The Thunder Tree

It was a tree somewhere in the forest next to 1st street. Nick was asked by his friends, “ Lets go play on Nicks tree! Where is your Thunder Tree, Nick?” He didn’t say because he didn’t know for sure. He just ran into the woods with all his little friends trampling behind, confident that it would find them soon.

And he was always right. ‘Thunder Tree’, was his discovery in those woods and the children would marvel at the giant‘s colossal size. A dead titan who’s roots were too deep for it to tip and fall. It had more than enough branches to play on and Nick’s friends always found time to explore its remains. He had discovered it awhile ago and found that no living creature inhabited the tree. The bouncing rabbits would find paths around the clearing were the giant slept and birds would hit the ground to rest from their exhausting fly south rather than rest on its open and inviting branches. Even the ants dug their tunnels so far away from it that collecting them in jars was a frustrating task.

The tree was a symbol of death, and Nick knew despite his age. He watched his friends climbing it’s trunk and hanging from its branches like a jungle gym, while others shouted and giggled as they chased one another around its wide base. Nick just watched this tree that he called ‘Thunder’ and frowned. Something about it frightened him. Something the others could not see. It was dead and yet somehow alive, like a zombie or a ghost. That tree was a curse he knew. But it was forever his.