The kids walked for what felt like forever.

Delilah watched Ralph as he ambled forward up the side road. His laces were once white but now they were a rusty brown with dust and the soles were as worn as her own. Ralph's laces trailed on the ground, over-long as they were and frayed like some old goat-tether. With each step Delilah watched the lace flop in its random pattern, random and predictable at the same time.

The sky had grown an angry purple, mixing with the smeared red and creating an over-cast that brought a shadow over the mountain and the side trail the kids were walking on.

Mr. Clayton bounced up and down as he led the kids up the side road with a buoyancy that made him look like the Pied Piper.

Looming up from behind the curved road up ahead, was a large tree. Even from this distance they could see it provided a large, darker shade. The tree had a sweeping canopy of light yellow leaves that poked out from behind a curve as they got closer.

Shawn didn't like the way Mr. Clayton was moving - it was unnatural, just wrong somehow. He was keeping close watch on Bobby and Ralph, and when he noticed that Ralph shoe had come undone, he quickly took the younger boy off to the side and tied it up real quick. If they had to run, it might save both of their lives.

When they rounded the curve and saw the tree, he squinted at it without breaking strike. It didn't look all that dangerous.

Delilah marched along. She was glad to be with the group. The sky was turning horrible, bruised colors and she was very afraid of what would come out of the dark in a place like this.

She noticed Shawn stop to tie Ralph's shoe, but didn't dwell on it. Shoelaces came untied. He probably wasn't trying anything sneaky by tying it. Probably.

Then she noticed the willow.

"We made it!" She looked to Tiffany, to see if she was still sniffling, and to Penelope. Finding the tree was part one. It gave Delilah a sense of accomplishment and hope. She hoped the other girls felt the same. "What do we do now, Mr. Clayton?" She was all ears.

"Someone has to go first. Someone has to pass through the Willow first." Mr. Clayton said buoyantly, looking around for volunteers. Then, the cords slackened and he collapsed into a heap. One cord tightened, allowing him to lift his head up.

"Uhhhh." He groaned. "The case..." he said weakly. "the case....." a tone of panic in his voice, as the strength of what he was saying faded.

"i...need someone to put me in my..case...."

"Hang on," Delilah said helpfully. She knelt beside the puppet and opened the case.

Clayton's eyes still reminded her of a mean cat, but he was just trying to help.

Delilah's eyes scanned the kids' faces with a question: Who's first? Her gaze fell on Shawn.

Shawn didn't like looking at Mr. Clayton, so he didn't notice Delilah's stares for a moment or two. When he did, he froze for a second, then nodded his head. "I'll go first." He started walking towards the tree. It wasn't bravery, not really. But it looked like it, and maybe if he showed some sort of personal courage, the others would be more likely to listen to him over Delilah.

There was a collective sigh on behalf of Bobby, Ralph and Tiffany. Ralph's shoulder's sank and he slumped to lean against a nearby plant, before recoiling as its spindly leaves began to move.

Tiffany sniffled a bit, but was no longer crying. She rubbed at her eyes and face.

Bobby shook his head put his lips together in relief as if he was about to whistle, but he didn't.

Mr. Clayton slithered into the case, dragging his legs as if he was paralyzed. Once in the case, his arms reached out to collect those limp legs and tuck them into the wooden pile that was now his body.

The wires from the sky suddenly lashed out, as if they were disconnecting. The moved with speed from up high, coming down into the box like some kind of string, wind-up toy. With a 'zip' they retracted. Then the case closed with a 'snap.'

And just like that Mr. Clayton was in there.

That's when Penelope said "I don't like that puppet. He gives me the heeby-jeebiez. He's creepy. I don't trust creepy things."

Then, turning to Shawn "You're first?"

The question was posed in a manner that suggested 'are you sure you want to do this?'
This message was last edited by the player at 00:05, Sat 19 May 2018.

Shawn gave Penelope a slightly relieved look at her comment about Mr. Clayton. "I've seen Pinocchio - he wants to be a real boy, and I just know he's gonna do something bad to Bradford to make it happen."

At her question, though, he nodded seriously and puffed up his chest, trying to seem far braver and more inspiring than he was. "Yeah, I should go first. If anything bad happens to me, take care of Bobby and Ralph, okay?" Then he marched off towards the tree.

The kids huddled in behind Shawn as he made his decision, placing one foot over the other and managing to move towards the Weeping Willow tree's veil of branches that draped across the ground like a curtain. As Shawn got closer, he saw the tree was anywhere between 30 and 40 feet tall, bark a brownish-gray color, with grooves in it. The branches, on the other hand, had soft, even surfaces. The leaves were a deep yellowish-green, light brownish-yellow, and narrow. When he got closer to the tree, he stepped into it's shadow which was long and towering.

Though Shawn was the only one experiencing what was happening, the other children were well aware that he was experiencing something. The began to realize, to the extent that children can, that the shadow cast upon him was one of both space and time by something moving in this twisted dimension below the visible universe that they called their daily lives. Somewhere deep inside they knew this. Perhaps it was in their dreams when they brushed up against the truth, when their defenses were down for maintenance, that’s when pieces of this secret world normally slipped through.

Shawn, who was now clearly heading toward the curtain of the tree's branches, felt an involuntary idea press into it his head.

Delilah watched cautiously. She knew something was in the trees watching them all. She held still, afraid of drawing it's attention.

She crossed her fingers and silently prayed for something terrible to happen to Shawn.