Hanging tree

I walked up the hill, the wind blowing, the grass dancing. The beautiful silence surrounding me. Everything empty and silent. Peaceful. Atop of the hill was the tree, where my best friend Cathy was waiting in it. I could hear her sing as I approached the tree. The singing grew louder as I got closer.

"Are you? Are you? Coming to the tree?

Where they strung up a man they say who murdered three"

She sang the beautiful enchanting song every time I came to see her. I sat down at the base of the tree looking at the city in the distance as the singing continued.

"Strange things did happen here

No stranger would it be,

If we met at midnight in the hanging tree"

Tears slowly welled up in my eyes as I turned to look at Cathy, remembering what they did to the people of the rebellion. The government tried their best to keep peace and order. But it's impossible to keep peace and order when the people of the lower classes are being treated like objects. Pictures of the incident flashed before me in some sort horror movie, sending chills along my spine, my shoulders grew heavy, feeling the weight of guilt. "We cannot stand here and just watch! We must get together, together we are stronger, and together we can make a difference. Together we fight!" My exact words before the incident. Everything vaguely came together in my head. Cathy continued.

"Are you? Are you? Coming to the tree?

Where a dead man called out, for his love to flee"

I looked back at Cathy again, her eyes looked tired, she was drained from all positive things in life. Then I cleared my throat attempting to get my voice back, but the lump in my throat caused my voice to crack,

"Did we do the right thing?" I asked Cathy.

She stared ahead of her with a blank expression and just continued singing.

"Strange things did happen here

No stranger would it be,

If we met at midnight in the hanging tree"

My eyes looked back at the city again, it started raining. I stared at Cathy's face and I could've sworn I saw a tear stream down her face or was it just the rain?

I looked up the tree and saw a beautiful necklace hanging by a bird's nest. It looked a lot like the poorly crafted necklace Cathy gave me when we were kids. I was drawn to it and attempted to climb the tree to grab it, but I was unable to climb the tree. So I grabbed the chair that was next to me and stood on it reaching for the necklace. I still wasn't tall enough to reach it. Then I heard someone walk up behind me. I turned to look behind me it was Kai. Kai was my childhood friend and always stood by my side, even when the incident happened. Here he stood again by my side.

"Are you okay?" Kai asked.

"No. You know what we've done."

It was silent for a moment.

"The government hasn't even gone after us, I wonder why."

"They want to kill everyone we love, let us suffer. Let others suffer for our actions." I sobbed.

We stayed silent and I asked Kai to grab another chair. We sat there leaning against the chairs. Kai seemed to have noticed the necklace in the tree above us. I looked up again to take another glance at the necklace. There were two of them now. I asked Kai to grab them. He got both of them down and gave one to me. Cathy seemed to call us as well as the necklaces, but she instead continued singing.

"Are you, are you coming to the tree?

Where I told you to run, so we'd both be free"

I put the necklace around my neck and looked at Kai next to me. The necklace was drawing Kai closer and closer to it. The singing continued.

"Strange things did happen here

No stranger would it be,

If we met at midnight in the hanging tree"

"We can't do this Myra. I'm not letting you." Kai whispered.

I stood on the chair making myself taller than Kai for once and smiled at him. His face lit up a little but then quickly went back to a frown and he stared at the necklace. Then we heard guns and bombs in the distance. The village was being attacked. We looked at each other simultaneously. We both knew what had just happened. The hesitation disappeared from Kai's face and I sang the last verse of the song along with Cathy.

"Are you? Are you coming to the tree?"

Kai then got up and proudly put the necklace around his neck and stood on the chair next to me. He looked at me as if saying, 'Ha I'm still taller than you!' He then joined Cathy and me. We sang the last line all together in a beautiful harmony.

"Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me

Strange things did happen here no stranger would it be

If we met, at midnight in the hanging tree."

I looked at Kai and Cathy beside me once more; I could hear Kai whispering to himself, apologizing to everyone for being so weak. It's a shame Cathy left before we could. It was logical though; she was leading everyone to their graves. It would have been nice to see her smile at me one last time. I took Kai's hand. We closed our eyes and took a step feeling myself being held back from reaching the ground. Hand in hand. Then everything turned black.

Are you? Are you? Coming to the tree?