Young Bethany happily skipped along the bright, flourishing meadow, letting her golden blonde hair trail behind her as she ran from one patch of flowers to the next, each patch containing more colorful flowers than the next. She bent down and picked up a small pink flower and held it up to her faces and smelled it. She admired the heavenly smell as she carried it with her while she continued to skip through the meadow.

When she reached the end of the meadow she stared in awe at the dark, large, inviting forest that laid before her. She could make out some very clear noises coming from the forest-mainly bushes rustling and insects buzzing through the trees- but the thing that really caught Bethany's eye was the tall tree that seemed to soar high above all of the other treetops. Bethany knew it was getting dark, but the urge to explore the new territory overwhelmed the urge to get home before her dark. So, without much thought, she started walking towards the forest, letting the pink flower fall at her feet.

After what seemed like forever Bethany noticed the sun receding into the horizon. She had thought it wouldn't take this long, but she figured it couldn't be much longer until she reached the tree. She tried to keep herself busy by humming, counting her steps, even thinking about what her mother might be making fro dinner. Finally she reached the tree, which she could tell by the size.
And how it seemed to stretch up to the sky.

Bethany traced her fingers along the rough bark of the tree as she tried to imagine how old the tree was. Suddenly she started to feel tired so, rather than bother spend time trudging through the forest, she laid down by the tree and quickly fell asleep.

When the first clap of thunder struck Bethany bolted upright. At first she thought someone had dropped a dish, but then she realized she was not at her house, sleeping in her cozy bed, she was sleeping at the foot of a giant tree in the middle of a scary forest in the middle of the night. By the time the second clap of thunder struck Bethany was already up and running in the direction that she thought was home.

Bethany realized she had been going in the wrong direction when, after running thought rain and thunder for almost twenty minutes, she arrived at the same tree she had fallen asleep under only hours ago. When the fifth clap of thunder struck Bethany's knees (which were already weak from the run) became so rubbery they gave away under her. She suddenly felt overwhelmed with hopelessness and terror. She began to suck her thumb for comfort and rocked back and forth until the storm clouds started to disappear, her eyes tightly closed.

Bethany didn't notice the storm beginning to let up until some time later. When she finally did open her eyes and looked up she noticed most of the clouds were gone. Finally, she felt safe and content enough to stand up. She began to walk back towards where she knew her house was when one loud clap of thunder struck the ground beneath her. She was pushed down by the force but only saw the whiteness from the lightning. She didn't see anything else until she saw the giant tree, falling down on top of her.


Three days later four boys were walking through the forest, eager to have the club meeting the did every Tuesday. The oldest boy Todd (the self proclaimed "leader of the group") was ahead of the other three boys. The four had been joking around and talking when they could start to see the tree. Todd and Ray (the second in command) walked up towards the tree, which had fallen do to the huge storm three days prior to their get-together, when all of the sudden the two boys heard humming. The turned back to the other boys, Gary and Freddy, who were just as mystified as they were. Still, the four young boys continued walking toward the fallen tree, with Todd and Ray still much in front of Gary and Freddy. Then suddenly, when Todd and Ray were considerably in front of the other members they began screaming. Gary and Freddy immediately stopped dead. They looked at one another as a huge wind blew hundreds of small pink flowers in their direction, each with a sour, stomach-curdling scent.