[Castle Rock]: 824.Tree

1
"Hey guys, where are you!?" screamed Alex Timberwolf as he ran throught the forest. Alex had been with his friends, Max, Cindy, Travis, and Nate before he got seperated. He looked at the sky, it was starting to get dark.

  "Alright. Guys! This isn't funny!" He shouted again, side-stepping just in time to avoid a another tree. The further Alex walked the more dense the tree's seemed to be. Exhausted, Alex stopped to rest, laying against the trunk of a large Spruce tree. Alex felt something brush against his neck and jumped to see a branch sway gently in the wind..

  "Must of been the wind." He thought, tho there he didn't feel any wind and the other trees didn't seem to be moving. As he began to relaxe he grumbled to himself. "Come join us for a trip in the forest, it will be so relaxing, you'll love it." he mocked his friend Max, the young fox that came up with the idea of a stroll throught the woods.

As Alex muttured this he didn't notice the Spuce's branches slowely creeping down on him, it was when one wrapped around his waist that he finally noticed. Alex screamed as he was lifted in the air, he managed to grab on to a root poking out of the ground, hooking his paws around it, but one quick tug from the tree sent the young wolf cub howling, missing a finger from his left paw. As Alex was lifted into the air, more and more tree's seemed to begin moving, comming closer to him, there roots moving them like the arms of an octopus.

Finally alex was lifted to the middle of the tree, branches and vines exploded from the Spruce and some trees close to him, he tried to scream and was rewarded with a mouth full of leaves for his efforts. vines wrapped around his legs and arms, he felt like he was being pulled apart. He heard a bone in his leg snap and a jolt of pain shot up his leg, finally, he saw only blackness as leaves covered his eyes, he felt like the leaves where sucking up his eyes and then he felt nothing.

Alex and his friend were the first missing furs but won't be the last, many others go missing, in that year of 1993, in that silent country side. Finally it stopped in 1994. Authorities have never figured out what happened to the missing furs and cubs. and such a large report of missing furs was never that high ever again.. at lest not until now.

"Dad! Are we there yet?" came a familiar voice in the back seat of my old ford.

  "Almost there," I said pulling into a gravel driveway. "Okay, where here! Say 'hello' to your new home!" I didn't need to look behind me to know that Kevin was in awe, I still was shocked at it myself.

  "Wow, is beautifull, Robert!" Said my wife, her feline face in utter shock at the house.

"Yeah, I knew you'd like it!" I said happily, gazing upon the old style, two story house

  Kevin jumped out of the car to explore yard, while I parked the car, I gazed at the surrounding area, there were tree's on every side of the house, great privacy, way better then the city. I opened the door and breathed in the sweet smell of the country.

  I walked over to where Kevin was messing around on a tire swing, hung there by the previous owners.

  "Be carefull Kevin, you don't know how long that things been there." I said, walking past him to Samantha, who was busy unpacking stuff from the trunk. Giving her a hug from behind I kissed her neck, her perfume was strong but intoxicating as well.

  "Oh, Robert, not in front of the Kevin." She said, wrapping her tail around my right leg, I smiled to myself, her neck had always been her weakness, not matter what mood she was in.

  "Alright. Hey Kevin! Why don't you help your mother with these bags!?"

  "Okay." He said abit dissapointed.

  -Later that night-

  "Dad! Come quick!" The sound of my son's voice in distress awoke me from my sleep, without thinking I jumped out of bed and ran to my sons rooms, across the hall. Slamming open the door I entered fangs bared and claws out. I was surprised to find the room empty except for my son. huddling under the covers.

  Relaxing abit I walked over and uncovered the scared cub. "Son. Are you alright? What's wrong?" I asked, he was shivering and kept looking out the window.

  "There's something outside my window." He managed to say. I thought about it and chuckled softly to myself.

