The Trees

I got a new job in the Great Smoky Mountains along the Appalachian mountain range as a search and rescue officer. I was on a call for a little girl who ran off the trail and got lost when this whole mess started. My partner and I grabbed our gear and radios before heading out. This call should have been easy, most kids stay put and cry until found, but this time it was different. We set off on the Kephart Prong Trail in high hopes.

"At least we got an easy one today." Patrick chuckled while talking out of the left side of his mouth the right side had a cigarette just freshly lit occupying it. He was a laid-back guy in his mid-20s, but the smoking had already aged him past 30. His brown hair was short and always neatly slicked back.

"Hopefully," I muttered while fumbling the map. I had only been here a week and didn't know this trail. Patrick glanced at me and playfully said,

"Matt, I know where the trail is drop the map." I glanced at him and stuffed it back in my pack.

"So, what was the description of the girl?" I shared a glance with Patrick. He takes a little notebook from his bag and reads off it.

"Her name is Rosey O'Donald, She's 3'8" with blonde curly hair, green eyes, wearing jean shorts, a pink floral shirt, and brown hiking boots." We met her parents at a bend in the trail. Her Mom was softly crying and her Dad was pacing. Patrick took the lead his thin frame was less intimidating than my muscular stocky build.

" Hello, Mr. and Mrs. O'Donald, I'm Patrick and this is Matt. We are here to help locate Rosey. Can you point us in the direction you last saw her?" The Dad spoke up.

"She was playing right behind us and when we went around the bend she just was gone." I went around the bend and slowly went to the left as Patrick finished up the conversation with the parents. As I stepped off the trail I took a look around. It had rained the night before and I was looking for footprints. I saw a weird veiny impression on the soft brown dirt. I remained focused on it for a while until I was jolted out of my trance-like state by something smacking me in the head. I looked up. Probably just an acorn or pinecone. I continued looking around.

"You won't find her." A raspy creepy voice fills the air.

"Hello?" I yell out confused. Looking around I'm very confused. Panic starts to set in as I realize no one is around me. I head back to the trail in a sort of panic. Patrick is still talking to the parents. I go over to him.

"May I speak with you?" I ask him interrupting his conversation.

"Uhh yeah." He walks around the bend and ushers me to speak.

" I heard a voice in the woods, but no one is around." His face darkens.

"What did it say?" His voice is more serious now. It only intensified my panic.

"Why what does it mean? Who is it?"

"It doesn't matter right now ok just what did it say!" The urgengy yet quietness in his voice is startling.

"It said that we aren't going to find her." His face contorted to a deep sad expression.

"Damn. Don't say anything to the parents go send them home. We won't find her." I couldn't understand why Patrick trusted this random voice. The seriousness in his voice made me follow his instructions to send the parents home. After some serious protest from the parents I convinced them to go home. Patrick walks up to me. Puts a hand on my shoulder and begins to speak.

"I'll explain all this later, but for now I will show you how to deal with this. It doesn't happen a lot but you'll need to know the procedure." He pulls his phone out. My head spins with confusion. Procedure for what, a voice? He dials our supervisor.

" Hello? Did you find her?" A familar voice rings through the phone. Patrick takes a deep breath the words amost refusing to come off his lips. His voice quivering.

" No, Matt heard the trees tell him that we aren't going to find her." I can her the upsetness set into the voice on the phone.

" I'll let everyone know and we will set up a fake search and see if we can find anything for her parents closure." A thought crosses my mind did he say heard the trees? Confusion was building. He hangs up and gestures to me to follow him. I don't know where he is leading me.

"So, are you going to explain to me what in the hell is happening here?" He sighs again.

"Once we get to the bridge yes, but until then just please be quiet." I want to yell at him and demand answers, but something tells me I should wait. We walk in the silence of the trees a small breeze helping us have a break from the hot sun pouring down on top of us. I can hear the sound of water trickling through rocks as we aproch the bridge. As we get there Patrick deviates off the trail torwards a barely visible path. We walk down this small one person path until we hit a clearing where Patrick takes a seat.

"This is a long story I suggest you sit." I knod taking up a nice spot of slightly damp grass. He takes a deep breath and flashs a weak smile to me.

" I'll tell you all I know. The trees talk. They talk just like you and I, they watch everything in the forest. They are a main helper in locating missing people, but only if they want. The trees try to protect people from wandering off the trails, but are useless once they are off the trail. I don't know why they are here. All I know is don't go searching for answers you don't want because these trees have secrets no one wants to know. Some trees are peckers and don't help because they don't care about anything. Others try there best to help out but they are trees, its not like they can do much. Jus-"

"Hey, be careful how you talk to our kind, we have more power than you can ever imagine." A femine voice rings out clearly upset." Startled I let out a small scream. Patrick let out a hardly chuckle.

"You know I love your help." A booming resounding laughter erupts from all around us. I am spining, confused and dazed. My vision starts to blur as a dull ringing fills the once loud air.

When I awake I'm in the forest still, but Patrick is no where to be found. I sit up. The faint oranges and pinks dance around the trees as the sun ducks below the horizon. A panic grows inside my stomach. I'm not suppose to be in the forest after dark. I stumble as I crawl up to my feet. I got to get out of here. The trees feel like they are getting closer. I run in the direction I think the trail is in. Theres a soft beeping and I trip over a root.

"PATRICK!" I scream terrified. Flashes of a little girl who looks like Rosey fill my head, but its not the picture that the parents gave us. Shes at the bottom of a ravine. Bloody, battered, and with her body contoured like a pretzel. Tears stream down my face as I find a log to sit behind so I can catch my breath. The beeping grows louder as the trees begin to speak.

" Matt, its ok. We are here to protect you." One tree says. A bright light flashes and about gives me a heart attack. My heart is pounding like a Church bell on Sunday morning. A tree calls out in a deep, strong, mascline voice.

"It's ok Matt. You're ok." A weird thin line of something pricks deep into my skin.

"NO!!!!! Please I just want to see her." The words slip out of my mouth. Thats when it dawns on me. I'm not in a forest. My reality starts to fall apart lights start to shine through, trees fade, the limbs that were touching me are actually IV's.

A white walled room replaces the once dark and extensive forest. Tears stream down my face. A well dressed skinny man with slicked back hair enters the room. I recognize him.

" Patrick." The words slip, he smiles.

"Rough night Matt." I knod crying.

"I'm sorry Matt. Can you tell me why you are in Angelwood Mental facility?"

" My daughter Rosey is dead and I suffer from servere guilt, trama, and PTSD which causes me to make false memories where I try to save my baby." I say almost as if it is rehersed, tears well in my eyes.

"Good job Matt. Now rest up we will try therapy tommorrow." I smile as my eyes drift shut as they pump Benzodiazepines into my systen to calm me down. Before I drift I remeber that day. My wife, Rosey, and I were all wanting to hike, but Rosey had wandered off the trail. My wife and I searched and searched until we found her. She fell down a ravine breaking almost all her bones and dying almost instantly. She had left the trail due to her mom and I fighting again. After Rosey's death she took her own life. I went crazy after all of that and was admitted to a mental instatue by my best friend Patrick. Patrick is all I have left. They call him anytime I am deep into a delusion. I love Patrick and miss my Rosey. I long to go back to that ravine and join Rosey in death.

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