Something From the Roots Pt. 1

"It's a hollow place", the people of Shadowbrook called it. A place with such beautiful trees with root vines that spreads everywhere around the forest. Legends say the roots of the trees holds the secrets of the town. But I describe it as an urban legend that makes people gossip because it's a juicy tale. A tale that is a conspiracy theory everywhere else but in Shadowbrook, the citizens talk about it as if it was alive and well. They say the roots are from a bloodline that is unbreakable. A bloodline that keeps the roots of the trees alive. I was young when the story was developed. When I was a child, it didn't quite have an effect on me. Maybe because I didn't listen to the stories. Or maybe I just didn't buy into it like every other child that lived in that town. But, going back as a 20 something in college I was wrong. So wrong...

I was on my way back home during the beginning of summer. College exams were really putting me in a bind which was really stressing me out. So, since I didn't have the money like my rich friends, I decided to go back to Shadowbrook for the summer. Unlike my friends, I wasn't financially set to go on an actual vacation. One of my friends, Daria, invited me to come with her family on her father's yacht but I declined because being poor or just not financially stable makes me feel outcasted around people who do have money. Not to say I was jealous, but just felt outcasted. "Jameela, my parents love you and they really would like to have you here with us", Daria said as she desperately breathed a long sigh. "I'm just not the vacation type D." I lied about that part. I really needed a vacation but not in favor of my best friend. I was always independent. I didn't like leaning on people for anything. That was something Daria couldn't understand about me. I wasn't the needy type.

"Okay fine, I just hope you have some time to yourself for a change." "I will D if you stop pandering me on the phone," I say as I chuckle a little in the back of my mind. Daria said something before she got off the phone that I didn't understand at first, "there is something else I want to say before I go, if you're going to spend time in the Shadowbrook forest, make sure to not stay long out there."

After that, she hung up. I barely could get in a word before she hung up immediately after saying that. I didn't get what she was trying to tell me before, but after everything that happened that summer, I understood why.

I finally made my way back in town; the greetings were the same, but the vibe and the atmosphere changed overtime. According to my mother, Phaye, she said that the roots were dying somehow. I thought that the roots always stayed fresh and taken with good care by the Pinkerton family who had a long generation of family members who were scientists. You see the Pinkerton family had a huge family cabin on the outside of Shadowbrook. Being scientists who treated and studied plants and root vines, I thought they would continue to keep the roots planted.

But what my mom said gave me a chill up my spine, "the family hasn't been seen since you left for college." That was something I had to process because everyone knew that the family wouldn't leave their cabin just like that and then without any clothes. I just shook it off but was still concerned for them. I used to hang out with their daughter, Lynne, when I was 10. I don't know what it was but something made me go check out the family cabin one day. It's like I had this intuition that I had to go and see for myself. To see what the town was really talking about when they said that the family just disappeared without a trace. But I just had to go see, but after going, I regretted everything...