(Untitled)

[Must need revising. Feel free to get lost in it for as long as you wish.]



A breeze came across the water. It still smelled like salt, Amilea figured. It also looked like an ocean. No one would call that freshwater anyway.

She kicked up sand as she crossed the barren breach. This entire town was dead, save for the elderly and the nocturnal teenagers. But Amilea wasn't interested in present bleakness.

The shadow of a massive oak came over her. Resting the small bag on the grass, she took out her sketchpad and closed her eyes.

Sound exploded all around her. Like most days, a radio was blaring nearby. None of the songs were ever familiar. There were voices in conversation nearby. She knew there was a playground off to her far right, where several kids were shouting.

Today's focus was on the water. It sounded as if four guys, maybe five, were diving off the platform. One did a cannonball. Amilea opened her eyes and everything went silent again. With her bearings set, she went to work.

This was the third time she had come here. When she had first come across this strange trick of the tree, she was too shocked to enjoy it.
But the day to day habits she carried felt dull and insignificant compared to this. It drew her in.

"That's pretty."

Amilea jumped and scrambled into the sunlight. Her heart was sounding in her years.
She looked back to see no one. Had she felt the weight of someone's hand on her shoulder?


The road back toward her house was dotted with quaint homes and well-managed gardens. Dying or not, this was still a lovely place.
She picked one of her neighbor's roses. The smell was bland.

"Amilea, is that you?"
Oh no, she'd forgotten about her bag!

"Yeah, Mom." The smell of tomatoes was pouring out of the kitchen. She was at it again.

"I've got a few things I need you to do for me." One hand pushing hair back, the other fishing out split red orbs from scolding water.

"Where did you get those?"

"The grocery store." Her mother dropped another in and hopped away from the splashing water. She looked back to Amilea and grinned in a sense of victory.


In her sleep she was there again. There was a deep chant that was overwhelming in strength. She grabbed her ears but the voices grew louder.
Amilea yelled and forced her eyes open. A boy screamed and ran towards the beach. There was a circle of candles around her and the tree. In the glow were two pallid faces.

"I can't believe it worked!"

"Freak!" Amilea grabbed a candle and threw it at the boy's face. He screamed as the hot wax hit him. The other smiled and fangs came over his lip.

"Welcome back."

Amilea fell to her knees, inhaling sharply.

"We're losing her," a bitter voice said.
The fanged boy came up beside her. She was passing out. He lowered his head to her shoulder. Brown hair against her own.

"Leave me alone," she whispered.

"Just breathe, sister."


Amilea woke up in her bed, shaking and drenched in sweat. She rolled to the edge, feeling some approaching sickness.

Something large on the floor caught her attention. The boy turned over and she saw his hazy gaze and large canine teeth. Suddenly he was alert and watching her.

"Hi."

"Mom!"

"No! Don't, please!" The boy stumbled and fell on her bedside table. It broke and he landed on the floor.

"Amilea, you okay?"
They both looked toward the approaching footsteps.

"Hide it," the strange boy said, pointed at a necklace she didn't know she was wearing. Just as she'd slipped it out of sight, the door opened.

"So, it's one of you again." Her mother smiled. It wasn't comforting.

"How can you do this to her?" He was frozen to the spot. Her mother took a step forward and he cringed.

"Amilea, wait outside and close the door."

She obeyed without question, but heard the boy calling out for her. After slamming the door and walking away, she retraced her steps. She heard them talking and cracked the door.

"Ah, so those were your parents."

Amilea couldn't see him, but thought she heard a whimper. Her mom was leaning in, hushing him. She made white noise for over a minute before she started whispering.
The boy walked to the window and opened it up all the way.
Suddenly he was kicking the screen out.

"Stop!" Amilea barged through the door. He was straddling the window but turned slowly to look at her.
She ran for the window, but her mother caught her.

The boy lifted his other leg and pushed off from the window.

"No!"
He disappeared from the second story window.

"Amilea, I'm sorry."

