It was a near perfect summer day to be out playing games with friends, which is what Aaron was doing with his friends, Peter, Peter’s sister Sarah, and Sarah’s friend Mary.
Sarah and Mary were up in the old tree house each having a cup of tea, which they had brought with them and warmed up over the fire that the boys had made, enjoying the warm sunshine, and the cool breeze that blew through from time to time. Aaron and Peter on the other hand, were on the ground practicing sword fighting techniques that their fathers had brought to them from the war.
The war had been terrible, Aaron and Peter both wished their fathers hadn’t gone. Though they understood patriotism and defending the country in which they lived, their fathers weren’t the same when they came home. They were so much more serious, and made the boys work harder than their mothers had. “Oh well,” reasoned Aaron aloud, many months ago, “at least we get to learn to sword fight like real soldiers, not just play around like the other boys.”
Peter lunged forward with his wooden practice sword. Quickly Aaron parried the strike with his sword and started a counter swing of his own. Peter ducked, took two short steps to his right, and attacked Aaron on the weak side. Expecting this attack, Aaron turned away from Peter and jumped up on the large, cracked rock behind him.
“Ha Ha!” Yelled Aaron as Peter’s sword struck nothing but the air in front of him, “I dare you to outdo that move.” “You’re going to get it now!” Shouted Peter, readying himself for the next offensive.
“Hey you two, lookout!” Said Sarah from the tree house. “What?” Responded Peter, disgusted because she had interrupted their practice. “There’s a small tree growing up from between the cracks in that rock.” Answered Sarah gently, “Aaron almost stepped on it.”
Aaron stepped back, stooped down on one knee and began to examine the sapling. “It seems to be sick.” He said after awhile, “Maybe the rock is choking it out.” “Could be.” Said Sarah, now down from the tree house and standing by the rock. “Perhaps you boys could move some that rock out of the way.” Said Mary, also now by the rock, with a hint of challenge behind her voice.”
“No problem!” Shouted Peter as he began to tug on the smaller, though still large, pieces of stone. “Whoa! Hold on there Peter.” Said Aaron, “Even these smaller rocks are much too big for us to move without help. We need something to help us pry with.”
Peter and Aaron became very interested in freeing this little withering sapling as they tried several different methods of moving the smaller boulders. The girls tried their best to help too, pulling and pushing, fetching logs and brush from here or there hoping to find a perfect fit.
After several minutes of attempting to pry the tree loose with sticks and logs, even trying to dig under one of the boulders, Aaron and Peter began to get frustrated, and, eventually, all of them gave up.
“Let’s go home.” Suggested Sarah. “Yeah.” “Ok.” “Sure.” Came the replies. So, Aaron, Peter, Sarah, and Mary walked home.
<+>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<+>
The next morning, a Sunday, the children returned to the sapling after the Church service. “Wow!” Exclaimed Peter in astonishment, “There’s a stump under that rock.” They all stood where they were for a moment, mouths gaping. The rock was half crumbled, and the sapling was nearly twice as big as it was just yesterday. Under the now knee high sapling, was a gigantic stump 10 feet straight across.
“That isn’t possible.” Said Aaron, “That rock didn’t even budge a little yesterday.” “Well, shall we take a closer look?” Asked Mary. They all edged closer to the stump and realized that it was hollow.
“This is too strange” commented Sarah, “How could this rock be all broken now? How could the nearly dead sapling suddenly be thriving? And why is there a big hole in this huge stump!” She threw her arms up as if she were demanding an answer. “I don’t know,” Said Aaron, “but there’s a ladder here.” He motioned toward a ladder nailed inside the hole on the stump, reaching deep into the darkness.
“Why don’t we climb down there and see if we can get some answers?” Continued Aaron. “No.” Said Peter, “Bad idea.” “I’ll go.” Said Sarah. “Yeah,” Agreed Mary, “count me in too.” “Ok.” Said Peter reluctantly, “I’ll go too, I guess.”
Aaron started climbing first, followed by Sarah, then Mary, with Peter cautiously taking up the rear. They climbed down deeper and deeper in to the stale cold air of the tunnel, but there seemed to be no end. Everything beyond the entrance was pitch black, the darkness was piercing. “I think we should turn back.” Said Sarah. “Yeah,” Said Aaron, “everyone start climbing up.”
Peter grabbed each coarse wooden rung hastily, he wanted out of this dark tunnel as fast as possible. Rung after rung, step after step he climbed, nearing the top with each step. He could almost imagine the fresh air at the top, and he set his mind that he was going to reach that air within the next minute.
In fact, he was going move even quicker, with even mo- CRACK! The rung Peter grabbed broke in half. CRASH! His foot now hung free and the sound of wood splintering echoed through the tunnel. RIIIIIIP! The ladder completely broke loose from the stump wall casting all four children helplessly down the tunnel, leaving only their yells behind.
Stay tuned for the beginning of Chapter 1 - coming soon!
