Chapter 2: Loss

The danger of having things, is that they can be taken away.

Police hold little hope of finding two hikers alive after they failed to return from what was supposed to be a two-day trip. I was pinning another Newspaper article onto my board along with the other dozen that were already there.

"Dada, Mummy! Dada, Mummy! Dada!" I ground my teeth as the silence was interrupted by Alex. Babbling from outside my study door. I stomped over and swung open the door about to scold my son for interrupting 'Dada' while he was working.

My son looked up at me with his blue eyes that were tinged red from the tears running down his face. Lucy was nowhere to be seen and I sighed. She was usually the one who took care of an emotional Alex. Not me.

"Alex where is your mother? Lucy!" I called for her but only silence met my ears. Alex was whimpering and pulling on the fabric of my pants.

Even though I had work to do, I let Alex lead me into the kitchen which was empty.

"Mummy down" he whimpered as we turned the corner into the dining room and I saw Lucy crumpled on the floor. A broken plate beside her where she must have been setting the table for lunch.

"Lucy! Lucy oh God!" God no Lucy! I picked up Alex and sat him in his high chair so he wouldn't cut himself on the pieces of plate. I knelt down and turned Lucy over.

She was barely breathing, blood poured from her head. It looked like someone had hit her. No... Lucy No. Her hands suddenly wrapped around my arm and she pulled my close to whisper in my ear.

"It's him. He's getting angry. You got away. He'll do anything..." Those were her last words. No I love you. A warning.

"Come and play" Alex whispered and my blood ran cold. It was the Tree. It would never leave me alone. I had escaped and somehow it had killed my wife and the only person who knew exactly what happened was two years old.

"Alex... I need you to tell Daddy what happened. Alex what happened to Mummy?!" My grip on his high chair was tight as a vice as I sobbed into my son’s hair.

"Bam" Alex was only a toddler. He didn't have the vocabulary to say much to me yet. Nor the ability to understand what had happened but it was clear enough to me.

Bam went the Tree and down went Mummy. The doors were all locked and the windows unbroken. We lived on the opposite side of the country but still the Tree wanted me to play. It wanted me to die.

"Come on Alex, we're going to see an old friend of Daddy's" I picked up my son and a USB stick from my desk. There was no point in staying here any longer. Everything I needed was in my arm already.

"Mum-my!" my son cried as we left the house and I carried him towards the bus stop. I looked back at my Lucy one more time and ran my hands through Alex's golden locks. All that I had left of her now.

"I know son; I know" a single tear ran down my cheek as the bus clanked its way towards us. My friend would know what to do and how to stop me from losing anything else that I cared about.

Author's Note

Poor Lucy, then again, Alexander should have known he would never be free.