A breeze slid under her hair and chilled her neck and her body responded with a small shiver. All the trees here looked like they struggled to grow. Some of them were growing sideways and some towards the sky, some had grown into the fence and some had knots and gnarled branches. These trees seemed to be darker than most that she had ever seen. It almost looked like the trees painted with a black tar.

“Don’t stare too long, the trees will begin to weep,” She ignored his words and continued watching the dark trees. Long branches began to reach to the ground as if gravity had tripled. Like small hands of the frail, they reached for the two of them. He pulled her away faster and with a firmer tone he told her, “If you don’t look away. You will join them!” “Join who?” She finally peeled her eyes away and looked at him with a creased brow.

“The trees,” He hissed, “They absorb the life of the earth. Birds that get too close, rodents that make their homes in their trunks and humans that stare too long.” She couldn’t help but glance back to the trees. She could see now that the deformities and knots that the trees adorned did seem to resemble humans. As if they had only sat to rest their heavy eyes and would never wake. Their years added to the trees’.