The Wishing Tree

“The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window.” Jessica held the flashlight up beneath her chin for added effect. “My older sister explained that the cottage is hidden in the woods and is challenging to find only revealing itself during a summer’s full moon, when a camper must seek it to reach the wishing tree.” She was putting on a voice to go with her story. “Each year a camper must be chosen to follow the sign of the owl, which will lead you to the cottage in the woods. You must enter the house alone at night and touch the wishing tree’s surface at the heart of the cottage, then the camper’s wish will be granted.” Jessica had the groups full attention as she spoke. The ambient silence as we listened was putting me more on edge, eyes that flickered in the artificial light, taking on a more primal appearance. The silence made the room feel foreign as the smell of mildew and old sweat traced through the air.

I was dreading what she would say next.

“If the chosen girl should fail to complete the required task then all the other campers will be cursed with bad luck forever.” She was purposefully avoiding my gaze.

“So we are all in agreement?” Jessica looked to each girl individually who nodded yes in the dim light.

Then her unpleasant eyes fell on to me “You sure, Chicken?” she asked.

I hated when she called me that, I nodded quickly.

Jessica reached behind her back and pulled out a small purple cloth bag, holding it aloft for each person to see, “inside are several pieces of paper, take one and pass the bag along, do not look at it until told to, we will open them all together.” She commanded.

Then she reached her hand in and took a single piece in her palm showing us the small folded slip of torn paper. She handed the bag to the next girl, who followed suit, each grabbing their piece and waiting.

Finally the bag came to me and I was frozen, just holding the cloth in my shaking hands.

Just say no, was all I kept repeating in my head, over and over again.

I looked to Amanda for strength, she met my pleading eyes and shook her head NO.

“What’s wrong Chelsey you’re not too chicken, right?” Jessica’s best friend Ash asked.

I swallowed my fear, I reached into the bag and pulled out a scrap of paper before throwing it to the next girl. This continued until the bag finally arrived back to Jessica empty, our fates sealed.

“We open together and whoever has the red dot is the chosen camper, ready? 3, 2, 1 open!” she calmly instructed as everyone began to open the scraps. I just held perfectly still, I couldn’t even move my fingers. I just looked amongst the group for someone who appeared distraught.

Someone, anyone other than me.

One by one the girls showed the circle their blank scraps until it was just me and another girl. The other girl realizing her potential reality opened her paper to reveal blank paper, no dot.

Then all the horrible glassy eyes and grim silence fell on me.

I wanted to cry, but I didn’t want them to see me break, not again. I held the paper in my sweaty hands and glacially separated the two half’s of the sheet, through my misty eyes I saw the red dot in marker like a drop of blood staining the pristine white surface.

I lifted the piece up to the group and the other girls were all abuzz that they didn’t have to go, how scary it sounded and that I was going to die for sure, on and on until Amanda stood up.

She was the tallest one and was using her height to be more imposing before the crowd.

“Okay enough, we get it, jokes over.” She said addressing the group.

Now Jessica stood ready for a battle of wills. “This is no joke my older sister sat me down at home and explained that we had to do this. She was chosen when she was a camper here and she said the curse is very real. It was decided randomly and tonight is the full moon, I saw the owl today carved on the sign along the old path. If Chelsey is too chicken then we all pay the price, right everyone?” Jessica spoke and the group clearly respected her opinion more than Amanda’s.

Amanda went to argue when a massive “bang bang bang” suddenly rattled our door. Startling all of the girls making us all jump up and shriek, before the face of one of the counsellors popped into the doorway.

“Lights out everyone and stop screaming!” Before disappearing into the night where in the distance the message was passed to each nearby cabin.

Everyone began to move in organized confusion, some began to jump into their bunks, or brush teeth and some just started throwing clothes everywhere, practicing our before bed ritual. I slept near the door and just sat at the edge of my bed, still debating whether to cry or not.

The lights went out and the room was again in awe and then suddenly silent.

