It’s been ten years … ten. frickin. years … God, how time flies.
Humans have a weird tendency, you know? We always want to solve things on our own and I mean don’t get me wrong, that’s not always a bad thing but sometimes it can manage to turn your life into a living nightmare. It seems to me that one of the ways people display this behavior is when they face a situation that leaves them deeply hurt or perhaps even traumatized to an extent, as they isolate themselves from everyone and everything around them and on their own try to bury those memories into the deepest part of their brains in the hopes that they’ll never come back to haunt them, but sometimes we can’t do it alone, we need someone to be there for us and help us put matters to rest.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been guilty of making this mistake, I’ve kept this story from everyone around me for the past decade of my life. Each day the guilt and sadness have been consuming me, but today, today I reached my breaking point. Today is the day that someone out there will hear my story and help me put matters to rest and maybe this time it will be once and for all.
My name is James Robinson and this is the story of a tree house I found deep in the woods when I was only 9 years old. A tree house that was neglected by everyone and everything around it, and that should’ve stayed that way.
The year was 2004 and I was just on my way to finishing the third grade. I had just turned nine years old and all I was looking forward to was just a relaxing summer break with my friends and family. During the years I lived in my old home in Chicago I was very happy, I mean why wouldn’t I be? I had everything I could’ve ever wanted as a kid, lots of friends, toys, a German shepherd named Bruce, and 2 loving parents who always tried their best to give me the best life possible. I will always remain grateful for what they did for me but I’d be lying if I said that I never thought they were obsessing over that idea.
See, my parents were always looking for a better place to live, which isn’t a bad thing but it seemed completely unnecessary in our case as we already had a perfectly nice one-story house where we lived in Chicago and the idea of having to leave my friends and family behind was something I was never looking forward to and despite my constant efforts to convince them otherwise they never listened.
We were on the hunt for a better place to live for what was probably 2 years. Each time we found a home that according to my dad was “the one” we would always end up losing it to someone who set a higher offer than ours and despite not wanting to move myself it always did sadden me a little to see the look of defeat in both of their faces when we would get the call that rejected our offer.
But one day our luck completely changed …
A newly renovated 2-story house with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a basement, and a large yard was been sold just up north from where we were living. It seemed too good to be true, and in a way, it was because when we checked how long it would take us to get there , we found out that it was a 4-hour drive . I thought that after seeing that, they would drop the whole idea of wanting to go see that house but to my surprise, they didn’t , because the next morning while I was at the kitchen table eating breakfast my Mom told me that she would be dropping me off at school but that I would have to walk back home alone because she would be going with my Dad to go take a tour of the house that we saw the night before and that they would be gone for the rest of the day.
I went to school that morning as usual and returned home to finish up my homework and watch some cartoons on TV. It was probably around 11:00 P.M. and I was watching some marathon of “Courage the Cowardly Dog ‘’ when I heard the jingling of keys just outside my door. I quickly turned off the TV and ran across the hall to my bedroom where I locked the door and quickly changed into my pajamas. After a couple of minutes I exited my bedroom and pretending I had been deeply asleep said :
“How- How was it?” while pretending to yawn
“James you should’ve been in bed 2 hours ago, don’t think you fooled anyone by turning off the TV as soon as you heard us coming, we could hear that pink dog screaming from outside the door. As for your question though, the house was absolutely incredible , I mean it has everything we have ever wanted and more! We’ve put everything on the line and made an offer that I am sure the owners won’t decline as they seem pretty desperate to get out of there for some strange reason and are taking just about anything that comes their way.” He said as he proceeded to triumphantly hang his coat onto the coat rack
“ I see …” I said . I suppose the sadness in my voice when I spoke those 2 words was pretty apparent because before I knew it my mom got down to my level , hugged me and said :
“ Listen James , we know this is going to be hard for you … saying goodbye to all your friends from school and all that , but trust me when I say that your going to be truly happy in this new place . You’ll be able to make new friends and really nice memories as you grow older , you just have to trust us. We’ve always tried to do what’s best for you , haven’t we ?”
“Ye- yes Mom”. I said holding back the tears that were starting to emerge.
“Then… you just have to trust us again , everything will turn out just fine , I promise .” She said as she kissed me on the forehead and told me to go back to bed .
The following morning while I was eating breakfast the phone rang , it was our real state agent and he had “good news” , our offer had been accepted and after a couple weeks of paperwork , during a summer that I had thought would be all fun and games I was instead sitting down in a bedroom floor packing all my stuff into large boxes and going door to door saying goodbye to all my friends.
