by Keisha Petersen
In a small town in America there was a school, and in Class 5 at that school there was a girl whose name was Emily, but everyone called her ‘The Mysterious One’ because she was so mysterious. The whole class was heading out to a campsite, where they were going to camp for a couple of nights. Emily had to share a tent with a boy who was very silly. In the middle of the night, he was snoring so loudly that Emily couldn’t sleep, so she climbed out of the tent and went for a walk.
‘Who goes there?’ said a voice.
‘What?!’ She looked around in the moonlight and all she could see were big trees covered in vines, so she thought back to a book she had read called ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’. In the book, the trees talked to each other. No one was watching, so no one would ever know what she was about to do. She walked over to a tree and pressed her ear against the trunk.
‘Help us!’ the tree said.
‘Ahhh!’ she screamed. ‘It’s alive!’
She ran back through the forest, but the tree’s voice was still in her head. ‘Help us, please,’ it said, pleading with her.
She ran into the campsite, climbed back inside the tent, and wriggled into her sleeping bag. Every time the boy snored, she woke with a start, hearing the voice of the tree in her head.
*
Next morning, the sun shone in through the thin canvas of the tent and she woke to the sound of her classmates chatting outside. Her mind flashed back to the tree. ‘It’s okay,’ she yelled, trying to calm herself down. ‘It was just a dream.’
She crawled out of the tent and noticed a group of people standing outside, grinning at her.
‘So,’ said the boy who had been sharing her tent. ‘The Mysterious One is scared of a dream. What was the dream about, scaredy-cat?’
She didn’t answer him. Instead, she ran into the forest and found the talking tree. She pressed her ear against it and said, ‘What do you want me to do?’
The tree answered, ‘You came. Thank you.’
‘Us trees have been waiting for a long time,’ said another tree.
‘You can all talk!’ exclaimed Emily.
‘Oh yes, we can,’ said the first tree. ‘We want you to make sure we are treated well. We are always forgotten.’
‘Okay,’ replied Emily. ‘But how?’
‘Post it in the newspaper and on the internet. Tell people about us!’ said the second tree.
‘Emily. Emily. Emily!’ It was her teacher’s voice. ‘Coming!’ she called. She turned back to the trees.
‘Sorry, I have to go. I’ll work on the project soon.’
Emily ran off, and the second tree said, ‘Do you think she can pull it off?’
‘I hope she can,’ replied the first tree.
*
Emily ran back to the campsite. She hoped she wouldn’t see the boy. She didn’t see him for the rest of the day, but at dinner all the kids sat together, ate their sausages and chips, and laughed.
‘Hey guys, I have a theory,’ said Emily to her class. ‘The trees are alive, and they need us to care about them by making this forest into a sanctuary.’
‘Ha ha! Do you actually believe her?’ said the mean boy who had shared her tent. ‘When I say her, I mean The Mysterious One.’
‘Hey, don’t let him say that to you,’ whispered a girl named Zack, who was sitting next to her.
‘Don’t worry,’ whispered Emily. ‘I won’t.’ She turned back to the boy. ‘Hey, you mean kid! This might sound weird, but I have a bet to make with you.’
‘Okay,’ said the boy. ‘I’m listening.’
‘We’ll take a vote,’ said Emily. ‘If less than half the class vote for me, I will stop saying the trees are alive.’
‘And if I lose?’ asked the boy. ‘Well, do you have a phone?’ The boy nodded.
‘Well then, if you lose you can post on Facebook that trees are meant to be protected, not killed!’
‘Okay,’ said the boy. ‘You have a bet.’ He looked around the group. ‘So, who votes for me?’
Slowly, four of the kids put up their hands, one by one, looking nervously at the boy.
‘Okay, four out of ten votes for you,’ said Emily, smiling. ‘Now, who votes for me?’
Six kids put up their hands.
‘I win and you lose!’ cried Emily. She jumped to her feet and twirled happily to face the tents. Out of nowhere, the mean boy appeared and slapped her on the cheek.
‘Oops,’ he said, with an evil grin. ‘I didn’t mean to hit your face. I was aiming for your hand.’
Emily put her hand to her burning cheek and ran to the teacher’s tent. She unzipped the zip and looked inside.
‘Hello, darling,’ said Miss Pickle.
‘The boy I’m sharing a tent with just slapped me in the face and it hurt,’ cried Emily.
Miss Pickle shuffled her class list and peered at it through her spectacles. ‘Hmm, the boy’s name is Azra,’ she said. ‘He’s a lovely boy.’