  "It's alright Kevin, we are on the second floor, there's no monster big enought to reach the second floor." I patted the his head and he seemed to calm down abit. After a few more pats he began closing his eyes and finally went to sleep. Looking at him, I had to laugh softly to myself again, Samantha's parents never wanted her to marry me "He'd be a bad parent" They would say "You know how them foxes are." Her mother was the worst of all, fearing that I would just up and leave her and the kid 'cause I had poor parenting skills. Looking at the Kevin asleep I almost laughed louder saying to myself "How's that for parenting you bitch!"

  Walking by the room's window, I happened to look outside. One of the tree's was rather close to the window. "Was that there before?" I thought to myself, I didn't remember ever seeing it there when I was checking out the rooms this morning. Staring at the tree gave me a strange sense of fear. I didn't really look like it was just here is seemed like it was waiting.

  "That's stupid. you're just letting your son's fear get the best of you." I began walking out when I heard a tap on the glass, turning quickly I saw a branch was tapping the glass. Walking closer to the window I looked that tree more closely, I blinked, rubbed my eyes, it must of been a trick of the night but the tree appeared to be breathing, the trunk expanded and contracted just like a regular chest would.

  "Uh, Kevin." - the young pup stirred from his sleep -"why don't you sleep with me and mommy tonight." Happily the pup jumped out of his bed and into our room, I slowely backed away from the window and back into our room, closing the door and locking it, more out of fear then security. sliding into the covers that Kevin already occupied I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep.
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2
  -The following morning-.

  I awoke to the smell of brewing coffee and pancakes, the night before seemed like a week ago. I got up and got dressed. While walking to the stairs I looked into Kevin's room, the tree was gone. Shrugging to myself, I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen.

  "Hey Hun." I said to Samantha as she took some pancakes off the stove top.

  "Hi, how'd you sleep?" she asked putting the pancakes on a plate.

  "Pretty good, it's strange sleeping in a new house." Kevin was sitting at the table with his tail wagging happily. I chuckled to myself. Althought he looked more feline then canine, he had some canine traits. I sat down at the table.

  "Hi dad!" Kevin said happily. I smiled at him "Hey Kev. How's it going?" Kevin turned his head for a sec to see if Samantha was ready with the pancakes, then he turned his head back to me. "I'm doing great!" His tail wagged even more.

  After a few minutes, Samantha finally got everything ready, we sat down and had breakfast.

  "Oh I want you to go to the store and pick up a few things." Samantha said, sipping her glass of milk. She paused to wipe some milk of her lips then continued. "I left the shopping list on the counter, plus a few extra bucks if you want anything as well." I nodded my head. "Hey, Kevin, you wanna come help dad out?" Before Kevin could say anything Samantha cut him off. "Kevin still has some boxes to empty and I sure hope he dosn't think that little 'ol me is going to do it all." She gave Kevin a stern look. He lowered his ears but they picked up quickly when he asked for another pancake.

  I grabbed my keys and walked outside, stopping to take in the view. I looked around, something wasn't right. Yestarday, the property was nothing but a field with a few trees, now the field seems to be cut in half and more trees have moved in.

  "Was it liked that yestarday?" I asked myself, thinking back to the breathing tree. I felt a chill run up my back and quickly got into the car. Driving away from the house, I never have felt more releaved.

  -a few hours later-.

  Walking out of Chad's Quick-Stop, I went to my car, I was surprised by the lack of other cars in the parking lot. Putting the groceries in the trunk, I noticed that I wasn't alone. Turning around I came face-to-face with a wolf.

  "Oh! Excuse me." I said, he looked homeless, his fur was matted with mud and his clothes were tattared. I was expecting him to ask for money or a job, like the homeless I was use to in the city but this fur asked a strange question.

  "Hey, do you live up on Old Pine Street? The place out in the country?"

  "Uh... no, I live in town here." I lied, not wanting him to know he was right.