I got into my sleeping bag. Positioning my knees up to my chest so I became as small as possible, as small as I felt. I let a few silent tears fall away now. On my own in the woods at night, this had become a real nightmare of mine. One that afflicted me often where I was in the woods alone and lost, lost forever.

Just don’t go then. I thought.

They’ll call me Chicken Chelsey even more and everyone will hate me for cursing them, I’ll be the blame for all bad things the rest of the summer.

I didn’t even have anyone to blame, but myself.

I got too scared on the high diving board at the pool and had to climb down. I got halfway up the rock wall and then gave up. And then there was hugging Mr. Beans while I slept.

That’s when they really started to tease me.

After that I had to hide him at all times, not letting anyone else see him. Actually I hadn’t given him any air today, he was probably very lonely. Like every night I would wait about 10 minutes before slowly sinking deeper into my sleeping bag where right at the bottom I felt around and grabbed the fuzzy form of Mr. Beans. A teddy with the classy time faded brown fur and two missing eyes where buttons now sat. He possessed a tweed outfit and long looping strap so you could carry him anywhere.

He was my oldest friend and truest confidant. The other girls were all a couple years older than me and hated that I could even consider being afraid of the dark. All except Amanda who was the only real friend I had made in my two weeks here.

I stared into the utter blackness, Mr. Beans tucked under my chin so he could keep watch while I slept.

You could just leave the cabin wait outside and come back in 45 minutes, no one will know then.

They will know.

When they look me in the eye, they will know I was too chicken to do the task.

I just squeezed Mr. Beans to my chest.

Time passed.

I slowly stood pulling a sweater from the floor near my bed up and overtop of myself. I put my feet loosely into my shoes and felt for my Goodbye Kitten flashlight. I looped Mr. Beans over my shoulder and walked silently out of the room closing the door behind me as I stepped into the night air. I was immediately glad I had grabbed a sweater as a breeze of cool night air flew around me while I stood on the low porch of cabin #4. I fiddled with my flashlight, which had the design of a cat opening its mouth and screamed out a weak ring of light onto the path.

I heard the soft “clang” of the screen door. I could see a shape had walked out of the cabin to join me, it was Amanda. She didn’t need to say anything, as I leapt in to a hug at her midriff. We clutched each other in the dim light of my flashlight.

I put on my bravest face. “Amanda I need to go alone, you know its-.”

“You will be alone, I’m just going with you.” She interjected with infallible logic.

She held out her hand and I took it intertwining our fingers as we began to make way down the dry dirt road. The signpost that Jessica had been referencing was located about halfway up the maintenance path towards the main lodge. It wasn’t a frequently used route, but we did occasionally walk it when going deeper into the property. Amanda and I didn’t speak while we travelled just listened to the sound of night as rustling leaves and crickets filled the air.

Even with our flashlights illuminating our way I felt terror at the dark around me as if I couldn’t catch my breath. I tightened my grip on Amanda’s fingers as we moved. She had a much cooler head, positioning her light on the ground in front of us as we walked down the wide path. My light however bounced from one moving shape after another, each a terrifying beast wobbling towards us before the light showed it was yet one more tree. I couldn’t think, I just wanted to do this and be done, I didn’t care about any wish or curse, just getting back to bed.

Finally after about fifteen minutes of walking we arrived huddled at the signpost in question. At first we just stood there unsure how to act. The post had two signs on it displaying Cabins Left and Main Lodge Right. I inspected its face hoping to find an absence of owls, but as we examined the worn wood in the light, we could see a simple annalistic carving of an owl outline right at the top of the post, the carving looked older the actual signs did.

Amanda turned to me, “Look, Jessica probably saw this owl and made the whole thing up, we’ll walk a few meters into the woods and if we don’t see anything we go back, good?”