‘But Miss, will you deal with him? He hit me.’
‘Um, no. I’m sure he didn’t mean it.’ Miss Pickle looked at her with kind eyes. ‘Goodnight Emily.’
Emily stomped away from Miss Pickle’s tent. The campsite was quiet. Everyone was inside their tents, ready for sleep. She sneaked into her tent, stole Azra’s phone, and ran back into the forest. When she reached the trees, she sat on the grass beneath them and opened Azra’s phone. Surprisingly, it didn’t have a passcode. He was already logged into Facebook. She opened it up and posted ‘Trees should be respected, not killed’. Lots of people saw her post and instantly commented, saying things like, ‘Yes, yes!’ and ‘Trees should be protected!’ and ‘Look after the trees!’ There were hundreds of comments.
She looked at the time. It was almost 5am. Azra usually woke up at 5am. She needed to return the phone.
*
As she approached the campsite, Emily knew that she must be quiet. She ran to her tent, unzipped the zip, and peered inside. Azra was still asleep. She sneaked into the tent and tucked the phone back inside Azra’s bag. Then she lay on her sleeping mat, thinking about what might happen
today. Would she get in trouble for the Facebook posts? Would anyone guess it was her?
Azra woke with a loud yawn. ‘I’m sorry I slapped you in the face last night,’ he said.
‘That’s okay, but don’t ever do it again,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry that I stole your phone.’
‘You did what?’
Emily told him about the Facebook post and all the comments.
‘Wow!’ he said. ‘So, what happens now?’
‘Nothing,’ said Emily, with a grin. ‘Nothing right this minute, anyway. So, will you help me save the trees?’
‘Yes, I will,’ said Azra.
They crawled out of the tent. When they looked around, they saw that the other kids were playing tips, so they ran over to the clearing to join the game. Soon everyone was puffed out and stopped playing, and Miss Pickle said it was time for breakfast. After a delicious meal of bacon and eggs, they all went bushwalking and ran back the campsite for lunch. They played games all afternoon and then went to bed early, completely tired out.
During the night, the police quietly surrounded the campsite, and when Emily and Azra woke up, they were both chained to a large tree. They were trapped!
‘Ahh!’ screamed Emily. ‘Where are we?’
‘It looks like we’ve been caught by the police,’ said Azra.
‘How do you know it was the police?’ asked Emily.
‘Well, there’s a policeman asleep over there,’ said Azra confidently. He nodded towards the officer, who wasstretched out on the grass, snoring. ‘See? I’d say he was put on guard.’
‘Wow,’ said Emily. ‘You’re so smart.’
‘I know,’ said Azra.
‘Shh,’ said Emily. ‘Look over there. The other police are stirring.’
The snoring officer woke up and jumped to his feet. He walked over to Emily and Azra. ‘So, you two are the ones who have been posting all that tree stuff on Facebook.
You’re in so much trouble.’ He grinned. ‘Let’s get you to kid jail, then.’
‘Who? What? When? Where? Why?’ said Emily, trying to confuse the officer.
It didn’t work. ‘Sorry Miss,’ he said. ‘I can’t answer any of those questions.’
‘Why not?’ asked Azra.
‘Because you are not a police officer, and you don’t know the plans we have for you and your crazy friend.’ He glared at Emily. ‘The one who is obsessed with trees.’
The police van soon arrived to take Emily and Azra away. All the other kids watched them go. Miss Pickle was crying.
Soon they were locked in separate cells inside the cold, dark jail. There was only straw on the ground to sleep on, and a bucket of water in the corner to drink. The cells were stinky and uncomfortable, and they both sat in silence, completely miserable.
*
One week passed. Emily and Azra were bored, very bored. One day, they overheard two guards chatting.
‘Guess what?’ said the first guard. ‘I heard that the government is chopping down all the trees in the south.’
‘Oh,’ said the second guard. ‘Is that right?’
There were footsteps, and a man in a black suit walked in, carrying something in a cage.
‘Yip-yap,’ said the animal in the cage.
‘But oh sir, we don’t take animals,’ said the first guard. ‘Oh, stop that nonsense. Just chuck it in with one of the humans,’ said the man.
‘Okay, sir,’ chorused the two guards.
Soon, the animal, a little dog, was running around inside Emily’s cell, barking happily. The two guards walked outside to have their lunch.
‘Do you think this dog could get those keys over there?’ said Emily.
‘No chance,’ replied Azra.
‘Oh, Mister Know-It-All, maybe we should just try.’ ‘Well, Missus Always-Look-On-The-Bright-Side, yes maybe we should try, but I don’t think it will work.’
