The Secret Of The Dark Forest

Excellence Award in the 'Step Write Up 2011' competition

Mary-Ann and her older brother Ty were walking through a dark forest with the wind howling and screaming at them. Suddenly, the roots from an old oak tree sprang out of the ground and grabbed their ankles, hoisting them into the air. Mary screamed and Ty panicked. They could feel their hearts pounding inside their ribcages as the roots squeezed their ankles with no sign that they were going to let go. The children instantly fell asleep.

THUD! The children awoke as they were thrown onto the dirt floor. They were in a cell made out of tree roots. Ty got up and tried breaking a root, but as soon as he had broken it, the root grew back again! Mary came over to help. They couldn’t break them. Mary sat down and started to cry so Ty came over and tried to comfort her. Suddenly, they heard a small bark coming from the corner. A small girl crawled out from the corner followed by her dog.
“W…who are you?”stammered Mary
“I’m Jo and this is Tom, my dog,” said the girl, bravely. Tom barked again. Ty spoke up,
“I’m Ty and this is Mary.” The children sat down and Jo began to talk.
“You’ve been caught by the Tree Lord. I’ve been here ever since I was 3 and I have been planning my escape for a while. If you like, you can help me and we can all escape together.”
“Oh, yes please,” said Mary. Jo got them into a huddle and began to explain her plan and how they would get past the guards.
That night, the children prepared a sleeping drink to give to the guards. Just as they finished preparing the drink, the guards came around the corner. Jo quickly finished pouring it into a jug just as the guards stopped in front of their cell.
“We have made you a drink,” said Jo, handing them the jug. The guards were quite dumb and just took the jug and drank some. Soon all of the guards in the in the hall wanted some too and within 10 minutes, they were all asleep. Ty grabbed a sword from the nearest guard and cut the newly grown roots that held the cell together. They ran out of the cell.
“Your parents are probably worried sick,” said Mary as soon as they were out.
“Actually, my parents are….dead,” hesitated Jo. “The Tree Lord took them away and starved them when I was 3.
” “Oh no,” said Ty.
“Hey, you can live with us!” exclaimed Mary.
“Of course,” agreed Ty.
“R…really?” Jo asked.
“Sure, I mean mother wouldn’t mind,” Mary told her.
“O…ok then,” stammered Jo.
“Yay!” exclaimed the siblings. Tom barked to remind them where they were. Jo showed them the way out and together, the children and Tom ran home.

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