  "Right, believe me when I tell you this, leave that place! As quickly as possible! There's nothing but death on that property, death and.. trees." He grabbed me by the shirt, his grimy claws leaving mud marks on my white shirt, and held me close. "Whatever you do, stay away from that place and don't go in the woods at night! You'll never walk out!" He realesed me from his grip and started walking away,

  "You know we caused it! All this logging and burnings, they have had enough of it!" He turned and walked around the corner. I stood there with my muzzle open. not knowing what to say. Finally a cashier walked out of the store.

  "Hey mister. You alright?" His name tag said "Kegan"

  "Huh? Uh y-yeah I'm alright, what a strange guy right?"

  "What are you talking about? I only saw you?"

  "Well, he was here, i'm sure he got my shirt compe-" I checked my shirt, it was as white as the day I bought it. "Uh.. never mind." I got in the car and drove off, leaving the cashier scratching his head.

  Going down the country roads leading to my house, I thought about what just happened. "Who the hell was that guy?" I asked myself, trying to keep my concentration on the road. There was just something strange about him, he knew too much. I pulled into our driveway, I needed a beer, althought I'm not a heavy drinker, when I need a beer, I NEED a beer.

  "and his eyes!" I said outloud, there was something about his eyes, they were alert, yet dead at the same time and there was mud in each corner, one thing that really added to his creepyness was that he was missing a finger from his left paw. Shivering, I went in the house and went straight for the fridge, grabbing a brown bottle like I was a proffessional drunk.

  -later that night-

  Kevin was busy watching a scifi movie in his room, Samantha was reading one of her mystery novels, The Adventures of Travis McQuinn was printed on the title, I was sitting in the living room, after having my third beer of the day, trying to figure out what to do. The more I drank the more I came to realise that the tree's where alive. "But that's insane!" cried a little voice in my head. "I know but what am I suppose to do?" I replied. There was silence.

  I closed my eyes and slid off into a deep, semi-drunken slumber.

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3 
-The following morning-

  Running, The forest moving, I was surrounded, I tried to scream, tried to call for help but it was too late. I awoke from this horrible dream, swallowing back some bile from the beers last night. I felt disoriented and when I stood up from the chair, I sat down again immediatly as blood rushed into my head.

  "Ow. I should never drink." I whinned, looking at a wall clock, it read 6:34 A.M. I had slept the entire night. "The entire night and your family left unprotected." The thought shot into my mind and I was instantly dragging myself off the chair and up the nearby stairs, risking a glance out the window and seeing that the tree's had fallen back, it looked like the normal field like it was before, "Maybe they decided to lay off." I said to myself, "Or maybe they're just regrouping." Said a voice in my head.

  I was already up the flight of stair before I skidded to a halt, nearly crashing into my surprised wife, making her way down the stairs for a cup of coffee.

  "Oh! Robert. There you are." She said, abit wide-eyed from almost getting run over. I took a quick glance in Kevin's room, he was fast asleep but, like the night before, there was a tree at the window, "Probably a scout?" I thought to myself.

  "Are you alright?" Samantha asked, a hint of concern on her voice. I barely heard it and she had to repeat herself before I nodded, not taking my eyes off the tree.

  Samantha shrugged and walked down the steps. She was half-way there before I turned around. "Oh, Samantha. Quick question." I whispered so I wouldn't wake Kevin.

  "What do you want, dear?" She asked, turning around, in the better light I could see she didn't get much slip last night. "Have you noticed anything strange lately?" Her ear's twitched, "Nothing real strange, Robert." She continued down the stairs and into the kitchen. She may not know about it but I saw it, a slight twitch in her ear. I've know her long enough to know that her ears twitch when she is nervous or.. or... "Afraid?" Said the voice in my head "Yes, she's afraid, you know it, Robert. You know that she's probably seen the things you've seen, maybe even worst."

  I shut out the voice in my head, with a nervous laugh, that only came out as a soft chuckle and headed downstairs, I needed some some coffee, pronto.

  Sitting down at the kitchen table, I watched Samantha, she walked from place to place, getting cups, preparing the coffee, the usual stuff. Having nothing to do, my eyes wandered the kitchen, The wall's were lined with, shelves, two sinks, marble counter tops, a gas stoove, fridge, microwave, all the modern stuff you would find in kitchen.

