Ford ran down the steps on the south side of the house. Stan launched himself over the steps and landed on the ground next to him.

"Fiddleford?" Ford called, when his brother pointed ahead of them.

A couple of yards away, their small friend was sitting on the ground, the backpack behind him. He had one arm raised defensively, and was shaking uncontrollably.

"Fidds!"

Stan ran over to the younger man, Ford on his heels.

When he reached Fiddleford, Stan looked around. He couldn't see anything unusual. Ford came up behind him, getting on his knee beside Fiddleford and placing a hand on the younger man's shoulder.

"Fiddleford, what happened? "

"Nnngh—ghhh—"

Without speaking, Fiddleford pointed ahead of him.

Stan and Ford looked in the direction was pointing. Some of the branches on the nearby trees were obviously broken, and…

"Uh, Ford, where's your car? "

Stan's twin realized that his car was no longer in the place that it was parked. All that remained in the spot were some broken tree branches and shards of glass.

Turning back to his seated friend, he looked into his wide eyes. "Fiddleford—try to calm down. -what happened? "

Ford thought that he felt his friend's shaking lessen a bit under his hand—but not much.

"N—n-" Fiddleford bit his lower lip.

"Kid, take a deep breath. " Stan said. "I'm afraid you're gonna have a heart attack. "

Fiddleford tried to take a breath, but could only gasp.

Ford moved in front of his friend and looked him in the eye. "Fiddleford, breathe. Remember, breathe from your diaphragm and get some air in. "

Fiddleford placed one hand on his stomach and drew a ragged, but deeper breath than he'd been taking. After he'd done this twice more, Ford noticed his friend's shaking lessened considerably.

Stan came over and got on his knee beside his friend and brother. "Kid, are you okay? Did you see what happened to Ford's car? "

After swallowing and taking another deep breath, Fiddleford blinked. "I-I was coming outs-side—an' there—there was a couple 'a' huge 'booms' an' th' ground shook. I heard—a bunch of birds, an' when I looked toward where Ford's car was parked a bunch were flyin' away. Th-then—"

He closed his eyes and started shaking again.

"It's okay, Fiddleford. Whatever it was is gone." Ford assured him.

Fiddleford closed his eyes, drew another deep breath and held it for a second. He exhaled, opened his eyes. Looking at Ford he said, "Th-there—was a—a hand—a h-huge hand—that reached out of the forest and—and dragged your car away. "

Stan blinked and looked over to where the shards of glass—evidently from Ford's car windows, littered the ground. "A hand? You mean—like a giant? "

His younger friend drew another deep breath. "Yes—but it—it didn't have skin—it looked like—"Fiddleford stopped and thought a moment. "—like—tree bark. "

"Tree bark?"

Stan recognized the look of excitement in his brother's eyes.

"Oh, my—Fiddleford may very well have come across our first anomaly!"

"Calm down, Sixer." Stan said, noting his brother place his hand on his coat, under which the journal was tucked in its pocket. "If the thing was big enough to crunch your car like that, then—"

Boom.

Fiddleford's breathing became quick again. "Oh, no."

Boom.

As Fiddleford had described before, several birds came flying out of the trees.

Boom.

"Oh, my …"

"Oh, dear."

"Holy—"

Standing in the line of trees was—well, a larger tree. Its trunk parted part way down to make legs, and it had two more large branches on the sides of its body that made its arms. Two large five-fingered hands were at the end of each branch.

"What—what is that thing?" Stan said almost under his breath.

"I don't know—but it's definitely an anomaly!" Ford answered. Stan could almost hear joy in his brother's voice.

Between them, still seated on the ground, Fiddleford was trying not to hyperventilate. The creature looked down at them, more by moving its eyes, as it had no neck. Fiddleford noticed that, while they still appeared to be made from wood, the creature's eyeballs were a lighter color than the bark that made up its "skin". Its pupils were dark holes.

Its eyes must be the cambium or xylem. He thought, remembering the inner parts of a tree.