Hellen

I helped James get out from under the heavy branch. “Thank you, Ms. Page,” was all that I allowed him to say before I acknowledged his words with a smirk and ran off to find a sturdier tree. 

I ran for around ten minutes and eventually found a massive elm tree. It must’ve been at least three hundred years old. I tied up my hair once again with my string, which had fallen off when I fell and was now slightly frayed. I brushed the dirt from my bruised hands and started climbing once again. 

“Hellen!” I heard someone call as I sat down on a branch a little way up the tree. I didn’t dare to look to see who was calling out, for I was completely concealed by the tree’s leaves, and I didn’t want to blow my cover. Instead, I simply peeked down below me. Charles came into view beneath me, looking around wildly. I panicked and started to climb further up the tree but then heard more feet shuffling in my direction. 

“Hellen, come back down!” came Charlotte’s voice. 

Without looking down, I answered Charlotte, “Charlotte, get away from Charles! I know I didn’t tell you what he’s planning, but I know for a fact that if you know what he’s been doing lately, then you know what’s coming. He’s trying to make your life into Romeo and Juliet, Charlotte! You know what happens in the play!” 

I continued to climb, hoping that the branches I’d been holding onto for the last minute or two wouldn’t give way and drop me to the ground, for by now, I was about seventeen feet high. I perched upon a branch five feet above where I’d been originally. 

I looked below me once again to find that Charles was trying to follow me up the tree, though he was failing awfully. He kept trying to grab the bark and use it as a grip. Once he finally decided to grab a branch, it broke off the tree. Eventually, he decided to try and jump.  

The whole tree shook. “Charles, stop! It’ll fall!” 

He ignored me and jumped again, this time grabbing two branches. Once again, the elm shook violently. I carefully stood and leaped to a tree about three feet from this one.  

I almost missed the branch I was trying to grab and fell, but when I thought that it was out of my reach, I managed to grab a small but strong stick. I used that stick as support as I tried to reach the steadier portion of the branch.  

Creeeaaak. 

Please don’t break, I thought. Please no. 

The tree disobeyed. The branch fell with a loud crack, and I fell with it. I got tangled in a large group of branches. It held me up like a hammock, and I found that it was useful to hide in, too.  

I looked through the tree’s leaves and smirked as I watched Charles’s attempt to climb a tree. “Guess I always was the adventurous one, wasn’t I?” I asked jokingly. 

“Well, it isn’t easy as it looks, sis. I’d like to see you try to memorize Shakespeare.” 

“To be, or not to be; that is the question; Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer; The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles. Is this good enough for you or do you want me to recite more for you?”