A Basket of Pie

In a village near the mountains, there lived a young man by the name of Fawn. He lived with his grandparents and was an apprentice to a baker. Fawn was a very superstitious person and whenever he hears rumours told by other people about spirits and ghosts, he would be sure to do all he could to avoid encountering those heard in the words.

One morning, Fawn was summoned by the baker to make a trip to a nearby village to deliver a cake to the landlord. Upon some hesitation, Fawn agreed and at the request of the baker, set off right away. As time passed away, Fawn realized that his destination wasn't as nearby as he had heard it was and by the time he had delivered the pie, the sun had disappeared behind the mountains.

With the lack of nerves that Fawn had, he decided that it was better to spend the night at an inn and return to the baker the next day, so he walked to a nearby inn and started to eat his supper. As he ate, he noticed two men huddled at the table next to his discussing something about an old legend. Being the nosy person that he was, Fawn moved to their table and asked to join into their discussion. The two men welcomed him and told him about the girl that appeared at the inn every night when the new moon was born. They told him that she would sit on a chopping block behind the outhouse holding the basket and would wait until she saw someone. Then she would walk towards that person and offer him pie, but the pie offered was not any normal pie at all. In fact, the pie was made out of the human flesh of the earlier victim and once it was eaten, the person would disappear suddenly, appearing as the ingredient of her next pie.

At this point, Fawn had heard enough. He vowed to himself that he would never go to the outhouse at night no matter what and retired to his room early.

During the middle of the night, Fawn awoke with a great pain in this stomach. He figured that the food in the inn had upset his stomach and that he needed to go to the washroom. But the outhouse was, like any other washroom, outside the inn and to risk going out at this hour would mean risking an encounter with the ghostly phantom. Then he thought to himself, maybe today is not the day that the ghost will appear and he could make a trip to the outhouse safely. Looking out of the window, he discovered that he wasn't so lucky for that night was the night of the new moon so he lay in his bed, trying to ignore the pain in his stomach. After a while, the pain got to him and he decided that he could risk taking a trip to the outhouse as long as he was careful to avoid the area behind it. He then walked out of his room and out of the inn.

After the pain in his stomach had ceased, he stepped out of the outhouse and got ready to return to his room when he suddenly saw a glow behind the outhouse. Fear seized him and he wanted to run back into the inn, but he couldn't. It was as if he was under a spell that forced him to move towards that strange glow. When he peered around the corner of the outhouse, he found out the glow was actually from a girl sitting on top of the chopping block used to chop wood.

The girl was a ghostly sight, yet at the same time, she appeared to have a gentle beauty around her with her long, slightly curled hair resting on her shoulder. She wore a red cape under a long blue dress and in her hands was a basket. The basket seemed to be emitting a ghastly glow itself as well. At this point, Fawn knew for certain that this was the phantom he had heard about a few hours ago. Fawn was about to turn and leave before he attracted any unwanted attention from the girl when a large breeze blew by causing him to lose his balance and step backwards into the area where the girl sat.

As Fawn turned around, he found the girl staring at him with large blank eyes. Those eyes showed no emotion at all and were as cold as ice, causing a chill to go down his spine. She slowly stood up and walked towards him. Fawn wanted to run, but those big, emotionless eyes had captured his attention and he couldn't look away. Soon, the girl was standing right behind him. She extended her arms and moved the basket towards him. Slowly, she opened her mouth and asked, "Excuse me, sir. Do you want a piece of pie?"

Fawn was getting increasingly frightened and he opened his mouth to answer, trying to get the word unstuck from his throat. After a moment's silence, he finally spoke. "No…thank you, madam. I'm …quite full already."

The girl stared at Fawn for a moment and lowered the basket. A hint of sadness fluttered into her eyes and Fawn realized that he could move once again. Running at full speed, he sped back into the inn, shouting the words, "Sorry, madam. But…. I really…should, uh, go… It's getting really late.".

Once in the room, he thought back to his encounter with the phantom. He shuddered at the thought of how close he had come to facing death when he realized that he had survived the encounter. After considering this for a moment, he smiled and went back to sleep.

The next day, he set off towards home. While travelling down the road, he saw the girl again. This time, she was sitting under the shade of a nearby tree and was staring out at him. She held out her basket once more and offered him pie, but Fawn just shuddered and walked ever more quickly. When he reached the forest, he saw her again, except this time; she was much closer to him. Again, she offered him pie from the basket, but he just walked on. As time wore on, their meetings became more frequent and Fawn became more nervous. It seemed as if the girl was never going to leave him alone. He couldn't stand it anymore and finally, when he reached the end of the forest, he started jogging. Each time he saw her, he ran faster and faster, until he arrived at his own village. Frightened by what he had endured during his journey, he went into hiding, trying to prevent his meeting with the ghost. But no matter where he hid, the girl always found him and she always offered him the basket of pie. Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore. Fawn became hysterical and screamed at the girl.

"What do you want?" He yelled. "Can't you leave me alone?"

But the girl just stared at him and asked again, "Do you want a piece of pie?"

Upon hearing this, he became angry. "Is that all you can say? Well if that's the only thing that can make you go away, then I'll eat it…I"LL EAT IT ALL!"

And Fawn grabbed the basket, pulling the pie out; he stuffed it into his mouth. The pie had a sickening taste to it. Each bite caused it to drip a dark crimson and the smell of the meat was enough to make him vomit. The girl watched this, a smile slowly spreading on her pale lips. Fawn couldn't stop eating; he ate and ate and ate, until the pie was all gone. Wide eyed, he looked up and saw the girl's eyes. Those once blank eyes were not blank anymore. Instead, they glimmered evilly and her lips curled into a smirk. Fawn tried to move, but he couldn't. The girl advanced upon him and he screamed a scream of pain and agony. In a few moments, he was gone. The floor was covered with blood and there in the centre of it all stood a pie. The pie glowed a dark red. The girl then carefully set it into her basket, disappearing in an instant.

Fawn was never seen again. Only his remains were left inside that pie until the next victim encounters the girl and is forced to eat the pie. So have you ever wondered what might be in your next pie?