The Lovely Suicide Children

Chapter 21: Bark and Skins

I had no idea how we were supposed to practice around so many trees. It would have been much better if the two of us stayed behind the house or if I somehow snuck her into my room. The trees were so thick that I couldn't wrap my arms around it. Green leaves rattled above us like a song for nature. The sky was bright blue, but slow gray clouds were approaching. A storm was not far away.

Rose finally stopped when we reached a vast space. Big enough for us to work on our dance. Full of smiles, Rose looked around, smelling the air as if this was her first time being out here. "Nature," she stretched her arms out. "It's beautiful out here."

I looked around. It was just a lot of trees, fallen leaves and sticks scattered on the ground. "So, what are we doing today?" I let my arms swing freely.

She faced me. "Mirroring," she moved behind a tree then stuck her head out. "You're going to copy everything I do, but first we need to start with the basics," she placed her hands on the tree then poked her head out on the right side then the left. She continued doing that then pointed to a tree. "Get behind that tree."

I did as I was told and in no time I was slowly copying her movements. There was a horrible stench that distracted me, and I had no idea where it was coming from. However, I ignored it and focused. Left, right, then left and right again. She then placed her hands in front of her, palms flat out and facing each other. "Now pretend you're using your hands to control my face movement. Follow me and keep your hands up."

I did as I was told again. "Like this?" I asked.

She stopped. "Perfect," she walked up to me. "Now face to face." 

Both of us mimicked the moves I had learned. Soon enough, she began doing other things like elbow blocks, quick strikes, and kicks. I had to copy them all. We didn't stop until we were fully in sync with each move. I thought that I would do poorly because I had no rhythm, but I did almost as good as she did. It was fun, and I didn't feel tired one bit. Nearly 30 minutes had passed, and we had a whole dance move figured out.

"Excellent!" Rose gave me a quick hug. "You learned that so fast! You were born to for this!"

"Thanks," I said and scratched my hand, noticing red rashes starting to appear. Each second they grew bigger and redder. I scratched vigorously, giving Rose a reason to stare at me if I was crazy.

"What are you scratching?" She asked. I showed her my hands, but she didn't react. She raised her hand as if asking what the problem was.

"My hands are red," I showed her. "and itchy."

She squinched her eyes. "I'm sorry. Am I missing something? Your hands aren't red. They're fine."

I shook my head while walking back towards the tree I had been standing behind. The bark on the tree looked strange and alarming. For starters, it was a light color, almost yellow. I got closer and poked it. I don't know why I didn't notice it before, but it was soft unlike bark and a bit dry and flaky. I peeled off a piece of it, and it came off so smoothly, leaving behind sticky burgundy stuff.

"What is that?" Rose said.

I examined the tree. From the bottom to the top, there was long outline covered in this flaky stuff almost as tall as Rose and I. The more I realized it was our size, the more I made out other features. An outline of legs, arms, and what appeared to be a head.

I backed away as chills flowed through every inch of me, sending my mind in a whirl of confusion and fear. It couldn't be what I though it was and I wasn't going to stick around to find out if I was right. I dropped what I knew wasn't tree bark out of my hands and began walking away.

"Wait!" Rose jogged after me. "What's wrong?"

The outline of the tree bothered me as I walked. You know that feeling when you're in a place you shouldn't be. You think you're alone, but there's someone who shouldn't be there with you? I felt like that but worse. I felt my nerves tingle like a high voltage shock. I wasn't supposed to see that and I wasn't meant to be here.

"Rose," I said when we were out of there. "That stuff on the tree wasn't bark."

"Okay?" She looked at me as if I had lost it and I probably did.

"It was skin," I let the words flow out of my mouth. "It was skin."

Rose shook her head. "Alright," she said walking towards the drive way with her cellphone out.

I went after her as she dialed someone's number. "Rose! What's wrong?"

She snapped around. "What's wrong with me? What's the matter with you? Skin? I'm going home."

I let her answer the phone. We were silent until her ride came. Before leaving, she looked at me. "I'm sorry," she said. Rose opened her mouth as if to say more, however, she stopped herself then went inside of the car.

I walked in front of the house, but before going inside I looked at the trees. A memory struck me right in the heart and there it was, visible and as clear as day.

"What are you doing, mom?" I asked her. We were at the park, and she had been talking to a tree. I had noticed her standing there, but I needed to stop her because she made a scene.

"It's beautiful," my mother kept saying to the tree. "It's so beautiful."

I looked at the tree then took my mom by the hand. "Come on, mom. This is why I don't like coming out with you. You're drunk."

"I'm as sober as a shell," she stated. "You leave me be if you don't like being here with me."

People watched as I dragged her home. I did my best to hide my tears, but they showed. A lot. When we got inside of the house, mom immediately went to the kitchen and started yelling about how much food we didn't have in the house. I had been used to the routine. Noodles with disgusting faucet water. 

"Have you spoken to your dad?" She asked me while I had been sitting on the chair in the living room.

"No," I said. "Why do you keep bringing him up? As if I talk to him. He doesn't call us."

"He's a real cheap one," she said. "Good for nothing man."

I watched as she made her way towards the door. "Going to talk to the trees again?" I asked.

"Yes," mother replied. "You're not listening to me."

I shrugged and let her go. If she wanted to embarrass herself, fine. She could do it without me.

I took my hand off of the doorknob then walked back towards the trees. I've seen ghost, someone shoot themselves, and I cleaned up the blood of Sunny's babysitter. What else could go wrong? Walking back into the trees, I examined each one. Not all the trees had this body shape outline, and if it did, a lot of them came in different shapes and sizes. Small, big, skinny, tall. I ended up at the same place I had been standing when my hands started itching. I took a deep breath, facing the strange outline. Ready for what would come next. My heart pounded, beating in my chest loud as ever.

"Hello?" I said, waiting for a reply. If my fear were a song at that moment, it would have been the loudest and most powerful.