15
Ellen had been twisting the rope tied around her wrists since she’d awoken, but in the last few minutes they’d began to loosen to the point where she could get it to just below the knuckles of her thumbs.
Ben had stopped wriggling minutes ago. She willed the ropes to give way, she guessed it was too late to save him, but she had to try.
The rope burnt into her skin as she pulled, pushed and twisted. Her hands were sweaty and after a few more moments of pain her hands slipped out, free at last.
She reached down and began untying the ropes strapped around her legs. When they were untied she stood up and crawled over behind Johnny, who was staring up into the trees.
Ellen was almost within reach of him, when she crawled onto a stick, snapping it.
Johnny turned, reaching for the knife in his belt. She jumped towards him, reaching for the knife too.
Time seemed to move slowly as he pulled it out of the belt. Johnny began turning the knife towards her. She grabbed his wrist, trying to wrestle it from his grip.
Ellen put her weight behind her as she came down on top of him. They landed on the floor, Ellen wasn’t sure if the blade was after piercing into her organs. She waited for the pain, her eyes were shut tight.
“Mom…”
She opened her eyes. Johnny was looking up at her. His eyes were wide, afraid.
“It… hurts…”
She leaned up off him and looked down; the knife handle was sticking out from between his ribs.
“No… god, no, what have I done?” She felt around the knife, touched the handle, Johnny moaned in agony.
Ellen jumped in fright as a burst of orange light filled the woods. She looked up to see Ben and the tree he was hanging from covered in flames.
Johnny didn’t seem to notice.
His eyes moved past her, looking up into the trees. She lay down beside him, sobbing. The clouds above them cleared, a handful of white specks were visible through the treetops.
Ellen held him tightly, even after his chest had stopped rising and didn’t let go until dawn began breaking through the trees. The surrounding woods had caught alight and the fire seared against her flesh, she stumbled as she tried to drag Johnny out of the trees, shielding her face with one hand.
She stood up and looked around, and then something caught her eye.
Up in the tree was a figure watching her. Ellen stumbled backwards, covering her mouth in horror at its deformed appearance.
Its skin was black and its arms seemed too long for its body, its green eyes bulged out from its gaunt face in hatred. It crawled through the branches overhead, its arms reached out towards Johnny’s corpse and the flames seemed follow its direction.
“No!” she screamed. “You can’t have him!”
Ellen grabbed Johnny’s legs and pulled, but they weren’t getting anywhere, the flames were growing with every minute. The creatures fingers were inches away from them, the heat was unbearable.
She tried to pull Johnny away but he didn’t budge, and then she noticed something wrapped around Johnny’s neck. As she leaned over him, she gazed in horror at the roots struggling to pull him back. Ellen’s gaze followed the root back over the ground. It led right to the tree that Ben was still hanging from.
The flames covering the tree seemed to be different. They were bright red and seemed to leave the bark and branches of the tree unscathed.
There was an explosion just ahead of her, the force lifted her from her feet and she flew backwards through the air. The grass cushioned her fall and she struggled to lift her head up.
She saw the creature in the trees. It dragged Johnny back into the woods. Ellen stood up and took one step towards them, but then the flames billowed out in a backdraft and a curtain of fire swallowed them up forever.
* * *
She stood on the sidewalk, gazing at the house that had once been her home. The fire had spread from the woods and was now engulfing the entire property.
It stood in stark contrast against the dull grey sky, like a looming ghost of her past. There were so many memories, but that’s all they were now.
As she shut the car door behind her, Ellen noticed her nightdress was stuck to her from Johnny’s blood. There was blood on her hands and in her hair.
She screamed and started punching the dash, shaking the steering wheel. She screamed until her throat hurt and her voice was hoarse.
Tears filled her eyes as she took one last look at the burning house. And just for a moment, a fleeting moment, she thought she saw Ben and Johnny standing in the window, looking back out at her.
But then it was gone, pulled back into the inferno.
She switched on the ignition and started the car.
As she pulled off and drove down the street, she never noticed a long stream of red smoke rising from behind the house. She kept her eyes on the road ahead, that monolith of pain growing further away in the rear-view mirror.
The red smoke from the burning tree rose high into the sky.
THE END