could be patient.
"So, where to?" Zack wanted to know.
They had packed up their stuff and were ready to roll.
"It's Ellie's day," stated Luke, his expression always more serious than he intended, "she should decide."
Everyone agreed.
Perusing the map, Ellie identified a remote area, mostly forest and woodland. "Let's head for the wilds," she commanded, tapping the page.
"The wilds it is," assented Zack and started the engine.
Ellie loved the idea of exploring a place where hardly anyone went. They had parked up off a remote country road and then hopped over a fence to find themselves in a small field adjacent to an immense forest.
"You know we're probably trespassing," observed Luke.
"If they fine me, I will have to pay it in instalments," shot back Beth with a quick smile.
They made their way towards the trees.
Once beneath the imposing cover of the forest itself, they began to relax and enjoy their surroundings. It was a mild day, but the trees seemed almost alive around them, ever in motion, whispering in some unknown language to each other.
Zack and Luke forged ahead, while the girls examined interesting shrubs and wild flowers.
Out of Ellie's and particularly Beth's earshot, Luke complained to his friend. "She hardly ever says anything to me."
Zack considered his reply carefully. "I know mate," he said at last, "you might have to give it up as a lost cause." He glanced at the other boy and saw the disappointment in his face.
"If she would talk to me the way she does to you..." he started and then trailed off, obviously weighing things up in his mind.
Luke was a really good friend and Zack cared about how he felt and everything, but what could he do. Beth just wasn't interested and the harder Luke tried the worse it got. And Zack wasn't blind either. He knew quite well that Beth liked him. And he liked her back. Just not in the way she wanted him to. Which was just as well. Just think what a mess it would be if he went out with Beth. What would that do to his best friend. Love's young dream! If this was how it was, you could keep it.
They walked on in silence for a while.
Zack noticed a pale, greyish tree on their right. It stood out because everywhere else the trees were predominantly brown. Even though he was troubled because of all the romantic tensions bubbling away within their group, he was still enjoying being out here, everything so calm and still. Life in the city with his mum had been really getting to him. His sister was in a bad place, had been for a very long time. He wished he could do more, but just surviving seemed to take most of his energy. He loved music and movies and computer games, so working where he did was not so bad. But he wanted more. Nothing unusual about that of course. Who didn't. But there was something deep, almost a pulse within, that nagged at him to search for something else. Something outside and beyond of what he already knew. It was hard to explain. And he didn't really try. Not even to himself. He was just aware that something was missing and he would have to move on sooner or later. He guessed this trip was the first step in that direction.
They continued on another five minutes or so, Luke keeping his thoughts to himself. Ahead, Zack saw another grey tree among the brown and green. Must be a few scattered around here he supposed. He approached it and ran his hand over the smooth bark.
"What you doing?" Luke muttered, his mood noticeably gloomy.
The other boy turned and looked at him, "Nothing, just thought this tree was different from the rest."
Luke glanced around and then nodded. "It is," he agreed simply.
This made Zack smile. "Thanks for that mister tree expert!"
His friend gave him a glare. "Just stating the facts," he said and finally broke into a smile.
"So how does it feel to be an adult?" Beth asked with a smirk.
"I thought you have to be eighteen to be an adult."
"You know what I mean," countered the other girl.
"Well," Ellie considered, " I feel exactly the same mess I did before."
Beth shook her head. "Don't stress so much. Not everything has to be so serious."
"Oh, little miss relaxed!" Ellie fired back, but with a smile playing around her lips, "so you're so cool with everything are you?"
Her friend gave her a withering look. "Some things are worth getting serious about."
"Like my brother you mean." The words were out of her mouth before she had time to think. Immediately she was sorry. Beth's expression had clouded over in a way Ellie hated to see.
"I'm wasting my time, aren't I," Beth said at length.
"Maybe," was all Ellie could manage, not wanting to encourage false hope in her friend.
"Definitely." This was said with some bitterness.