I nodded and we walked up to the wall of branches and leaves before pushing though into the much tighter, but still voided space. Now however the limbs felt suffocating and with the canopy so dense I could no longer see the full Moon’s glow. We began to make way as best we could. There were gaps between the trees, but clearly no obvious path to walk along and as we moved further into the forest the thickets seemed expansive as vines encircled more and more space. The enclosure felt choking as our light travelled less and less distance in front of us and though neither of us dared speak it, I felt a little lost as we winded this path.

We had to be careful of catching ourselves on any outreaching twigs, as our lights danced around the dark forest it was easy to see how sharp the branches felt now in comparison to the day. Our slow progress is what lead me to realize how silent it had become, it felt bad knowing that not even crickets stayed in this awful place.

We twisted over and under a number of creepers and fallen trees there was no sign of a path and yet somehow it didn’t feel abandoned. We walked along dirt and over roots, but the soil wasn’t soft like the forest floor. It felt compacted like it was walked occasionally, as if it lead somewhere purposefully bringing us deeper in and farther from the treeline. In all this time we still hadn’t spoken, not once. It was like we wanted to be as silent as the trees themselves, which felt completely stationary as even the wind couldn’t seem to shake them now. The only sounds were our own small crunching steps carefully avoiding every possible tripping hazard.

And then we saw the first sign of something manmade.

It would have been almost invisible until you walked into it because it blended into the trees. We found a clearing that was still firmly cemented somewhere within the woods. We didn’t realize we had even escaped our confined space until the light simply expanded out revealing a few crumbling and huddled structures.

We were on a property of what appeared to be an abandoned cottage. It was at some point fenced in with thin wooden posts, now literally being absorbed by the forest around it as saplings filled every gap attempting to return it to nature. The clearing had once had order and design, but was now driven wild. We shone our lights all around us, on the left we could see a small rundown shed made from a pale grey wood so old and sun-bleached it looked more like stone. The shed would have collapsed from disrepair years ago, but was so encased in large vines that it looked more like the limbs of spiders holding onto prey.

On our right was a small sitting area marked with benches and a small sun canopy. The seats were rotted and were now just grasses and leaves, just their outlines, only their shadows left in place. Directly in front of us right in the path of the fence opening was a medium sized tree surrounded by small polished stones. It stood tall and imposing over us as if it were the guardian of this place. The tree was long dead and possessed no actual foliage along its knotted and cracked bark. However, there were objects amongst the tree’s branches and only when I cast my light into the limbs could I see that it held many items. Several shoes hung by their laces, ball caps on twigs, kites knotted to bark, binoculars clung around the trunk, yoyos dangling and even a model train were positioned precariously intertwined into this strange display. My light danced around the items that simply swayed so out of place in the tree, there must have been well over a hundred objects.

I let my light pass from the dead tree to the largest building along the back of the property. A large cottage mounted almost on an all wooden platform that became a deck and porch. The walls looked worn and slanted made out of what appeared to be petrified wood, with knots so dark it looked like eyes gazing unblinking back at me. There was no door just a large yawning maw of empty doorway and all the windows were warped and missing. The roof was shallow with thin bark shingles that splayed like teeth from the house’s skin. Finally in the center of the roof was a large tree that had pushed through the ceiling. It shined with brilliant emerald leaves on its lazy branches that rested atop the building, like a bird on its perch. The tree at this angle gave the impression that it wanted to reach up for the moon, as it reveled in the huge sphere glowing silently observing overhead.

We just stared from building to tree to building to tree.

The returned gentle breeze made all the toys swing a little from the branches.

“I hate this place, the wishing tree is supposed to be the one inside the cottage.” Amanda pointed.

“Do you want me to come wi-.”

“No, I need to do this.” I said sternly. Though on the inside I didn’t feel as strong as my words.

I broke the lifeline of Amanda’s hand and began the slow ceremonial steps up towards the cottage. I made sure to not enter the circle of stones surrounding the dead tree as I walked across this uneven ground. Where long dead flagstones grew so mossy they had their own shrubs. I stood before the porch looking into the blackness, just absorbing the wooden beast long since visited, it had nothing to say to me, just waited with bated breath.

