forum “Oh what is this place?” “That would be my home…” “…OH and it is LOVELY-!”

Started September 19, 2023 by @Eli-the-transboi group

tune

3 days before Jared’s boss walks over to him “Jared we got a call about a potential child up in the woods, and your going hunting soon so would you mind looking while your up there?” Jared looks up from his computer “Yeah sure, I guess.”

The present day Jared grabs the makeshift weapon out of the little girls hand trying to reassure her as he grabs at it “Hey! I’m not trying to hurt you!! Calm down.” He looks her in the eyes pulls the weapon out of her hand and slowly puts down both his and her weapon making sure they were close to him in case she tried anything. “Look at me, I’m Jared, what’s your name?”

They growl, narrowing their eyes and kicking his leg. They then sprint off, bag in hand. “STAY AWAY FROM ME, MONSTER!” They zig zag through trees in attempt to lose him. That guy wasn’t gonna get me! No sir! they thought, running back to their treehouse.

Then…they did the most stupid thing ever. They looked back.

Jared was closing in on her just trying to do his job and help this child find a better place to be at, asking her what happened and why she was out in the woods alone. He watched as she turned her head to look at him "WAIT, WATCH-"

Aloe gasped as they felt the ground beneath them vanish. They then clung onto a tree and looked down to see a deep river below them. They yelped as they clung for dear life, their eyes wide. They hated the mere thought of falling. They started panicking slightly as they try to slowly climb their way back to land, only to see the scary stranger catch up to them. They yelped as they paused where they are.

“Get away from me!” They hiss at him, barring their teeth. Chico scrambled onto the branch and seemed to be looking for anything else Aloe could use to get up.

Jared finally caught up to the kid and peered down at the Cristal clear flowing river down below him the rushing sound giving a slight sense of calm in this stressful situation.

“Give me your hand!” He tried to make his voice as calm as possible but he ended up yelling it as the sound of the River pounded in his head “swoosh, swoosh, swoosh” the river began to become louder as Jared stressed more and more about saving the child.

He reached out his hand to give her something to grab onto to climb up, waiting for her to see it he crouched down a little to get it closer.

Aloe only moved away from him as he did this, unable to hear him over the loud river below. They then look down to see a rock platform about 3 feet below them. It then looks at the man and huffs at him, sticking their tongue out before dropping onto the rock and scaling the ledge over the river. It gripped onto rocks, roots and branches as they slowly but surely climbed their way down the river. After a while, it managed to climb back up a steep slope and hoist itself back onto the grass. They were now a few several feet away from the stranger.

Aloe laid on the grass for a while, catching their breath. Once their senses calmed, they shot up and picked up Chico who had scampered his way over to them. They then bolted back to their treehouse.

To the man’s perspective, all he saw was this child let go of the branch it was hanging from, and disappear from sight.

Jared stood over the edge frozen in horror, he peered over the edge cautiously checking for some kind of ledge that the child could have landed on. Finding no ledge and not being able to see any of the roots that they had climbed onto he began to panic. A rustle came from in the forest, in Jared's panic he grabbed a somewhat small stick from the ground and turned around. His Saint Bernard, named Brutus, ran up to him with something in its mouth.

"Oh, Brutus it's just you!" his voice was shaking but he still sounded joyful to see Brutus "Whats that in your mouth?" Brutus had a rodent of some kind in his mouth, it had a sort of strange familiarity to it like he had seen it before. The rodent was still alive, luckily, but it was injured from Brutus's teeth. "Brutus, drop it." his voice turned stern and stopped shaking as much as before but he still had a little panic in his voice. Brutus tilted his head, not fully in confusion but almost as if he was asking "But I caught something for you". Jared looked his fluffy pal in the eyes and said "Brutus, you did good but I need you to drop it for me, this animal could be sick so its not good to eat.". He, of course, was lying to the dog but Brutus put it down anyways.

The rodent didn't move but as it laid on the ground still breathing Jared knew exactly how he knew it, "This is the kids…" he whispered to himself one eyebrow was raised the other curved down in confusion "That would mean…" He looked up at Brutus "Did you see a kid?"

As Aloe ran back to their treehouse, they looked around. “Chico?!” They started to panic once they realized they had lost the squirrel. “Chico!” They ran back to where they had been, calling out to the squirrel. Aloe’s shouts could be heard from miles away, which made the injured Chico look up once he heard his friends voice.

Aloe ran and ran, screaming now in fear that her only friend had been taken. Just as they were about to start crying, they saw that man couched down in front of Chico, who was laying almost motionless on the ground…and…a dog. They gasped, freezing in place. They then rushed over and scooped the rodent up, holding them close to their chest. “Chico!” They cried. Aloe then glared at the man with hatred in their eyes. “HOW DARE YOU?! GET AWAY!” They screamed. Then, they started sprinting back to their home, dodging the dog as they ran.

