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Stuck in a Tree (A story and Hello)
Hello. {Smile} southerndave suggested I check this place out when I complained that I couldn't find a community that was open to the stories I was writing. Either they want something longer, or they want fan fiction of some flavor, or they want you to play their games with their prompts... and I write short, original fantasy, in a few different worlds, and not always with the same characters. Anyway, Dave suggested you folks wouldn't mind. {Smile}
I don't have anything new right now. This story is from last August. It has the distinction of being the only story I've written recently that doesn't have at least one other with some of the same characters in the same world. {Smile}
I'd asked for title prompts. One of my friends, silver_677, suggested "Stuck in a Tree." This is what popped out. {SMILE}
Characters: Holly and Cherry.
Words: 552
Warnings: none.
I would like to thank my parents for their help. {SMILE}
Stuck in a Tree
by Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
copyright 2006
Holly yawned, slipped the leaf she was using as a bookmark in her new place, closed her book, and stretched. This had been a lovely afternoon. Nice and lazy, with nothing to do but curl up and read. Of course, it helped to have a good hiding place from a certain nosey little sister.
Holly smiled. In any case, it was starting to get dark now. That meant it was near dinnertime, so she'd better go home now. She uncurled, and put her hands against the bark of the tree she was in.
The bark didn't budge.
Holly frowned, feeling to the right a bit. That bark was solid, too. So was the bark to the left. She felt all the way around the trunk. She couldn't find a bit of bark that would give under her hand.
"Not again!" Holly cried out in frustration. She couldn't believe she'd gotten stuck again. What kind of a dryad was she, that she couldn't get out of a tree as easily as she could get into one? Dryads were tree spirits for goodness sakes! They were supposed to be able to slip in and out of trees as easily as humans breathed air. Every other dryad could, as far as she could tell. She was the only one who got stuck... usually on the inside. Going in never seemed as hard as going back out.
Holly felt the trunk of the tree high and low, searching more and more frantically for an opening. Finally she sat down. She couldn't even call out for help. As she'd learned ages ago, light passed in and out of tree trunks easily enough, but sound was trapped on the same side of the bark that she was. Holly started to sob.
By the time she cried herself out, silver moonlight surrounded her. It must be night. Her mother would be frantic. Holly covered her eyes with her hands, trying to suppress another sob.It came anyway, followed by more.
******
"Holly? Oh good! There you are!"
Holly looked up. She wondered how long she'd been waiting. "Ch...Cherry?" Holly asked.
"I've been looking for you everywhere! Come on, let's go back," Holly's little sister said happily, holding her hand out towards her older sister.
"Oh Cherry!" Holly cried, reaching out to draw her sister into a hug.
"No Holly!" Cherry grabbed Holly's shoulders, "Don't draw me in; come out!"
"Oh yes, of course," Holly agreed, stepping forward. She stepped out thru the passage her sister had made into the tree. Once outside, she did hug her little sister. "Thank you for finding me. I got stuck again.
"I figured that was the problem," Cherry shrugged, obviously trying to look nonchalant. "Holly?"
"Yes Cherry?
"Why don't you leave a little pile of stones next to a tree before you go into it? It would make it a lot easier to find you when you get stuck."
Holly rolled her eyes, "Because when I do that, you always interrupt my reading just when I get to the good part, oh annoying little sister."
"Oh," Cherry said, pausing to think before continuing, "but that can't be as annoying as getting stuck inside a tree, can it?"
Holly grinned at her sister, ruffling her hair. "Of course it can, sprout, of course it can!"
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
I don't have anything new right now. This story is from last August. It has the distinction of being the only story I've written recently that doesn't have at least one other with some of the same characters in the same world. {Smile}
I'd asked for title prompts. One of my friends, silver_677, suggested "Stuck in a Tree." This is what popped out. {SMILE}
Characters: Holly and Cherry.
Words: 552
Warnings: none.
I would like to thank my parents for their help. {SMILE}
Stuck in a Tree
by Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
copyright 2006
Holly yawned, slipped the leaf she was using as a bookmark in her new place, closed her book, and stretched. This had been a lovely afternoon. Nice and lazy, with nothing to do but curl up and read. Of course, it helped to have a good hiding place from a certain nosey little sister.
Holly smiled. In any case, it was starting to get dark now. That meant it was near dinnertime, so she'd better go home now. She uncurled, and put her hands against the bark of the tree she was in.
The bark didn't budge.
Holly frowned, feeling to the right a bit. That bark was solid, too. So was the bark to the left. She felt all the way around the trunk. She couldn't find a bit of bark that would give under her hand.
"Not again!" Holly cried out in frustration. She couldn't believe she'd gotten stuck again. What kind of a dryad was she, that she couldn't get out of a tree as easily as she could get into one? Dryads were tree spirits for goodness sakes! They were supposed to be able to slip in and out of trees as easily as humans breathed air. Every other dryad could, as far as she could tell. She was the only one who got stuck... usually on the inside. Going in never seemed as hard as going back out.
Holly felt the trunk of the tree high and low, searching more and more frantically for an opening. Finally she sat down. She couldn't even call out for help. As she'd learned ages ago, light passed in and out of tree trunks easily enough, but sound was trapped on the same side of the bark that she was. Holly started to sob.
By the time she cried herself out, silver moonlight surrounded her. It must be night. Her mother would be frantic. Holly covered her eyes with her hands, trying to suppress another sob.It came anyway, followed by more.
******
"Holly? Oh good! There you are!"
Holly looked up. She wondered how long she'd been waiting. "Ch...Cherry?" Holly asked.
"I've been looking for you everywhere! Come on, let's go back," Holly's little sister said happily, holding her hand out towards her older sister.
"Oh Cherry!" Holly cried, reaching out to draw her sister into a hug.
"No Holly!" Cherry grabbed Holly's shoulders, "Don't draw me in; come out!"
"Oh yes, of course," Holly agreed, stepping forward. She stepped out thru the passage her sister had made into the tree. Once outside, she did hug her little sister. "Thank you for finding me. I got stuck again.
"I figured that was the problem," Cherry shrugged, obviously trying to look nonchalant. "Holly?"
"Yes Cherry?
"Why don't you leave a little pile of stones next to a tree before you go into it? It would make it a lot easier to find you when you get stuck."
Holly rolled her eyes, "Because when I do that, you always interrupt my reading just when I get to the good part, oh annoying little sister."
"Oh," Cherry said, pausing to think before continuing, "but that can't be as annoying as getting stuck inside a tree, can it?"
Holly grinned at her sister, ruffling her hair. "Of course it can, sprout, of course it can!"
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin