The Turning Tree

Ch 1. Unveiling Secrets

Forward: As much as this will sound like a tale woven from fantasy and legend, I lived through this story; initially as a researcher, and then, after experiencing the oddities within, as a participant. At this time, my name is not important. What is important is that like true life, this story is not as straight-forward or as easily predicted as we predict. There are many variables that decide an outcome, so I will do my best to describe everything I have researched, witnessed, and experienced throughout my involvement with Mr. Turning. To best describe the chain of events that brought us to where we are today, I'll begin this retelling from the rightfully innocent and curious perspective of the girl responsible for all of this undoing: Sophia. 

Ch. 1.

Sophia was about 11 years old; bright-eyed and curious. It was summertime and she lived in a great and old yellow house at the edge of a neatly organized subdivision. 

Her home had been standing since the late 1800's, but the subdivision was much newer. Sophia didn't like that her friends lived in newer homes and she had a dilapidated old yellow home, but she was the only one who had access to the great forest behind her home. 

Well... sort of. The forest behind her home was extremely dense and dark; it was relatively inaccessible, except for a small path her father used to dump yard clippings and other yard rubbish. On Saturdays, he would cut the grass or do yard work, then hike back into the woods and dump everything far enough from the house where it wouldn't attract animals to their home.

As far as she could tell, the path didn't go too far into the woods, but Sophia had never used it on account of the woods being so dark and thick. Plus, her dad encouraged her to play in the subdivision and not venture past the back yard gate into the woods. There was poison ivy, vicious wild animals, many thorns, and it was very overgrown. That was enough to deter Sophia from entering. 

Sophia's parents both worked remotely from the old yellow house and were frequently closed in their home offices for the entire day, except for lunch which they enjoyed having with her. She had a really good relationship with her parents, but Sophia was often very bored during the day and wished she had other friends in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, the neighborhood was mostly older people. There were a few kids, but Sophia didn't know them that well.

It had been an especially boring week for her... and extreme boredom was setting in. This was the type of boredom that bottles up energy until it explodes---  leading to one doing something different and out-of-the-ordinary, venture into unknown paths and explore inner curiosities. 

This day, with a bit of rebellion and curiosity, she decided to venture into the wood to "pick flowers for her mom." Her mom always liked the highly fragrant and colorful flowers at the edge of the wood, so Sophia decided to go as far as her dad's dumping site, allowing a little time to explore, but would also be sure to return with a bouquet of flowers for her mom.

She opened the gate unveiling the path and began her adventure. 

Her father's path wandered back into the woods and was much longer than she had expected. After what seemed to be 20 minutes of walking and observing the trees, soon she found a crossroad. 

"How odd!" she thought. "If there is only a small path to dump wood and grass, why are there multiple paths crossing each other? Answering her own question, she thought "Maybe it's an animal path...  a well-worn animal path."

She turned right on the cross path and followed the path for a while. At a creek, the sunlight hit her face for what was the first time since she entered the woods.  She found flowers on the banks of the creek.  Leaning carefully down into the edges of the bank, she leaned down to reach one particularly pretty flower; she slipped on the muddy bank and & fell right into the shallow creek. 

As she tried to climb up, she broke her flowers and left a large muddy handprint on the creek wall.

She couldn't get up the creek wall, but noticed a small old bridge just a short walk down the creek with accessible sides to climb up onto the bridge. "How odd!" she thought. "This seems to be more than an animal path."

She hiked down the river and clambered up onto the bridge. This bridge had a different trail, but it was so close to the other trail, she guessed they ran into each other.

After crossing the stream, the forest seemed to take on a different shape. It was open and airy. There was little undergrowth and other than of a worn path of dirt, the path almost disappeared. There were dozens of Southern Live Oak Trees. These trees are so wide, you can fit cars in them. As far as she could see, these large limbed trees stretched along the ground and into the sky; reaching for patches of sunlight. She could stay here all day!

One particular tree was the size of a house. This tree was like a giant alien spaceship; it reached into so many directions. Walking up to it, she noticed that a worn trail seemed to wrap around the left of it. 

As she observed it, she noticed beautiful flowers on the right side of the tree creeping up through roots, which crept, like a giant spider, along the ground and down into the creek. As she went off the path and as she picked the flowers she noticed reflective bits of steel inside of the tree. 

She thought it was odd and she hypothesized. Maybe this tree did swallow a house! Maybe there is a space ship hiding in the tree? Maybe there was a car with a tree in it and the person parked here, leaving the car and letting the tree grow. Maybe there was a stairwell inside the tree that led to a secret lab where her dad built really cool things for the space or a spy program. Who knows? 

As she crept along the side of the tree, she noticed a carving of a handprint a bit larger than her own. Putting her hand up to compare sizes, something happened that caused her to drop her flowers into the creek.