"I hope it's still how I remember it." I mumble to myself as the engine of the truck roars on in front of me. The radio plays a slow country song that seems to perfectly match the scenery as I drive down the dirt road.
In the distance, I notice it. The place I haven't seen since I was just a kid. It was really nice of the lady who purchased the property to allow me to come visit, even on such short notice.
As I roll onto the driveway, a memory leaks into my mind as I catch a glimpse of the top of a giant tree behind the house.
"Can't believe it's been nineteen years."
June 21, 1997
"Go on you two, go have some fun." My mother says with a hearty chuckle as she leads us out into the yard. I run ahead of my brother, towards the lone tree in the middle of the large open field. I look back to see my little brother, only one year old, stumbling to catch up with me. I smile as I walk back over to him.
"C'mon silly, let's go play on the tree." I say with a smile. I grab his hand and lead him to the large tree that casts a shadow over us. We love to play here in the summer because of the shade protecting us from the heat.
"Ball, Isaac!" My little brother says with a giggle as he picks up our old, ragged baseball. He attempts to throw it to me, only for the ball to slowly roll up to my feet. I pick it up and lightly toss it back to him. He fumbles the ball which is almost bigger than his hands, and drops it on the ground.
The balls bounces off his foot and rolls behind the old tree, out of sight from the two of us.
"Jacob, go get the ball." I say with a smile, pointing behind the tree. He looks at me curiously before his face lights up in realization. He giggles as he runs behind the tree, vanishing behind the giant mass of wood.
I sit down on the grass and wait for him to retrieve the ball, staring at the tree in anticipation. I enjoyed these days the most when I could just mess around and do whatever. It was fun, really, the time of my life.
I start to get curious when I don't see my brother come back from around the trunk of the tree after a minute or two. I stand up and start to walk around the tree, eventually coming to the exact opposite side of the trunk.
"Jacob?" I ask, almost yell. No response. "Jacob!" I yell again. A few seconds later, the door to my house flies open, hitting the side of the house loudly.
"Isaac, what's wrong?" My mother says as she jogs into the yard. I come back from around the tree with tears welling in my eyes.
"I can't find Jacob. He's gone mom." I say, sniffling as I begin wiping my eyes with the backs of my hands.
"What? Where did he go?" She says, obviously trying to hide the nervousness in her voice.
"I don't know, he's just gone." I say, tears starting to roll down my cheeks. "Mommy, where is he?" I start to cry to her as she reaches over and picks me up. She rushes around with me in her arms, calling for Jacob, only for there to be no response.
"L-Let's go get your father, honey." She says, rushing back into the house. I get one last look at the giant tree, the large structure seemingly glowing ever so slightly, perhaps from the sun.
The door to our house slams shut, and my mother goes running to my father.
"Jacob..." I whisper to myself, sitting down on the couch, curling my legs up to my chest. The tears start to flow as I tuck my face into my arms, sobbing quietly.
June 21, 2016
"I was only six when all of that happened." I say with a sigh, running one hand through my hair, stuffing the other one into my jeans pocket.
"I am so sorry dear, that sounds awful!" The woman next to me says. "Did you ever find the poor dear?"
"No... no, we didn't. The police looked everywhere, but... nothing. Nobody could explain how a kid in the middle of a giant field could just disappear in a matter of seconds. It just wasn't logical. I still blame myself for it. Maybe I should of kept a better eye on him or something. He was my responsibility and I just... let him go." I say, looking down into my mug of coffee, swirling around the dark liquid.
"No, no it wasn't your fault. You didn't know anything would happen. It was just an unfortunate event, don't blame yourself honey."
"I don't know, I just feel guilty that I was there and wasn't able to do anything about it... Anyway, we moved shortly after the incident when nothing came up. We moved up north to South Dakota for a while until I went to college. After that, our family just kinda... separated. I went to New York, still live there too, and my parents moved out to Oregon. I haven't seen them at least a year."
"Is that why you're here? On your way to visit them?" The woman says, taking a sip from her mug.
"Partially, yes. When I heard this old place had finally been sold, I just had to come back, make sure everything was still how I remember it. How's the place treating you Mrs. Harrison?"
"Oh it's just lovely Isaac. My husband and I love the quietness of the country, y'know?" She says, trying to lighten the mood.
"I know what you mean. New York is just... too busy for me. I'd like to come back out into a small town again some day, maybe when I have enough money to actually do it."
"Certainly, that sounds like an amazing plan. Maybe start a family of your own out here." She says, nudging me with her elbow.