Emily slipped the little dog between the bars of her cell and said slowly, ‘Go get the key!’
Surprisingly, the dog jumped up on the desk and picked up the keys between his teeth. He brought them straight back to Emily. ‘Good boy,’ she said, giving him a pat.
Emily reached through the bars and unlocked her door. She opened it. Light from her tiny window spilled out into the jail.
‘Hey, I’m still here, you know,’ shouted Ezra.
But the guards were coming. Emily could hear them outside.
‘Sorry Azra, I can’t stop. I have trees to save!’
‘Nooooooo,’ cried Azra.
Emily dodged the guards and escaped. She ran all the way into town. When she got there, she checked a map at the newsagent and discovered that the campsite was in the north. The government was chopping down a plantation of trees in the south. It was in the opposite direction! Emily and the talking trees were safe, but Azra was not. Oh well.
Standing outside the newsagency, Emily wanted to go back and get Azra from his jail cell.
‘Yap, yap,’ barked the little dog.
Emily bent down and scratched under his chin. She saw the name tag swinging from his collar. The name tag read ‘Zip’ but there was no phone number.
‘So, is your name Zip?’ Emily asked the dog.
Zip spun around happily twice and then stopped.
*
On the map that Emily had seen, the jail was only a 30 minute run away. Emily ran most of the way, stopping a couple of times to catch her breath. When she arrived at the jail, the guards were still at the picnic table about 50 metres away from the jail entrance. They are probably on their lunch break, Emily thought. Emily walked slowly towards the jail door, which was open because the guards were very forgetful. She walked in and saw the six identical cells with one of them holding Azra captive.
Emily grabbed the keys off the ground from where she had left them. She put the key in the lock, but it didn’t unlock the door.
‘Relax,’ Azra said. ‘Take a deep breath and try again.’
Emily slowly twisted the key again. Click came the noise from the lock. ‘Yes,’ she said quietly, under her breath.
As the door swung open, Emily caught it, trying to avoid making any noise. It made a groaning, creaking sound.
She looked around. The guards were coming back. ‘Hey, get those kids!’ the first guard yelled.
Emily and Azra ran away to the other side of the road and the guards followed them but were stopped by their boss calling them back to continue their work.
Emily said, ‘The boss probably doesn’t realise we have gone.’
A second later a truck drove past blocking their view.
When they could see the jail again, Emily and Azra couldn’t see the guards or the boss.
‘Hey Emily, why did you come back for me?’ said Azra.
‘Long story,’ answered Emily.
‘Camp is over, right Emily?’ said Azra.
‘Yes, it is. It’s Friday,’ said Emily.
‘Yay, we can go home,’ said Azra.
Zip yapped loudly at two men dressed in suits, who were walking past.
‘They are chopping down the trees in the north,’ said one man to the other.
‘Yes, I know,’ said the other man. ‘We have been over this.’
‘Zip, what are you yapping on about? It is just some men talking about some trees being chopped down in the north,’ said Emily.
‘Aren’t your trees in the north?’ Azra asked.
‘Our trees, but yes,’ answered Emily.
The unspoken question was clear: ‘So, we can’t go home?’
‘No, we have to get to the trees!’
*
It was a quick trip to get to the trees. They already knew the way, because the two kids had paid close attention to which way the bus drove the first day.
They ran into the forest and found the two talking trees. ‘Is this the girl who we asked to try and save us?’ said the second tree.
‘There are people coming to chop you down,’ Emily said.
‘You humans worry too much. The trees are all connected. We tree spirits can just transfer to another unoccupied tree, far away from here.’
‘You can do what?’ exclaimed Emily. ‘Yeah, of course,’ said the second tree.
‘The engines are coming, I can hear them,’ said Azra.
‘But we have to sleep for a hundred years,’ said the first tree. ‘After we make the transfer. It’s quite tiring.’
‘Quick, we have to leave now,’ yelled Azra, over the engine’s noise. The noise had increased rapidly while Emily was listening to the second part of the tree’s explanation. ‘Trees, you need to transfer now!’
Emily heard a whisper in the air around her. ‘Go. Be safe.’
‘They have already gone, Emily,’ yelled Azra.
Emily ran out of the woods with Azra.
*
EMILY
Emily opened the door to her house and was consumed in hugs by her parents and unfortunately scolded, as she hadn’t arrived home at her scheduled time.
AZRA
As Azra went into his house, he was not consumed in hugs. Instead, he was asked a lot of questions, most he did not know the answer to.
