Everyone in Tylersville heard the stories of the dense thicket that surrounded the small town. The roles were simple: don’t stare too long into the woods, don’t get too close to the graves on the northern side, and above all else, absolutely never, ever spend the night in the woods. If I ever bothered to ask my Pa what was so dangerous about the woods, he would curse and say “Witches. Damned women that think men are evil itself.” And leave a wad of spittle on our rotting hard wood floor. I never knew what was so dangerous about women. I’d never seen one, but once I got so close to the graves at the edge of the town and spotted a name scribbled roughly on the surface. It was something like ‘Anita Woods’ or ‘Angie Wald.’ It didn’t really matter anyways. It was the only graveyard in the entire town of Tylersville and if I had to guess, it was all just women down in those graves. Why should us men be so afraid of something that’s easier to kill than us? When my 16th birthday came around, my Pa sat me down on our old sunken couch and put a hand on my shoulder. His accent was more wild than usual when he said, “Andson, I think it time we went to those woods. I gotta show you somethin’ a boy your age ought’ta know.” At those words, deep dread trickled straight down to my very balls. What a weird thing to think, but oh everything was so very numb. I said not a word and hiked up my suspenders. They were an old denim pair that never seemed to be completely free of dirt and grass stains. My sweat-stained white tank seemed to compliment them well enough. Never mind that though, like my pa said, “Boys oughta be boys and their ain’t nothing no one’s gonna do bout it.” My boots were slathered so thickly in dried mud that there was no use in trying to figure out what color they were. I would scrub them later. “Should we bring the gun?” I looked up at my Pa. He had to be the biggest man out of all the men in this danky town. He reminded me of one of those tall giraffe things I’d seen in a photo once. Pa shook his head. “No son. We can’t shoot at ‘em. We’ll have those pesky cops showing up in our lil town in no time. That’s our one role if we wanna be left alone: no violence.” He rolled his eyes as he stopped talking. Shoot what? I was so startled at that one little thing. We’d go into the woods without protection? We’d be in that awful, cursed place with those witches and have not a thing to protect us. “Don’t be so scared boy. Just you pack a few things and we’ll be right on out. We’ll be gone for a day or two. It’s time to go campin.”My Pa was staring at me. The faint tan lines from his wrinkled face showed greatly in the dim light of our wooden house. Everyone’s house was wood around here. Hunter from across the path of rocks (what we labeled a street) and all my other friends around us. No one’s ever even been outside our town. There’s a single street that goes through the village. It ends in an awful imitation of a circle and then keeps going straight forever: past the woods and on and on I assume. After my Pa and I packed our bags we walked to the edge of the woods. I stared for a second, my palms were moist and were making my bag hard to carry. Then my Pa took one step into the woods. And then another. And another. I didn’t know I was holding my breath till my Pa scared the shit out of me by muttering a few damn words. “It’s been a hella long time since I been here.” He glared into the woods, like he could see something there. “Huh? You told me you ain’t ever been out in these trees. That you ain’t ever been past this town.” I followed him hesitantly and before I knew it we were deep in the woods. No going back. It was silent for what felt like a year before he answered. I almost forgot what I said. “Sometimes it’s better to lie. I know if I woulda told you bout me going in here, you woulda tried it too. I couldn’t have my lil’ 7 year old Andson wondering these by himself now could I?” I didn’t say anything. I could see the truth in his words. “And son. How you think you’re even alive if there ain’t no women in our town?” He raised his eyebrows and then stopped to look at me. To read my face. I was totally blank. What the hell was this crazy old fart talking bout? He laughed. It was dry and completely humorless. “I was hoping them Russer boys woulda gotten to you and spoiled the ‘birds and bees’ talk before I had the chance.” He grumbled. “What birds talk?” I stumbled after him confused. “You’ll see. When we get passed the forest.” ____ It was late. So dark I couldn’t see my own dirtied palm in-front of my face. My Pa was snoring so strongly I was surprised he didn’t draw out the hungry animals. The woods. The crickets were louder than ever, the leaves were everywhere and I’m sure I had a couple ticks crawling around my head. And then I heard it. It was light. So high pitched but kind of lovely. I held my breath, listening harder. I imagined my ears were that of a rabbit, but it didn’t do me much good. My body sat up. I didn’t ask it to. I also didn’t ask it to get up and follow the pleasant sound. It was so dark I was sure to trip on a fallen light or an animal carcass. Then I heard it again. The sound like a song we sang around campfires. But instead of it being ugly and off tune, it was smooth and high. So high and so foreign. I strained my eyes, a light was in the distance. Maybe a candle? “Hello?” I called. My voice was whispered and raspy. I didn’t want to wake my Pa. At the house he always threw a fit if he was up before the Sun was. The light was becoming brighter, more vivid. Whatever it was heard me. “What are you?” I called again. The light got brighter. My skin started to crawl. And my feet were frozen to the ground. I found that I couldn’t move, even as the light got closer and closer to me. Then right there. A few feet away. “What are you?” I looked at the figure that standing as tall as I was. Weird though, with hair so long I wanted to pull it to see what it would do. It looked like me though, and deep down inside — the reasonable, unterrified part of me — knew what it was. “What am I? What a silly question, you sound like you’ve never seen a girl before.” She laughed but then stopped when she realized I was just staring at her. “Oh. My. God. Your from Tylersville aren’t you? Them sexist bastards I can’t be here with you, you need to go. Where’s your father? Where is he? Why won’t you answer me?!” She reached her hand out and pushed my shoulder. My throat finally dislodged itself. “My Pa, he’s uh asleep.” She sighed, “Good. Amazing. I’ve only heard the stories about the sons coming back over the boarder. Now I can make your mom very happy. Let me get a good look at you.” She raised the candle and I just stared and stared and stared. “Oh. Loreli. Oh no. You must be the Tylers son. You’re the spitting image of her you know.” She pushed back my hair and I swatted her away. “Don’t touch me you witch!” I jumped back but she stood there almost stunned. “I was told if I ever were to find one of you, you’d be brain washed. Lovely. Look I’m Clair. I’m a good friend of Loreli. Everyone who stays in this village is only here because of one thing: the boys in Tylersville. Those boys are their sons and they want them back and they won’t leave without them. We wait day and night for you boys to cross over. Your mom talks about you quite a lot. You must be Andson then?” “Yes.And what the hell are you talking about? What village?” I look behind her, around her. And I see it: faint silhouettes, the outlines of buildings. Beautiful buildings. “You women have all this? Our village is a dump.” Clair laughed, like it was the funniest thing she ever heard. “You’re just looking at it during the night. Here I’ll show you what it looks like in the day. I’m sorry you had to live in Tylersville, it must have been rough surrounded by all those hateful men. But I promise, once we find your mom, you’ll never want to go back.” She smiled at me. Maybe women were dangerous. Maybe she was playing some sort of trick on me. Frankly, I didn’t know what else to do but grab her tiny hand and let her lead me into this beautiful land of the women. I really had nothing to lose. Maybe they could finally find me a new pair of pants.