Chapter One

 

    Chapter One 

 

 “You want me to climb that?” I could not believe what my brother, Bobby, wanted me to do for my dare.

 “You have to do it Willa, you picked dare!” Bobby was enjoying my growing terror.

 “But Bobby,” I was terrified of heights and Bobby knew that. I did not understand why he would make me do this.

 The tree Bobby dared me to climb was no ordinary tree. This tree was the Tree of Etherad, the largest tree in Oregon history. No one in living memory has ever tried to climb the Tree of Etherad. It was supposed to be haunted or something like that. How a tree could be haunted I had no idea, I mean it was a tree where would the ghosts hide and junk like that.

   The Tree of Etherad sat in the middle of the TillamookForest, a young forest to have such an old tree. Bobby and I are camping with our family here and since there really is nothing to do besides sit around or fish. We already did all of that, so we decided to play truth or dare. I did not want to be a wimp so me being the dumb person that I am chose dare. Bobby made sure that the dare was something that was nearly impossible for me to complete.

 “Do it Willa or I will tell everyone at school that you suck your thumb in your sleep.” Bobby knew that I no longer sucked my thump. He was being such a bully.  

 “I do not Bobby!” I was almost in tears at this point but I knew I had to do it.

    Everyone would believe Bobby, he was on the football team and I was a lowly sophomore who did nothing at school.

 “Fine.” Was all I said before approaching the Tree of Etherad.

   Around the base of the tree was a large hedge, entwined with all different types of flowers. It really was beautiful, all the different colors mixed in with the normal greens and browns. The hedge was so large that when you stood in front of the tree the hedge towered over anybody, even if you were 7 feet tall. I had to push my way through the hedge, which was harder than I thought it would be. When I finally broke free of the hedge, I stood at the base of the Tree of Etherad.

 I slowly walked around the tree trunk; there was enough room between the hedge and the tree trunk for me to be a couple of steps away, sizing up this monstrous opponent. I was careful not to trip over the huge roots that had broke free of the ground, they looked like a sea serpents body, slithering in and out of the sea.  The Tree of Etherad’s bark was the color of dull coffee with coffee creamer mixed in to it, light dark brown but with shots of light brown. I trailed my hands over the ageing bark, feeling the years underneath my fingertips. I marveled at the roughness wondering how this tree has survived the hundreds of years it has stood in this forest and all that it had seen.  All of a sudden, I had a bad feeling about climbing the tree; it felt wrong to climb such an old historic tree such as this.

 “What is taking you so long?” Bobby broke through my musings, bringing me back to the here and now.

 I tilted my head back trying to survey the top of the tree but all I could see were the branches and leaves of the lower limbs. There were so many branches I pictured an Octopus, with its arms swaying in the wind. I thought it was funny staring at the Tree of Etherad, seeing that the lower limbs resembled some kind of ladder as if the tree was made for climbing.

 “Remember lil’ sis, all the way to the top. I do not care if it takes you all night.” Bobby laughed; his voice sounded eerie without his body.

   “The whole way, are you crazy?” I was not going to climb to the top; I might not even climb half way. That was not part of the dare, Bobby just said I had to climb the tree not how far I had to go.

 “Yes I am, and you are going to climb the whole way or else.” Bobby crossed his arms over his chest; I could tell he was glaring at me by the sound of his voice, clipped and angry.

 I huffed out one large breath and stepped up to the Tree of Etherad. I placed my shaking hands on the first rung of the natural ladder and began to climb. My whole body was shaking at this point, I was deathly afraid of heights, I was suddenly unsure if I was going to be able to do this.

 “What if I can’t get down, Bobby?” My voice shook causing Bobby to laugh hysterically.

 “Don’t worry lil’ sis I will be here waiting, if you need help just yell.” He laughed even harder and I heard his heavy footsteps walking around the tree.

 I tried to advert my eyes from the ground as much as possible, looking either in front of me or up but I slipped a couple of times, glancing down at the ground watching it fall farther away from me.

 Climbing the tree was not as hard as I thought it would be, with the natural ladder it was almost a piece of cake. I hardly noticed how far I was getting until my eyes betrayed me again and I glanced down. I froze on the rung that I was climbing, holding it so tight that my knuckles had turned white. I could no longer see the ground, only branches and leaves.

 “Bobby!” I cried out to him, hopefully he could hear me. I was done with climbing the tree I wanted to come down.

 “What?” I could just barley hear Bobby, I was not even sure it was him. I was almost positive that Bobby had already ditched me here in the tree but I could not chance it, he would make my life a living hell if I did not complete this dare.

 All of a sudden, a gust of wind whipped my dark hair around my face. I clung to my branch for dear life, my knuckles turning a purple bruise color. Another gust of wind almost knocked me off my safety hold, even though I was holding on with all of my strength.

 “Bobby, please!” I screamed for him but my scream was lost in another gust of wind.

 I started to cry, the tears flowing fast and hot but the wind wiped those away as well. I held on tight using all of the strength that my body could muster. This stupid tree and this ungodly wind would not destroy me, I had already lived through some of the toughest situations; I would not let wind kill me now.

 I shivered violently and tried to huddle up next to the tree branch I was standing on but it did not help, the wind was coming at me from all different directions. The wind tore at my clothes and bare arms. My small frame began to move away from the tree, I could feel my arms begin to give away.

 “No please!” I called out to the wind, my voice cracking on the last word, pleading with it to stop its attack.

 I held on for several more minutes but they felt like hours before I could no longer hold on. I felt my fingers drag across the bark that resembled coffee with creamer, felt my body fly through the air as if I was nothing more than a feather. I screamed for all I was worth, my lungs contracting as they ran out of oxygen. All I could do now was squeeze my eyes shut and wait for the inevitable.

 

Reviews

[rob]

Hi cristie i thought that your first chapter was well writen, and i cant wait for the next chapter to appear on site as i want to find out what happens next.

[ShadowWolf]

An interesting beginning!