Halloween story prompt 2. Write a story about a character who is haunted by something or someone.
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Sometimes I stand under my tree and I look up into the branches and remember the days when I climbed trees as a girl and I recall the time my kitten got stuck on a branch and I climbed up and got as close to my kitten as I could without the branch giving way . I pushed my kitten off of the branch with a broom and my brothers below caught it on a pillow.
My brothers, who never learned to climb trees as well as me, used to build tree forts and when there were windstorms we would climb up into our tree pretend we were on a pirate ship battleing a sea monster.
I like to remember those trees, they were close to our home and each leaf held one of our memories. I know this because whenI stood under the trees the wind blowing through the branches made the leaves sound like they singing.
I grew up and moved far away and here under my new tree, if Iook up and I forget to think about kittens, I see a frayed weather worn rope, somtimes it twists in the breeze and when it does, the branch it’s hanging on moans and creaks and sounds like an somebody with aged and worn bones crying out softly, in pain.
There are dark and foggy days when I stand under my tree and I look down at the ground, I can see something hidden under leaves and weeds. I don’t need to move the leaves away to see what is creating the smooth outline of somebody sleeping on their side.
I know what is there and it makes me sad.
So I look up into the branches and I think about kittens and I don’t see the noose turning and spinning above my head.
But it is always there, as am I under a tree far away from home.
Aokigahara, the Haunted Forest in Japan Credits: Simon Desmarais
