As giant metal feats of architecture were cut down into a spanning landscape of fir trees, Maggy could finally breathe. It had felt like an eternity since she had last been able to. Up in the mountains, far away from the city, she felt relief. The cold air rushed up to greet her as she stepped onto the trail.
She would spend the next week hiking the wilderness. After everything that had happened back home, it felt good to be alone. No one was there to bother her. The buzzing checklist of supplies she needed for her new home renovations was out of her mind. No more mid-lunch rushes to a hardware store close to Cheltenham, where her office resided.
Her power tools had been left behind. A notebook of DIY ideas sat discarded on her desk at home. The only thing she had to worry about now was her hiking backpack.
Nothing but the trail and her own feet, she was finally alone.
“Excuse me?”
A voice called out from behind her. Something sharp tapped her shoulder. She spun around, annoyed and a bit frightened, to face the other hiker.
But… there was nothing.
She twisted her head, trying to spot the origin of the voice, but all she found was thick undergrowth and trees.
“Could you do me a favour?”
It took a moment to make sense of the situation. Her brain had become foggy, accustomed only to the lunch hour rush of phoning technicians or shopping for building supplies. Cheltenham was far behind her, but the months of renovations still lay heavy on her mind.
“Miss?”
The voice came again, and everything finally snapped into place. Maggy watched in horror as the tree in front of her opened its mouth to speak. A gaping mouth splintered out from the middle of the trunk. As if intent on cracking her reality completely, two wary eyes opened and blinked under heavy bark eyelids.
There was no denying it any longer.
The tree had talked to her. No. The tree was talking to her. Strangely, it seemed impatient at her lack of a response.