With a confused expression on his face Jared looked up, trying not to laugh at the child who was still in sight running, he looked at Brutus. "This is why we don't catch things without me." Jared chuckled slightly then cleared his throat. "Not funny…" then once again a little quieter "Not funny…" He looked back down at the ground to hide the fact he was still trying not to laugh then he looked at the sky.

The sun was starting to set, the blue sky was slowly being taken over by the pinks and oranges. "We should really get back to camp!" Jared started walking back to his camp and Brutus followed closely behind sniffing for what slight whiff he got of the kid, he really wanted that squirrel. As they got to camp Jared set his crossbow by his chair and threw the weapon the child had in his tent.

He then went to the fire pit he set up with rocks and branches he had found. He slowly started a fire inside of the pit making certain that none of the fire was going to spread. After he lighted the fire he went over into his tent to get a can of dog food and beans so that he and Brutus could eat something.

Aloe got into their treehouse and immediately started tending to her friend. It wasn’t too bad. Chico was just in shock. Aloe gently pet him as they continued to tend to his small wound. “It’s ok…it’s ok. You’re ok.” They started crying, remembering the horrors they had seen when younger. After they were done bandaging up the rodent, they gently picked him up and sat down on a little chair they had gotten.

The treehouse was unique indeed. It was a huge, old tree. Somehow still alive. If only slightly. The truck had been hallowed out slightly, while other parts of the trunk had grown around the interior to create a well sized kitchen/dining room/living room. There were only small appliances. A mini fridge only slightly bigger than Aloe, a small ‘cooker’ as Aloe called it. It was a mix of a very small oven, and a heating tray as a stovetop. There was a faucet that their father had made. The water came from the river close to the treehouse. The water was clean enough to use. All Aloe had to do was put the water into a water bottle with a built in filter that their father gave them, and squeeze. The water would come out perfectly clean.

The faucet had originally been there to clean off their feet or hands, since they always got dirty one way or another and didn’t want to track dirt and mud into their beloved treehouse. Aloe was a peculiar child…and they liked it that way.

The kitchen would instantly transition into the living room/dining room. There was a little beanbag chair beside a foldable chair they used for a table. The rest of the place held small homemade book shelves filled with trinkets, books and DVDs. Most they had gotten from their home, other stolen. By the beanbag was a small pillow for Chico to rest on.

They sniffle slightly as they try to calm themself. Chico was obviously fine now, just a little slower than usual. But he would be back to normal by dinner tomorrow. Chico looked up at Aloe and curled up into their arms, making little clicking noises as the two cuddled. Aloe couldn’t help but cry from the horrifying images they were witnessing. So much death…blood. Aloe shook their head and curled up around Chico. They were too upset to eat…so they just offered Chico an acorn, taking a shaky breath.

Chico happily took the snack, cracking it open and munching on the inside. Aloe gently pet him as he ate, slowly calming down after a while. They then pulled out a little battery powered DVD player with a small screen. It was slightly cracked on a corner, but it still worked. They put some stollen batteries they had snatched from campers into the device and put on their favorite movie. Pocahontas. Aloe smiled as they watched their movie, reciting every word said. After a while, they finally got hungry and took out their little basket with the food they’ve collected. They took out a few blackberries and started munching on them. They didn’t feel like actually making anything now…do berries and water would do.

Aloe then offered Chico a few berries, continuing their movie. Once their belly was full, they slowly got up and brought their DVD player upstairs to their little bedroom. They looked around at the decorations in their room as they climbed the ladder. More trinkets in wooden boxes, crystals on little shelves, several blankets spread around the room, pillows, chip bags, candy boxes…

The outside of the treehouse was completely covered in green and orange leaves, leaving only a sliver of sunlight to shine into the little window in the mornings. The window was made of a durable plastic that could be opened if needed. But Aloe never really bothered opening it.

Then then crawled over to their bed. They had gotten a little too tall to stand in the small house on top of the tree, so they just crawled where they needed to go. The bed was an inflatable mattress for pools covered in blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals. They sigh as they gently set Chico on his own little pillow bed and gently pet him. They then looked at the little fairy lights hanging from the ceiling. The power here was solar powered. Their father was a genius for making it that way. There was a very small emergency generator on the other side of their room that they could turn on in case the power stopped working.

Aloe then flopped back and snuggled up in their little nest as they continued their movie. They hugged their stuffed animal with one hand, while petting Chico with the other. They let the little DVD player set on their stomach as they slowly drifted off into a restless sleep. They just hoped that man wouldn’t find this haven…