"I hate you! I hate you!" She couldn't pull away from her mother's grip.
"You just stood there!"

"Shh..." She was doing that strange hissing noise again. It made her feel incredibly calm in the most terrifying way.

"You have never met that stranger. He was not in your room this morning, he did not tell you anything, and no one jumped out your window."

Amilea didn't know how to act. Was her mother asking her to forget what happened?
Her parent let another deep breath out.

"Toss your clothes around and then fall asleep until noon."

Don't speak; just go to the clothes. Amilea moved slowly to the dresser and started pulling out shirts. The door clicked as your mother left the room.
Amilea hid her face in the trembling shirt.


Sneaking out was the easy part. The problem was that she couldn't find her mother.
Or the boy.
Their overgrown hedge must have broken his fall. Amilea had to find him and figure out what was going on. There was a dark truth that would be uncovered, one way or another.

An idle mind and pacing habit led her back to the lakeside park. The gusts off the water felt noticeably colder. Her feet slowed at the unnatural sound of creaking. The trees were moaning.

Amilea opened her eyes and shifted positions. The only sounds were of the wind and waves. Maybe the radio was turned down. Maybe the approaching clouds had kept the people away from the beach.

"Come on, Amilea, you're not losing it now." So why was she talking to herself?
No, there it was. That unfitting noise, like snapping clothes in the wind. She raised her voice.
"Something happened to your boy."

She heard it now; the whispers ended sharply.

"You're the deceiver."

"No, he jumped out a window. You've got to find him!"

Amilea opened her eyes. Clouds were crossing the water toward her. The silence was threatening.

The bodies stepped into her vision as if they'd stepped through a door along the tree's shadow.

"What we do is for your sake."
Seven people, fourteen fangs, enclosing on her.


Amilea launched herself onto her knees as the creatures cleared the few feet between them. Her palms crushed the cold grass as the ground trembled.
One grabbed her shoulder; one clenched and tugged her hair. Something warm was on her neck...

In an instant, massive roots shot up all around her. The monsters nearest her were thrown with grunts and yells. Two who hesitated were swept away as one root spun around Amilea.

"It's the spirit! Run for your-" the man was tripped and pulled into the air by the ankle.

The root around her drew closer. She jumped it and ran into the sunlight, looking back to see most of the tree roots bounding towards her with incredible speed. But neither the roots nor the people left the shadow of the tree.
The oak branches rattled as the breeze picked up. Had its reach always been that far?

Thunder rolled behind her. Amilea turned to see someone running into the water.


The sky went black as she was running toward the beach. She felt the earthquake, sands shifting beneath her bare feet.
From the water, a coldness crept through her. He'd gone under a few feet in front of her, beneath a wave.
She dove in headfirst.

At first the blackness of the water was too much. Sand stung her eyes. Then she saw the darker blotch. A flash of lighting showed his tranquil face as if in a deep sleep.


Fighting to keep his head above the water, the waves tossed her around. Amilea dragged him onto the sand but looked up to the beachside park blocked beneath a canopy.
A cough made her look down to the fanged boy who'd called her sister. She helped him up.

The branches that had been seeking her out grew nearer the beach. He looked at the tree and staggered.

"You really are the spirit."

"What spirit?" Amilea asked. "The tree spirit?"

"Not yet." He looked in her eyes. "You're paying the dues for your mom's dying plea."

Amilea saw the tiny roots shoot up and around her ankle. She felt as though she was falling apart, limb from limb.

"M-mom?"

She was too scared to look away from his trembling face.

The wooden appendage grabbed her from behind, pulling her under its branches and back toward the source. Amilea latched onto the enormous branch encompassing her and tried to make herself feel smaller.

The bark began growing over her arms.

Panic exploded from her screams as every muscle went into sporadic seizures. She was going to be eaten alive, engulfed slowly. The bark was growing around her shoulders, across her ribs, while she was still being carried further into the dark.

She was suddenly drenched in a mixture of sweat and tomato juice. The ground shook from the tree's reaction.

The bark was instantly brittle. With a helping hand she was freed from her coffin. Amilea spun around. Someone resembling her mother threw tomato juice in her face.

"Why did you disobey me?"

"Let's get away from the tree," Amilea said hastily. How should she act around this person? Cautious and unsuspecting. When she looked up this was entirely impossible.

There were arms popped inside out and extended. The old skin was wrinkling up and falling off. Her face was contorting.

"It's ironic you'd lead me here, fifteen years later."

Tree branches were swaying around madly. One slammed down between them, breaking the earth.
Amilea flew back into someone's arms.
Sunlight flooded her eyes.

There was music. The creatures were walking on the beach, swimming in the frigid
water, silently gazing as the tree shriveled up its flailing limbs.

"Are you okay, Amilea?" She smiled and he grinned enough for the pearly whites to appear. His drenched hair was dripping on her.

"What's your name?" Amilea finally asked him. The stupid grin dribbled away.

"She took it."

"What?"
Should she have asked earlier?

An inhuman shriek made Amilea's mind freeze. A dark flash jumped the branch and flew past them.

Something darker than tomato juice was streaking down her face...

United with the sound of children screaming, the once serene scene had turned into a surreal chaos.

"The tree is gone," he said while the branches cracked and fell. Amilea wiped the blood off her face and stared at it.

"I don't understand," she whispered. It was then she felt them, an additional pressure against her lips.

"You've always had those, Amilea. Calm down!"

She had a hold of her new fangs and was yanking at them. Her wide eyes were streaming. She couldn't pull them out. Someone shrieked nearby, causing her to let up a cry.

"The blood lets us see what she doesn't want us to see," He explained. He watched the black creature on the beach chase down and tear up someone.

"I brought her here," Amilea said forcefully as she got on her knees. They held as she thought they would. Before her friend could speak, she dug her nails into the ground. Then the rest of her fingers.

"Amilea, no! There's no turning back!"
He pulled at her hands, but only one came up. It was covered with thousands of roots that began shooting towards the ground.

Amilea smiled at him weakly. She couldn't stand up.

"Still alive?" A black appendage stomped in front of Amilea. "After your years of service, I thought to spare you from the tree."

A dark and slick shape wound its way to eye level with Amilea. Bulging eyes and a disturbingly large mouth were the only recognizable characteristics of the mother she once knew.

"And yet here you are. So is your friend." Amilea felt him grab her arm as he was being yanked away. His sweaty hands lost their hold and he was yelling her name from somewhere above.

"Your parents were idiots. They made a deal with the tree spirit on their deathbed, which didn't do much to stop me from killing them. However, your connection with the tree was enough of a reason to keep you around."

A cold, slick hand brushed back Amilea's hair as it began growing up.

"They were never tomatoes, I hope you know." Amilea felt her throat tighten to hold down the revolt in her stomach.

"You loved it; you lived on it, Amilea." Amilea clenched her fists while the ground beneath her quaked.

"Time for your last meal."

To Amilea's far left she saw the huddled mass of people hiding along side a building. The other two fanged boys she had met were screaming as Amilea's friend came dangling in front of her. The black mother figure expanded its mouth and bared bloody teeth.

Her friend covered his face with his arms, quietly crying out to his parents, and to Amilea.

A million arm-size roots sprang from the ground, sweeping Amilea's friend towards a grassy patch as her other grip enclosed on raging teeth.
With a final pull of effort, Amilea crushed her parent's murderer.





The people waited as the tree roots sank into the upturned dirt and grass. When he stood, the silent hum grew into a roar of excitement. His friends ran toward him, carrying Amilea's now homeless bag.
They slowed to a stop when he ran toward the young oak tree, falling more than once.

"Amilea!"

In the oddly shaped trunk he could see her face, gazing toward the beach as if it were still watching the boys swim like he had seen in her drawing before.

He leaned against it, as he knew he'd do for years to come.
"Welcome home, sister."