When Secret Places Collide

Tara

I twist my fingers in and out of each other as I walk down the crowded corridor. The test is over but my nerves still run high. People are chattering. I feel like my head is going to explode. I run my hands through my hair. When I pull them in front of my face I see that hair is wrapped around my fingers. It's falling out.

My math exam is over and we are free to leave for the day. I walk into front office and use my shaky hands to sign my name on the checkout sheet. I stumble out to my car. This is getting worse. I fumble around until the glove box opens. I find my medication and, with sweaty palms, manage to open it. I sit in the driver's seat of the car for hours or minutes, I don't know. When I calm down I start the car and pull out of the school parking lot. No one is home when I pull into the drive way. I run through the room and grab my small bag and run into the woods. Even though the house is empty it is too close to people.

I finally reach the tree house and climb the wooden ladder and listen to the comforting sound of the creek. Once I pull myself through the trap door I know that something is off.

"Hello," I ask into the darkness. I am answered with the sound of shoes shuffling on the floor. I walk around the tree that shoots up through the middle of the tree house, but see nothing. I set my bag down and pull out a candle and light it. The whole room is bathed in light and I can see a tall shadow being cast from the other side of the tree. "Hello?" I ask again.

I hear a sigh. "Hello" says a deep voice and a tall, lanky boy steps out from behind the trunk.