Authors Note: Hey readers! This is Quelebnen here! This story is co-written with my friend Tipix! (Hey Tipix its finally up!). This story seems to follow Tolkien more than any of the stories I've worked on. Please read and review both of us want to hear from you!
STORY by Quelebnen and Tipix
PROLOUGEIt was a warm autumn day and a cool breeze was blowing. Two friends, girls roughly the age 15, walked through the woods that bordered Millers Creek. The trees were filled with red, yellow, orange, gold, and many other multi-coloured leaves, while the forest floor was matted with the same leaves and some pine needles that had fallen to the ground. There was a fresh smell of winter in the cool breeze blowing and the creek was burbling happily as it wove among the trees and other forest vegetation. Some flowers still remained around the roots of the trees and the girls spotted many signs of wildlife on their stroll, such as birds, squirrels, and rabbits.
One of the girls (Carey) was what you would consider short. She had brown eyes that were always observing the world around her. Her hair was a reddish colour that she might describe it as 'pouffy', for it wasn't exactly curly, wavy, or straight, but more of a mix. She walked along with a happy smile on her face, which had acquired a tan during the time spent in the summer sun. The other young lady (Alexandra) was more or less 5 ft3. She had long, smooth brown hair, and dazzling blue eyes. She had a very fair, milky completion. Her family thought she was too pale, but that didn't matter to her anyway. She smiled happily as well; for she was very curious to see this 'surprise' Carey seemed so eager to show her.
As the two girls walked side by side, or as close to that as was possible in such a wood, Carey looked around in admiration at the scenery and surrounding wildlife. Autumn was so cool and calming, not to mention pretty. " It's so nice to be out in the fall again, it's my ABSOLUTE favourite weather!" She exclaimed.
"Its ok, I guess..." observed Alexandra. She preferred the period after summer and before fall. When it wasn't necessary to wear a sweater, as it was now, and it wasn't sweltering hot outside, as in summer. Today was just a bit too cool with too many leaves on the ground, instead of on the marvellous trees, for her liking. She wondered what Carey wanted to show her in the forest at this time of year. Carey seemed quite happy about it and had refused to give any kind of hints.
About 20 min's passed in silence as the two friends found their way through the undergrowth...
" What's the time?" Alexandra asked irritably. She thought it was unfair that it took Carey so long to find this so called surprise. She was beginning to become impatient, not that she had didn't want to see the 'surprise'. She was still very curious.
"It's about 4. Don't worry, we only have to be back by six." Carey answered. They'd make it, she thought to herself.
Alexandra shifted the bag on her back and grumbled something that sounded to Carey somewhat similar to "...If we ever find our way out of here."
" We're almost there." Carey said a bit more unsurely than she intended. " I think, I mean...well, doesn't that tree look familiar?"
" WE'RE LOST!" shrieked Alexandra in disbelieve.
" NO, not lost, umm…j-just, taking a short cut...I think." Carey mumbled somewhat to herself. The tree she wanted to show Alex was around here somewhere and she knew the way home from there.
Alexandra sighed in frustration. She should have learnt by now that Carey was likely to lose all direction whenever she went anywhere. She forced a smile and said,
" Oh, well. Now that you mention it, that tree does look sort of familiar." She followed Carey through some trees into a small clearing.
The clearing was warm and hazy as the sun shinned down on it lazily. The grass here was greener and softer then elsewhere and there were no golden leaves carpeting it. A tall, majestic Willow tree rose up from the middle of the clearing. Its long, broad branches twisted this way and that, draped with many vines of leaves, which looked as though they had never been any other colour than the fresh, olive green in which they appeared. On the other side of the Willow tree the creek ran softly. At the bottom of the Willow's trunk, part of some roots could be seen surfacing the ground as they reached towards the water. There were many knots on the tree and an unusually wide, gaping hole was present at its base. The conspicuous willow tree definitely had a very foreboding feel to it, Alexandra decided as she shivered.
"This is it!" cried Carey happily. She felt so safe and secure in this place. " I usually come here from the other direction, that's why I thought I was lost." She smiled as she walked towards the tree. She sat down about 2 feet from it and started to dig through her bag while humming.
"Why do I have the feel I've seen this before?" Alexandra asked puzzled. Her mind had become clouded and she was having trouble remembering anything. She just wanted to lie down and sleep. Carey's obnoxious humming didn't help.
Carey closed her bag and looked up at Alexandra. She was surprised Alexandra hadn't worked it out. "It's just like Old-Man Willow from LOTR. Isn't that cool! I was so upset that they cut that out of the movie. Tom Bombadil was my favourite."
"Hey, your right. It does look like Old-Man Willow would. Look, there's even an opening at the bottom, I wonder what's in it?" Alexandra dreamily started towards the opening, always the more curious of the two.
Carey stood up worriedly. Why was Alexandra acting so strange? "I don't think we should... what if it's a badger or something?" she asked as she came to stand by Alexandra's side.
" But I want to see what's in it..." Alexandra crouched on the ground to peer into the hole.
There was a strange rumbling and Alexandra tried to back away from the tree. The ground gave way and both girls found themselves tumbling down the widening, dark hole screaming. But, as they fell, they noticed it was getting lighter.