The Pear Tree Kills

We couldn’t see our own hands in the thick fog. It was one of the coldest winters our trio had seen. We ha planned to put up our camps by 7 pm, but the heavy snow and fog wouldn’t let us continue our journey further. By nightfall, when it stopped snowing, we came out of our tent to inspect the area around. We walked for a couple hundred metres and were surprised upon seeing mahogany trees around us. As we were walking through the forest with moonlight being the only source of light, a fast moving shadow caught my eye. Before I could tell the others about it, there were over a dozen such shadows lurking around. We were gripped by a vague feeling of confusion and within moments; we were surrounded by wild dogs and jackals. Somehow we escaped them by running between trees, but luck wasn’t with us. Just when we thought we were safe, a terrible snowstorm hit us. We looked around and found a cave and we took shelter inside it. The cave was long, and it was down-sloping, as if entering the Earth. We hardly went a few metres inside before we spotted a blue flame glowing deep inside the cave. Before we could realise what it was, a dark and disheveled creature started following us. We ran towards out of the cave and away from the creature. After running for a few miles, we reached plain land with snow covered all over. Though the weather was quite foggy, but we still could see a single naked pear tree with an old sapient man, who seemed to sit stranded under the pear tree, for ages. We went near him and before we said anything, he stood up and shook each of our hands, raised his eyebrows, and said “Don’t look back, focus to your front” and turned around. Suddenly the snowstorm grew stronger, and within a minute, sage walked away and disappeared.

At the spot where the sage was sitting, we found a box with an unripe pear inside and a note that said ‘Nurture it until the storm dies’.

I put the box in my bag and we started walking again, but the dark creature caught upon us and heinously killed the 2 of my friends with a strike of its arm and then biting off their heads. I ran in a random direction with all the strength left in me. After running for sometime I found another cave. It seemed more like a hole in a small cliff. I entered it and blocked the entrance with rock and mud. I lit a fire with some dry wood that I found around the place. As I sat there all alone, thinking about all that happened today, chills ran down my spine. I felt a dark energy covering me. I did not plan on leaving the cave for sometime. It was the 3rd day of me staying in the cave. The uneven feeling of loneliness and the greif of my friends' death were taking their toll on me. The dark spirits danced wilder than the flames of fire. I left the cave after 12 days. Majorly because, I had finished most of my food and water supplies. Cave life wasn't easy or comfortable, but it seemed a better option than to face the dark creature's wrath. The snow had cleared and small flowers were blooming. I felt bright again. I started walking to the south and after 40 minutes of walking, I could see a civilization at a distance. I gave a loud shout of joy and started running towards them. But just then, the dark creature caught me. And started dragging me back into the forest. I fell unconscious. The next morning, when I woke up to consciousness again, I was sitting under the naked pear tree.

32 years later ....

Stranded in the snow, I still wait for a traveller to take the pear box, and nurture it, until their storm dies. I’ve realised, There ain’t no traveller indifferent from me.