Day 276

They say there was a man whose words were so harsh the village cut out his tongue.
The story goes on to say they hung him in a cage in the middle of the forest nearby.
When they went back to bury his remains four months later they found the cage empty.
It looked to have been cut open, blood drying along the edges.

There was no sign of the man anywhere.
Not even footprints.

Everyone assumed he'd either been freed by a friend or mauled by the wildlife.
He became a local story and nobody thought anything of him until one year later.

The village children would dare each other to touch the rusted cage where the man had been.
So far none of them had gotten that close until, on the year anniversary of his death, a child did.
She even went so far as to stand inside and call for the dead man to come see them.
The other children called her the bravest and left it at that.

She was found the following morning.
Her tongue lay beside her on the pillow, thick bruises around her neck.

The following day the other children were found dead on the outskirts of the woods.
Most of them were lying down at the base of a tree, mouths sewn shut.
The girl who'd died just the day before was hanging from the tree.
Not hung with rope, but the tongues of the other children.
Sewn neatly together.