"No, but that's actually something we need to talk about-" Charlie's eyes shifted around the diner, nervously.

"Yeah, yeah, but not here. Got it." Bella interrupted.

"Definitely not here."

She felt like she was taking crazy pills. If Jake wasn't using the drugs, then what else could have him looking and behaving the way he was? And the way he was talking to her was so upsetting in itself. She picked up her napkin and wiped her mouth. She was no longer hungry. "With that, I'm going to go take a short walk off a tall cliff." She laughed, shaking her head.

"Hit the grocery store on your way home, hmm? Just take the truck, I can walk home or take the cruiser."

Bella nodded, standing up and leaning in to kiss Charlie's scruffy cheek as he slipped her the debit card.

"Be good, old man."

Charlie Swan just rolled his eyes and smiled. He was so pleased to have his girl home.

He watched as Bella rounded the corner of the diner then had a glimpsed as she passed the window before she disappeared from view before he took her plate and scooped her breakfast onto his plate.

It was a rainy Friday morning when Bella started packing her backpack to go on a small hike behind their house. She packed her hat and rain gear even though it was supposed to clear up quickly. She wanted to go on a small walk, just far enough to be away from everything but still in view of the house.

Charlie shrugged when she said she wanted to go. He never said anything more about the talk about Jake, or the dangers within the forest. He didn't even try to convince her not to go.

She thought that odd since she expected a fight.

Bella knew it would be a fight with Renee, so what was Renee's big problem with the forest?

Stuffing her book in her bag, Bella then grabbed her iPhone and the pepper spray (just in case) before going down stairs for snacks and water.

"I'm heading out!"

"Okay!" He called out from his recliner, "Don't get eaten."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Nice."

Charlie popped his head in, a small grin breaking his face, "I just meant you should bring bug spray, baby girl."

"Sure you did." She teased, but did put the bug spray into her bag.

"See you at dinner… call if you need anything."

Bella nodded, opening the mud room door and then the back door but as she stepped off the porch she stilled. It was oddly quiet. No breeze or chirping birds. No scuttling squirrels digging up their nuts. She shook her head, shaking off whatever vibe she felt and then bounded down the hundred steps to the tree line and stopped.

It felt odd.

It was like the forest had eyes and they were all on her.

She shuddered, moving into the shade of the trees before settling into a spot that she could quietly read her book.

Bella yawned as she opened the kitchen door. She quickly picked out some pine needles and leaves that were embedded in her messy hair. She had a nice time reading her book once her nerves calmed down but accidently fell asleep in the soft grass and moss.

There was just some kind of secure feeling there.

"So, you'll never guess who I talked to, today." Charlie huffed as Bella walked through the living room. He gripped his can of beer tightly as he lifted it to his mouth, letting the amber liquid slide down his throat. There were three empty cans toppled over the side table as well as an old plate of finished food.

Bella grabbed the plate and the cans and went into the kitchen. The cans clattered loudly along with the other cans in the recycle bin. She put the plate into the dishwasher before going back into the living room.

"Who?"

"Your mother," It was as if he was testing the waters as he watched his only daughter with glossy eyes and a twitching mustache. His efforts were not wasted when she rolled her eyes with a visible sneer.

It shouldn't please him for her to have that reaction, but it did.

"Why? Did she call you?"

Charlie just sat there for a moment before saying, "She didn't call. I called her."

"Are you suddenly a glutton for punishment? You know that woman wears on you." Bella sat across from her father on the couch.

"Yeah, well," Charlie frowned, "She's not much different than I remember, is she?"

"Were you expecting a change? Because the only change I see in her future is menopause."

Charlie coughed out a laugh and shuddered. "No, I thought she would grow up, is all."

Bella narrowed her eyes. Charlie was hiding something.

"What's up, old man? You are totally not telling me everything."

Looking a bit chastised, Charlie ran a hand over his face.

"She called me, first. I was returning her call, so there's at least that."

"Yes, of course. I wouldn't understand why you would call her on purpose. What did she want?" Bella rolled her hand as if to speed up the conversation. It was like pulling teeth with him.

"She wanted to talk to you, see what you were up, and convince you to go back. She misses you and she made a mistake, etcetera, etcetera. So I simply said that you were fine but not home and that you were off for a hike."

Bella groaned, closing her eyes before they rolled up to the heavens. "You didn't."

"Hey, how was I supposed to know that she still had issues with the forests? I also may have let it go you were out there reading… and alone." He grumbled the last two words, but Bella heard them just the same.

"Have you not learned anything? You know she hates when I go off to read. 'It's a waste of precious time.'" She mimicked Renee's voice. "And alone? GAH! Do you have a death wish?"

Bella was acting like a teenager, but it was fitting. Charlie was amused, at least.

"She was never much of a scholar. But this is not my fault!" He laughed," Well, it technically is, since the evidence is sitting before me, but Renee should have outgrown her issues, by now. Wasn't she in therapy?"

"Yes. She was. That was until things ended worse than they were before that. She decided she was more insightful than the therapist and started trying to psychoanalyze her."

"Sounds like her."

"Eventually, it was mutually decided by her and the doctor that she was to have to deal with things herself in her own way."

"I'm not surprised. She has a habit of that." He laughed. "So the doctor wanted to put her on meds." Charlie surmised.

"Yeah, she did… and maybe an involuntary commitment for evaluation and diagnosis."

Charlie frowned. It was so upsetting when Bella enlightened him of the bad that was going on in Renee's home. He couldn't help but think Bella would have been better off with him, growing up. It was common knowledge that Renee was always seeking enlightenment; it was just the way she went around doing it that scared him.

"She was deemed not a danger to herself or others. Don't worry. I can see it all over your face." Bella ran a hand through her hair, breathing in and then out, before speaking slowly, "So do you know why she avoids the forest? All she would say to me is the ever ominous 'there are monsters out there.'"

"So I guess she never told you what happened to us… her, out there?"

Bella's aggravation lessened and she lit up, trying to hide her excitement. "No."

"I'll probably need a bathroom break and another beer to tell the story right."

"Of course."

"Well, since you're living here now it's probably time to know the truth."

She nodded, solemnly but was very excited inside. "Go to the bathroom. I'll start dinner and we can talk about it then."

Charlie agreed and made his way up the stairs.