The Tree

• Chris Tantchev, Grade 10, James Cook Boys High
• Short Story
• 2001

Finalist in the 'Zapped! 2001' competition

"Joey, come look at this quick!" Emma's scream broke through loudly in the whiteness of the freshly fallen snow. All was beautiful, radiant, and virgin. All, that is, except for the now faint tracks of snow, left by Emma, leading away from the dark mahogany door, which Joey now stood at, surveying the situation. Joey examined the direction of the tracks and clumsily broke into a fast trot and then a jog nearly slipping on the ice beneath her. As soon as she got out of the house a velvet coldness slipped around her body gripping her tighter and tighter but as soon as she caught a glimpse of what Emma was cautiously studying her heart started pumping frantically and her blood began to flow through her chilled body. For what lay before them was nothing short of a phenomenon. All around, the trees swayed in the gentle stirring of the wind as fine linens of white were draped about them but there it was right in the middle of the icy stillness of the winter, a tree. But this tree unlike the others did not have a single speck of snow on it, nor on the grass, which surrounded it. "Oh my god! How could this have happened?" Asked Joey in awe. "I'm not too sure but." At that moment a inaudible voice, innocent and not particularly important cried out. The two girls immediately turned their eyes back to the tree where they could now clearly see an opening at the base of the large formation. As they focused their stares on the hole, slowly a small boy emerged from the darkness.
“Hi” his voice softly sounded. "My name is Billy, I come from the other side." His mind seemed to be in hundreds of places at once but yet the look on his face was tranquil. "My home is somewhere in there," he pointed to the opening in the tree,
“Please, can you help me get back, I've been lost for months." The look on the small boy's face now appeared to change from calmness to a hopeful uncertainty.
The two girls had an endless sea of questions to ask but every time they tried to talk their words seemed to get lost in the chill of the air. Billy suddenly started walking towards the hole, just as he had walked out. Joey instinctively followed him. But as soon as she had walked inside the tree she could feel that it was something, which perhaps she should not have done. Her mind suddenly clouded with dark thoughts and a grey thick fog wrapped itself around her, somewhere in the background she could hear Emma's voice calling her but she could not find her sense of direction. It was like she was tumbling a thousand miles an hour and then somewhere in the mist she caught a glimpse of Billy but now his crystal blue eyes had turned grey and distorted. She was certain that if she were to look upon the stare of that boy any longer, she would most certainly loose her mind. That was the last thought that went through Joey's mind, when Billy, as swift as a panther pouncing toward prey, raised his arms a violent upsweep and ran at her.