Midnight Shade

I woke in the in dark, in the middle of the night and I could not get back to sleep. I had to find Grandma; she would help me get back to sleep. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, a door stood open to a room that I did not know existed. A strange sound sent me fleeing inside the door, it felt like the perfect hiding place.

There was a big tree in the room. How did I get outside? Tree’s this big could not be in a room. Then I heard my Grandma calling me, from just the other side of the tree. The tree had what looked like Spanish moss hanging from the branches.

While I moved towards the tree, the moon moved behind a thick black cloud. Fear quickened my pace and I was soon able to reach out and touch the low branches. Before the moon came back out, I had moved to the tree’s trunk. Some of the moss brushed against the top of my head. It felt like fingers tousling my hair.

My Grandma’s voice sounded again, she said my name and then something else I could not understand. I tried to locate her in the dark. She must need me. The odd words she kept saying made no sense to me. They sounded more like moaning than words, and I just knew she needed me.

At that moment, the clouds decided to part. I stood with my back to the tree and facing what I thought was moss draped from the tree. It looked as though my Grandma’s skin hung loosely from the tree. I could not leave her. When I finally reached where I’d seen her, I found her up higher. I jumped to reach a higher branch, and missed. I hit the ground. The impact made my head spin and eyes water. Then I saw it. The tree had several loose skins hanging from its branches.

At that moment, someone leaned over blocking the light. It was Grandma, “you should not have come here child. Now the tree will know your shape and create a skin for you too.” She moaned and sat upon the ground cradling my head.

The next thing I knew I woke up in my cozy little bed with Grandma beside me in her rocking chair.

“Grandma, I had the scariest dream ever.”

“It wasn’t a dream.”

She cackled and I found myself staring at the tree, my skin draped over its branches.