"Heh, hopefully. That sounds like a dream come true to me... Anyway, sorry for such a short meet and greet, but I better get going if I want to make it to Oregon by tomorrow." I say, resting my own mug down on the counter of what used to be my kitchen."
"Oh, of course dear. I understand." She says kindly. "I'm so sorry about your brother. It's really a shame."
"You can say that again... Well, thanks for letting me visit." I say with a smile, heading out the back door with a wave. She waves back, closing the door slowly behind me. I start walking towards my beat-up pickup truck, when in the corner of my eye I catch a glimmer of light, more-so a glow of light.
I turn to see the giant tree that my brother and I used to play under every summer day when we were kids. I smile a little bit as I mindlessly starts walking towards it, both hands in my pockets. The tree itself seems to glow with a golden sunlight.
I walk around to the back where I had last seen my brother, running my hand around the trunk of the tree. The bark scrapes over my hand roughly.
When I reach the back, I put a little too much pressure on a part of the tree, and it caves inward, revealing what is basically the hollow inside of the tree.
"What the hell?" I whisper to myself, crouching down to look into the hole. Curious, I slowly crawl into the hollowed out tree, pulling my body through the small entrance.
"This can't be right, this type of tree isn't holl-" I start saying to myself. I'm cut off by the quiet sound of wood cracking and... stretching? I quickly turn around to see what makes my heart skip a beat. The wood around the hole starts stretching and growing in front of the hole, making an eerie creaking sound that is just loud enough to be audible.
"Hey!" I yell, lunging at the hole, only for it to finish closing as my shoulder makes contact. I fall back, hissing at the pain flaring through my shoulder. The entire area around me becomes pitch black, and deathly quiet. I fumble around for the phone in my pocket, my fingers brushing against the device a few times before finally getting a grip.
I press the power button, the screen flashing on suddenly, blinding me for a second from the sudden source of light. I turn on the flash light and being looking around the inside of the tree. A cool breeze suddenly hits me, chilling my body to the bone.
"Wind?" I whisper between heavy breaths. The breeze stops as quickly as it came, but it still feels quite a bit cooler than it was just a minute ago. "What the hell is going on."
I aim my phone at the spot I had entered which is now covered by a layer of wood. The sound of wood stretching a cracking fills the small area again, but the opening doesn't budge. Instead, I look up to see the inside of the tree growing more wood from seemingly nowhere, filling the small area around me, slowly closing in.
Panic and adrenaline start shooting through my body. Now or nothing I guess. I lunge forward off my knees, slamming my side into the tree. The wood cracks a bit but doesn't give out. Rubbing my shoulder, I turn my body around in the ever shrinking area. Using my other shoulder, I ram into the wood once more.
Wood shatters outwards like an explosion and I'm the shrapnel. I tumble a few feet out of the tree, landing on my back in the grass, staring up at the sky. I breathe heavily, air refusing to enter my lungs because of how heavy my breaths are coming.
I sit up slowly when I hear the sound once again. The exit I just made starts to close over itself, healing in only a matter of seconds. My eyes grow wide and my heart beats faster than should even be possible. I run my hand across my forehead as I stare at the unbelievable, illogical sight right in front of me.
"Oh God... what the fuck..." I whisper. I stumble to my feet, trying to run away from the tree as fast as possible, only to stumble after a few feet and land straight on my back.
Something round and hard squishes under my back when I fall, causing something cold and wet to seep through the back of my shirt. From shock, I quickly sit up and turn around to see a squished apple where my back just was. Slowly I look up to see branches filled with apples above me, looming over me, seemingly mocking me.
"But... We don't have an apple tr-" My breaths become labored again as I stand up and start spinning around in confusion. Hundreds, if not more apple trees, as far as the eye can see. I stand under a lone tree on top of a hill that seems to overlook an entire orchard of the same kind.
In the distance, peeking out from above the rows of trees is the top of a large house, maybe a barn. Behind me, to the south, is a town, and a pretty small one at that. Compared to New York anyway. I squint to get a better look at the town, it being too far away to really make out any details. I sigh as a cool breeze passes by me, sending a chill down my spine.
Deciding my chances of finding civilization are much greater if I head to the town, I begin heading south to hopefully find someone that might know where I am.
"Jacob..." I say with a grunted laugh. "If only you could see this shit." I whisper to myself as I stuff my hands into my pockets and begin stumbling in the direction of salvation, trying my best to hold on to my sanity.