Ellie scrambled for something positive. "Who knows what's going to happen. Life is unpredictable."
The other girl considered this for a moment. "But things don't always turn out good do they?"
This left Ellie with a sinking feeling that made something inside her begin to hurt very badly. She knew this was the truth. And she was tired of always expecting the worst. When would her life take a turn for the better. It was always such a trial. But then, maybe she was just feeling sorry for herself. Maybe that was what they were all doing. She made up her mind to not let herself slip any further down.
"Come on, let's catch up with the great explorers!" she said as cheerfully as she could manage.
Zack was beginning to think he was losing it.
This damn grey tree had continued to appear at regular intervals. They had passed eight of them now. Of course, at first he had thought they had just been planted like this for some reason. That was the answer Luke had given as soon as he mentioned it.
Only problem was he had carved his initials in the last one.
Now two minutes further on he was staring at another grey tree.
With his initials etched right there in front of him.
Impossible.
He glanced at Luke. The other boy just stared back with a slightly awed expression.
You see, it hadn't been just the fact that these odd trees had kept repeating. If it had only been that he would have probably ignored it. No, there had been something else. A sense of something out of place. He couldn't really describe it, but he had felt it.
"What is this?" Luke finally murmured.
Zack reached out and touched the rough carving in the bark. There was no denying it. It was his own handiwork. "Time warp," he said distractedly, with a half smile. But he really didn't feel like smiling.
"What!?"
"You know, like a science fiction time warp. Haven't you ever watched Star Trek?" Zack tried to sound convinced, but he was anything but.
Luke looked at his friend with a mixture of confusion and scorn. "Are you listening to yourself," he asked, "the key word there was fiction remember."
The other boy shrugged and looked back at his initials in the wood. "So how do you explain this?"
Luke considered this for a moment and then relaxed a little. "We've got turned around while we were walking. It's just the same tree."
Zack shook his head, knowing with certainty that it wasn't true. "That's not very likely is it. We were on a straight path. You don't really believe that do you?"
"I believe it more than your Star Trek theory!" was the short reply.
They stood there together for several long moments in silence.
Then they heard the sound of someone approaching from somewhere behind them. They exchanged a quick look, almost embarrassed.
Turning away from the tree, they saw the two girls ambling up the path towards them.
"Hi," said Ellie brightly.
"Hi," returned Zack with little enthusiasm.
Ellie looked from her brother to Luke and then back again. "Problem?" she questioned, knowing her brother well enough to read from his expression that there was one.
"I think maybe they put the wrong one of us in therapy,"
Zack said without any irony at all.
"Rational solution, as in there must be one," stated Beth with conviction.
The other three just looked at her.
"Okay," decided Ellie, "let's keep walking. Then we will know for sure."
This seemed like the obvious thing to do, so they set off at a brisk pace.
"If I see another grey tree I may well freak out!" said Zack, not sure if he meant it or not.
But there were no more grey trees.
Instead they came upon a large wooden signpost. It looked very old and weathered from years of abuse. In carved letters there was a name, one that resonated and echoed within Ellie's mind.
WITCH TOWN.
They all looked up at it, but no one said anything.
Beyond the sign was a wider track than the one they had been following and further in the distance they saw that it became more permanent, perhaps even made of gravel or stone.
"There's a town in here?" voiced Luke, shaking his head.
"That's what the sign says," agreed Zack and realised they were talking just to break the uncomfortable silence. Stating the obvious it was known as in the trade, he thought, managing a wry smile.
"Great name!" Beth added, joining in. "I have to admit I'm getting very creeped out." She said this with a brief smile, but her voice betrayed her true feelings.
"I think we should just turn around and get out of here," came Ellie's voice and no one disagreed. In fact they were all too eager to comply.
They went on a brisk pace for ten minutes or so. No one said anything.
The truth was they just wanted to get out of there. There was an unsaid agreement amongst them that things had got too weird and they just wanted to get back to their van and be on their way. Later they