#12 Tree

"…How on earth did this happen?" Roger demanded, staring up into the oak tree that dominated the majority of the garden.

In among the leaves, three little faces peered back at him. None of them looked like they were about to start telling him exactly how the top three ranked children in the house had managed to get themselves stuck in a tree, of all places.

"I'm waiting. I can wait all day if I need to." Roger tried; already knowing this threat wouldn't work.

"You can't leave us up here, that constitutes child abuse. L would be displeased." Near called down to the old caretaker.

Roger frowned. "All right, but whichever one of you tells me what happened to get you all up there is the one who gets to keep his toys, games or chocolate."

For a second they were silent.

Then three voices chimed in at once.

"Well Near said-"

"And Mello said that climbing frames are for girls in skirts-"

"So we came over here, and Mello decided it had to be a contest, as usual…"

"Shut up sheep cripple!! Anyway I got up here-"

"And I was down there judging who got the highest…"

"I slipped and grabbed Mello's foot, and the branch snapped."

"So I scrambled up cuz I thought Mello was gonna fall and die-"

"Can you not mention death?!"

"Sorry."

"Matt then grabbed my arm to try and make me let go of Mello-"

"Mello fell on Near…"

"Then sheep-boy fell on Matt and we all snapped the branch he was sitting on!"

"Please stop calling me sheep-boy. Luckily Matt broke both our falls by landing on this rather sturdy branch."

"Hah, I saved both your lives. I should be 1st."

"In your goddamn dreams! It's your fault anyway!"

"I fail to see how this is anyone's fault but Mello's. Suffice to say this particular branch is not close enough to any of the others for us to get to them, nor is it low enough for us to jump without injuring ourselves."

"I told you if you jump first we can land on you and we'll be fine, sheepy."

"Mello makes a good point, 'The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few'. Some wise dead guy said that."

"I don't believe whomever said that was referring to a genius sacrificing his life for two idiots."

"WHAT!? Matt! Hold my chocolate, I'm gonna decorate this tree with Near's insides!"

"Wait Mello-"

There was a threatening creak from the branch the three boys were sitting on and Mello froze.

"And now none of us can see how to get down again." Near finished in a very soft voice.

Roger sighed and wondered how long it would take before the staff found a ladder long enough to rescue the three so-called geniuses.