The goodbyes had been bad enough already but the moment I got into that car with Bruce right next to me , the moment my dad pulled out of that driveway , and the moment I said goodbye to my old life and everything I knew of it , that right there was the worst part . There was no going back and I knew that perfectly well, and so as we made a turn for the highway I pressed my head onto Bruce’s body and started to cry until I had fallen asleep .
I woke up about 2 hours later to the sight of massive trees on both sides of the car . Their branches were filled with yellow , red and orange leaves and as I watched them pass by me a sense of fascination and wonder came over me . They were beautiful …
But as nighttime quickly approached and all I could see were more and more trees and each time less cars , less buildings and less people , a sense of dread and fear started to come over me as reality finally hit me.
This town was in the middle of nowhere …
Another hour and a half had gone by with nothing in sight until we finally approached an old wooden sign that read :
Welcome to Rockville
We drove straight ahead and passed by many smaller houses and businesses that were starting to close down until we finally arrived to secluded area up the hill that was filled with mansion sized houses , and among all of them was ours . As we entered the house my jaw dropped to the floor …. it was amazing , and as I opened the door to my bedroom and saw how big it was I felt a smile slowly start to creep into my face .
I walked over to the bedroom window and looked outside where I finally caught glimpse of the yard it surely was a big yard but what captivated my attention more than anything we’re the woods just beyond it .
“Tomorrow I’m going to go to those woods.” I promised myself as I crept into bed and fell asleep.
The next morning after breakfast I decided that it would be a good idea to take Bruce out to the yard to go play some fetch. I packed some toys into my bag and slid open the glass door only halfway before Bruce sprinted from across the hallway and into the yard running like crazy all around it . I let out a chuckle and stepped outside . It truly felt great to watch him run from one end to the other with a smile plastered on his mouth and his tongue sticking out all the way while he did so . I had never seen him so happy and so full of energy…
After about 20 minutes he finally grew tired and proceeded to put his head across my lap . I started to caress his hair until I took notice of the woods again . I immediately got up and looked back to make sure my parents weren’t in sight , they werent . So I unlocked the gate that separated us from the woods and without thinking it twice I stepped foot inside.
Not 10 minutes passed by until I heard my mother scream my name from inside the house .
“JAMES WHERE ARE YOU , LUNCH IS ON THE TABLE ALREADY !”
“ I sprinted all the way back home and went inside
“Where were you?!” she said
“ Sorry mom , I was just out back with Bruce playing some fet-”
“Well I didn’t see you there , just go up and wash your hands because you don’t want your lunch to get cold .”
“Yes Mom.” I said as I walked up the stairs that led to our bathroom.
As I was washing my hands though, I realized that I was never going to make any real progress in the daytime with my parents keeping constant tabs on me . I needed a plan , so that night while everyone was alseep I decided that I would sneak out after 11:00 P.M. which is when they would always come into my room to check on me , and that I would do it from the guest room window on the 1st floor , and for the remainder of that week , with a jacket on me and a flashlight in hand that’s exactly what I did , always making sure I stayed somewhat near home .
One night though , I wanted to go a little further , I mean my plan was working out great up to that point and I had gotten myself pretty familiar with the woods themselves . I looked at my watch and saw that it was 12:00 A.M. . I still had some time so I went deeper …
I walked for about half an hour until I reached a tree with a post sign next to it , I couldn’t see quite what it said so I shined the flashlight at it and saw that it that read :
GO BACK
Of course though , I didn’t travel 30 minutes just to go back home because a sign said to do so , so , completely ignoring it I made a left and continued deeper into the woods .
However this part of the woods was different …it was abandoned and filthy . Cans of food , clothing , and mattresses laid scattered all throughout the path , and the smell, O god the smell was disgusting . I pinched my nose as hard as I could and moved on with the flashlight on my other hand . I shined it at all the trees I passed until I found one with a red X marking on its bark. I looked around me to see what exactly it was that I was supposed to look for but I didn’t see anything , then I turned to look towards the night sky but realized something was blocking my vision . I shined my flashlight at it …
It was a tree house.
Old and abandoned, but intriguing and captivating at the same time . I grabbed onto one of the branches and started to climb up the tree . I made it halfway up when a strong wind blew in my direction that shook all the trees nearby . I grabbed onto the branch harder until the wind finally passed . I climbed onto another branch when I heard some rustling in the bushes nearby , it was a very quiet at first but as the seconds passed it grew louder and louder and louder !
