“Hi David. Long time, I know. Let’s fix that. Remember that tree-house we used to hang out in back in the day? Let’s meet up there. Have a few drinks or something haha. Write me back if you’re down.
-Your good friend Shawn.”
I could hardly believe the email in front of me. I couldn’t believe that Shawn Paul had contacted me. We were inseparable back in elementary to junior high. Drifted apart in high school. Hadn’t spoken since the first year of college. That was nearly 6 years ago.
At the risk of sounding like a dick friend, this was certainly out of the blue.
But… we were really good friends. And I’d always felt guilty about not keeping in touch. With that in mind, I decided to write him back. It wouldn’t hurt to see how he was doing, after all. Hell, maybe we’d be able to rekindle that old friendship. Ever since starting full-time employment, my life’s gotten kind of dry, so it might be a nice change of pace.
”Hi Shawn. Crazy hearing from you after all this time. Sure, let’s meet up! I’m free this weekend.
-David”
It felt weird signing my name off at the end there. Almost like I was emailing my boss or something.
I thought back to our times in the treehouse for the next few days. I couldn’t help but smile. Those experiences were the innocence of youth personified. I remember reading manga, watching movies on his iPod touch, and the one time we snuck up a few of my brother’s beers, just to see what they would taste like. (Not so innocent, I guess).
Sure, I was excited.
The weekend finally came, and I drove out to the local forest. When I moved out, I didn’t go very far. It was about a fifteen minute drive there from my apartment. We’d agreed to meet at 5 PM, so I arrived at 4: 30. On the way there, I began to wonder:
What were the chances that our tree-house would still be there? I mean… it was over a decade ago since we’d last gone up. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a huge issue. I was sure we’d be able to just sit by the river and drink if it'd been torn down or something. Still, I was curious. Curious to see what it might look like after all these years.
I still remembered exactly where it was. There are just some things you don’t forget. By the river, just right of the clearing. It also wasn’t a huge forest.
My eyes lit up with nostalgia as I saw it.
I suppose it looked exactly like how I remembered it. A bit worse for wear, but still intact. I put down my 6-pack of beer at the trunk of the tree. I recalled the makeshift door that we’d built. At the time, we thought it was some marvel of engineering for kids our age. It was a legitimate, functioning door, similar to one that would lead into an attic.
I grinned as I began climbing the wooden slabs that we’d hammered into the tree all those years ago. It was our attempt at creating a ladder, and it honestly worked well enough.
I was brimming with excitement as I reached the entrance. With a big smile on my face, I reached up and tried pushing the door open.
But… nothing happened. I mean, my hand just hit a wall of unmoving wood. I looked up and what I saw confused me to no end. Instead of the actual door that we’d made, one just seemed to be crudely drawn on with marker.
I stood there for a second, wondering what the hell was going on. I mean, was this the wrong tree-house? I looked around the forest again.
Not a chance. Like I said, there’s just some things that you don’t forget. I continued inspecting the space where the door should’ve been. It wasn’t as if somebody had taped or glued it shut. It was clean, unbroken wood.
I climbed back down and looked at the tree-house from the ground. Still the same way I remembered it. A little banged up after all these years, but still unmistakable. Vaguely cube-shaped, brown wood, two small windows on either side. But no door. Somehow, there was no door.
It bothered me so much that I began searching the surrounding area. Maybe somehowthis was the wrong tree-house, despite it looking the same and being in the exact same vicinity.
I searched for about 25 minutes without finding anything before calling it quits. I walked back to the tree-house and looked up at it again. It was a puzzling situation, to say the least. I looked at my phone, seeing that it had become 5 PM. Shawn should’ve been arriving soon. At least I’d have somebody to share my confusion with.
As I waited for him to come, I wondered why somebody would build a tree-house that you couldn’t enter. Hell, how did they carve out the window in the first place? My eyes began wandering around the forest and eventually back up to the tree-house. And then I froze in place.
Somebody was staring at me through the window.
They seemed to be standing a few feet back, so it was almost like looking at a shadow. I couldn’t make out any facial features at all. But one thing was for sure. It sure as hell wasn’t a kid. The broad shoulders gave that away.
I stared at this mystery person for about a minute before they stepped back and out of view. The hairs on my arm stood up as I began backing up myself. It didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel right at all. Soon enough, I was in an all-out sprint. I got back to my car and noticed it was still the only one in the lot. I took out my phone and texted Shawn, telling him I couldn’t make it and for him not to come himself. I waited around 30 minutes for a response before finally driving off.
I kept looking back at the forest the whole time. Looking for that… person in the tree-house.
I got home a few hours ago. Shawn hasn’t responded yet, which worries me. Maybe he got there even before I did.
Even stranger, I remember feeling a vague sense of familiarity when that person looked down at me. Almost like I’d seen them before, which was impossible, because I literally have no memories of anybody like that. I didn’t even get a good look at their face.
Shawn texted me later that night. My hands shook as I opened my phone to read it, and I wasn’t sure why. I mean, if I was getting a text from him, that meant he was safe, right?
This is the message he sent me:
“Did you see him?”
---
Credits
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