"IT"

A harmless tree speaks to a child.

A tree stood bent and benign with extended deformed limbs, with tangled roots bound in tainted soil, with burly bark hiding its baleful core. It slumbered and waited.

A child’s laughter carried on the wind, brushed leaves and awoke the monster. A voice from Hell’s depths spoke. “Come closer, child.”

“Who’s there?”

“I am a harmless tree. Come closer”

The child inched forward. “Mama says I shouldn’t talk to …

“Damn your mama, child … come closer.”

The tree stood bent and benign with extended deformed limbs, with rotting flesh fragments clinging to its burly bark. It slumbered and waited.