Whatever was out there was coming towards me and fast . I jumped off the tree and fell hard on my back , but I had no time to worry about that so I grabbed the flashlight laying on the ground , I turned it on but the light wasn’t as bright as it was before , I stood there for a second hitting it against my hand as hard as I could hoping that it would work but it didn’t , and when I heard the rustling of leaves just behind me I realized I had to make a run for it .
I jumped over tree barks, ran from side to side trying to lose whatever was after me , but it was no use …
It just grew closer and closer.
I kept running until I realized something strange , the rustling was no longer coming from the bushes near me, it was coming from the trees atop . Whatever was out there chasing me was jumping from treetop to treetop , leaves falling all over me making it harder for me to see , I thought it was over , but just when I thought all hope was lost , the streetlights near my home came into view . Nearly out of breath I made one final push sprinting at full speed towards them until I made it . I looked behind me and saw nothing coming for me anymore so I slowly made my way back home .
I woke up the next morning to my mom screaming at me from downstairs
“Jason wake up you’re gonna be late for your first day of school!”
“What ? …” I whispered . “School already ?!” . Up to that point , I had completely forgotten about school , I tried to get up from bed but a sharp pain from my back struck me . The pain was finally kicking in . With a lot of effort I managed to make it to school and my homeroom class which was at the very end of a hall called the “new wing” . I was about to take a seat when the teacher pulled me over and told me to wait beside her and after everyone had finally settled in their seats she did what I had feared the most .
“Hello everyone , welcome back to school ! I hope you had a fun and rested summer and are now ready to go back to work !” Go Cougars!. She said
The kids let out an unenthusiastic “yes” , but their attention started to shifted towards me when she started to introduce me .
“I know most of you probably know each other from last year but this year we have someone new that will be joining our class . I hope all of you will treat him well and make him feel welcome in our little family . James, why don’t you tell the class a little bit about yourself ?”
I stood in front of the class completely speechless and not knowing what to say . All of their eyes were fixated on mine and a couple of kids in the back started to snicker at me . After what felt like an eternity I was able to say something .
“My na-name is James … I come from Chicago”.
Mrs. Smith , that was her name , probably saw how nervous I got so she simply thanked me and told me to take a seat wherever there was still space . I started to walk to the back of the classroom when one of the kids that was making fun of me previously , stuck out his leg causing me to fall down .
They all started to laugh , hell even the teacher was laughing at me . With tears in my eyes I tried to pull myself off the floor but the pain in my back was still there . I didnt know how I was going to get up but then a kid with short brown hair and blue eyes approached me and extended his hand towards me , I grabbed it and he helped me pull myself up . I thanked him and sat in the back of the classroom for the rest of the period .
When lunch came around I found a seat near the end of the lunchroom in a corner that was isolsted from most people . I was starting to unpack my lunch when the kid that had helped me previously , who I would come to know as Daniel came and sat right across from me , he gave me a warm smile and said
“Hey how’s it going , James right?”
“Yes that’s me , thanks a lot for your help back there , it really meant a lot .” I said
“ O don’t worry about that , in fact I’m really sorry you had to get bullied by those bastards on your first day here . Your not the only one they pick on you know ? ” . He said as he looked down at his plate with a sad expression on his face . “ But anyways , changing subjects , how are you liking Rockwell?”
“It-Its okay . I’d rather be back home though” I said with a heavy sigh .
“Yeah it was the same for me when I first moved here , but my friends really helped me see how great this town was , it might be completely isolated from everything else but there’s everything you need right in here . I think now its time for me to do the same thing my friends did for me back then , what do you say if after school I introduce you to them and maybe we can hang out in the afternoon ? I’ll give you a tour of this place !”
I started to smile
“Yeah , I would really like that .”
After school , Daniel introduced me to Tom , Jennifer and Ashley, his sister . That afternoon after I had finished my homework we hung out in the towns plaza where we ate some ice cream and just fooled around playing some tag and hide and seek . Despite how simple our afternoon mightve seemed like , it was the most I had in a very long time . After that day all 5 of us grew into very close friends , but I got specially close to Daniel and Ashley. For the next couple months I would go over to Daniels house every day after I finished up my homework and sometimes on weekends I would even sleep over at his house with both of my parents permission.
One night while I was sleeping over at Daniel and Ashley’s house and telling each other horror stories to see who wouldn’t be able to sleep that night I remembered about the tree house I had found months ago in the woods , and so when it was my turn to tell a horror story I asked them about the tree house instead .
