Ariel's Crossing

I went looking for that tree again, believe me. I had to prove to myself that I hadn't just imagined things. I wasn't tired at all that morning, but I guess it caught up to me later, because I ended up taking a nap that afternoon.

I thought I knew the woods really well, but I guess I was wrong. I've been trying to find that tree again ever since and I haven't had much success. It doesn't help that I don't remember exactly what kind of tree it was or how I got there. It was somewhere past the cherry tree, I remember that much, but how far past it I'm not sure.

I did find the clearing with the willow tree, or at least I think it is the same tree. It matches my memory of that night, but I don't have any way of telling for sure. It's kind of odd: was I in a different world, or the same world made weird? I've never heard of anything like this before. Always in the books the people who go to another world find themselves someplace different, but I seemed to have ended up in a Twilight Zone version of my backyard.

Cassie doesn't believe me, of course, but she did set up this website for me. She hasn't really helped me look, but I guess I wasn't really expecting her to either.

Thing with my mother have been calmer. We haven't had any big blow-ups lately, and I've been trying not to upset her, really I have. Sometimes I feel like I don't belong here at all.

That about sums up where things stand right now. I haven't given up, but I don't have any way to prove to anyone what I saw.

I was pretty freaked out by this point. I can honestly say that I had never expected to be lost in those weirdly twilit woods and being stalked by trees. Every rustling noise, every moving branch, made me jump. I was convinced that the willow tree was following me, but I had lost sight of the first willow tree. Any of the trees around me could be on its side.

Now that I was getting used to the light, I thought that I could find my way back to where I started. The shadows that the moon was casting gave me something to orient myself by. I wasn't sure where I was, but things had started to go weird since I crawled under that tree.

The way back was through thick brambles that I didn't remember, but I was so glad to see that first tree again, the one with the moon in its branches. The little cave beneath its roots was invisible in the shadows, but I knew where it was and I gratefully flung myself down and crawled inside. I didn't stop until I was sure that I was out of reach.

It was dark in there, like I expected. As my eyes adjusted I saw that there was a mark carved in the stone floor of the tight crawlspace. Three straight lines and a curve. The hair on my arms prickled. This meant something. It was like tracing the outline of memory.

I looked around again, curious about this place. The floor was sloped, the space getting darker the higher I looked. I hadn't paid much attention to it before, but this wasn't a natural space. Someone or something had carved it out of stone and earth.

That was when I figured out that there were two exits. I hadn't realized it before, but I had entered the tiny cave from one direction and left it going downwards. On my knees, I felt my way through the darkness, finding the place where the crawlspace lead up out of the tight chamber and out into the night air. Standing up, I tried to brush the dirt off of my shirt with my hopelessly grubby hands. I breathed the cold air, looked up at the signs of dawn on the horizon, and then started home.

I had been out all night, apparently. I upset my mother again when I had to knock on the back door for her to let me in. She hadn't realized that I had left last night, and I sort of pretended that I had just wandered out in the morning, without really saying it outright. She didn't ask any questions, but I don't know if she really believed me or just didn't want to press for an answer.

I went up to my room, but I wasn't feeling sleepy despite having been out all night. I think that that other place somehow caused me to skip ahead a few hours. It sure didn't feel like I was gone all that long.

So there I was, feeling very alone in the woods. The weird dawnish light didn't help. It reminded me of candle light, even though it didn't flicker. It wasn't even as bright as the full moon. And while the moon and the sky may have been bright, but that only made the shadows that the trees cast that much darker. Branches look really creepy when they're just black outlines and waving shapes.

I thought I knew where I was, so I started heading towards home. It wasn't easy to find my way through the trees, and I started to wonder if I was going in the right direction. The brush seemed to be thicker than I remembered, and I was glad I was wearing jeans.

Then I saw the light up ahead. It was bobbing around on the other side of a clearing, as if someone was searching for something. Now that I was closer, I could see that it didn't look very much like a flashlight. There wasn't any beam at all.

At first I thought that the rustling noise was from whatever it was that was holding the light, but then I realized that it was coming from over to the right. I was pretty sure it wasn't the wind, because I couldn't feel any wind. I paused, thinking it was an echo of my footsteps or something. If anything, it got louder. I thought it sounded like someone talking to themselves, or people whispering in a corner.

It was light enough to see that there wasn't anyone over there. Just a tree, its weeping willow branches swaying. There didn't seem to be anyone around there to make the noise. I was about to ignore it when I thought I caught a movement from over there out of the corner of my eye. Still no one visible, but the crumpled roots and thick trunk were easily wide enough to conceal someone. I started circling the tree warily, trying to be as quiet as possible.

The tree turned to face me as I circled it. I think it was at that point that I stepped backwards and tripped. I lay still, fearing some reaction.

There didn't seem to be any. I felt as if it was looking at me, but I really couldn't tell. After a minute, I started doubting what I thought I had seen. A cicada started chirping nearby, and I realized how silent the woods had been. I got up and carefully backed away.

My first thought was to put more trees between me and it. Sitting here now I can see the flaw in that, but right then I just wanted to get away from that thing. I was sure that it was staring at me, even though it didn't have a face. I was sure that it was going to start following me and I just wanted to get away. Once it was safely out of sight, I relaxed a little, maybe a too soon.

Standing in the middle of the woods like that, you suddenly notice how many trees there are.

It happened one night about four weeks ago, in the woods behind my backyard. I had a big fight with my mother that ended with me storming out of the house, and I had to find somewhere to go to cool off. I didn't intend to stay out there for very long. I was just going to go to the cherry tree a little ways in that I like to climb. It's one of the few trees I can climb, because the lowest branches are only a couple of feet off the ground.

I didn't have any trouble getting there, because there was a full moon and I knew the way really well. I wasn't very careful about where I stepped either. I felt like smashing things, but there wasn't much to smash. A few thin branches as I walked by, but I was too worried about poison ivy to leave the trail I knew. I didn't want to go back to my mother itching all over.

Once I got to the tree, I climbed up it a little ways, like I always do. I never get very high, but this is one tree where that doesn't matter. I guess I lost track of the time...but that's getting ahead of myself. The important thing was that I saw a light in the woods. I realized that I had left my watch at home, and I had no idea how long I had been out there. I figured that the light was my mother with a flashlight, worried about me, and I guiltily climbed down out of the tree and started walking towards where I thought she was.

After a little bit, I figured that she must be lost, because the light was going deeper into the woods, where I wasn't as familiar with the way. I hurried to catch up. The moon was shining on my face through the branches of a big tree, a tree growing on top of a low rise, like half of a ravine. I was just in time to see the light disappear down near the base of the tree.

I have to tell you, I was weirded out. When I got closer, I saw that there was an opening behind the roots, just a dark, shadowed space. I guess I still thought it was my mother with a flashlight, cause I didn't hesitate to wriggle between the roots. It was a tight fit at first, but I saw a light up ahead, where it was high enough to stand up. I crawled forward until I could stand and wipe the dirt off my pants. I still had to stoop a bit, but I could see the light, so I kept going.

It was too bright to be from a flashlight, but too dim to be much of anything else. The tunnel sloped downward, turning a bit, and I kept one hand on the wall and watched out for loose stones underfoot. The tunnel ended by getting short again, but I could see tree roots and the outside, so I didn't hesitate to keep going.

I crawled out through the roots and discovered that I was right back where I started. The same tree, the same ravine slope, the same moon shining through the branches. The only thing that was different was that it wasn't night. It wasn't day either, more of a twilight. The light in the sky was dim and didn't seem to come from any particular direction. My first thought was that it was nearly morning, but that didn't seem to make any sense. There was no way I could have been out that long.