Tree Whisperer

Prologue

A/N: Hey, I've been writing this story for a while now on this awesome site called Figment, but haven't gotten as many readers as I had hoped. This also being a much more popular site, I hoped that I would get more people to read this. (If you want to read more then I have posted here, there's more posted on a site called Figment under the username z.flebar)

Prologue:

             “No! Give it back! I had it first!” my little sister whined me.

“Saul, give Emmy her doll back and go sit by the fire with the rest of the family!" my mother ordered. I rolled my eyes. Every year we had a tradition that we would start a fire and sing prayers with our family. Worst family bonding experience ever, if you ask me. Then again, nobody was asking, which would be how I ended up here.

I lie down on a log near the fire. I then proceed to fold my hands beneath my head. Carved into the log was a picture of a human. It was obviously inaccurate, as nobody in this town had ever seen one in real life. What was a human like? Did they have pointy ears and stubby feet? Or maybe they looked like large insects. Wings, antennae, and sucked blood. It was taught that humans were evil. They worshipped one god and killed animals for no other reason than to fill their stomachs. There was perfectly good berries and nuts on the trees! And if you’re going to kill something, you could at least apologize so that the gods don’t send you to the Underworld. Oh wait, they think gods aren’t even real, right?

We were actually taught by our parents that humans were our cousins. We originated from the Overworld along with the humans. The humans began their vulgar ways via killing and greed. Not that we didn’t get greedy now and again, but we weren’t like them. The gods banished them to another world. We could see them if they were close enough to our barriers, but they were veiled from us by their own naivety. Of course, I thought all of that was a load of lies. All of my cousins looked like me with slight differences. If we were cousins to humans, why would we look so different?

It simply does not make sense. What annoyed me most was that the people here were so dense. Or maybe I just looked at different ideas from different angles. Where I questioned what the Town’s Leader’s said, the town’s people accepted. When I disobeyed, the town’s people scoffed at me. Like they didn’t want to do the exact same thing! I bolted up. What if…

****

I prepared my bag. It was completely pitch black out except for the fire. We had left the fire to burn out on its own. The prayers had been quite boring, as usual. One of my second cousins recommended we sing a prayer named Da’Ishkkee, which actually turned out to be a hit. We danced around the fire and ate berries coated in a sweet substance that tasted similar to honey. After the fire, we all had dispersed. I ran to where the supplies were kept that I needed for my plan to be put into action. Before I actually made it there, my best friend, stopped me.

“Hey Saul! I heard you had you’re annual family ‘reunions’,” Becka coated her words in sarcasm. She was one of the only people in this town that actually had a decent brain. She accepted my ideas, but added insight as to what she thought. The times she disagreed with me were times like now. Times where I went off on my own accord and tested whatever had spiked my curiosity.

There was one time I wanted to try a red berry that was on a bush. I had gotten lost in a foreign part of the woods, and had grown increasingly hungry. Becka had been looking for me since I was supposed to be eating lunch with her today. I was about to drop it into my mouth, when Becka appeared. Yes, she just seemed to materialize behind me. She told me that it was poisonous. I threw it as far as I could, as I was instantly petrified of them. Becka rarely lied, so I knew she was dead serious. My hand started turning a weird shade of blue. It numbed and I felt as if I only had one arm, the other one completely useless.