“What about that tree house in the woods near my home , have you guys ever heard about it ?”
“Tree house ? What are you talking about ?” Ashley said
“There’s a tree house not too far away from where I live , deep in the woods . It seems abandoned . I’ve only been there once … what do you guys say about going to see it tomorrow ?”
“I don’t know …” ashley said
“O cmon Ashley it’ll be fun ! If anything happens i’ll be there to protect you .” Daniel said while flexing his non existent muscles .
“Says the one that’s scared of a coackroach… but I’ll take your word for it .”
“Tomorrow, you guys can come over to my house after school and we’ll go check it out . It’s somewhat far from where I live but if we ride our bikes we can make it much quicker ”
The following day , Daniel and Ashley came over to my place just like we agreed upon and after putting on our bicycle helmets we ventured out into the woods . The bikes really did help shorten the trip because after 20 minutes we arrived at the tree that had the “DANGER” sign next to it . We put out bikes right beside it and started to walk towards the tree house .
“How have you guys never been here ?” I said
“ Our parents are kind of strict and they never let us venture out into the woods . They say bad things happen here …” Ashley said with slight fear in her voice
“Yeah , they keep pulling up the story of “The snatcher” , whatever the hell that’s supposed to be .” He said mockingly
“What’s the snatcher ?” I asked
“It’s your basic boogeyman story , told to frighten kids and make them obey you , but at this point I think we all know its fake .”
Despite Daniels confirmation on the validity of “ The Snatcher” I still believed it was real and I grew increasingly nervous with each passing second . I was about to tell them that maybe we should just go back home , but by then it had been to late , Daniel had already found it .
“Wow ! This is so frickin cool man !” Daniel yelled
They both ran ahead of me and started to look all around . After a couple minutes of exploring I heard Ashley yell for us .
“Hey guys, come over here, quick look what I found!” Ashley called from behind the bark of the treehouse .
We walked over to where she was and saw that she was pointing at the written carvings on the tree .
“It’s the names of the missing kids …” she said
“ Kids go missing here ?” I said , suddenly hearing the own thumping of my heart .
“Sometimes . They never find their bodies , but in all honesty That’s crazy , how the hell are all of their names here ?!” Daniel said
“Maybe we should just go back, the sun is starting to set and - . I was quickly interrupted by Daniel who said
“No way ! We’ve come all the way here to see this tree house and that’s exactly what we’re gonna do , cmon let’s climb up this ladder .”
We made our way up there and saw how massive it really was . If it wasn’t for all the shattered bottles , bags of chips and cigarette buds laying across the floor I would’ve said it was quite beautiful . We continued exploring around , the tree house had 2 rooms , the first one wasn’t all that interesting and the second one wouldn’t have been all that interesting if it wasn’t for the carving on the wooden floor .
GET OUT
We started to laugh when we saw it , but I could tell that the laughter coming from each of our mouths was more of a nervous laughter than anything else , so to distract our minds we thought it would be a fun idea to just play some tag in the woods and that’s exactly what we did . After we grew tired of running around we drank a couple of cokes and ate some snacks beneath the tree house . I won’t lie , despite how scared I was moments before , being with my best friends made me feel so much better …
It was starting to grow darker so we headed back home , laughing all the way , about the GET OUT carving among other things .
I had a fun time , the last one I ever had , because the following morning Bruce was gone .
I threw the house upside down looking for him but I just couldn’t find him , so I rang up Daniel Ashley begging them to come over to help me out . We looked all over the house but we had no luck , we started to look outside , when we heard Ashley scream from my backyard, she was pointing to a pool of blood that made its way into the woods . We didn’t waste anytime and went straight into them . The trail of blood led us back to the treehouse , up the treehouse and into one of the rooms , the room with the carving and thats where we found him…
His body laid across the wooden floor , He was still breathing , I remember , slow breaths . I held him in my arms , intensely crying as I did so, until -
He was gone .
I screamed , Daniel and Ashley hurried towards me and knelt right beneath him, crying as well . We tried everything a couple of kids could at that age to make him come back but just couldn’t …
I moved Bruce’s body aside and noticed something that wasn’t there the day before . Another carving , right next to the previous one , and it said :
Looking for something ?
We all bolted out of there and walked back home in silence . Right before we made it back to my home I turned to look at both of them and said :
“I need to go back to that tree house , I need to find who did this!” I yelled as I threw myself hard onto the ground , crying even more .
“You won’t be going back to that tree house alone because we will go back with you James . We will go back”.