Welcome To The Pack

Chapter 3 - Eden

Once the girls have had some breakfast and have dug through their suitcases for clothes to wear, we head off to have a walk around the village and explore.

Karhut, the village that housed our new home was pretty small so I really hoped it would have a good community here. I knew from my online research that there wasn't many businesses here, just the Quarry and a small shop. Hopefully it stocked enough of the essentials that I wouldn't need to make the trip to the nearest larger town today. I was fed up of being inside my car after yesterday and I was pretty sure the girls would be feeling the same way.

Despite it being a nice bright day, there is no one else out and about. Or maybe there was, but it's impossible to tell here. The thick woods surrounding the village seem to have crept forward over the years and swallowed the houses up. If I’d been wanting to get someone to come and chop back the trees around my property a bit to let in more natural light, then I doubted I’d be getting any recommendations from the neighbours. Guess it will be good old Google to the rescue for help with that!

The walk to explore the village turned more into a game of spot the houses among the trees. But at least the girls were happy, laughing and smiling. It was nice to see after everything.... Shaking my head to clear it, I laugh along with Elodie and Imogen as they argue over whether one of the doors is pink or red. I'd say red, but I wasn't telling the girls that and taking a side.

I loved my girls beyond anything in life. I had loved their dad, but things had gotten strained over the years until I had had enough. It had been time to escape. To get away and start over. To give my girls a better life away from him and his strange friends. They had all seemed nice in the beginning but over time they had just gotten.... well, just different. They were very close. So maybe them just seeming to change was just a reflection on the fact things were changing in my relationship.

"Mummy, come on lets go across there" Imogen shouted as she tugged on my hand and pulled me from my thoughts. I looked where she was pointing and agreed that we could head across the road and walk up a different street. Apparently the street we had been on was coming to the outskirts of the village as there didn't seem to be that many houses left up ahead. Just more trees.

Well at least I wouldn't have to worry about too much traffic and noise in this village I thought to myself. All I would have to worry about would be the girls disappearing into the woods to play as they got older. I decided I'd need to invest in some walking boots. There had to be good walking paths around here.

On the next street, the girls continued their game as we climbed the slight hill and despite the houses being well hidden by the trees, one building caught my attention. Looking up the drive through the trees I could see a simple single storey building. What caught my attention most was that usually the front of a house would be towards the drive, however this building didn’t appear to have any windows, or even a door at the front!

The girls dismissed the building immediately, as without a door they couldn’t play their game of shouting out the doors colour.

I couldn’t see any signs to suggest what the building was used for and from a guess I wouldn’t say it was a house but with the two girls pulling me along to keep going on our walk, there was not much chance to give the building more than a quick look.

I’m still thinking about the windowless building when Elodie suddenly screams “BEAR!” at the top of her lungs. I jump and run over to her in a panic to see what she is pointing at… I start laughing along with Imogen who has also spotted the ‘bear’. At the end of someones drive are three huge wooden bear sculptures! I can’t help but think that the previous resident of our new property must have been a fan of these sculptures based on the pictures on the wall of our house.