Ms. CeeCee's Story Contest

Prompt: Broken tree

Notes: Students wanted a continuation of the Eddie and Rosie story from last week, so I gave them this. Boy 2 said, "Ms. CeeCee Eddie and Rosie is so good. You should make it into a real book. I'd read it." Made my day.

Eddie was scared. His mother always told never to go into the woods behind his house, and truthfully, he never really wanted to. During the day, he could barely see beyond the tree line, the thick foliage didn't let any of the sun's light in. At night, without the watchful eyes of adults and only the fear of children to fuel it, the forest seemed to come alive. Eddie swore he saw monstrous shadows emerge from the depths of the forest too many times to count. His mother didn't have to forbid him. He was much too scared to even think of it.

"Come on, Eddie!" Rose whined, pulling at his hand. He planted his feet in the dirt.

"No way! I don't want to go in there!"

"Why not? It'll be fun!"

Eddie wouldn't be swayed. Not this time. "No!"

Rose sighed, her shoulders drooped and even her long blonde pig tails seemed sad. "Fine. We can do something else" Eddie wanted to feel relieved, but Rose was very sneaky. He knew he was when her gray eyes lit up with trickiness. "I understand if you're too scared."

He was. Eddie was terrified. Who knew what lived in the woods, but he didn't want to admit that. Especially to a girl. So he crossed his arms. "No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!" She pointed one dirty finger at him, laughing with flee as she danced on her feet. "Eddie is scared! Eddie is scared!"

He tried to push her, but she was too fast on her tiptoes. "Stop it! No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are! Eddie is a big cowardly dog. Too scared even of his own shadow!"

Eddie wasn't scared anymore. He was angry. He wasn't a coward, and he wasn't a dog. He knew should ignore Rosie, but somehow she was always able to get him in trouble.

"Oh! I'll show you!" He pounded his fists against his thighs until he was so deep in the trees that he couldn't see his house anymore. He froze. The fear returned. He whispered into the quiet dark. "Rosie? Where are you?"

Nothing but for the silence of the fog and his own heartbeat in his ears. "Rosie? Where did you go?" he called out a little louder.

This time he heard her giggle but he couldn't catch sight of her golden pigtails. "Rosie!"

"I'm over here, silly boy!" He followed her call down a path that to pulled him deeper into the woods. When he found her she was hanging onto a tree much like the first day he met her. Except this tree was broken, splintered at the bottom. Jagged edges of trunk stuck out dangerously. Rose had ignored those tips and climbed the wilting tree until she was hanging precariously over the daggers of wood.

Eddie felt his heart stop. "Rosie! What are you doing?! Get down from there!"

She sighed. "Don't be silly."

"What if you fall?"

She laughed. Eddie didn't know why. He didn't see anything funny. "Well I'll just have to make sure I don't fall then."

Eddie grunted in frustration. I don't think this is-"

Rose gasped. "Oh my goodness!" and then a scream so terrifying, so heart stopping, rang through the air, piercing Eddie's ears so hard that he was sure a giant, hairy monster had emerged from the trees ready to make them his next meal. Eddie didn't think. He just ran as fast as little legs could carry him.

"Eddie!"

In his escape, he saved enough breath to whisper, "Sorry, Rosie." But he didn't stop.

"Eddie!" Her voice got quieter and quieter the more he ran. "Wait!"

He didn't wait. Not until he had burst from the tree line, tripping over his own feet, falling into the grass behind his house. When his breath finally caught up to him everything hit him at once. Rosie. The tricky little girl with the blonde pigtails was probably dead, and he was the dummy who ran away when she needed him the most. He was a cowardly dog. He couldn't help himself when he started crying, burying his face into his hands, his tears washing the dirt away from his fingers.

"Eddie? Why are you crying?" Her voice was so small and scared.

"Oh, Rosie! I'm so sorry I left you in the woods to die!"

"Um...what?"

"I shouldn't have left you alone with the monster. Please forgive me!"

"Boy! What are you talking about?!"

That's when Eddie realized. Rosie stood at his feet, staring down at him. He jumped up. "Rosie! You're alive!"

"Well of course I'm alive."

"But what about the monster?"

She looked at him like he was crazy. "What monster? I saw a spider!"

Eddie froze, his face turning a bright red. "A spider?"

"Yeah." Rosie grimaced. "I hate spisders."

"Oh...I thought..." Eddie knew it. He was done for. Rosie was going to make fun of him so bad now.

She shrugged instead. "Anyway, let's go play somewhere else. I don't like the woods anymore."

Eddie waited to see if she was tricking him. When she walked off leaving him behind, he smiled and caught up. "Let's go annoy Georgie and Will!"