  A few things you wouldn't find was a dream catcher being used as a switch for the ceiling fan and salt and pepper shakers, made to look like Cherokee Indians. The coffee, finally, perked and Samantha handed me a cup.

  As I poured my coffee, Kevin walked into the kitchen, "Good morning mom, mornin dad." He said, cheerfully, sitting on a chair. I poured my coffee and took a sip. Sitting down next to Kevin, Samantha put a bowl. milk, and Kevin's favorite cereal, Breakfast Bricks. on the table next to the bowl and milk.

  We ate breakfast and drank coffee in silence, I could tell something was wrong but decided it would be bad to mention anythiing. A few minutes later, I was outside my house, curiosity had gotten the best of me and I went out too look at the tree that grew, "stood" the voice in my mind told me, by Kevin's window.

  Looking through a shed in the back of the house I found a small hatchet, left by the previous owner. I thought it seemed foolish but I wanted to try something. Walking over the large tree, it looked like a Pine tree or something, I lifted the axe above my head and swung it down, hard on the tree's trunk. The sharpened blade easily pierced into the tree but nothing happened, "Nothing was suppose to happen. What was I expecting for it to move, scream, even bleed!?" I thought to myself, hitting the tree gave me some satisfaction so I did it again. And again, I hacked off some tree branches and chipped away bark, by the time I was down, I was sweaty and my fur was sticky with sap.

  The tree was badly damaged, many of the branches I could reach were chopped off and now layed at my feet. For the first time in awhile, I felt calmed, I was relaxed, giving the tree one final chop, I left the hatchet buried in the tree's trunk, walking inside for a quick shower. Standing by the entrance of our house was my wife, a look of absolute horror on her face.

  "What have you done!?" She yelled, I could see by her watery eyes that she was crying.

  "Wha-?" Was I could say before I ran over to comfort her, she had broken down into tears, sitting on the ground. After a brief moment of crying, and a lot of me trying to calm her down, she finally told me what she saw, the night I had fallen asleep, drunk on the chair.

  She had waited quite awhile for me to come into the bedroom, finally she had walked down the stairs to find me, seeing me asleep with a beer bottle in my hand, she was getting ready to yell at me 'till my tail was tucked between my legs and probably continue yelling, untill something caught her eye.

  "I thought it was a robber or something-" She said still laying on the ground "-so I looked out the window." She was on the edge of more tears by now. " And I saw the..... the trees! Robert I saw the trees and they were moving, not just swaying but actually walking around. I could of sworn they saw me so... I ran. I ran up the stairs and hid in my covers like a scared cub."

  I sat, half listening, half not, I had this horrible feeling, like thousands of eyes were watching me and Samantha right now, all I wanted to do was go inside. Finally, after another brief spell of crying, Samantha got herself under control and we went back into the house. The rest of the day went by as it usually would, Samantha cooked in the kitchen while Kevin helped out, I sat and watched some TV but lost interest pretty quickly.

  -Later that night-

  The night was silent, I laid in bed, wide awake, Samantha was asleep beside me. The memory of me, cutting and destroying the tree kept playing over and over in my mind. FInally the night was broken as I heard glass shatter, followed by a scream, Kevin's scream. Jumping to my feet I ran, out the door, Samantha a few paces behind me. I didn't turn the handle on Kevin's door, but slammed my shoulder into it, it burst open and I couldn''t comprehend what I was seeing, Kevin's window had shattered, and the tree was reaching into Kevin's room, vines and branches were snaking there way along the ground to where Kevin sat, in the corner of the room, to the right of me.

  Kevin was shaking badly but jumped to his feet when he saw me and Samantha, running over and slipping out the space inbetween us. We both stared at the tree, fascinated and scared into shock, I kept yelling at my legs to move but they didn't budge. The tree, growled at us, a sound, deep and horrifying,it's trunk expanding and contracting, as it breathed. I felt a vine slide over my foot and that got me and Samantha running.

