The Tree House Trouble

by Nidhi George

Grade 8

"Come on, come on! Hurry up!” I said, my 8 year old voice shrill with excitement.

“Be quiet, Sophie,” my mom shushed me, the bustling people in the airport not noticing. I spotted two women hugging out a tearful goodbye, and an airport staff member pushing an elderly man in a wheelchair. My mom was rifling through her purse for something, probably our passports, and my dad was talking to the person checking us in. My best friends, Olivia and Lizzie, were standing next to me, their parents close behind.

A few minutes later, we were strolling through the airport, trying to find gate A29. Security had been a breeze, and we still had 2 hours to kill before takeoff. If you are wondering why we were there so early, that’s because we had a 2 hour drive to the airport, and we ended up reaching there a little (an hour) earlier than we were supposed to. We finally found our gate, which was mostly empty. I collapsed into a seat, dropping my backpack on the floor next to my feet. I opened a paper bag that my mom got from the in-airport Starbucks, and pulled out a turkey and cheese croissant (my dinner for tonight). I sat there, eating my sandwich, Lizzie and Olivia playing rock-paper-scissors in the seats next to me. I watched them for a while, talking and laughing about random things. 

After an hour and a half, I heard an announcement. 

“Flight 8776 to Tennessee is now boarding. Section A first.”

I packed up my stuff and slung my backpack on my shoulders. We walked through the connector between the airport and the plane, and I cautiously stepped inside. It was smaller than I expected, but decent enough. I found my seat, and closed my eyes. I immediately fell asleep, and dreamed of the fun I was going to have in Tennessee. 

I felt a slight thump as the plane touched down on the runway. I loosened my grip on the armrests (I don’t love takeoff and landing) and sat up straight. My back cracked, and I looked around to see if anyone heard. I joined the excited chatter coming from Lizzie and Olivia.

A few minutes later, I joined the growing line in the aisle of the plane. We exited the airport and reached the parking lot, where we found our rental car. 

We eventually reached our AirBNB, the morning light streaming through the car windows. I hopped out of the car, and Olivia followed me. I ran around what seemed like a courtyard, and I went inside the enormous house.

I saw a bunch of wooden doors, and decided that they were probably bedrooms. I pushed open one of them to find room with open windows and an overhead fan turned on. A white canopy bed was in the middle of one wall, and a dresser with a small mirror was pushed up against a corner. I dropped the bags on the bed with a thump. I scrambled back outside and waved Lizzie and Olivia over. I showed them the rooms and they were as astonished as I was. We kept walking through the confusing hallways, and we discovered a lot of cool things inside. 

After a while, we headed outside. The light, cool breeze made for the perfect weather.

“We should check out the forest over there! It looks huge!” Lizzie pointed out. “̈What if there’s something cool?”

“Sure! We should ask first though,” I replied enthusiastically. 

We ran across the grass, our shoes slapping the dirt. The parents were sitting on the patio, lazing around drinking lemonade. I went up to my mom. 

“Can we go into that forest over there?” I asked hopefully. 

“Will you stick together? And be safe?” they asked.

I nodded as convincingly as possible. 

I went back to Lizzie and Olivia, and we trudged up to the forest. It was dark, and every tree looked the same.

After wandering through what seemed like miles of trees, we found a small wooden structure. It was atop the lowest branch of a sturdy looking tree, and there was a rope ladder attached to the bottom of the hole I supposed was a door. Lizzie, being the oldest, climbed up first, and surveyed the inside. 

“Come up!” she shouted from above. 

Olivia started climbing, and I followed closely at her heels. I pulled myself into the space, relaxing my practically nonexistent muscles. I looked around and saw two chairs with a table in between them. Another hole in the walls led to a small balcony. It was cozy, and I could imagine what it would look like with some redecorating. 

I heard a faint buzzing sound nearby, but waved it off as imaginary. A few minutes later, I heard the same sound, but amplified. I looked around the fort, then up. Apparently, Lizzie hadn’t done a complete check for danger when she first came up. There was a big, tan beehive in the bend of the ceiling, and it was flourishing with bees of all sizes. I screamed, and pointed upwards. Olivia joined my screams, and Lizzie started towards the entrance. I considered backing away slowly, but decided against it. The three of us scrambled down faster than you can say ‘beehive’, and completely ignored my mom’s rule about sticking together. We went in three opposite directions, not even noticing that we were apart. I don’t think I was even aware of my surroundings, I just knew that I had to get as far away as possible. What if the bees came for me? That was my only thought. 

I ran and ran, eventually stopping for air. My heart was beating triple speed, and I could feel its loud thumps in my chest. I spun around, and for the first time, realized I was alone. Breathing heavily, I sat down on a tree stump. I figured staying in one spot was the best thing to do. Hopefully, either Lizzie or Olivia would think otherwise and start searching. I picked up a dry leaf and crumpled it in my hand. I looked around, making sure there were no bees (or spiders or any other bug) in the vicinity. What was I supposed to do now? Look for Lizzie and Olivia? I didn’t think that was a smart thing to do. What if I got even more lost?

A few broken sticks later, I heard a familiar voice. 

“Sophie? Olivia?” Lizzie called. I shot up from my hunched over position.

“Lizzie?” I called back.

I saw her face pop out from behind a tree, and I sighed with relief. I ran to her side. 

“Where’s Olivia?” I asked. 

She shrugged. I drooped. We were still lost, even though we were together.

We kept walking, through trees, trees, and more trees. We called Olivia’s name as we walked. I lost track of time at some point, and we could’ve been going for hours for all I knew. Finally, I heard a timid voice from between the trees. 

“Lizzie? Sophie?” Olivia replied to our frantic calls. 

We ran to her. Her face was streaked with tears, and there was a speck of dirt on her cheek. I relaxed a little bit, then thought for a moment. 

“If we ran in three opposite directions, then we must have gone North, East, and West, or some other combination of directions,” I said. “The house must be South, or whatever direction we didn’t go in.”

“Ok, but how do we know which way that is?” Lizzie asked. 

“We go back to the bee-infested treehouse,” I responded confidently. 

“I think I know which way it is,” Olivia piped up. “It’s the same way that I got here.”

She started walking. I stepped a bunch of pinecones, snapping a fallen branch in the process. We hiked, dodging trees and hopping over stones. After many twists and turns, we finally approached the treehouse. Making sure not to climb up, I stood at the base of the tree. I turned around, trying to find a sound that could be coming from our parents. I heard very faint voices from up ahead. 

“Shhh,” I said. “I think I hear something.”

I closed my eyes and strained to locate the voices. I heard laughter on my left, and swiveled around. 

“That way,” I pointed. 

We wove between the trees, mud squishing under my sneakers. We emerged from the forest, and I spotted my dad instantly. I skipped down the hill, my feet skidding on the slippery grass. We strode towards the patio, and my mom waved at us. 

“How was it?” she asked. 

“We found a treehouse, and then everything went downhill from there,” I replied.

My mom raised her eyebrows skeptically. I could tell that she wanted to know more, but I wasn’t going to explain the whole thing to her at that moment, especially since we hadn’t stayed together as she had instructed.

It was a secret adventure that will remain with just the three of us.