I took my first step on rubbery soft wood. Then another and another until I passed into the threshold.

The inside was empty, but surprisingly in better shape than the exterior. The floors looked smooth comprised of sanded plain stone that were even despite the building’s slant. The walls were clear of debris and looked healthier than the exterior of the building and I was standing looking into a hallway that ran about 5 meters into the cottage before sharply turning left with some closed doors on either side. What was the strangest thing about the whole building’s appearance was that I could see a little warm glow at the end of the hallway, a dim reflection from something that must have been down the adjoining corridor.

I began to walk across the stone, slowly and quietly as to not disturb any of the rooms. I felt almost ill as I held my breath while I passed each of the doors until I turned the corner. Now I could see the rich brown trunk of the magnificent tree that was visible from outside. It must have grown through the floor and ceiling long ago, but did so with grace as it didn’t appear to break much as it spread skyward. Simply pushing the boards and ceiling out of the way, as if it was part of the house itself. In the centre of the trunk directly facing me was a dark hollow that was probably about 15 centimeters across and was looking right at me. The empty void was unsettling, but what felt more out of place was that on the floor in a small white bowl all by itself was a lit candle just flickering away. Giving off a weak glow, it was the same light I had seen from the doorway.

Just as Jessica had said.

Place your hand on the tree and wish aloud.

Now that I had a light source, I tucked my flashlight into my hoodie pocket.

I walked up to the trunk of the tree, ignoring the candle beneath me. I reached out my right hand putting it flatly onto the living bark of the tree.

I took a deep breath.

“I wish I could be braver,” I whispered to the tree.

I did it.

“Ouch!” I said as I pulled my hand back from the tree’s touch. Right under my index finger’s knuckle I could see a small drop of blood was slowly pooling. I put the blood up to my tongue to confirm my suspicions, I had gotten cut.

Was the bark sharp?

I began to inspect its surface and indeed I could see a matching red gem on the wood’s face. It was barely visible in the very dim light of the candle. I felt like I had blinked and suddenly I couldn’t see the drop of blood any longer. It’s like it was taken in by the wood itself.

As I began to inspect the trunk now I could see more movement along its once stationary surface. Tiny woodlice and beetles ran to-and-fro along the grain, in long lines, by the tens and hundreds. They were everywhere in fact, even the walls around me now began to show the same sudden insect movement as they worked their way down from the ceiling approaching the floor. I felt paralyzed that I hadn’t noticed them and the amount swirling around made my vision feel almost fuzzy.

I backed away from the tree trunk, but as I moved I felt the walls change with my steps. Not in any grand way, just the grain looked less smooth more rough and textured as the pests began to really swarm crawling out of the wood, rising up from the cracks in the stone almost pooling on the surfaces.

And then I felt movement along my skin, like the legs of insects crawling across my hand where the cut was located. My skin mirrored the tree as the cut burned and swelled in my palm. The pain radiated like slivers of wood crawled through my veins. I could almost feel movement inside the center of the tree’s trunk. In fact I felt the same swirl inside me now, right in my stomach. I felt like I was going to be sick as the stabbing sensation rushed through my esophagus. I knelt down and began to heave roughly onto the floor, coughing, hacking phlegm onto the ground.

Then the invader swelled and I became silent.

I couldn’t breathe.

I was chocking, my airway felt completely blocked. Something was tearing away as it crawled up and I could feel it enter the back of my throat. I parted my teeth and reached into my mouth to try and pull free whatever was causing this and then suddenly it was gone. I drew in longing breath hard as I looked to my fingers that had become black like oil and shiny from whatever had once been there.

The tree trunk shook a little.

Something from within the black heart of the tree reared. The hollow appeared to shake as a drip of dark black ran from the edge of the hole engorged and salivating. Then more drips fell as something coiled inside the trees mouth, like a tongue licking its lips. The object was greasy, shiny and so black when it oozed from the tree’s mouth rolling down its bark until it wetly slapped the floor knocking over the candle and plunging me into darkness.

