Behave Yourself

Trees

Chapter 25

Tuesday, 3:33 pm

In the bunker

Katie's POV

Uncle Dean: Kid, you can go outside. You just can't climb trees. Specifically, that one tree that you can't seem to stay away from.

I CAN stay away from it. I just don't want to. What's the fun in staying away from the one tree that I'm not supposed to climb?

Katie: Well then what else am I supposed to do?

Uncle Dean: Literally anything else. You can do literally anything but climb trees.

Katie: But I like climbing trees.

Uncle Dean: Katie, if you go outside, and I catch you climbing trees, I'm not gonna be happy.

Katie: Fine.

I start leaving the room, seeing that this conversation isn't going anywhere.

Uncle Dean: What, are you mad at me now?

Katie: No. I just wanna be alone. I'm going to my room.

He doesn't say anything, and I keep walking to my room. Once there, I close the door and sit down on my bed. What the fuck am I supposed to do, if I can't climb trees? Why's it such a big deal, anyway? I climb trees all the time. Well, I do it without permission, but Uncle Dean found out, and now I can't climb my favorite tree. If Uncle Dean knows, then that means that Dad also knows. So I really can't climb that tree. But Dad's not home right now, so I really only have to worry about Uncle Dean. Maybe I can tell him that I'm going outside, and he'll just leave me be. Maybe he won't check on me, to make sure that I'm not climbing that tree. But maybe he will. Do I really wanna take that risk? I'm lost in my thoughts when someone knocks on my bedroom door.

Uncle Dean: Katie?

Katie: Go away.

Uncle Dean: I just wanted to let you know that I'm about to go take a shower. If you need me, I'll be in the bathroom. Ok?

Katie: Whatever.

I hear him walk away, and now it's just me and my thoughts, again. Wait. This is perfect. If Uncle Dean's in the shower, then he won't notice if I go outside. He won't be able to do anything about me climbing trees, because he won't be able to see me. He'll be in the shower. I'll get to climb that tree, after all. I get up from my bed, and open my bedroom door. I wait until I hear the bathroom door close, then I go outside. I walk for a few minutes, until I find my favorite tree. There it is. My favorite tree. The one that I "can't stay away from". I COULD stay away from it, if I wanted to. But why would I wanna do that? I don't. I don't wanna do that. That's why I'm already climbing it. I don't know what the problem is. I mean, sure, this tree is a little unstable, and I probably shouldn't be climbing it, for safety reasons. But what's that gotta do with anything? It might be a safety concern, but I like it up here. I just can't stay up here for too long, though, because Dad's gonna be home soon. Or Uncle Dean's gonna take a shorter shower than usual, and catch me in this tree. One of them is gonna catch me, and they're not gonna be happy. They've both told me not to climb this tree. They don't want me climbing any trees, but especially not this one. So, they wouldn't be too happy to find me, in the tree that they specifically told me not to climb.