  We ran downstairs to where Kevin was, he had left the door to the closet open and was huddled there, I knew the closet wasn't going to work, the walls seemed as thin as paper

  "Kevin! Get in the basement!" I yelled, only now remembering the basement from my walk-thru the house when I first got here. He nodded and, running faster then I have ever seen him run, shot out of the closet and down the throught the kitchen, where the basement doors were located.

  "That goes for you too, Samantha." I told her, but she shook her head.

  "We need some kind of weapon, I'll get some of the Kitchen knives!" I almost laughed.

  "Knives? these are trees! Samantha! Trees! Knives won't do any good!"

  "Well do you have a better idea!?" She yelled back, she had a point. I was freash out of ideas. Not waiting for an answear, Samantha ran into the kitchen, I ran after her. There was pounding all around, I took a brief, very brief, glimpse out the window, nothing but tree's instead of a field, it looked like our house was built right in the forest.

  "Good god what have I dont?" I asked, the vison of me killing the tree by Kevin's window. We had no weapons, I thought about getting the hatchet but there were too many tree's out there, I wouldn't of made it two steps. Looking around the kitchen, I emptied out drawers, taking, knives of all kinds, also some bug spray, and a lighter, apparently Samantha had take up smoking 'cause I found a pack of Cigerettes with the lighter.

  I saw Samantha, grabbing at some knives in a wooden knife holder, right near a window. Before I could act, I saw a branch break through the window.

  "Samantha! Watch out!" Samantha wasn't able to react in time, she turned to fled but the branch went right through her, stabbing her through the middle and wrapping itself around her waist like a snake. She only gasped, her eyes wide with pain and anguish. I was speechless. I jumped grabbing for her paws, arms, anything to pull her off the branch but before I could reach her, the branch yanked her out the window. I landed on a heap of glass, felt the sharp slivers pierce my flesh but it didn't matter.

  Looking over to the base meant door, I could see it was too late there as well, vines, snaked along the closed door, trying to get in. I tried to get up, but a large piece of glass had jammed itself in my leg. I sat there, the branche banging on the house, more windows were breaking, it was total chaos. I knew I had to do something, so, without realling thinking, I reached behind the stove, the closest thing I was too, and tugged at a scew on the gas pipe.

  It took awhile but age had made the pipe easy to come off. The rooms suddenly had a gassy smell but I welcomed it, coughing a few times. Blood had stained my clothes, apparently more then just a few large bits of glass had got me. Reaching over, almost in slow-motion, I picked up the lighter.

  I looked at it, there was a picture of me and Samantha on it, the picture was of our first date, I remembered it so vividly. With that memory still in my mind, I flicked the lighters wheel, a spark, flicked it again, finally the spark ignited and then.. blackness.

  -Epilogue-

  The gas ignited an explosion was heard for a few miles. The resulting explosion set the forest ablaze. Many of the trees struggled to get away but since so many were near the house they quickly caught on fire. The blast was heard for a few miles but the screams of the tree's, they were heard for ten miles, long and horrid, like the shriek of a dying bat.

  The sound awoke many of the residents, who stood on there porches, starring into the night. The fire was out of control. This summer was the dryest summer ever recorded and the fire spread fast. Methane gas from a swamp not far from the house exploded, later on, investigators will find numerous bones and bodies of missing people of various ages, sucked dry of blood and covered in roots.

  It took fire fighters hours before they were ordered to let the fire burn itself out, the forest wasn't close to the town but they did manage to get the burning house to stop. Whle investigating the wreckage, they'll find a fox/cat cub, age 12, badly burnt but still very alive, crying and wanting his mom and dad.

  The fire raged on for several days, by the time it was over, a large percentage of the tree's were destroyed. Many others will be destroyed as well as Police dig up the tree's revealing more and more bodies,

  No one really know's what happened in that house, but the real question is. Do we want to know?