I was in a terrified panic now, no longer frozen in place.

I fumbled to get my flashlight out and back on, but I did not immediately see where that blackened mass went. I flashed my light along the floor now in quick zig-zags and then I was relieved to actually see that whatever it was remained on the ground, but was now much closer to me. It looked like it had wings made from roots or maybe hair as it crawled slowly upon the stone leaving stains in its wake. It had finger like tendrils and eyes all along every part of its body. It lurched along the ground on nubile legs and its back had the outline of bulging dead eyes and a crooked broken smile. The eyes were crossed and in so much pain it looked like the muscle was about to force them from their sockets. Each time it pulled itself forward it used a new larger limb as though it was growing in size. Despite looking like it was in horrible agony it made no noise only the sound of sticks snapping as it moved. It reeked so badly I could begin to taste how foul it was, like the bottom of a pond.

I turned and ran screaming.

I darted to the short turn of the hallway, but as I looked toward the threshold the house was now something completely alien. The walls began to warp and change growing a dense layer of feathers and grass. It had the appearance of being hairy like an arm and now the stone floor was gone as I stood in a thin layer of water leading up to the threshold. I didn’t look back I just ran towards the opening with every force in my body, a dead sprint to escape.

It was so close, right there in front of me, I could see the distant light that was Amanda. I closed in on the doorway when my legs slowed to a jog, then a walk, then stood still.

My flashlight flickered a few times and then went out.

I could see the outside, I could see the other tree and the strange buildings and yet I felt in my core like the air before me was solid and impassible. I placed my hand across the empty void and it felt hard and rough like the bark of a tree. I pushed against it as tears burned at my eyes, but it did not yield.

The walls began to rapidly descend roots along the doorframe and they drooped low to feed into the water. Soil began to clump out of any cracks nearby as if I was underground and the ceiling was caving in. And then I could hear the splash of water behind me as something moved purposefully in my direction.

I turned around placing my back against the nothing. It had been completely dark, but now I could see the once black mass stood tall matching me in size and slowly walked towards me. Its body was a terrible mass of material writhing almost snake like in fleshy spiralling limbs. It dripped and wobbled before the intersecting vines became smooth, the hairs righted themselves, mouths closed and eyes shut.

Finally as it approached I could just make out its new features.

Green eyes, red hair and freckles. It shared my face and looked to me smiling as it closed the gap between us, as if I had been walking towards a mirror. Each step it took made the room change further, rock and pine lifted upwards from the floor, animals screeched in the distance and the roof began to disappear lifting into the air opening into the night sky.

I shook as the creature came within arm’s reach, now donning my clothes and my flashlight in its hand it looked happy to see me, it was smiling as it walked through the threshold unimpeded.

All while I was still stuck within, still trapped inside.

I could see through the doorway that the other me, walked confidently up to Amanda, who jumped at her into a hug crying silently at what she thought was my safe return. The other me held out my hand to Amanda who took it and they began to make their way back into the woods, towards to the path.

All I could do was try and scream “help!” As the last of their light disappeared into the woods again. It was at this point I had realized that I was unable to make any sound. Air passed through my lips, I mouthed the shapes and yet nothing came out.

It had taken my voice too.

Now the walls fell away completely as I felt damp air move around me and the water turn to mud around my ankles. The doorway was all that remained of the cottage. Rotted and slick with dew it began to disappear gradually like a tree losing its leaves in the autumn. I just stared outwards through my shrinking window, resigned to my fate. I took one last look at the dead tree in the circle of stones and upon one of its lowest limbs slowly swaying in the breeze was Mr. Beans scared and alone.

The doorway was now gone and I stood on a wild and dark forest floor. The trees around me were titanic and several meters thick reaching ferociously into the night. The sky was the same full moon, but now it was massive taking up almost the entire visible horizon as if it was only gently floating a few meters above the Earth.

I am lost in the woods now and I cannot find my way out.