The Fall

The leaves had turned red.

You could tell fall was in the air as we walked home from school. Shane had just finished telling me about his disastrous History project, which had too much glitter and not enough Gilded Age.

"Crystal I'm telling you, maybe the class would be more fun if Mr. Costal had a little more sparkle, and a lot less okayigetitpeopledied, you know?"

Shane had spent two weeks on that project. He though going big before Christmas break would be fun. He was always like that though, cared too much about making sure his assignments shined, and making sure everyone around him knew it too.

As the leaves crunched beneath our feet I couldn't help but to think about the events to follow. Another year of Christmas trees, bad eggnog, and fake smiles at my grandma's gifts. You would think at 16 she would stop getting me dolls, but after one too many years of 'Oh I love it!', I'm pretty sure she's dead set on a collection. But its not so bad, she did take me in when my parents left so I owe it to her to keep fake smiling. While thinking about which creepy doll I'll get this year, Shane breaks my concentration.

"Hey dummy, we should take the shortcut today. I found this cool tree yesterday and I want you to see it." Shane said, turning towards the woods.

I start to say that its not really a short cut, just a scenic route when it's obvious he's not listening. So I just follow.

As we walk through the wood's I realized he's taking us the wrong direction, and before I know it, he's saying we're lost.

" You know," I say " If you weren't dead set on this tree, we would have been home 30 minutes ago. Maybe if we turn around we'll find the road again."

Shane stopped and turned quickly. He had a weird look on his face, I didn't like it.

"No I think the tree is a little further."

"Shane I don't think this is a good idea, we should just turn around."

"Don't be a baby Crystal," Shane started," It's right here."

I looked at the tree, and didn't understand. It was a large oak, undeniably pretty, but it looked like every other tree around us.

"Shane it's pretty okay, can we go home now?" I stated, beginning to feel uncomfortable.

Shane circled the tree. That expression was still there, but deeper; eyebrows furrowed, and a small smirk. His eyes were darting around like he was looking for someone or something.

At this point I've had enough.

"Shane I'm going home. I'll see you tomorrow."

I turned around. I didn't even see him coming. Searing pain radiated from the back of my head as I hit the ground. And then he was on top of me. I don't really know if I screamed, the ringing in my ears blocked out everything. Face down on the ground, I couldn't see him, but I could feel him. He grabbed my arm and hit me again.

This time I screamed.

"Shut up!" he screamed back.

My mouth had a bitter taste of dirt and blood, and my vision started to blur. I was confused. Why would he do this? Is this really where I end? Those thoughts came to a stop with the last blow to my head.

I could feel my body go limp. I knew I stopped moving when he got off me and walked back to the tree. And then it went cold. It started at my feet and fingertips. As the cold traveled to the rest of my body, all I could do was stare. The world had gone silent, but the trees still swayed. The sky was still blue and the bugs were still crawling, just now they were crawling on me. Only one thing had changed as I drifted.

The leaves had turned red.